Carol
Xavier de Delekou
Drawing room, Provincial Delekou

Xavier chuckled at his wifes greeting and nodded to Lady Thèvenet as she thanked him. "Of -" His wife interrupted, speaking for him and he simply quieted, smiling as he let her take over. 

"I will meet with you first thing in the morning, Lady Thèvenet. Until then, please make yourself comfortable." He made a mental note to check his schedule when they returned to their rooms that night. Stepping aside, Xavier let Lady Thèvenet pass, letting out a quiet sigh of relief when the door shut. His eyes wandered over to his wife and he laughed as she beckoned him over. 

"Scared her away, did you?" He asked with a teasing tone, taking the cupcake with a grin that was amusingly similar to the one Candela wore. "It must have been horrifically boring - the things you both talked about - if you had time to create such beautiful art." He said, taking the cupcake and sticking a finger into the frosting before quickly swiping it on her nose and jumping up from the couch before she could retaliate.
Erin
Candela de Delekou
Drawing room, Provincial Delekou

Candela grabbed his sleeve before he could make his escape. She tried to frown at him, but her mouth wavered into a smile despite her best efforts. It was hard to act serious when there was a glob of frosting on your nose.

"I did no such thing as scare her away!" She said with her mock frown as she stood up, moving her hand from his sleeve to putting both arms behind his neck. She stared up at him, smiling now as she swayed him side to side. "And as a matter of fact, we talked about very interesting things. Like algae and poppies, and the amount of frog eggs I scooped out..."

She saw the look Xavier was giving her, and processed what she had just said. Her grey eyes widened as she looked up at her husband., her smile vanishing. "Oh shiiiitt, did I actually scare her away? Oh no." Her mouth formed into a line as she leaned her head to look at the closed door, her expression flat. "Weeellllll sard me, then."

Maybe that was why Jasmine wanted to leave, or why she had gotten so pale. Candela let out a sad sigh. Hopefully Jasmine didn't dislike her too much.

"Well... Hrm." She squinted at him. "You might have a point with me scaring her away, but it wasn't very nice of you to point out. I would rather have stayed oblivious, thank you very much," She told him, using her arms around his neck to pull his face closer to hers. Her voice lowered. "And you ruined my beautiful cupcake that I created in your likeness. It captured you perfectly."

She untangled one of her arms from his neck to caress his face, as if she were going to kiss him. Then suddenly, she instead swiped the frosting from her nose and smeared it over his mouth.
Carol
Xavier de Delekou
Drawing room, Provincial Delekou

Xavier let Candela talk, quietly amused by the events that transpired before his arrival. His arms held her to him closely as she continued, chuckling against her lips as she leaned close. 

"Del!" He laughed with indignation as she smeared the frosting over his mouth. Xavier had no intention of letting her get away with it and tightened his grasp around her waist, pulling her close and kissing her, transferring the frosting from his lips to her own. Pulling back, he smiled and licked his own lips. 

"You are making a mess." He said pointedly, gesturing at the frosting on their clothes, attempting to sound serious. "What are people going to think when the see our clothes covered in frosting?" The smile, however, was a dead giveaway that he was teasing.
Erin
Candela de Delekou
Drawing room, Provincial Delekou

Candela bit her still-frosted lip, holding back the rather uncouth comment that had popped in her mind. Though she did let out an amused chuckle at the thought of Xavier's face if she was to tell him what she had thought of, and suddenly she was thrown into a small fit of giggles.

Catching her breath, she steered him over to the sofa to sit down next to her, her arms still around his neck. "I thought you would be more worried about my face," She said, gesturing to her smeared appearance. Frosting was covering her nose as well as around her mouth. She laughed again. "I'm sure I look like a failed circus clown."

A small dollop of frosting that she had landed on him when she did her counter-attack caught her eye. "Oop, you got some on your jaw," She murmured as she leaned closer. "I'll get it." Instead of wiping it off, or kissing it off, she decided to full-on lick from the corner of his jaw to his ear before erupting into giggles again.
Carol
Xavier de Delekou
Drawing room, Provincial Delekou

Her fit of giggles caught him off guard and he looked at her utterly confused. Glancing around the room, he tried to find the wine bottle to see how much he could attribute her behavior to it. 

"A delicious failed circus clown." He countered with a chuckle. He leaned forward to let her pluck off the icing and pulled back with in shock as she licked him. "Del, I think you've had far too much to drink." He said, glancing around for some water. "How much wine did you have?"
Erin
Candela de Delekou
Drawing room, Provincial Delekou

"Why thank you. I believe that's the nicest compliment I've ever received. And a good bit of wine," She said with a grin. "Don't worry about it. I feel very nice, thank you."

She lowered her arms to take his hands in hers, her smile faltering a little at seeing some of the concern in his eyes. "You know, speaking of worry... I was worried about you today. With all of the stress and pressure put on you, with the crops and now the pilgrimage... I can only imagine what you must be feeling." She gave his hands a squeeze, her eyes meeting his. "I wish I could do something for you, to help you."

Candela sat up a bit straighter, a pleading look in her eyes. Perhaps he would think of something that didn't cross her mind. "*Is* There something I could do?"
Carol
Xavier de Delekou
Drawing room, Provincial Delekou

The sudden change in disposition did little to keep his stomach settled and Xavier fought to quash the nausea at the mention of the pilgrimige. Meeting her eyes, he gently squeezed her hands in return. "Del, you help me by being here and that is the most I can ask for." Standing up, he gently pulled her up with him, wiping away the remnents of frosting that coated her lips. 

"Tonight is not the time to discuss this. Come, let's go to sleep and we can revisit it when we are both in our proper minds." He chuckled, kissing her gently before pulling back and waiting for her answer. 

Inside, his mind was screaming. How does one cope with sending thousands to their death? How could she be calm about it? How could anyone carry out such a cruel punishment? His questions would be answered soon enough after he fulfilled his duties as Lord of Delekou. Xavier hoped it wouldn't destroy him.
Erin
Candela de Delekou
Drawing room, Provincial Delekou

All previous joviality had dimmed as she was reminded of reality. The pilgrimage was a horrible, horrible thing. But it was necessary: Xolile had spoken through the Circle, and if it was not done, then countless others would die by the Plague. How she wished things were different. How she wished there was some other recompense besides blood. But there was no other way, and they now had their orders.

Candela felt a weight of sadness at his answer, and she let herself be pulled up. She didn't like just standing by while Xavier had to handle the difficult things. He loved his people. To execute such an order would be terrible for anyone, but with such a loving heart as Xavier, it must be agonizing. To not be able to help him in some way, in such an important matter, made her feel as though she was useless. And being useless was one of the things Candela hated most.

She looked down at her husbands shoes, before he carefully tilted her head up to wipe off the remaining sugar coating her lips. After he kissed her and suggested they go to bed, Candela reached out and pulled out her frog hairstick, letting her long locks fall down freely. "Okay," She said sadly as she hugged him, not realizing she was smudging a small bit of frosting from her nose onto his shirt.

"I wish things were different, Xavier," She whispered. "I wish that people didn't make Xolile so angry. I wish that he didn't want us to do all of this."
Carol
Xavier de Delekou
Drawing room, Provincial Delekou

Xavier returned his wife's affection, arms resting around her. "But they aren't, Del." He whispered into her hair, eyes gazing at the wall unfocused. His tone hardened reflexively as he continued. "Xolile's will comes before all. Once the pilgrimige is complete Araedia will return to its former splendor." His eyes closed, but instead of giving him a moment of solace the faces of men, women, and children he knew haunted him, begging for mercy. Barely holding back tears he kissed the top of her head and let it rest there for a few moments as he blinked away the part of his soul that had come through. 

"Come on." He began, pushing her back and taking her hand. "It's been a long day and we," He beckoned to their outfits smiling, "Need to clean up."