"I have a question for you," Hida waited until Edwina was left alone by well wishers, and Edwina looked down at her baby sister's serious expression. 
"What is it Pinky?" she used the name as a source of comfort to them both. 
"You're in love with him, but feel you cannot tell him," Edwina looked around in alarm but despite Hida's bluntness, she'd spoke only once no one could overhear, "would you tell him if you knew he loved you back?"
"I don't...it's not...Pinky you cannot just say these things," Edwina didn't often find herself unable to speak clearly. "I'm just a foolish little girl who has fantasies in her heart, but its nothing more than that. It can't be."
"Unrequited love," Hida sounded impossibly sad and mature for her baby sister's brief age. "To love someone you cannot be with, or whom cannot be with you, so instead you'll accept whatever version of love they can give you."
"Have you been reading the red covered books in the library again?" Edwina gave a scolding laugh, shying away from the melancholic feeling that somehow Hida knew from personal experience. 
"Blair wrote annotations in the one about an Ice King, but I didn't understand her shorthand," Hida gave her a smile, as if she'd never gotten serious before. 
"That's probably for the best, you're a little young for some of those acronyms," Edwina would have to find that 온라인카지노게임 in the library later, to confirm her hypothesis only of course. 
"I'm going to be a Knight, a Royal Guard, I don't think I'll ever get married," Hida didn't seem sad at the idea, but she was still young. "It's not in me to do or create the beautiful things that come so naturally to you, to have a love that can be everything the romances says it could be. And I know your heart is anything but foolish, its grand and generous and full, so if you want me to make a distraction so you can grab your Lord Daro's hand and run, I'm ready." 
Edwina wasn't often moved to obvious emotional displays, she left that up to Blair and Derbie, but she couldn't help grabbing Hida and hugging her tightly. "Oh Pinky, please don't make a scene for me. Could you imagine the scolding Alaric would give you?"
"He won't yell at me, at least not until the scar stops being so red," she pointed at her lace covered neck and Edwina managed not to flinch at the reminder. 
"No, thank you," she firmly settled the matter, "although I would like to thank Lord Daro and Count Korolenko for hosting this feast, I can do so despite the crowd of...guests."
She sounded so sure, so certain, but for all she tried to naturally, casually approach Lord Daro, somehow he was always moved away or a guest intercepted her. It felt almost like Lord Daro was avoiding her, except he looked frustrated at his brother's careful interference. Edwina could only ever meet his gaze across the room, saluting each other with wine glasses but never a direct conversation. And then they were all summoned to sit and feast, and Edwina had to applaud Count Korolenko's clever planning. As the one being presented for accolades, Edwina should be sitting at a place of honour, next to Lord Daro and his hosting family, only she found herself next to Count Korolenko and her brother Alaric; Lord Daro on the far side, beyond even his sisters. Outside of the collective greeting, she hadn't had an opportunity to get close to her former mentor, and even Edwina wasn't ignorant as to why the Count had seeded the guest list with so many eligible women. Her time with Lord Daro was over, and the Count wanted the youngest Korolenko focused back on his familial duties. 
"Are you enjoying the feast Lady Edwina?" Count Korolenko smiled, for all appearances the charming host. 
"Quite," she smiled politely, "the food is excellent and I appreciate that so many young, single Ladies are here to see the artworks I created under Lord Daro's tutelage." She lifted her wine glass to salute him." I may even end up selling some of the paintings because of the exposure your gallery has graciously provided."