In a flash of a moppish head of hair in silver and gold, Amon had bounded to her, and she lifted the boy in her arms, swinging him with a bright laugh of joy.  The child giggled as he clung to her with arms and legs, and Aurora pretended to moan and wobble from his weight.  "Gonna fall, Amon, you're so heavy!"<br/><br/>"Am not, am not!  Weakling!" he taunted her.  "Ride me!"<br/><br/>Aurora bounced a bit, dislodging the boy who fell, landing with a bounce to his feet and hugging her again.  Aurora looked at the Baroness, smiling, her eyes telling a story to the haughty woman that, try as she might, Amon would never cheer so to see<em>her</em>come through the door.<br/><br/>"If indeed at all, for rumor had reached even me, who deigns not to listen to scurrilous talk, that we might find a husband waiting for me in matching livery with the peace treaty presented to father."<em>Your doing?</em>, Aurora mused.  "But there are some things we cannot share with each other at present, our much beloved friend and our father's true companion, as they concern matters. . ." she trailed off, looked at the boy in her arms, and shrugged.