Kaitlyn taps on the door, "Evanheart? Are you still up?"
Gerioth groans and leans back in his chair. "Of course I'm up."
Kaitlyn shoves the door open and peeks in, "Paperwork?"
Gerioth interjects, "Of course, Finbarra."
Kaitlyn looks over the piles of papers.
Gerioth says, "What else do I ever do with my evenings in the City? At least if I were home I could go to bed early."
Kaitlyn looks at Gerioth.
Kaitlyn queries, "When did you get to bed last night?"
Gerioth says, "I'm not entirely sure. About midnight, I think. "
Kaitlyn stands there with her hands on her hips thinking. Kaitlyn states, "You need some sleep." Kaitlyn starts heating a pot of water.
Gerioth looks over at her. "Finbarra, since when did you care if I needed sleep? And I'm getting sleep. Just a little less than normal. Gods, this is a mess.
Kaitlyn inquires, "What're you working on? That patchwork excuse for a port tax that Yon offered before the trial started?"
Gerioth interjects, "Yeah. Has to be fixed. Has to be. Before we get any more mariners using belaying pins on the doors. Do you know how much the repairs cost last time? "
Kaitlyn measures tea by some method involving squinting and holding the cups up in the air, "Likely around 10 gold. Unless if you've got good hinges."
Gerioth growls softly. "It was the government building, but the government budget is already dead for this year, hence I fixed it with my own money. My own money!"
Kaitlyn pours the tea leaves in the kettle, and then quickly pours out the tea into the cups, "Sounds frustrating." Kaitlyn adds some more water to the kettle to brew tea the strength of solvent.
Gerioth lets his head fall to the table. "The budget is a mess," he mumbles through the papers. "I've been trying to get in in order, Finbarra, for forty years. And every time I get somewhere, something happens to it."
Kaitlyn sits down, "Want help?" Kaitlyn hands him a tea cup.
Gerioth lifts his head. "Sure." He tilts his head back and swallows half the tea.
Kaitlyn remarks, "Good." Kaitlyn takes the pen from his hand, "Get to sleep, and we'll talk this over in the morning."
Gerioth glares at her. "Finbarra, this has to be on Bors' desk tomorrow morning.
Kaitlyn divulges, "I'll make up some charts and we'll see what we can carve off of bribes and expenditures. And Bors can go stew his head. He's not making the budget plans and he better start helping us." Kaitlyn sips her tea, "Or we can try to scrape something together tonight."
Gerioth says, "Newhaven's busier than I am and he still has to approve it. I wanted him to get a look at it tomorrow morning because he has to go back to the Kingdom next week, remember? That nasty little Mess with his sister? "
Kaitlyn interjects, "We can send messengers to him. If nothing else he can take a pile of raw data with him. Let him explain how we're going to cut back on security."
Gerioth softly mutters, "Damn it all," and swallows the other half of the tea.
Kaitlyn inquires, "What can we cut back on? Or are we short due to stuff out of our control?"
Gerioth growls, "Out of our control. Everything's out of our control!" He bangs his fist on the table and lets his head fall again.
Kaitlyn pour another cup of tea and cuts it with a little water, "Gerioth?"
Gerioth questions, "Yeah?"
Kaitlyn hands the tea to him, "Drink. And talk. What's wrong? Other then the budget. And your wife."
Gerioth sips at the tea. And stares at the table.
Kaitlyn questions, "Or is it Williams?"
Gerioth sighs. "All of them."
Kaitlyn sorts some of the paper work and starts writing, "So, talk about it."
Gerioth whispers, "Mainly it's Williams. And my wife. Not that I can separate the two."
Kaitlyn sips her tea and squints at the paperwork, "Go on."
Gerioth stares at nothing. "And Yon. I can't believe he did all that. It's horrible. How could I never have noticed!"
Kaitlyn interjects, "You were busy."
Gerioth shivers. "How could I have been so busy as not to notice. Gods, Trevor noticed, Trevor told me and I brushed it off, told him nothing was wrong at all, it was just that Williams was growing up ..." He begins to weep softly.
Kaitlyn looks at him. Kaitlyn awkwardly touches his shoulder, "Evanheart - none of us noticed. Not me. Not Bors. None of us."
Gerioth continues to weep. "And - It's Williams, is the thing. I always wanted to hate him. I always tried. But I never could. So I ignored him instead." Gerioth states, "And I should have noticed. I should have. Even if it had been Yon's own son I would have done something. And - my wife's son - "
Kaitlyn states, "And your wife doesn't care."
Gerioth whispers, "She stopped caring long ago. She's probably going to die soon, you know. You can only marinate your liver in absinthe so long before it sinks in."
Kaitlyn inquires, "And then what will you do?"
Gerioth looks up again. His eyes are red. "I don't know."
Kaitlyn thinks, "You'll need someone here. It's bad to mourn alone. Do you have any relatives that you trust?" Kaitlyn sips her tea and starts writing on another page.
Gerioth says, "No. My parents are dead, and I don't have any siblings. I think I have a cousin somewhere in the Kingdom, but I don't even remember his name."
Kaitlyn questions, "Any of the Peers that you trust?"
Gerioth shivers. "Not really. I used to trust Yon."
Kaitlyn interjects, "Fine then. I'll get Bors to come visit. His butler is trustworthy. Allon and Trevor can stay here. They'll help." Kaitlyn looks at Gerioth, "You look like death warmed over, Evanheart, and I don't like that. You need some time to bounce back. This trial'll be hard on all of us."
Gerioth blinks at her, looking rather dazed. "I'm fine, Finbarra." He rubs his eyes. Gerioth adds, "I don't need someone to stay with me."
Kaitlyn remarks, "You need someone. And what you need right now is sleep." Kaitlyn takes his arm, "Come on, do you have a couch or something in this place that's comfortable?"
Gerioth shakes his head. "My townhouse is twelve blocks over, though."
Kaitlyn divulges, "Let's go to my office then. I at least carted a couch in there." Kaitlyn leads him out of his office.
Gerioth mumbles, "Really, I'm fine." He wipes his eyes again.
Kaitlyn drags him to her office and pushes the door open with her boot, "Have you talked with Williams?" Kaitlyn shoos a cat off her couch and picks up the afghan that the cat was sleeping on.
Gerioth shakes his head. "Too busy. Always too damn busy to take a little time to care for my own wife's son."
Kaitlyn pushes Gerioth into the couch, "I can set something up for you to talk with him. Maybe after Bors leaves." Kaitlyn tucks the afghan around him. Kaitlyn ignores the cat as it promptly hops into the couch and eyes Gerioth's lap.
Gerioth curls up. "S'not necessary."
Kaitlyn comments, "It won't be a problem. You need the break. Maybe take the kid out to that chocolate crepe stand. He needs some meat on his bones and you need a break." Kaitlyn watches the cat hop on Gerioth and curl up with a proprietary air.
Gerioth shakes his head again. "He won't want to see me ever again. Don't blame him." He idly pats the cat.
Kaitlyn says, "He'll talk to you. You might be surprised. Williams is a very forgiving young man." She smiles as the cat purrs loudly.
Gerioth closes his eyes. "Why would he forgive me?"
Kaitlyn wants to know, "Because you're a good man?"
Gerioth starts crying again. "I'm not a good man. I neglected the upbringing of my wife's son and my son in favor of doing paperwork." He curls in a ball, dislodging the cat.
Kaitlyn touches his back gently.
Gerioth shivers. "I never deserved Tirena," he mumbles. "I ruined her. I dragged her down."
Kaitlyn says, "Tirena was an idiot before you married her. All she had was money and a desire for excitement. Instead of trying, she gave up." Kaitlyn remarks, "Gerioth, things have happened. You are a good man - not perfect, but you are good."
Kaitlyn comments, "If you want things to be different, then you have to try to change."
Gerioth shivers again, still crying. "I'm too old to change. I'm eighty, Finbarra, do you in your Ni'Rushkan eternal youth even understand that idea?"