Son of a slave

"You and Anne would be better off avoiding them," said Corrie, not looking up from his book. "No contact, no problems."

"That’s probably for the best, though I’m not sure how well that would work." There was a certain etiquette that had to be followed when meeting with other nobles, even if the parties involved were directly related to one another. To ignore the presence of two dukes and their sons would likely cause offence. "Well, there’s still a decent amount of time before they arrive, so I’ll give it some more thought towards the end of spring."

"Lucian’s sake," muttered Jaden, jumping up and patting down his backside. "This log is still so wet." Looking at Alistar, he said, "How long are you gonna watch us shiver before you get rid of all this moisture?"

"Oh yeah," said Rosa, who had been running her fingers through her ponytail in an absentminded manner similar to her less talkative sister. "You can use water magics too, can’t you? Please, Alistar, would you get rid of some of this wetness? I hate the cold."

"It’s pretty warm though?" said Woods, who was helping himself to his fourth fish.

Jaden smirked. "Maybe for a walrus like you. Unfortunately, the rest of us don’t have nine more layers of skin, so..." Looking at Alistar, he snapped his fingers in a coercive manner.

Alistar rolled his eyes and willed the water in the immediate vicinity to trickle away from the campfire area and into the murky currents of the Greyline, which seemed to have darkened in step with the overcast day.

"Never gets old seeing that." Jaden looked a little envious. "Wish I could do magic."

The others echoed his sentiment.