He was obviously not the only one frustrated by this.
Ari sighed.
“Thank you,” he agreed with a grateful nod at Dio’s suggestion. Best to let Dionisia begin to help, as she had wanted to; best to show Zelda plainly that he did not mean to frogmarch her back to the family home to show her up, though maybe he should have. At any rate, perhaps the salve would soothe more than just the bruise. He gave Dio a small smile as she moved to fetch it, and then returned his attentions towards Zelda, reconsidering the words of her last outburst.
“What do you mean, they won’t bend?” Ari asked, his brow creased. “Of course they will. He’s been courting you all this time - you’ve been behaving.” (He’d thought they’d been behaving.) All they had to do was have a little patience, didn’t they? He was not their only chaperon at events, though, had not seen every interaction between Darrow and the Fisks, had not really broached the subject with any of his siblings or their father recently. He had merely assumed, that in spite of the shock of the ‘courtship’ in the manner it had come, the rest of the family would slowly get used to it: begin to like Darrow, perhaps, or at least begrudgingly accept the engagement as an eventuality and try to pretend to.
Or maybe that had been a misguided hope on Ari’s part - as if the family’s eventual acceptance would absolve him for that Passover when he had first helped Darrow shoot his own chances at happy introductions in the foot. (In the balance of things, he still felt bad for that.) Nor could the rest of the family have the same reasons for wariness as he had about the man’s character - some general questions about it, to be sure, and about his occupation and the lifestyle he might offer her - but nothing irrevocable. And, admittedly, even burdened with that knowledge, Ari could tell Zelda was nonetheless rather in love with him.
And Darrow had proven himself willing to put himself through the scrutiny of a courtship, hadn’t he, where he might have continued what they had without any attempt at proper commitment to her. Perhaps he deserved some credit for that.
Ari sighed.
“Thank you,” he agreed with a grateful nod at Dio’s suggestion. Best to let Dionisia begin to help, as she had wanted to; best to show Zelda plainly that he did not mean to frogmarch her back to the family home to show her up, though maybe he should have. At any rate, perhaps the salve would soothe more than just the bruise. He gave Dio a small smile as she moved to fetch it, and then returned his attentions towards Zelda, reconsidering the words of her last outburst.
“What do you mean, they won’t bend?” Ari asked, his brow creased. “Of course they will. He’s been courting you all this time - you’ve been behaving.” (He’d thought they’d been behaving.) All they had to do was have a little patience, didn’t they? He was not their only chaperon at events, though, had not seen every interaction between Darrow and the Fisks, had not really broached the subject with any of his siblings or their father recently. He had merely assumed, that in spite of the shock of the ‘courtship’ in the manner it had come, the rest of the family would slowly get used to it: begin to like Darrow, perhaps, or at least begrudgingly accept the engagement as an eventuality and try to pretend to.
Or maybe that had been a misguided hope on Ari’s part - as if the family’s eventual acceptance would absolve him for that Passover when he had first helped Darrow shoot his own chances at happy introductions in the foot. (In the balance of things, he still felt bad for that.) Nor could the rest of the family have the same reasons for wariness as he had about the man’s character - some general questions about it, to be sure, and about his occupation and the lifestyle he might offer her - but nothing irrevocable. And, admittedly, even burdened with that knowledge, Ari could tell Zelda was nonetheless rather in love with him.
And Darrow had proven himself willing to put himself through the scrutiny of a courtship, hadn’t he, where he might have continued what they had without any attempt at proper commitment to her. Perhaps he deserved some credit for that.
