Nicci smiled at Vince, he was such a gentleman, the way he took to his feet and waited until she seated herself.  Her mother would have loved him she thought, she had old fashioned values and had struggled to maintain them in the hardship of their lives together but she had taught Nicci the way she should behave. Vince's mother must have instilled it into him too and perhaps his father too she thought.<br/><br/>Listening to Marcus Nicci thought they really did have such very different backgrounds, and it was amazing that their paths had led them all here.  She could see a picture in her mind of an organic pattern she longed to paint, it's tortuous winding path coming together in a rush of textures ironing out to a single thread. She popped another raspberry in her mouth and closed her eyes for a moment feeling the detonation of favour add to the feelings of colour and light in her head.<br/><br/>She opened them as she heard them all say they were ready to move to the lounge straight away.  Looking down at her almost untouched bowl she smiled wryly to herself, it was probably a good thing she didn't  eat it, so she too started to get up, dabbing her mouth with her napkin and laying beside her plate.<br/><br/>“I think I spotted a drinks tray with decanters in the great hall Bo, where Angus was doing the champagne earlier, you could always nip in there and grab a glass to bring with you.”  Nicci said smiling at Bo briefly as he too rode to his feet.<br/><br/>Her eyes going down to scan the table with all its dishes and the detritus of their meal, she thought is would probably be quite a while before she was spoiled like this and had no clearing up to do.  Looking after them all was going to be a full time job in itself, and she thought perhaps that was a good thing, idle hands as her mother would have said are what the devil finds work for. Or, in this case, having to work together would definitely keep her mind from over analysing and making problems where there were no-one.