One Girl in All the World

Cathal looked around the house one last time. Everything was in its place, and in more or less a resemblance of a clean state. He smiled. It had taken him a while to get everything like this, and he was proud, both of how it looked and of the fact that he had done it of his own volition. Then again, it wasn't like he had much else to do while Velle was working. Best to make himself useful and busy rather than sit around moping.

"Where are you?" came a shout from further back in the house.

Cathal jumped a little. She'd come in a different way. It shouldn't surprise him by this point, but he still found himself wondering what new method she would find to get inside.

"In here," he called out.

The sound of her footsteps reached him before she did. They thudded along like a herd of galloping buffalo, stopping only when she stood behind him. She grew quiet them, very quiet. Cathal didn't have to turn around to know that she had noticed something, and he didn't have to ask to know that it was the state of the house that she was noticing. This became more evident when she began to walk around the room, examining everything with a care he'd not really noticed before.

"What is it?" he asked.

She looked over at him. "Are you going to play that coy 'whatever are you looking at?' game?" she asked. "Because I won't have it."

He had to chuckle a little. Her bluntness was something he had managed to get used to. "I was bored, didn't see much else to do," he said.

She nodded, looking back to some of the odd curios that were arrayed around the room, conquests from her work. "You moved some things around."

"They look better like this."

She offered no comment to that, but neither did she move them back to how she had them before. She merely kept looking around, examining the full extent of Cathal's handiwork. At last she walked back over to him.

"You did good," she said.

He couldn't help but give a big smile when she said this. "Really?"

She chuckled at his exuberance. "Yes, really," she said. "If I didn't like it I'd be making you put it back. And maybe yelling."

"Probably," Cathal said.

"Okay yeah, probably. But still. Good job." She chuckled a little. "Just didn't expect it is all."

Cathal chuckled as well. "I didn't expect to be doing it, either," he said. "I mean, back at home this was stuff my mom always did, and..."

At this Velle burst out laughing. She kept it up for a good long while, leaving Cathal somewhat puzzled. She found many things funny, but quite a few of them often sailed over his head. He wondered if this might be the case here.

She noticed his expression at last. "You're my wife," she said with a giggle. "Like, I'm going out and getting us money and you're here cleaning. You're like a wife."

This got Cathal a little unsure. He turned away, not sure of how to take it. "Well, I mean, I wasn't trying to..."

He was quieted by Velle pulling him around and giving him quite the unexpected kiss. It wasn't long, but it lasted enough time for him to wonder just what she was up to this time.

"The place has always needed some work," Velle said to him. "And, heck, I'm not the best cook in the world."

Cathal wasn't quite sure what she was getting at. "What does that mean?"

Velle rolled her eyes. "We both like spoiling each other, Cathal. And I've seen the way you gawk at me sometimes. Think of it! The Black Shrike, the terror of the money purses, getting gawked at in her own home! This can't do."

"I... I'm not sure..."

"So," Velle continued, cutting him off, "you are now no longer a guest here. You live here."

Cathal paused. "How is that any different than before?"

Velle sighed in frustration. "I'm saying I like you, silly. I'm saying if someone marched in here and said 'One of these trinkets or Cathal' I'd say 'I'll keep Cathal cause he cooks and cleans and I find him pretty adorable'."

"But, I thought you didn't like marriage?"

"You thought right! That's why we're not getting married. We don't need to. Do you really want to get married?"

"Well, no..."

"Good." Velle put her hand behind Cathal's head. "What the Black Shrike is saying is that she wants you, insecurities and all. And the Black Shrike doesn't let things stand between her and what she wants. Can you understand that?"

Cathal took a deep breath, putting it all together in his head. She was offering him the world. True, there might be some out there with more to offer, more job stability, less in the way of potentially life threatening excitement. But, how could he want all that over Velle? Was this love? He knew she'd laugh at the word, never say it herself even if she might feel it. This little display right here might be as close as she got to saying that she loved him. How could he throw it away?

"Yeah," he said, slowly smiling. "Yeah, I can understand that."