As a little girl when her cousins dreamed of princes that they’d marry, they’d asked Evangelina what sort of prince she was going to marry. The tiny Evangelina had very bluntly answered that she’d not wanted a prince. She wanted someone to raise horses with and hold her hand when they walked together. As she’d grown, she’d developed a bit more perception. She still wanted someone to raise horses with, but she wanted someone who didn’t just hold her hand but held her together. She’d found that with Gavriil. He’d managed to ground her like that gnarled oak that they met at to ride together. Since their relationship had developed, she’d felt more centered.

She loved her family deeply but there was something missing from them that she’d found with the Dimitrou family. They weren’t just loyal to one another but their lives were intertwined with one another. They weren’t just close but they were a part of one another. It was a novelty to the Leventi. Her family was close but they all lived their own lives that were connected but separate. She desperately wanted to be a part of that, not just an outsider. Evangelina craved being fully and deeply immersed in Gavriil’s family, however awkward breaking the ice was going to be.

Lord Iason was in Athenia but Lady Dorothea and Lady Alexa were here. Honestly, she wasn’t sure how to move forward with Iason and Dorothea… She'd grown up knowing that they were older than her and there was a certain amount of respect in that but the roles were shifting between them with her engagement to their father. Had she been in their place, especially Iason and Dorothea’s since they’d known their mother, Evangelina was deeply concerned that there would be some awkwardness. She had no intention of trying to step into the role of mother but she didn’t intend to spend the rest of her years walking on eggshells around them.

Gavriil. Bless his heart. Had tried to give her a lesson in archery. It’d ended with a rather nasty bruise on her wrist from the string’s backlash. Her forte was most definitely in horses, that was what she brought to the table to offer her new family. Not only had she grown up with the Leventi horses, but she’d handled her father’s ledgers, sales, and the starting of the young stock up until this past year when her uncle had thought it was time to be rid of her. She knew the market… she had a talent at matching the right horse with the right person and happy buyers would come back to buy more horses. But, she wanted to fit in with the Dimitrou family and one thing that they all had in common was their skill with a bow and hunting.

She’d hoped asking the eldest daughter for some tips might be a way to break the ice and form some sort of… hmm… camaraderie?

Finding her way to the archery range, she slowed a little to watch Lady Dorothea practicing. The look on her face, the softness… the relaxation… and yet, the concentration. She smiled softly, Lady Dorothea got from her archery the same feelings the pint-sized Leventi got from riding. Slowly, she stepped up to the Dimitrou daughter.

‘Good Afternoon.’ Evangelina returned the smile and glanced around, ‘Welcome to our archery range. I’m not sure if you’ve been here before…?’

“Hello,” Pulling her dark eyes back Dorothea’s blue eyes that seemed a lighter shade then her father’s. “I believe your father and I rode past it a few weeks ago but we didn’t actually stop.” Taking a deep breath, “I’d hoped this wasn’t going to be too awkward, but I am not sure how to make it… not awkward.” The crinkles at the corners of her eyes crinkled as she gave a little nervous laugh. She fell silent for a moment and then offered softly, “Thank you for offering to help me. Your father was going to but...” Her hand gently reached out to rub her wrist without thinking. “He tried.” She laughed softly again.

Was it the way Dorothea walked, or maybe the way she spoke, but Evangelina had the oddest feeling she was staring at Gavriil but not staring at him at the same time. There were things that clearly must have been from Sybil there. The darker hair, her lighter eyes, the full curve of her lips had to have been Sybil. But the tilt of her chin and the short dismissive speech pattern that focused on efficiency rather than flowing out charming chatter, that was all her father in her.

‘It’s only awkward if we spend our time worrying about it.’ She blinked herself out of the moment of revelry and smiled earnestly at Dorothea again. Not that she believed that for a moment. Awkward things were still awkward whether we worried or didn’t worry about them. They were what they were. But she did agree, to a point that you just had to pick up and carry on regardless of how awkward it was. ‘I’m only sorry that we haven’t been able to get to know each other better soon. Though I can understand my father wanting to keep you to himself.'

Her eyebrows rose a little but her smile widened at the girl’s frankness. Swallowing, she felt the blood coloring her face a little and she shifted uncomfortably entirely uncertain just how much Gavriil’s middle child knew about her relationship with her father. Had she heard the servants talk about the occasional strange hours that she came and left in various disarrays? Those thoughts hadn’t quite occurred to her when she was doing them… Just how much did Dorothea know about their relationship?

She blinked a couple more times and spoke about Gavriil not being a patient teacher. Anything to shift the focus off of the depth of the relationship between Dorothea’s father and herself. ‘Ah, my father is a patient teacher in many subjects, but archery is one in which he never had much practiced. I surpassed him in skill some time ago.’ This had Evangelina tilting her head a little, she could respect the honesty but it was a perfect example of how different the two of them had been raised. Had she ever attempted to brag about her skill over Fotios’ or her fathers… or even over Georgios, she’d have quickly gotten a reminder of her place in life. It didn’t matter how special she was, she was nothing compared to a male heir. That was the long and the short of it. Her value was no more than that of a broodmare. She was to be pretty. Pretty to look at. A pretty disposition. A pretty ride. And most importantly a pretty pedigree on paper. And she failed at most of those things most of the time.

Her moment of thought had caused her to shift and jolt back to the conversation at hand, ‘I would be happy to help in exchange for getting to know you better. First, I don’t prefer pleasantries,’ Evangelina’s dark eyes sparkled with amusement, so much like her father…. ‘So Dorothea is just fine--- Don’t listen to Iason when he insists you call me Dodo. That’s his nickname for me. I hope we can be casual around each other.’

Dodo? Her lips curved again into another smile and she bent her head. Why didn’t her family have any cute nicknames for one another? Even her brother’s nickname for her was simply, ‘E’. A pang like a fist tightening around her chest. This was what she wanted from her life. Goofy nicknames, honesty… she wanted people who would be a balm to her soul.

After a moment she looked up from beneath her lashes to meet Gavriil’s daughter’s eyes and inhaled before she spoke, “I would have been happy to get to know you better with or without the lesson.” She knew her cousin Melina was close with Dorothea… that spoke quite highly of her in Evangelina’s eyes because Melina… for whatever Fotios’ flaws were… she was a good seed.

“Also, I don’t particularly care for pleasantries either nor do I really like being formally called Evangelina… Makes me think I’m about to get into trouble, but most of my family and my friends just call me Evie… although my brother’s nickname is not nearly as adorable as your brother’s nickname for you.” The corner of her smile lifted, and her gaze softened as she spoke of her own brother. “When he was little, he couldn’t pronounce my name so they tried to get him to say Evie but it was still too much of a mouth full for him so it got shortened even more to just… E.”

She bit her lip and looked off over the space past Dorothea as her mind drifted to Tino. Lately, her thoughts hadn’t been on him that much… Even if all of this had started out doing it for him. When had she gotten so busy with her own life that she’d lost touch of why she was doing it in the first place. Looking back to Dorothea, she shifted, “Are the three of you as close as you appear?”

Releasing a breath, Evangelina hadn’t realized she’d been holding until Dorothea agreed with a smile to call her simply Evie. Her own smile grew at the topic of her brother and she bobbed her head causing one of her chestnut curls to fall down near her face for the briefest of moments before it was swiped up and behind her ear with an efficient and unconscious brush of her hand.

Dorothea was right, it wasn’t her brother’s fault that it wasn’t the most clever of names. He had the excuse of being quite a few years younger than herself. She listened, her gaze drifting off of Gavriil’s daughter and staring off into the distance of the range. What would it have been like to have an older brother? Would he have been protective of her? Would she have been a different person? At the question of her brother’s age, her dark eyes drifted back to Dorothea and she smiled, “He’s fourteen now. There are almost seven years between us.” A small sigh escaped, she missed seeming him daily, she missed their rides around the rolling green landscape of Acharist. “It’s hard to believe he’s already a young man and within a few years he’ll be doing young man things.”

She cast her gaze down, it was only by a pure miracle that he’d not sailed off for Egypt with so many of the men. There were boys younger than Konstantinos that had gone. She was fairly certain the Tino going off to Egypt with Achilleas was the only thing that could unite her mother with her uncle Fotios. They’d been bickering all of her life but with the threat that Tino might be put in danger, that the danger of the Leventi name could be put into danger… her mother and her uncle had agreed. Tino was not going to Egypt… not now, and probably not ever.

Giving Dorothea a moment to consider quietly, she was struck again with the similarity of father and daughter. The way they stood or the tilt of their head, she’d have known that Dorothea was Gavriil’s daughter even if she’d never met her. She couldn’t remember Iason that well, he’d been quite a bit older than her… Oh goodness… that makes Gavriil and I sound so much worse. But she wondered if she’d see the same things in him that she saw in his father. After a moment, Dorothea answered and she felt herself being pulled into the conversation with her usual curiosity.

‘Yes… Though I suppose as with all things, as times change, so does the way we fit with each other. Alexa is quickly becoming a young woman and I confess my own role in her life has always been a bit muddy. Am I mother, sister, friend? These days, sister seems to be the best fit and that means far more bickering than when I was taking care of her.’ Evangelina’s gaze darkened slightly and she shifted her weight onto her heels. What did that mean for her and Alexa and her and Dorothea? Where and what exactly would her roll in this be? She might have been younger than both of the girls but there was already life experience there that neither Dorothea or Alexa had. Evie, for what it was worth, was about to know what it was like to be a married woman.

‘Iason and I have always been closest, but his life lives beyond these lands for now, possibly forever. We are all changing.’ Dorothea had continued, and she felt her gaze drift back once more to the range and stare off in it for a minute. She was quietly soaking up all of that information. Things were changing, she’d reminisced such facts on her own off and on for the last few months and it was… good to hear someone else who realized it and could feel the way the ground was shifting under their feet.

“Whatever your roll has been with Alexa, you and your father have done a wonderful job with her…” Her smile became a bit wry, “Sometimes, I think it’s easier not to try and label things.” Evie’s voice was soft, almost wistful as she admitted that before she realized how her mind had drifted again to roles and labels and how they’d affected her life. She jerked and offered another smile to Dorothea, “Sometimes, things just are what they are. I don’t think you were ever just one of those things at a time. If I were guessing, I would say you were and still are all of those things to Alexa.” Studying Gavriil’s daughter for a moment, she continued, “I don’t think that very often things are as neatly wrapped up in life. I know from my own experience, it feels like things are more shades of grey rather than black or white.”

At the question of her and her brother, she blinked and the corner of her eyes crinkled and she looked away.  "Yes." It was the short and the long answer to that question.  They were definitely close.  So close in fact, that this whole marriage to Gavriil had been born with the idea of protecting him.  She needed leverage.  She'd needed to stay in Taengea.  She needed to marry a Taengean man... choices were a bit sparse.  Truly there seemed to have really only been Gavriil and Nikos and of the two, it didn't seem like much choice.  Gavriil was everything Nikos was not.  Gavriil could be an a partner, and ally to help her make sure that her brother was not led astray by her uncle.

Shifting, she tilted her head and sighed softly.  "I miss him very much.  We use to ride early every morning in Acharist before my uncle brought me to the city."

She imagined it was a very similar feeling to how Dorothea must feel about Iason being gone.  Evangelina wondered idly what would Dorothea have done if she'd been in Evangelina's place.  Would she have married a stranger who was older than her father in order to protect her brother?  Hmmm? 

"But that seems almost like another lifetime ago now," She murmured.

All this talk of her brother and her family in Acharist induced a look of soft melancholy to cloud her features. Evangelina was the country cousin of the Leventis. She loved both Fotios daughters and Georgios daughters but her upbringing was purely unique in that unlike the two of them she hadn’t spent as much time in Vasiliadon as she had the estate. No. The vast majority of Evangelina and her brother’s time were spent in the idyllic gentle rolling hills of Acharist. Giving Dorothea a once-over, Evangelina had a sneaking suspicion that even Gavriil’s eldest daughter had spent more time in the capital than she had.

Ever astute like her father, Dorothea hit the peg on the head of one of Evangelina’s deepest rooted fears. Licking her lips she shook off that thought as a faint smile was produced. One of the things she was coming to understand about the Dimitrou family was that they were innately different than her own. Gavriil, although nothing would please him more than to see all of his children settled and happy, he was not actively forcing his desires upon his family. He didn’t manipulate them by telling them that he was doing what was best for the family. There were no ulterior motives at work… no plays for power or control and he did not tamper with his children’s happiness so that he could gain political ground. She’d figured all of that out within a few minutes of conversation with Gavriil. He was no Fotios.

Her brother on the other hand was at such a young and shapeable age, and her father… Bless his heart had a good heart underneath everything but wasn’t the strongest of role models for her brother. That really only left her uncles as role models, and while Georgios was a loveable sort neither Konstanos nor Fotios would stand for any interference from Georgios. There was exactly one person outside of herself that refused to be bullied by the head of the Leventi family and that was her mother. That was undoubtedly the reason Evangelina refused to be crushed under her uncle’s authoritarian methods of control. It hadn’t been but maybe her second meeting with Gavriil that she’d all but begged him to keep an eye out for her brother if the Gods and her uncle willed it that she would be married away from Taengea.

Evangelina looked down at her hands and smiled again. Gavriil had declined and in that moment had set her on the path to marry a Taengean so that she could in fact keep an eye on her brother and maniacal uncle. Her brother might have been related to her but he was also related to that man… and there was a growing despondency with him to behave like he was related to Evangelina in favor of her uncle’s carefully groomed plans to create an easily pliable pawn.

“There is a good heart in him,” Evangelina finally murmured after a long moment. “But I worry that the transition from boy to man won’t be as easy for him as should be.” Tilting her head a little she looked to Dorothea and wondered if Gavriil’s daughter knew of what she meant. While astute like their father, Evangelina suspected that in many ways the Dimitrou children were spared the ways of the world by comparison to the Leventi brood.

The conversation drifted to the youngest of Gavriil’s brood and Evangelina smiled again earnestly when it appeared that she and Dorothea were on the same page.

“Oh, I wouldn’t worry about your sister too much. I haven’t met a Dimitrou yet that could not make the most of the moment that was in front of them.” Tilting her head, a cheekiness overtook her face, “You are a strong lot if ever I’ve seen one.”

Sliding her hands into the hidden pockets of the chiton she wore, she looked out at the archery range as Dorothea spoke of missing loved ones. At the mention of her brother always being welcome, her head came around and her eyes filled with emotion. Was there no end to the welcoming that the Dimitrous were giving her? She knew for a fact that her family would never be that approachable.

Her lips parted as the need filled her to express her… gratitude? But before she could say anything to make either of them feel any more emotional, Dorothea spoke up.

‘Would you, uh, care for a lesson?’

Blinking she looked back out to the archery range and smiled warmly and knowing if she’d said anything right then she’d have only made their relationship awkward. Taking a deep, slow breath hoping to calm her nerves she exhaled the simple one word answer, “Yes.” Before glancing back at Dorothea with an eager smile.