Captain of the Guard: Is and Isn’t

That Ro had more than one princess pursuing him was not surprising. That one was more direct in her approach indicated that Autumn wasn’t one to think about the consequences of her actions. This was almost certainly a byproduct of being protected from almost all of the consequences of her actions in life. People protected for their mistakes, never learn from them. If Autumn and Hilenia found out about each other, Cedric wasn’t sure how that would turn out, other than it was likely to be the sort of unpleasantness that he didn’t want to be around to see.

Some people enjoyed the spectacle of to highborn women having a row, but such things had a tendency to pull in other combatants and Cedric, despite being a soldier, preferred avoiding unnecessary conflict.

It was his intention to avoid that event if at all possible, though he suspected that whatever god was enjoying the mischief in his life, would make sure he was right in the center of any difficulty.

“Can you tell who is going to be the biggest problem?”

“No,” Marious considered it for a moment, “But I can say who isn’t attracted to her.”

“Though a perceptive man already knows the answer.” Pookie interjected.

“Some men are better at hiding things than others.” Cedric answered “alright, Marious, let’s start with that.”

“Vul isn’t, nor Alstone, although I confess he is hard to read.” Marious answered.

“Why?”

Pookie considered Cedric for a moment, Marious glanced at Emile before answering. His words were slow and careful. “Alstone’s scents are . . . unusual.”

“How?”

Marious tilted his head and considered. “There are layers of, for lack of a better word, smells to him.”

“Probably all the sausage and cheese I had with breakfast.” Cedric turned to see Alstone standing there looking pleased with himself.

Alstone placed both hands on his belly and rubbed it appreciatively. “You’re conversation seemed much more interesting then the speech that poor deluded boy was giving.”