While the family who raised you could never be replaced by anyone else, Irene found warmth being surrounded by her brothers in both knighthoods. The amount of alcohol she consumed so far also helped her situation bit by bit.
The room was warm and getting warmer with each drink and each bit of food consumed. The Duke's chefs had given the knighthood the best "Welcome Home" by cooking all the Chemoian favorites from fish, to boar, to wild fowl, a few dishes of carrots and potatoes, and pastries and bread that excited Irene the most. However, she recalled all the lectures by her father and mother that meat was what was required to restore her energy fully and continue on with the high energy tasks she liked to get up to.
Each laugh and cheer, she couldn't help peeking at the Commander and wondering if it was all a facade after what she had seen in his drawer. While she was drinking because of loneliness, was he drinking to get rid of his feelings?
