Ari winced as he listened. Whatever he thought of Mr. Darrow, and whatever he knew of his family, he had not realised it was still quite that bad.
Suddenly he felt a little guilty about how smoothly his surprise engagement had gone - with some shock and murmuring, to be sure, but none of the likes of this. They might have had questions, perhaps even suspicions, but no one had ever been less than polite to Dionisia, and certainly no one had ever attempted to question his judgement or convince him to call it off. But then - he and Zelda lived oppositely, in a family full of exceptionally stubborn characters when they wanted to be. He had always been the sensible, predictable one, and she too contrary to count for that; as the eldest, he had a little inbuilt authority, and Zelda had the disadvantage, here, of being the youngest of ten.
“It’s only because they care about you, that they get protective -” he began, to do his duty as peacekeeper for the rest - but after all her venting, that was not going to be what Zelda wanted to hear. So he added, with another swift sigh, “but I understand you, I do.” Ari suspected none of his siblings much enjoyed playing chaperon to her either - none of them had signed up for that - but how much of their resentment was coming from Zelda’s ‘surprise’ announcement versus their dislike of Darrow was still to be seen. (He wondered, briefly, whether ‘when she’s married at least she won’t need you to chaperone’ would be enough to convince Kons or Nemo.)
“But there must be a way to convince them,” Ari said, more positive than he had sounded all conversation - she really did sound close to giving up. “You and Dory could talk Nemo round together, I’m sure.” They had been thick as thieves as children, those three; and maybe Nemo was only upset that Zelda had never let on anything to him before. (Much like Zelda had been with he and Dionisia.) Kons and Ros and their father might be more difficult, but it couldn’t be impossible. “And -” Ari added, a little disbelieving that he had gotten to this point but now of the mind that the further the family forced them apart, the closer Zelda and her beau would skirt to trouble, “- maybe I can help, with the rest?”
Suddenly he felt a little guilty about how smoothly his surprise engagement had gone - with some shock and murmuring, to be sure, but none of the likes of this. They might have had questions, perhaps even suspicions, but no one had ever been less than polite to Dionisia, and certainly no one had ever attempted to question his judgement or convince him to call it off. But then - he and Zelda lived oppositely, in a family full of exceptionally stubborn characters when they wanted to be. He had always been the sensible, predictable one, and she too contrary to count for that; as the eldest, he had a little inbuilt authority, and Zelda had the disadvantage, here, of being the youngest of ten.
“It’s only because they care about you, that they get protective -” he began, to do his duty as peacekeeper for the rest - but after all her venting, that was not going to be what Zelda wanted to hear. So he added, with another swift sigh, “but I understand you, I do.” Ari suspected none of his siblings much enjoyed playing chaperon to her either - none of them had signed up for that - but how much of their resentment was coming from Zelda’s ‘surprise’ announcement versus their dislike of Darrow was still to be seen. (He wondered, briefly, whether ‘when she’s married at least she won’t need you to chaperone’ would be enough to convince Kons or Nemo.)
“But there must be a way to convince them,” Ari said, more positive than he had sounded all conversation - she really did sound close to giving up. “You and Dory could talk Nemo round together, I’m sure.” They had been thick as thieves as children, those three; and maybe Nemo was only upset that Zelda had never let on anything to him before. (Much like Zelda had been with he and Dionisia.) Kons and Ros and their father might be more difficult, but it couldn’t be impossible. “And -” Ari added, a little disbelieving that he had gotten to this point but now of the mind that the further the family forced them apart, the closer Zelda and her beau would skirt to trouble, “- maybe I can help, with the rest?”
![[Image: xXXD462.png]](https://i.imgur.com/xXXD462.png)
