[st john's lodge gardens] wallflowers. [tag; dash]

The leaves were slow to turn this year, he noticed as he leaned back on the park bench, sipping his coffee. A few were brown but most were green, a couple flecked with gold as they swayed in the breeze. Summer seemed to be fighting a losing battle as the cooler air crept in. The sky was a powdery blue and dotted with wispy white clouds as he crossed his legs at the knee as he busied himself with reading the back of his cup. Fair trade, organic and fully recyclable! it boasted and he frowned thoughtfully - that was probably why it cost £3.75, then.

Will tilted his head back to watch the leaves above, blinking in the weak sunlight. As always, he was early but he wasn't concerned. That was a personal problem, as though he thought being late was a crime on the same level as shoplifting or not picking up after your dog. Speaking of which, Dave was curled up at his feet, snoozing. He'd had a bath, a groom and a haircut in time for Arden's arrival.

This was their "secret" spot, this bench. They'd been coming here since they were small children. It was off the beaten track, a hidden gem, set somewhere deep in the much bigger Regent's Park. It was soft and quiet, full of roses and willows and a statue of a young woman carrying a goat. He didn't understand it, either.

Largely ignored by Londoners and tourists alike, the small grassy park was an escape. Bright and fragrant in summer, it was dark and moody in the autumn and he found it oddly comforting to be enveloped in greenery. As per the agreement the siblings had held for years, Will had half a bottle of prosecco and some dessert - cinnamon apple brownies - and  Arden had the task of grabbing lunch.

He trusted her implicitly. She brought with her some sort of spicy pita bread last time and he'd actually rather liked it. Shifting his coat, he reached down to affectionately stroke the Wolfhound's ears, who wagged his tail in response. It wasn't really a prosecco kind of lunch, he thought. There wasn't anything to celebrate that he could see. Things with Honey were not...good. He'd stewed on it for a fortnight before he decided he needed to get over himself and he'd written to her. But he'd played dirty.

Will had simply said that Dave missed her (which he did) and that he was sorry (which he was). It'd be an excuse to see her in person but it had backfired spectacularly. Honey had simply sent him a bag of dog treats and that was the last he'd heard from her. She couldn't have made it any clearer and that had been a few days ago now.  It'd be October soon and she'd be too busy with Halloween and then Christmas and living her best life. Will couldn't begrudge her that.

Suddenly, Dave looked up and sat, his tail wagging a hundred miles an hour as Arden emerged. Will was up and onto his feet, crossing the space in mere steps as he wrapped his arms around his sister and squeezed her affectionately. She smelled like their family home, like beeswax polish and lavender. It was silly, of course, neither of them had been home in years. Maybe he was just lonely.  He held onto her for perhaps a moment too long before his dog decided he'd been patient enough and gambolled over.

"Hiya," he said warmly, holding her at arm's length as he gave her a once over to make sure she was okay. Was she eating enough? Sleeping enough? Getting enough water? She was tanned and he was jealous. He looped an arm around her shoulder and pulled her into his side warmly as he walked her back to their bench. "You look well," he offered, pleased and relieved. "What's for lunch?" Will asked her, peering around for a bag.



@Arden Dasher

Her last research trip out into the Ionian sea had been for just over three weeks. She’d returned to her apartment in Germany two days ago, with a fresh tan (nice) and a shit load of data desperately in need of processing (less nice). Arden Dasher had never really considered herself an academic. She’d only taken three NEWTs at school – and one of them had been in divination, for Merlin’s sake – but these days, if she wasn’t out in the ocean somewhere, she was at her desk, writing.

Today was a little differen’t though. She’d cancelled their last lunch because she’d been too busy with work, but doing things like that always weighed on her. And from the sounds of things, Will’s life had been a little turbulent in the past few months. So, dressed in cotton dungarees and a sleeveless top, Arden took a lunchtime portkey to visit her brother.

Once in London, she apparated to the park; it didn’t take her long to find him. She raised a hand in a soft wave as she approached. “Hey, so I – ” Dash stopped talking, a laugh escaping her as she was swept up in a big Will-hug. The sound was halfway between delighted and surprised. Will pulled back and she raised her eyebrows as he gave her a once over. He’d always been the more affectionate one of her brothers – more affectionate than her parents, too. With her, at least. She smiled when he said she looked well; she was pleased to receive his approval even now, at twenty-six. “I am,” she said simply, nodding at his assessment. She slid out from under his arm as they approached their bench.

“How are you?” she asked, hazel eyes flicking his way with interest as she shrugged her backpack off of one shoulder and swung it around to her front. She fell into the seat casually, with her backpack in her lap. As she spoke, she pulled out a few different little food packages, then eventually two metal forks. “How’s work? How’s Mum?” She tacked that last one on there casually, as if she and Harriet hadn’t not-spoken since a brief conversation on her birthday in May.

“I was going to make something,” she told him, opening the packages methodically; inside were several different cold salads. From the looks of things, there was quite a variety; one with roasted potatoes, another with chickpeas and rocket. “But I ran out of time – this is all from a bakery near the Uni.” Dash pulled her legs up onto the bench so she could cross them, tucking her boots under her and facing him properly. From a paper bag she slid a couple of mini quiches, placing them on top of the bag they’d come in.

"Good," he commented briskly with a smile. Will was constantly worried about Arden, despite her being more than capable of looking after herself. Her job was intrinsically dangerous, even if she had the safety her books provided. But he was also worried about her "gift". He used the term loosely, simply because a present shouldn't cause someone so much grief and upset. He wanted to ask her how that had been but he could do that later.

Rather than respond straight away, he offered her a tired smile and looked away, suddenly seemingly interested in a small flock of blackbirds that had landed close by. Arden didn't need protecting but she had a lot going on and dumping his problems on her like he was her personal little black raincloud wasn't going to help anyone.

"I'm okay," Will answered her vaguely because that was what he was - okay. Not great, not terrible, just sort of sad and squishy in the middle. She knew about his break up that seemed like a lifetime ago but she didn't know about his secret hook ups with Honey because they were just that - secret. "Just a bit tired and focusing on Christmas," he added lightly, as though it wasn't the biggest time of the year to be making money.

"Mum's good," he told Arden as they sat down and he watched her pull out her little food packages. "Worried about us as usual," he smiled. "She mentioned she's wanting to book a holiday. Portugal, I think she said. I told her to bring me a little bottle of port back," he joked, tilting his head back to watch the clouds roll by lazily overhead.

"I've been chatting to a prospective author. She knows Elijah, she mentioned," Will added as he scratched his head absently. There was no doubt he was closer to Arden than his brother and while he was fine with it, he knew it shouldn't be that way. "She's wanting to write about the Battle of Hogwarts," he mentioned. While it wasn't exactly the upbeat and sparkly Christmad gift, he was willing to get right behind it.

"Work's good," Will clarified. "Clive was asking about you," he smiled at Arden as he mentioned his acquisitions manager. "His daughter's getting married around Halloween time. We've been invited." He would have sent her the invitation but decided against it, purely because he didn't think it'd get to her. "What do you say about being my date?" He grinned at her. "Drinks are on me."

Shifting in his seat, he turned to face Arden properly. "How are your studies? Made a prominent discovery yet? Oh wow," he cooed as his sister revealed the food and immediately picked up the chickpea salad with a laugh. "You didn't have to go through all this trouble," he said softly, instantly embarrassed by his brownies and his wine when she'd made such a wonderful effort.
Taking the fork from her, he quickly dug in and chewed, nodding as he did so. "It's really good," he informed Arden as he politely covered his mouth with the back of a hand.

Setting it aside, he held the bottle of prosecco out and away from them, remembering to run the bottle, not the cork as it exploded, sending the contents everywhere. As normal, he'd forgotten glasses so he decided to fill up his empty coffee cup and hold it out to Arden, deciding to take the bottle instead. "I bumped into Piper," he told her with a soft frown. It wasn't that he was disappointed to see her, quite the opposite, he just felt confused by the entire thing. Feelings he thought he'd forgotten had stirred and he'd had such a gorgeous night, it made him wonder why they'd broken up in the first place.

Taking a gulp of the prosecco, he scooped up some more salad and ate. Out of everyone, she'd be able to relate. She'd been through something similar with herself and Sindri. Will couldn't remember the last time he'd seen the man. Though fond of him, he trusted Arden's decision in the matter.

Arden tilted her head to the side as her brother glanced away. She tried to read his expression. “Okay,” she repeated, unconvinced but not one to push this sort of thing. They cared about each other, but they didn’t talk about everything, and Will had a right to keep things to himself if he wanted. That being said, She had always been sensitive to other people’s emotions, and she could sense something was a little off.

She nodded when he talked about their mother. Unlike Will, Dash had a somewhat strained relationship with Harriet; she’d always been closer to their dad. Still, she was glad to hear that she was doing well. She smiled as she set the food out.

“Oh?” She raised her eyebrows when he mentioned a writer wanting to write about the battle. How long after an event like that was a good time to write a book about it? Sometimes it didn’t feel like it had been that long ago at all. She glanced up at him. “And have you seen much of Eli?” she asked gently. Arden knew she got along better with both of her brothers than they did with each other, but they lived in the same city and she lived so far away. Despite being the youngest, she was always inclined to take care of others, even her big brothers.

“Wow, is she really?” she asked, raising her eyebrows. “I could have sworn she only just graduated... Sounds like a plan, though” she added with a smile. She made a mental note to get the date later so she could organise around it. She’d been so busy lately that keeping a calendar for at least a few months in advance was actually necessary – she felt like she was becoming her mother.

“Um,” she said, scratching the back of her neck while she thought. “Not really,” She picked up her own fork, smiling when he said the food was good. “Oh good,” she answered, stabbing a potato. She held it aloft for a moment as she considered his questions. “...I have some deadlines coming up not long after summer, so I’ve been doing a lot of writing. I’m applying for a grant for another project. Oh – I think one of my first years has a crush on me?” She laughed, then took a bite of her food.

Covering her mouth with her hand, she swallowed, then asked, “Oh really, and how was that?”

Chewing, Will shook his head. "Not much of him, no," he admitted with a sigh. "We write sometimes and always say we'll meet up soon but nothing ever comes of it," he explained with a smile. "We're stuck in a perpetual loop of "I'll see you soon!" but never do." He saw Arden more often and she lived in an entirely different country. Will loved his brother dearly but he didn't really understand him. It wasn't right, seeing Elijah a handful of times each year, not only when he lived on the other side of the river. "I'll see him soon," he assured her, also assuring himself in the process.

He saw Arden raise her eyebrows and he laughed mid-swig of his prosecco. In response, he pulled a face. "Love makes you do mad things," he said wisely, as though Arden was suddenly twelve years old again. "It'll be nice, though," he offered lightly. "Pumpkins and candles and stuff," he swallowed his bite of salad and ignored the fact that he was actually going to ask Honey to go before realising that wedding dates didn't really fit into their previous agreement.

"Do you need help?" Will asked automatically, hopefully not undermining Arden in any way as she said she had writing to do. He picked up a quiche and took a small bite before dropping it onto his salad to have in a minute.

"Oh well done!" He gushed, eyes wide as he reached across and squeezed her shoulder affectionately with a smile. A grant was exciting. He always read whatever she'd written and while he didn't quite understand all of it, he got the gist. And he was always happy to spell check.

Will flashed her a grin, suddenly feeling old. He'd forgotten what a crush felt like. "Oh no," he chuckled with a shake of his head. "That's actually adorable," he went on to tell Arden in case she thought he was belittling the issue. "How old are they? Been sent any love letters?" He gave her an easy smile. He was actually very jealous. As much as he loved his life, it had become routine and mundane but he refused to be one of those new-year-new-me people - he wasn't going to wait until New Year's Day to do something about it.

Will sighed quickly, reaching up to scratch his head out of habit. "It was actually really nice," he admitted to Arden what he wasn't able to admit to himself. "It was like old times," he added fondly. He'd been  both startled and comforted by how easily they fell back into things. The home in Spain was the same with the same people and the same feeling. It was dangerous.

He chewed his quiche in silence as he tried to think. Yes, things with Piper had been lovely. Warm and soft and nostalgic. She hadn't changed. Her family were the same. Did he have genuine feelings? Or was he just acutely aware that he was lonely? Hoping to appease Arden, he smiled again. "She's lovely," he admitted with a wistful sigh that he wasn't aware he'd been holding. Piper was more than lovely, actually. She was bright and sparkling, ethereal, gorgeous, fascinating, all-consumingly perfect.

"I just keep fucking up, though," he said as he leaned back on the bench, his two sips of prosecco trickling into his bloodstream at an alarming rate. Will was a grown man. He was too old to be playing the victim. If he had hurt someone,  he didn't get to determine how the other person reacted. His thoughts strayed to Honey and he pitched forward in his seat, pinching the bridge of his nose with a soft groan. "I've given myself a headache."

She wasn’t surprised, but she was a little disappointed. In some ways, Arden thought she and Eli understood each other on an emotional level in a way that she and Will did not – and in a way that Will and Eli definitely didn’t. Arden and Eli could sit in silence together for long stretches of time, or paint together, or make things with their hands. It didn’t have to be so verbal. But she and Will actually did talk, and they were both better than Eli at making plans, keeping to schedules, actually meeting up. Will was better at writing to her, remembering important dates. She nodded when he said he’d reach out to him, hoping that he meant it. “We should all catch up sometime,” she added. A moment later, she hoped he didn’t misinterpret her sentence to include their parents.

“A Halloween wedding,” she said, shaking her head, but smiling at the same time. Arden would never. For her, the dream was more like a field or a forest, with no shoes and only the closest friends and family. Nothing so dramatic. When she was younger, though, the picture had been clearer. Dave appeared just then, his head resting on Arden’s thigh. She patted him absentmindedly as she talked, putting her prosecco-coffee-cup down for a moment. “No, it’s mostly report stuff,” she said with a bit of a shrug. “Lots of numbers to interpret, that kinda thing. Nothing fun.” Last year he’d helped her write a piece for a Natural World magazine, but this was a lot more dry.

She picked at the food, taking bites in between sentences. “Most of them are just out of school,” she told him quickly, dabbing at the corner of her lips with the back of her spare hand. “So, eighteen? Merlin, doesn’t eighteen feel like a lifetime ago?” She laughed, shaking her head as she reached for her drink. She glanced down at Dave as he whined, clearly wanting more pats.
 
The conversation shifted to something that felt a little more personal and Arden listened. “Was it?” she asked gently, watching him, trying to read in between the lines. She waited for him to elaborate on that last part, only willing to press for more if it was clear that he wanted to share. “Want to talk about it?” she asked, before taking another bite of her quiche.

"Yeah, of course," Will assured her with a smile. He'd said that loads of times before but now he was really starting to feel the strain. "You can come to my place, if you like," he offered, figuring it was even ground. Arden's flat was too far away and Will wasn't sure if Elijah had flat mates and the thought made him shudder.

"I think it's sort of fun," he tacked on as he sipped from the bottle but Will's idea of "fun" was less likely bars and bowling and more like cups of tea and philosophical discussions. As Arden reminded him how old he was, he laughed and then winced before shaking his head. "Eighteen," he echoed, his dark eyes wide. "I can't even remember what I wanted to do when I was eighteen," he mused. Apart from wanting to propose to his then girlfriend and somehow do it on a hot air balloon?

Will really hadn't intended to drag poor Arden all the way from Germany, just to use her as a soundboard. "It wasn't meant to be this way," he managed to croak out. One of the main problems with him was that he simply could not outrun his conscience. None of this was how he'd planned it. In that moment, he wished he could have been eighteen again and avoided most of this trouble.

With a sigh, he straightened up again. "You remember Honey, don't you?" He asked Arden, trusting that she did. After all, she was hard to forget. "And Bérénice," Though he spoke about the Frenchwoman considerably less, he realised. With a frown creasing his handsome facial features, he intently studied a nearby tree, as though that would somehow give him the strength to spill his guts.

"Well," he added briskly. "The man Honey left me for, you'll know him," he added wrly with a smile that was brief. "Gravesend Griffins captain," he went on to say with wide eyes and a why wouldn't she? look on his face. "Small world," he laughed as he drank from the bottle as though the entire kerfuffle was comedy gold. "Turns out, Bérénice cheated on me with him, too. While he was still dating Honey." With another laugh, he mimed his head exploding.

"So basically," he went on, in case she was struggling to catch up. "Honey wrote to me asking me to meet up. She said she'd broken up with Harlan but didn't say why. Obviously because her ex had told her all about his secret manoeuvres in the dark." Or at that quidditch match - it made his stomach turn. "One thing led to another and we ended up going back to my place," he trailed off, trusting Arden to fill in the blanks.

"I liked it," Will insisted because he had. "So we sort of started seeing each other casually again and I know," he groaned as he rubbed his forehead. "Bad idea. You're preaching to the choir," he admitted. "We were at the Highland Games together and she let slip that she knew Bérénice had cheated on me and she decided not to say anything."

He fell silent as he chewed his lip anxiously, suddenly not hungry. Turning to Arden, he offered her a wan smile. "Our significant others decided to cheat on us. With each other." Tilting his head back, he lazily watched the clouds roll in. "I lost it, Dash," he said in a quiet, desperate voice, using his sister's nickname that he never did.

Looking dazed, he cleared his throat. "I said some horrible stuff to her," he admitted as the truth settled uncomfortably around his shoulders like a wet blanket. "I think my anger was misplaced but don't get me wrong," he said quickly, "I'm still mad at her. I felt like I was just a big joke and that she didn't really care. She should have told me," Will announced sharply, his mouth set into a thin line. "I honestly can't understand why she'd keep that to herself."  He was mad at a lot of people but as more time unpassed,  he realised he was just a very unhappy man.

"I was a right twat," Will told Arden with a brittle smile. He rarely got angry and with good reason. "It's been a few weeks now and I've tried saying sorry but I don't think she's interested. Which is fine, of course," he nodded. He didn't like playing the victim but every single participant in this weird love quadrangle seemed to be coming out of this just fine. Everyone except him.

“Sounds good,” Dash replied, though there was a part of her that wondered if it might be better to meet somewhere else entirely. She was sure the boys loved each other, but she felt a little tension there sometimes.

She smiled when he said eighteen, her thoughts following his words. What had she wanted at eighteen? “I wanted to get married and have a few Trickett babies,” she told Will with a small roll of her eyes. “Live in a cottage somewhere.” That second part was still a little true, she supposed. Her studio was plenty peaceful, but she wanted to be able to walk around her house naked without having to shut the blinds. She didn’t like being able to see people when she looked outside, and she wanted a real garden.

She nodded when he gave her names, asking if she remembered the women he’d dated. She took another long sip of her prosecco, placing the coffee cup back down when it was empty, and reaching for her fork again to have a few more bites of food. “Oh no,” Dash said, raising her eyebrows. Really, she didn’t know who Will was talking about – it had been years since she’d paid any sort of attention to quidditch, and even then it had only been out of politeness to her ex-boyfriend’s brother rather than an actual interest. But she understood the point he was trying to make.

“So he also cheated on her…?” She made pointing motions with her fingers, trying to connect the dots. She trailed off, though, wanting Will to continue; clearly there was more to the story. The brunette tucked a few loose strands of hair behind her ear as he spoke, a frown appearing on her pretty face. “This was after you and Bérénice had broken up…?” She said, the sentence more of a question than a statement.

“Hmm.” It all sounded very dramatic to Arden, and she couldn’t help but feel a little disapproving of the messiness of it all. From the outside, it felt a lot like teenage drama. Her feelings clearly showed on her expression, and she had to smile a little when he said she was preaching to the choir. “Sorry,” she said, putting a hand up to indicate that it was a judgement-free zone (though privately, she couldn’t help but judge all involved, just a little).

He went on to explain more, and she had a little trouble following along. “Wait, let me get this straight,” she said, waving a hand to make him stop talking for a moment. “Honey leaves you for a guy –” quidditch star, whatever, “– Then Bérénice cheats on you with the same guy, and then you and Honey get back together… Sort of…?” She watched his expression to try to make sure she was following. “And then you find out that she knew Bérénice was cheating on you – before you did – and didn’t tell you?” She rubbed her forehead with a knuckle. Then she held out her empty cup for him to pour her another drink.

“Wow. I haven’t even been on a date in almost two years,” She told him, adding a warm smile and shaking her head slowly. “But wait, so how exactly does Piper fit into this? You said you saw her again…?” She trailed off. She hadn’t wanted to press if it wasn’t something he’d wanted to share, but her curiosity seemed to have gotten the better of her in the wake of all of this new information. She might have been biased, but it sounded to her like everyone else in his story was sort of... awful. Dash had no patience for cheaters, especially. All of that aside, though, it sounded like he was having trouble understanding what he wanted.

The smile that Will gave his sister was small but genuine. He thought Arden and Sindri were for keeps but their relationship had fractures, just like any other. He missed being eighteen. Being thirty was a bit of a ballache. "A cottage sounds good," he went on, keen to shift any awkwardness but he hadn't seen Sindi since...probably their break up, come to think of it. "Where would you live?" He asked, chewing on a potato before scooping up some rocket. "Cornwall?" He ventured. "St. Ives is lovely. Have a think when you're ready to settle down. Just watch out for seagulls if you've got an ice cream cone," he concluded with a wry smile.

Will winced, distinctively uncomfortable as poor Arden tried to catch up. He nodded to Harlan cheating but shook her head as she asked if that was after he and Bérénice had broken up. He wasn't stupid, he knew he had a part to play in this, he wasn't blameless. He and Bérénice had been a lovely holiday romance. She'd been there when he needed her and she'd helped heal his heart but it was just that - a holiday romance. Chatoeil felt like a little bubble that promptly burst when real life hit. She knew it, he knew it, neither of them did anything about it. It was only a matter of time before one of them looked elsewhere for company. It wasn't her fault. Just like it hadn't been Honey's, either.

Despite himself, he laughed. "Don't be," he insisted with a shake of his head as he forced himself to relax on their bench. "It's a nightmare keeping track," he said sympathetically. Having Arden connect the dots and lay it all out for him made him realise he'd overreacted.

"Sort of," he echoed as Arden touched on whatever he and Honey had previously because they certainly did not have it now. Maybe he'd been relying too heavily on the redhead, maybe he'd gotten too close. Whatever it was, it still hurt.

Swiftly, Will tipped a healthy glug of prosecco into her cup and took a swig from the bottle himself. "That's the general gist of it, yes," he admitted, his big dark eyes wide and slightly glazed. He fell silent, comforted by the cool breeze and his sister's company. Heaving a sigh, he shrugged. "It happens," he admitted finally. "And I think everyone is happy now." Harlan and Bérénice were dating, Honey must be seeing someone by now.

"Gosh, two years?" He repeated with a smile. "I had no idea it'd been so long. Are you thinking about getting back on the horse?" So to speak. He'd always been protective over Arden and it didn't matter that she was older or independent.

Ah. Piper. Crossing his long legs at the knee, he watched the birds as he shrugged. "She doesn't," he answered Arden honestly. "She was at my seminar in Bilbao a few weeks ago. I didn't know she was coming. I don't think she knew I was coming but it was nice to see her," he admitted, anxiously starting to peel the label of the wine bottle.

"She invited me to dinner that night. The house still looked the same. Her aunt and uncle were exactly the same," he sighed. He didn't know if he had feelings for Piper, it was still strong nostalgia or that he was emotionally battered and she had a kind face. There was definitely something - he just didn't know what that something was. He felt like he was twenty five again and it was lovely and warm. He was also terrified because Piper had a career now, she could be dating someone, he could have missed his chance. He was too old for this.

"I missed her," he finally said as casually as he could manage. He also felt guilty of his treatment of Bérénice and especially of Honey but also Piper. Screwing his face up, he rubbed his left eye with more force than necessary. How on Earth did he go from being in love to being completely alone in the space of a few short weeks?

"But more importantly," Will insisted as she turned towards Arden, balancing the salad on his lap. "How are you?" He asked seriously, dropping his voice to a whisper in case anyone happened to be lurking in the bushes. "You know, with everything." Everything being her special "gift". He hoped that living abroad and keeping busy with work had somehow reset her system.

A cottage did sound good. Even though she didn’t feel awkward about it – she’d been the one making the joke, after all – Dash wasn’t surprised he’d talked around the Sindri thing. It was typical of their family; people’s business was their own. Stiff upper lip and all that. Their mother much preferred making small talk to talking about feelings and their father didn’t talk very much at all. Dash was naturally conflict-avoidant. “Maybe Scotland,” Dash told him. Last summer she’d spent some time in the Hebrides tracking newly hatched water dragons, and she’d fallen back in love with the country. Between the highlands and the Islands, the place was magical. “Somewhere near Loch Linnhe, maybe. Or on Mull... or Skye.”

She sipped on her newly-poured drink, watching his expression and trying to guess his thoughts without prying too much. There was a cool breeze, but the sun was shining, so Arden stretched her arms out, getting as much sun as she could. She’d been in the sun a lot these past couple of months, and her skin was freckled and held a new goldish glow, but it didn’t stop feeling good. “Everyone?” she repeated, pushing gently. He didn’t seem all that happy with the situation he’d been in. The mess he’d partaken in. This was probably why she’d been so out-of-the game, so to speak; she didn’t have the heart for this kind of drama. If someone cheated on her, she’d probably just become a nun or something.

“I mean, yeah, I think so?” she confirmed, smiling and shaking her head at the same time. Since Sindri she’d had one proper boyfriend –it hadn’t lasted very long – and she’d gone out with a few different guys. Last Christmas she’d made out with a coworker at their Christmas party, and had almost let him take her home. One night stands weren’t really her thing, apparently, and neither was casual dating. “Not really,” she answered honestly. “I’m not opposed, or anything,” she added quickly. Dash was a romantic at heart, and she always envisioned her future married with kids, “– but I’m busy, and I’m happy.” She used to get lonely a lot, and had thought the solution to that was dating, but these days she wasn’t too unhappy being single.

Shifting in her seat, Arden uncrossed her legs and stretched them out instead, her back against the back of the bench now. “Oh,” She replied, interested. She hadn’t known he’d been in Spain, but Will often travelled for work things. She did too – and she rarely let him know where she was going. “Wow,” Dash said. A part of her wanted to voice the disapproval she was feeling; reconnecting with an ex and their family? Seemed like a recipe for disaster. She knew a part of it was just projection, though. She’d done a lot of reconnecting over the years, with one ex in particular, and it had always, always ended badly.

“I’m glad it was nice?” she offered gently, sensing his anxiousness and wanting to soothe him. What she’d gathered from all of this was that Will had a lot going on.

She glanced at him, confused. “With every…? Oh.” Everything. She sat up a little straighter. It wasn’t the easiest thing to talk about and in some ways that was especially true with her family. Ruari was the friend who “got it” the most; Dash wondered if that was largely because she was a dreamy hippy at heart. “I’ve been working a lot, and under a lot of pressure,” she said, glancing down at her hands. “I didn’t have any dreams for almost a year,” she added with a bit of a smile. “Not sleeping so well these days, though.”

"Skye's meant to be lovely," Will agreed with his sister as he nodded. Scotland seemed to suit Arden. Though the Highlands were rugged and windswept and his sister soft and delicate, there was something that seemed to fit her. Looking over at her, he offered a smile. "You should do it," he told her, whenever she felt like she was ready for the move. Will liked the countryside but he was a city boy at heart, even if he complained about it.

He watched Arden stretch out in the sun, a teeny bit jealous before he gave a short laugh. "Ah." She'd noticed. But then again, out of them both and Elijah, she'd always been observant. Unsure of how to answer, he shrugged. Will felt things deeply and he liked to wallow. He also liked to put his foot in it, sulk, and jumping to the wrong conclusion was his favourite hobby.

"I'm okay." And he was - okay. Not great, not terrible, fair to middling at best. "At least I have less Christmas cards to send out this year," he joked, barely. Falling out with Honey made him feel uncomfortable, anxious, almost. There were things they definitely needed to discuss but he couldn't pinpoint what they were. They were either too alike or they were too different. He didn't know which one made him feel more sick. He'd been so close to turning up at Hogsmeade the other night at 3AM before he managed to talk himself out of it. She wanted space, he didn't know how much.

"Good," he offered with a dimpled smile. He listened to Arden talk as he poked his chickpeas around the tub, not really hungry but unwilling to say anything. She was settled. She was happy and busy. The realisation should ease him a little but he was aware of how not okay he was currently.

"It was very nice," he was quick to agree with Arden. "I think you'd like her." Arden didn't know much about Piper, other than the three months following their split, he moped around the house. He even grew a goatee for some unknown reason as he tried to "find himself". He took his glasses off his face and rubbed his eye with the heel of his left hand, applying more force than necessary. "I've not heard from her since, though," he was quick to add, just in case she got the wrong idea.

Will drank from the bottle before looking pointedly at her when she mentioned a lack of dreams. "But that's good!" He said, reaching out to squeeze her shoulder affectionately. He'd seen what her visions did to her and how ill they made her sometimes. "Do you think distraction works?" He asked as he chewed on a piece of potato. "You've not seen anything bad or scary?" He vaguely remembered her hippie friend, the blonde one. Arden had seen a vision of her with her ex and as far as he knew, they were all loved up. So maybe going back to an ex wasn't that bad.

"You're not?" He asked her quickly, alarm bells clanging somewhere in his head because that was how they tended to start. "You're not feeling sick or anything?" It was impossible not to come across as overbearing but he was treading as lightly as he could. He waited a moment before he just went with it. "Do you want to stay with me for a few days?" It was about before he could stop it. He could pretend it was for her sake but they both knew he needed her more. "We could visit some museums, go out for lunch, go for some walks," he tempted, uncomfortable with the idea that his flat was just too quiet, even with Dave's snoring.

“Isn’t it,” She replied with a smile. “Maybe after I get my degree.”

She smiled a bit at his Christmas card joke too, closing her eyes for a second as she rested her head back, turning her face to the sun. Okay was better than bad, she supposed. The brunette turned his words over in her mind thoughtfully. If he didn’t want to go into detail, then she would – in proper Dasher fashion – let okay be good enough.

“Yeah?” she offered non-committedly. Again, she resisted the urge to express disapproval about his choices. She remembered the ill-advised goatee he’d had for a short period after that ex girlfriend, after all. Then again, she reminded herself gently, it wasn’t always a bad idea to reconnect with an ex. Sometimes good things could come of it – just look at Ruari and Hal, for heaven’s sake. As if he could read her mind, Will corrected the course of her thoughts. “Oh,” she said, deciding not to press him on it.

Arden shook her head, straightening up before she finished her drink. She placed her cup down on the seat, waving him away when he offered to refill it for her. “It’s just stress,” she said. “There’s nothing to be done. When I’m under pressure, or more emotional, I have more of those kinds of dreams. You know.” She gave a light shrug. She hadn’t had any visions for a year, but now that she had papers to turn in and research trips to coordinate, she was dreaming again. Nothing too traumatic yet – thankfully – but it certainly made for restless nights. And focussing was more difficult with less sleep.

Hmm? Stay at his house? “Oh no, I wouldn’t want to intrude,” she replied quickly, tucking some stray strands of hair behind one ear. “Besides, I’m so busy at the moment…” She trailed off, meeting his eye and realising mid-sentence that he wasn’t asking entirely for her sake. She changed course smoothly. “I have this research trip in a couple of weeks, and I’ll be gone for a few weeks – out on the boat again – but after that, maybe we could do something?”

After a beat, she added, “Maybe we could even go away somewhere. The Lake district for a weekend, something like that?”

Will smiled, glancing away at Arden quickly. His sister was so like their mother and he bet she didn't even know. There was a brief look on her face that let him know that she thought it was a bad idea. There was an expectation, societal or otherwise, that Will have his shit together. He was the oldest, he was meant to be wise and cool and have everything together but it seemed like Arden, the youngest, had taken over the role.

It settled around him uncomfortably. Will didn't know why he'd spilled his guts, it must have been bubbling too near the surface. They sat in companionable silence as he munched on his salad, glad to see his sister again but wished it was under better circumstances.

Arden mentioned stress and he frowned. She'd been having versions from a very early age - how stressed could an eight year old be? - but he nodded as though he understood. "Is there anything you can take?" He enquired. Potions or pills, something to take the edge off. His sister was pretty calm at the best of times but now that she was living so far away from him, his worry for her had increased tenfold.

"You're not," Will replied, almost too quickly as Arden didn't want to impose. She wouldn't be, she was family but the penny dropped and so did his face. She was being polite. Besides, who wanted to live with their overbearing big brother anyway? "Right," he added with a light laugh, as though he'd forgotten that she was her own woman. She was busy, she couldn't drop everything and London was so dreary.

He poked his chickpeas around the container in silence. He didn't want to act like a spoiled brat but he was disappointed. Dave plodded over and placed his chin on Will's knee, forcing him to abandon his food and reach down to stroke the dog's velvet ears. "Sure," he said quickly as he flashed her a smile. "Sorry, I'd forgotten. Where are you headed to now?" He asked conversationally as he offered the dog a chickpea, which Dave promptly sniffed and then ignored.

Will looked up sharply. The Lake District. They used to go there often as children but he'd not been back in what must have been ten years. "That'd be nice," he smiled. "Only if you've got time, though," he insisted, not wanting to derail her studies, just because he had a couple of problems he'd created in his head.

Is there anything you can take?

She smiled as she shook her head a little, but she hated that question. Their mother hadn’t believed her for a long time – most of their family hadn’t at first, but their mother had been the worst for it. She’d consulted so many healers when Arden was young to try to “fix” her “sleeping problem”. As far as she knew, there weren’t any fixes. Sleeping better and being less stressed helped somewhat, but that was all. But he didn't know all of the details – it was another thing that they talked around gingerly, it had just always been that way.

They were quiet for a little while, and Dash had another bite of her food. She wondered vaguely what the time was; she was only here for lunch, and had other things she needed to do later in the day. She assumed he did too. “Not far off the Hebrides this time,” she answered. The trip wasn’t too far away from here – from him – but while leaving the boat and apparating to, say, the mainland wasn’t a problem, it was much more difficult getting back on the boat. Apparating to a very specific position in the middle of the ocean? Not easy.

The woman sat up a little as she spoke about her work, though, her speech a little more animated without her even realising it. "I'm pushing for a trip further south... Wouldn't it just be so impressive to see an antipodean opeleye in its natural habitat?" She laughed. "I don't think I'm going to get a boat trip to New Zealand, though." She watched him try to feed a chickpea to his dog and shook her head. “How about this,” Dash said softly to Dave, holding out a little bit of hard boiled egg. “How’s that?” she cooed as the dog shifted over to her, then happily licking the egg off of her fingers.

She shook her head, softly protesting his own protest. “Just give me a couple of months, and I’ll be so much more free,” she told him with a gentle smile, wiping dog slobber on the edge of the bench. “We can book a cabin somewhere beautiful and go for autumn walks. I’ll probably miss the land by then,” she added, half-joking. Dash loved swimming and she loved the ocean, but sharing a small space for weeks with a few other people could make her miss things like a mountain view, or a full kitchen.

Will regretted his question as soon as it slipped out. It was rude and unhelpful and he frowned at her in a wordless apology. He hadn't meant it and Arden knew that. He'd spent the majority of his adolescent years arguing with his parents over this. It was one of the reasons why he'd never been keen on family gatherings. They made it seem like Arden was some sort of dirty little secret and it made him sick to his stomach.

"Oh lovely," he was quick to say in an poor attempt to glaze over what he'd just said and he smiled. Pretty, quiet, in the middle of nowhere - ideal. "Take some photos," he told his sister. "I'd love to see them. You might get a little bit of snow," he smiled.

Unable to help himself, Will grinned. "It certainly would," he agreed with a laugh, despite not really knowing what an antipodean opaleye was. He hoped it was something cute and fluffy. He watched her interact with his dog and smiled quickly. "Better,  I think," he added. He didn't say it but he was glad that Arden wasn't going back to the southern hemisphere. She was smart and capable and while they didn't see each other that often, it'd be even more difficult to see her when she was ten thousand miles away.

He nodded, placated. "Just give me a date and I'll get right on it," he told his sister in what he hoped wasn't a pathetically pleading and more a cool and nonchalant tone. Will always knew he was the uncool older brother but Arden and Elijah didn't have a need for him any more. He knew it was coming but it still stung. "Where'd you fancy?" He asked. "Windermere? Patterdale might be quieter," he offered as he finished off his salad and whistled for Dave to come over.

The dog did and sat expectantly as Will attached his lead. "Come on," he told Arden, thinking that he'd taken up enough of her time as he drained the last of the prosecco from the bottle. "Where did you apparate? I'll walk you back."