At the same time as Alex's plane was landing elsewhere in a world of cold and snow, back in the city he had departed from, a dark metallic grey car slowed down before a large tall gate just long enough for the latter to finish opening. It moved inside the place surrounded by high walls, and continued down the paved alley surrounded by flowerbeds beyond the gate until it stopped in front of the mansion inside.
The columns supporting the roof of the wide portico were reminiscent of Greek temples, like the roof itself. They were big, and simple, but just by their weight, they radiated not wealth or luxury, but nobility.
The driver got down, and hurried to open the door on the right side at the back, while the door on the left side was opened from inside. Two high heels stepped down from either side, before the owners of the fair feet encased inside came out.
On the right, the driver bowed to a mature woman whose age was impossible to determine. She had short red hair framing her face with their deeply dark color tone, and a pair of deep, experienced green eyes. She was oozing with dignity that spoke of her status, of the height of the seat she was used to sitting in. But at the same time, there was a feeling of intellectual approachability fused in her bearing, softening her sharp edges and making her gentler.
Facing her, it would be an insult to simply reduce her to a beautiful woman with an attractive figure and an ageless charm. Even when dressed casually, she seemed like a queen coming down from her throne for a stroll.
From the other side of the car came the other woman who had been at the back of the car. Unlike the first woman off-white suit and skirt, she was dressed in light ashy grey, her long dark hair tied in a bun at the back of her head.
Even while being casual, she still looked professional, as if it was in her blood. Even, she was holding a clipboard in her arms against her chest, as she kept her dark colored bag in the crook of her elbow. She looked in her thirties, still some distance from forty, with her bearing unable to rival the mature woman.
She came to a stop beside the latter, and gave her the white purse she was holding, which matched the off-white suit. A fair hand received the purse.
green eyes looked into greyish blue eyes, then moved to the clipboard against the full chest, before turning without any word toward the black car which was in front, having stopped just seconds before the dark metallic grey car of the two women arrived.
Beside the black car was a man with a head of dark hair, and a mature appearance that had aged well only because of extensive attentive care. He was looking over after adjusting his suit, his gaze calm, but heavy. When he saw the green eyes looking over, he nodded in greeting, before spoke with a voice full of the depth of decades of experience:
"Sister-in-law, I didn't expect you to be the last one to arrive."
Said with a smile, those words would have only been a slight teasing between people familiar with each other, but with the calm they were said, they now carried a mocking edge, too distant to cut anything, but still, close enough to display enough presence.
The short-haired mature woman nodded in response to the greeting, and replied in calm, mellow voice:
"Today is a Saturday, Marten. I think I can afford to let go a little and arrive just on time."
The soft edge was reversed, but Marten didn't show any reaction, much less have the corners of his eyes twitch. He simply nodded, then changed the subject, as he looked around and saw no one else come out of the dark grey metallic car:
"I get that Michael and Raphael can not make it as they are busy, but I see that Alex did not come either."
The mature woman raised an eyebrow, but did not lose her composure. She also nodded, and explained, but with a tone that sounded too indifferent, just short of saying that the matter Marten raised was too inconsequential:
"You know how my son is. There is no need to force him for things he has no interest in."
"Is that so?"
Marten was about to continue, but at that moment, the door on the other side of the car he was standing beside opened, and a woman came down. She was a mature woman too, but visibly above forty, even if just barely looking that way. Still, she failed to reproduce Marten's sister-in-law's ageless beauty, and compared to the latter's bearing full of dignity, she was lacking by more than a little.
She stepped down, and came to stand beside Marten. She held his hand, before throwing an elegant but fake smile at the short-haired woman, and greeting her as she casually smoothed Marten's suit, erasing imaginary creases on his chest:
"Sister-in-law, it has been a while. I see that you came alone again today. What were you talking about with my husband?"
The greyish blue eyes of the dark-haired woman looking all the parts of an assistant beside the mature short-haired woman narrowed in indignation, and though it was hidden, a pair of green eyes came to rest on her, as their owner knew her all too well.
"Leyna."
The dark-haired woman looked at the calm face turned to her, and breathed in deeply, before exhaling. Her own face returned to the earlier calm, and she lowered her head slightly:
"I apologize, madam."
No matter what, losing composure was a mistake.
Marten's wife allowed a true smile to grace her lips at that spectacle. Marten calmly took in the scene on the other side, before he pulled his wife's hand and spoke to her:
"Julene, have Gilem and Sepp arrived already?"
Julene had her attention pulled away from the other side. She smiled affectionately at Marten, before she nodded:
"Of course, they have arrived already. We have not educated them to be willful after all."
Marten nodded.
"Then, let's go in too."