Niabheara was back in her nicer trousers, the ones she wore when she needed to go to the stables without looking as if she worked in the stables, and was in the process of putting up her hair in one of those elaborate smooth braids that circled her head like a crown. Between sticking in pins, she glanced at the door in hopes Marcello would come back before she had to go out.

With that, Marcello popped in through the door, looking utterly cheery. He frowned, though, as he looked over Niabheara's costume. "You took off the stockings without me," he said, sounding terribly hurt.

"I'll put them back on for bed, I promise." She dashed across the room, hopped up, and kissed him--instantly bouncing the carefully-coiled braid out of place, but it didn't matter. "Lady Cara is going to forgive the money I borrowed for the winter in exchange for a courser! Granted, I think she's doing it as a wedding gift--but still!"

"A cour...." Marcello frowned. "Is that a kind of horse?" he asked, frowning. "Still, it's very kind of her. How...much money did we borrow?" He leaned down and returned the kiss.

"Aye, it's a horse, and it was . . . well, it was grain, oil, and silver, but all told it equaled about two coursers." She bounced at his feet. "We could have repaid the silver, actually. It's everything else that would have left us tight." She hugged him around the middle. "This is not the moment you find out that I'm secretly a pauper and I did it all for your dowry, dear."

"That's good, since I think my dowry is two shirts and a few paper animals," Marcello assured her. "It's more that I realized I should know this."

She looked slightly abashed. "I can walk you through the ledgers if you like. But at present, our creditors are not going to beat down our door, nor will anyone starve or freeze this winter, and with Titania gone, things will be easier hereafter."

Marcello smiled. "That's a relief," he admitted. "But yes, I feel like I should see the ledgers. They're my ledgers too, now, and if i have to make decisions about anything involving money, I don't want to make a mistake."

Smiling, she rubbed her cheek against his chest, like a kitten. "I expect that we're going to keep running into things you need to know and I will feel bad for not telling you sooner."

"Sooner or later I'll know them all," Marcello said cheerily. "I spoke with the Unseelie Queensman. He's going to try to get me a Common version of the scrolls."