You slowly sip your soup from the silver spoon as you admire the pure white china bowl it was served in. The dinner set had been a present from your father to your mother for their tenth anniversary. The set was expensive but your mother insisted on using them instead of keeping them hiding away in some cupboard.

Thinking of hiding makes you think of the young smith who seems to be hiding from you. You haven’t seen them in weeks. Everytime you go you end up talking to their father, who seems nice enough, but you want to see the young smith themselves. You have tried changing what time of day you go but they are always nowhere to be seen when you arrive.

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“Rea, is everything all right?” your mother asks.

You realize that while you were lost in thought you had started to slurp your soup.

“Yeah, everything is fine.” Your response doesn’t sound very convincing.

“You seem to have a lot on your mind lately,” your mother continues, not giving much heed to your half hearted reply. “Your father and I think that maybe you have been stuck in the city for too long. Would you consider traveling with your uncle as he makes his rounds to the local estates? Afterall, you will one day have to serve as your sister’s representative in the same way your uncle serves your father.”

Her tone of voice indicated you only really had one choice.