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Frodides gave Modtryth a long look. "Wrong? Of course not! Stop fretting, girl."
Modtryth winced. She, a married woman and a mother, was still sometimes called a girl by the old cook. She knew she should not mind for Frodides was her friend and meant nothing bad at it and she had been called so many so ugly names before... "I was just wondering," she replied. Frodides gave her another long look. Modtryth did not venture to guess what the old woman was thinking about. A strange, slightly uncomfortable silence fell.
Just at that moment there was a tremendous applause and cheering. Modtryth glanced at Frodides and smiled. "Come, let's go and see who has won the quarterstaff fights - surely you can leave your foods for a while?" Frodides gave her cookings a thoughtful look. "Come on!" Modtryth pressured, now grinning. "Oh, alright then, you win, but just a short while. It would be a disaster to ruin the meal for such a great day as this!" They rushed away, Frodides still sighing and shaking her head.
When they arrived where the others were, everybody had suddenly fallen silent. They could hear Lord Eodwine's voice: "Lady Saeryn, I have something to ask you." The two women exchanged glances. "Good timing, my friend - now it comes," Frodides whispered, and when Eodwine proposed, they cheered with everybody else. And they cheered more when Saeryn agreed, and even more when Eodwine shouted his love to the world.
"No need to get emotional," Frodides told Modtryth, who was, despite herself, actually wiping her eyes to her sleeve. Modtryth smiled at the older woman and she could swear her eyes weren't dry either. She started laughing. Frodides started laughing too.
"What are you laughing at! Did they do something funny? I want to see!" Leođern sounded uncharacteristically impatient. Modtryth picked the little girl and lifted her to let her see better. She met Saeryn's beaming eyes when she looked around the ring of people.
"I choose Rowenna as my first lady!"
Modtryth cheered again with everyone else. It was a fair choice, forcing Rowenna to aknowledge her place in the household and forcing others to acknowledge her. When hugging Saeryn, she did not seem so happy after all. Well, not my business, Modtryth thought, and simultaneously, Where is Cnebba?
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