Marriage is Murder

"You and I both know that James is the one responsible for murdering those three women at Rob's old potions lab. Not sure why Khaat was drawn there today, but she'd have been better if she hadn't had to see that.

"She always felt sorry for those women. They barely made minimum wage, and I think she felt responsible partly for that because Rob was getting stinking rich while they did the work and got almost nothing.

"If I know her, she's going to want to make sure they get decent burials and she's going to want to see if they have families that need provided for. But from what Marcus said, I don't know that there's much left of them to bury. If she wants to do a memorial of some sort, though, I'll certainly support her."

Then a new thought hit him. "I just happened to think. I have a four year old seer. I really, really don't want her to pick up on this sort of gruesome stuff. Not at her age. Might have to work on diverting Khaat's focus away from what she saw so that Abbey doesn't pick up on her mother's energies. That might be a very bad thing if we don't."

"Thank you," Brian said. "I'm sure that will help her feel better. I don't know who the potionsmaster is there now, but I can't imagine he treated them any better.

"The barbeque is a good idea. Perhaps Angus will consider doing his steaks. He does grill really good steaks. He has a way of grilling all kinds of things. I know he's been working on doing dessert on the grill too. Might be good for her to get outside instead of hibernating up in her room. And if its not good for her, it would be good for Marcus. He has to get a bit claustrophobic being up in that bedroom for months and months on end. He never acts like it bothers him, but its not healthy for either of them. Maybe a barbeque under the stars, by campfire or candlelight, would be a good change of pace." He got up tiredly. "I've got a long way to go to get back in shape," he sighed.

"Can we just walk?" Brian asked. "I don't think I need carried, but I don't think I'm running either." He started to walk back. "I'll ask Angus about the barbeque when we get back.

"I know I heard him saying something about a grilled dessert pizza. And something about grilled cake of some sort. I don't know. He's willing to try just about anything once."

When they got back to the house, Suki was pouring some sort of an icy cold drink from a pitcher into a pair of tall glasses that were filled with ice. She added a couple of paper thin slices of orange and lime to the rim of each of the two glasses and put them on a tray.

As the tray passed, Brian reached out and snatched one of the glasses and began drinking it. Suki scowled, irritated. She summoned the tray back.

"The estrogen potion in that glass will do you wonders," Robert teased Brian.

"What?" Brian asked blankly, looking into his glass.

"He's teasing you," Kate laughed. "There's nothing in it." Brian scowled at Robert. "Suki, that looks wonderful. Can you pour more of those, please?"

"Yes, Ma'am," Suki said. She poured another to add to the tray and sent two upstairs. She poured more for the others.

"Suki has made a lovely sort of fruit tea. Its made with peach and apricot and orange and lime and a few other things, in with some Darjeeling tea. It looks delicious," Kate said. "So far, Brian is the only one who has had a chance to taste it."

"Yep," Brian said, having been thirsty.

"That's it? That's the review we get of it?" Robert asked.

"For now, I think," Kate laughed.

"I have a few more--but I'm afraid Brian got the last of the estrogen potion," Suki teased. She poured more tea and passed it around.

"Just think of the beautiful silky hair you'll have, Brian," Robert laughed at him.

"Don't overdo it," Angus said. "I refuse to live with him if he gets moody once a month."

"Now you're pushing it," Brian said. "Oh, and did I tell you? You're in charge of cooking everything for dinner on the barbeque grill tonight."

"What? Tonight? Are you out of your mind?"

"No, I"m moody, remember?" Brian said pointedly. "That gives me full right to be impulsive. Grilling. Tonight."

Angus and Suki laughed. They headed for the kitchen. They both already had ideas.

"That's fine," Angus said. "But you'll find, out in the wood pile, at the north end of it, some of the wood is mesquite that I had sent from Colorado. If you'd put one half of the grill with mesquite and the other half with apple wood, that will give me some flexibility on what I can cook in it."

He was making a list on paper of ingredients he planned to use. Suki was looking over his wrist and with every item he wrote down, she was accio'ing it out of the pantry over his head to the kitchen island for prep, adding some of the basic ingredients that he had yet to mention.

"Brian didn't specify steaks," Angus teased. "I was thinking of tofu, actually."

"Tofu," Robert said slowly and sarcastically. "Great. Looking forward to it."