Expression

by Trisana McGraw

Author's Note: Written for the livejournal community tammydrabbles, prompt 18: facial expressions.

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Midwinter, 457 H.E. (Human Era)

"Hullo there, Buri."

Smiling, Buri turned toward Gareth the Younger. "Gary, hi. I . . ." She gestured helplessly with the piece of tack she was cleaning, but he managed to grasp her shoulders and kiss her on the cheek.

"How was your Midwinter?" she asked as she wiped the grime from the tack. "We didn't see you much."

A slight crease appeared between his brows. " 'We'?"

"Raoul and I," Buri answered, biting her tongue too late. Gary let her words pass without comment, however, responding, "Little Gareth had a cold, so Cythera and I have had our hands full for the last few days. I think that he caught it from playing with his cousins in the snow." He gazed around at the white powder that still clung to some rocks and tree branches and rubbed his hands together briskly. "I trust that you had a good holiday, though?"

Buri replaced the tack and leaned on the wall of the stable. "Yes, it was very nice." She wasn't trying to be terse, but she wasn't exactly sure what to say, either. Silly as it sounded, she wasn't used to conversing with Gary without a desk between them.

Gary extracted gloves from his cloak; his Adam's apple did a rapid up-and-down bob. "So, Raoul told me about the, ah . . ." He waved a hand in her direction. "Recent development with you two."

"He did, did he?" Buri responded with a raised eyebrow; she was a bit surprised, though of course he and Raoul were close friends. "Well, that's all right, since it's you." She pursed her lips. "But I would appreciate if you didn't pass on that information to anyone, especially with the eagle-like hearing of the palace gossips. I swear, they'd rival Daine." They shared a laugh, but Buri held his eyes for a moment longer so he that he understood she was serious.

Surprisingly, Gary's expression was even graver. "That's good, because . . . well, I wanted to say be careful. Not careful, I mean, I just – I don't want to see Raoul hurt. He's a good man, and he . . ." The lines in his face softened, and a touch of color not caused by the biting cold crept into his cheeks; his eyes, the color of which Buri had always considered to be "muddy," sharpened.

Buri tried not to frown as she sought to remember where she had seen this expression on Gary's face, and suddenly it came to her: At her and Thayet's – well, Thayet's – presentation twenty years prior, she had been standing in a circle with her newfound friends. They had been discussing their respective travels, and when Raoul spoke about the desert or something – she really hadn't been that interested – the other knight had had the same intent look on his face. That was what had caught her attention, though the others had been too engrossed in Raoul's story to take notice. The simultaneously alert yet gentle look in Gary's eyes had played on Buri's mind, at least until a young knight asked her to dance. She couldn't remember seeing that look in his eyes any time since then.

Some recognition must have shown on her face, because Gary hurried to fill the expanding silence: "He doesn't play fast and loose with people."

Buri could feel the tension weighing on the restrained words, but still she aimed for levity. "Funny, he said the same thing to me the first time we –" She suddenly found that she couldn't finish her sentence, but she wondered if by letting the words hang she made things worse.

Gary's features rippled and then contorted into a good-natured smile, and she knew that she had guessed right. "Well, good. I'm glad." He took a deep breath. "It was wonderful seeing you, Buri."

"You too," she said, accepting another kiss on the cheek. His boots crunched over the ice as he continued his walk to the palace. Buri stared at his receding figure until her horse whuffed impatiently and nudged her shoulder, once again claiming her attention.

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Spring, 458 H.E. (Human Era)

Buri could feel Raoul watching her, though she expected that his eyes were half-lidded, as hers were, due to the warmth of the night and the general weariness from long days traveling with the Progress. Still, she enjoyed their few nights of relaxation. Her head was pillowed on one of his broad arms, and her fingers brushed gently against his chest. Their breathing was the only sound save for the chirrup of crickets outside the tent.

She smiled at her lover's face, bathed in the dying glow of the lantern. Finally, she whispered, "I love you, Raoul."

In the soft, flickering orange light she saw his smile grow and a certain twinkle come into his dark eyes. "I love you too, Buri." He smoothed one hand over her bare hip, tugging her closer to kiss her, but her mind's eye was filled with the memory of the presentation ball. As Geoffrey had whirled her away, she had caught sight of that same twinkle in Raoul's eye; she had put it off to the amusing anecdote he had told about the Bazhir. Even that early into her arrival in Corus she knew about the big knight's famed bachelordom; she hadn't even given thought as to whom he might have been addressing.

The pieces fit together with a click.

She pulled away. "How long were you and Gary lovers?" she asked, pinning his eyes with hers.

The hand slid off her hip, but to his credit Raoul looked more resigned than surprised. "He told you, then?"

"No," she answered softly. "You just did."