Louis looked from Anwyn to Gwenn and thought it was best to let them discuss it. He knew fairly well Darkover and Terra were very diferrent worlds and it was useless, and actually impossible. But he decided he'd let the children solve that between themselves. Instead, he only ate his bread and sipped his juice, calmly watching.
"An' how do ye come tae that conclusion?" Gwenn demanded, shaking a butter-knife at Anwyn. "If I didna' fight for my honor, why should I think that someone else would protect it? An' I dinnae ken what a magistrate is nor how he'd know who had the right o' it, but it dinna sound any better ta' me.
Anwyn was about to interrupt him to disagree, but then she got distracted by what he said next.
"An' the Hali...Comyn are nae corrupt!", Gwenn insisted, "Leastwise, none o' the ones I've met are. They've all been honorable". He took a bite of bread and drew his brows together as he stared at Anwyn. Then, realizing his rudeness, he dropped his eyes to his cup as he took a drink. "'Sides, who said life was fair?"
Anwyn giggled at Gwenn's fierceness. "You're right, MacConnal, life _ISN'T_ fair", she commented, with a shrug of her shoulders, "That's one of the first hard lessons that _I_ ever learned. Maybe that's why I ended up like so many other kids of my generation -- jaded and cynical and somewhat of a brat sometimes".
Gwenn relaxed as Anwyn spoke. Perhaps she wasn't so daft after all. However, her next words totally confused him again.
That reminded her of something else. "Kay told me all kinds of stories she heard from her Ma and her Gram, and I read a bunch of other ones back at the Base", Anwyn said thoughtfully. "Most of them were totally creepy ... about nasty folks treating others like puppets ... and about Comyn lords trying to get Gifted grandchildren by breeding their own kids the same way that they bred their horses ... and about how much bad stuff can happen as a result of people's Gifts. And here are still many places in the Terran Empire where not everyone believes in sorcery, which is why Kay says that some of the tales (and songs and various people's journal entries) needed to be officially-labelled as being fiction (even though they're WEREN'T fiction".
A look of puzzlement spread across Anwyn's face as another thought occurred to her. "Maybe you know different folks than Kay does, MacConnal", she suggested to Gwenn. "Except for her oath-sisters (and maybe that girl Danette and that healer Katie), I kinda get the idea that Kay wouldn't trust _ANY_ of them Comyn folks any further than she'd trust a hungry wild carnivore not to eat her. Maybe it's 'cause she expects them to turn out to be as horrible as some of the folks she's read about or heard about. Kay's also been here for more than a few days, and she was originally born here too. So maybe she got hurt by one of them once, or maybe she once saw one of them hurt someone she loved ... but if there's a story about THAT, I don't know it".
"Aye, I didna' grow up here in the lowlands," Gwenn replied. Then he addressed one of the things she'd said that had seemed odd to him. "But everyone knows about the dangers of marryin' too close to each other. O' course we use the same standards as breedin' livestock."
Gwenn's comment reminded Anwyn of something else. If he was right about folks breeding other folks (instead of letting them choose their own mates), maybe THAT had something to do with why Kay and Louis' date had gone so wrong.
With a curious look on her face, Anwyn turned to Louis and inquired boldly "Does THAT have something to do with why you and Kay had an argument ?". Then she turned back to Gwenn, raised an eyebrow and continued "Were you trying to find her a husband, MacConnell ?". Then she frowned and pointed out that "People don't USUALLY quarrel when they're on a date". Sure, she had never been on a date herself. But she HAD seen many other people doing so. That was experience enough to form an opinion.
Gwenn was taken aback at the gall of this girl, enough so that he paused with his glass half-way to his mouth. What right did this girl think she had to ask all these personal questions? Were all Terranan so nosy?
Louis raised an eyebrown, then sipped his juice. "Well, actually..."
"Here it is!", said a feminine voice from behind him, just a seconde before Kyra putting their food over the table. "I hope you enjoy it", she added, smiling. "If you need anything else from me, just call me."
Louis smiled back at her. "Thanks Kyra, we'll call if we need anything. Oh, and won't you dance tonight?"
"So I wish...", she sighed. "That's all I used to do, but now...Well, perhaps if you ask nicely...", she said, smiling.
He grinned and Kyra excused herself and left.
Louis turned his attentions back at Anwyn, but decided a little exercise for her patience would do her some good. So, he made sure he had served all of them their food, insisting that they let him do it.
When he finished, he took another sip of his juice, then looked at Anwyn again. "As I was saying, Kay and I weren't actually on a date, if you're eager to know and the reason we argued is...none of your business, young lady", he said, know too well how mad she'd be.
Louis looked at Anwyn again, with kind eyes. " Listen, I wish I could tell, really, but I can't. First, because I hardly understand it myself and also because it involves Kay too, I can't tell without her consentment."
"An' what business is that o' yours?", Gwenn demanded, "Are ye afraid she'll ha' nae use for an apprentice if I do?". As soon as he said it, he was sorry; but nothing he could do could take the words back.
Anwyn frowned at Gwenn, "So you ARE husband-hunting for her then, aren't you?", she guessed. People sure were weird here. Back home, people found their own mates. Why would Kay ask her little brother to do something like this? What little she'd seen of Kay and Louis' relationship seemed even weirder. The two of them obviously liked each other. So what could they fight about on a date? Maybe about having sex or not? Or maybe Kay had told Louis that she was expected to marry someone else? Anwyn sighed. It so wasn't fair that this was apparently yet ANOTHER thing that people didn't want to tell her much abbout.
Then she shrugged, adding defensively to the boy, "I hope that she WANTS one. Otherwise, you're gonna be in big trouble. And anyways, I was just CURIOUS ... and even though I've only been here a few days, I've seen the kind of looks she gets from men sometimes ... when she's not wearing that totally-boring black uniform ... but she doesn't even NOTICE when she's being watched like a stallion watches a mare ...".
Louis silently thought Kay certainly _did_ want a husband. He sighed. He would have been so glad to agree with that, if...if she felt like him...
Pushing back her chair, Anwyn complained "You're too much like my siblings, MacConnall. All THEY ever want is for me to go away and stop asking them things that they don't want to tell me. I might as well go back to my quarters and do my schoolwork. And maybe I'll ask Kay MYSELF later. Even if she DOES get married, I don't think she'd just abandon me". *Or, at least, I HOPE not*, she thought to herself, feeling a small hint of insecurity. Coming here had changed her somewhat, made her more bold and daring than when she'd first arrived.
By the time Anywn finished, Gwenn had recovered enough from his shock at how freely Anwyn discussed private family matters in public to answer at least one of her questions. "Well, per'aps if ye didna' ask strangers about private matters, ye'd get a different answer! Maybe yer siblings considered yer questions too personal to answer!" he retorted. Gwenn looked pleadingly at Louis, "Mestru Cooveeyaw (Gwenn's pronunciation of Couvillon), I canna' reason wi' her. Per'aps ye can get through to her."
Louis raised his eyes at the girl. So _that_ was it. "Anwyn...You see, when people say they won't tell you things, usually they're just afraid that you'll discover something important about them, something they're ashamed of or something they think will give you some kind of power over them. And...well, sometimes you really won't understand unless you _live_ it." He sighed and went on "But Kay is not the kind of person who sends people away, quite the opposite, it seems."
Gwenn rolled his eyes and sighed. What was Louis going on about? There wasn't anything shameful about marriage arrangements, but it was hardly a proper matter for discussion in public with family or very close friends, much less strangers.
"He doesn't like me", Anwyn complained to Louis indignantly, indicating Gwenn, "so maybe you two will have a better time WITHOUT me. If I'd wanted to be mostly ignored and picked on, I could have just STAYED HOME !".
Louis smiled slightly. "I wouldn't say he doesn't like you. Perhaps you haven't even had enough time to know each other better and then decide if you like each other or not - considering that most of the time you _are_ together you are arguing about anything and everything that you'll never agree upon, considering that you were raised in very different cultures."
Louis looked in Anwyn's eyes and grinned. "Now, please don't leave now, it'd be a waste of delicious food!"