6 September, 1895 — Early Evening — Zelfred's House, Sanditon

Since the occasion during the blizzard when a stranger had flooed directly into their home while Zelda had been holding a sleeping baby not ten feet away, they had a habit of leaving the floo offline unless they were expecting company. It typically would have been locked up by this time of day, but (to his slight agitation) Zelda wasn't home yet, which meant it was still open. If she had been planning to stay late she could have said as much during the morning, though there were only a few minutes these days where their morning routines overlapped... or she might have written to let him know not to worry, at least. But perhaps she had determined that he was unlikely to worry either way. In fairness it had taken him two hours to notice she wasn't home when she usually was, because he and Orion had gone out on a sailing venture ahead of dinner.

In any case, when the floo lit up he was expecting Zelda, possibly a little harangued from whatever had kept her at work. What he found instead when he walked in to the parlor was Evander holding Lilian, with his wife and baby in tow. This was shocking enough that he only half registered the explanation that his brother gave for their sudden appearance here. Some part of his brain was stuck on how preposterous it felt to see Evander holding a small child, even if said small child was his own.

"Uh — of course," he responded, about them staying the night. He could not imagine a scenario in which he turned them away in an emergency, and although he still wasn't sure he'd parsed why they were here he was quite sure that Evander showing up unannounced anywhere with his entire family could only come about as the result of an emergency. "Of course, come in — what did you say, evacuated?"

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Evander Darrow Caroline Darrow & Zelda Darrow whenever she wants to arrive :)

  

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MJ made the most Alfredy of sets and then two years later she made it EVEN BETTER

Evander probably looked as frazzled and exhausted as he felt at the moment. He hardly felt like being here, let alone explaining the day’s events all over again right now, with Lily fussing in his arms and Edmund past ready for bed in Caroline’s – but he supposed he could stand to be grateful, too, that at least the four of them were all here and accounted for.

“They’ve set up a perimeter around Irvingly,” Evander explained tiredly, moving to set Lillian down to see her more comfortable (and of course she chose that moment to cling fiercely to his sleeve, as if getting them all here through that chaos had not been enough of a struggle for the day). “No one’s to be allowed back into town yet, not while the mist is there.” Evander hadn’t been in Salem Square, so hadn’t seen the worst of it: once he had ensured Caroline and the children had made it to the Hollow out of harm’s way, he had gone back to help his colleagues evacuating the residential streets – but he had been too anxious to stay separated from his own family for long.

And while he did not like to impose on his brother’s company any more than necessary, Evander also did not entirely trust that the perimeter would hold, or that the temporary encampment they had been putting up at Hawthorne Hollow would still be safe by the end of the night. So he would do whatever the Ministry required of him tomorrow; but for now, his priority was to see that they were far, far away from Irvingly. (The Sanditon, fortunately, was about as far south as one could get in Britain, so – hopefully out of harm’s way.)

“You’re sure you and Zelda don’t mind?” Evander asked seriously – because if they were going to have to trudge about looking for room at the inn elsewhere, he had better stay on his feet. If he sat down, he didn’t know whether he’d have the energy to keep moving.

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Edmund squirmed in Caroline's arms fussy and tired, unconsciously she swayed with him murmuring gentle cooing sounds. She could not remember a worse day - not even when the ship had sunk or Evander had been caught in the dragon attack. Then she had only to fear for herself and and her husband. The fear she had felt as they had run from their home, for her staff, her friends, her children, her husband. It was horrid. She'd done what she could at the Hallow helping staff find their families or places to be. She'd kept her eyes out for Shawn or his wife Niniane but had seen neither. Nor had she found Annabeth Adlard. It had been chaos and as much as Caroline had tried to help there hadn't been much she could do. When Evander had suggested coming to Sanditon and Alfred's she hadn't even argued. She'd simply nodded and followed him to floo here, clutching Edmund close to her as Lillian held on tight to her father.

"We are so sorry to impose Alfred." She assured him, laying a gentle hand on her brother in law's arm. "Is Zelda home?" She had yet to spot her friend but as she had never called unannounced like this she supposed she ought not to be surprised by it.

  

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"Er — no," he admitted, to the question of whether Zelda was home. Not that it changed the situation, because surely she would agreed just as readily, but it did make him feel a little conspicuous given that he didn't have a ready explanation for why she wasn't. "There was — something at the Ministry," he said vaguely**. He hadn't asked. She had seemed annoyed when she brought it up, and Alfred hadn't been keen on digging into whether she was irritated with the task bringing her in or irritated with him for some reason — or maybe she wasn't upset at all and he had merely projected his own frustration with another manifestation of work-over-family. In any case, he had no more information than she was at work, and by this time of the evening he couldn't even wager a guess as to when she would be back. If the conversation continued in this vein it seemed inevitable that Evander and Caroline would realize how little Alfred and Zelda were speaking to each other these days, which he absolutely didn't want... particularly not when there was obviously something more important to discuss.

"It's not an imposition," he insisted, to steer them back forcefully to the topic at hand. "You'd do the same for us. I'll have nurse make up the beds for the children. Do you want them in with Orion and Carina, or — ?" He drifted off, thinking that perhaps the children, frightened as they seemed, might be better off in a trundle bed in the guest room with their parents. Knowing how children were liable to latch on to such ideas, though, he didn't want to be the one to suggest it if Evander and Caroline were hoping for a reprieve.

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*A/N Lynn forgot this was a Saturday when starting the thread and now is making "why is Zelda at work on a Saturday" a Beanie problem to figure out whoops

  

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MJ made the most Alfredy of sets and then two years later she made it EVEN BETTER

Zelda wasn’t here yet. Evander felt an uncomfortable trepidation at this, and his eyebrows rose, sorely hoping that some other muggle issue had cropped up earlier in the day and that she hadn’t ended up in Irvingly. He’d seen plenty of the department there, even the Aurors; though he hadn’t spotted Zelda directly – but even when he had been helping with the evacuations earlier, Evander’s mind had been more on his family than on anyone else in the mist.

Abruptly, he decided it might be wise not to say too much more about the mist situation to Alfred, if Zelda was mixed up in it and hadn’t come home yet. He didn’t dare imagine how bad things could be (he still remembered how frantic he had felt when he hadn’t been able to find Caroline in the Sanditon storm), so he swallowed down the anxiety and the lingering adrenaline as best he could, merely nodding in gratitude at no imposition.

(He was sure it was, but – desperate measures.) Evander glanced at Caroline, to let her have the final say as to the sleeping arrangements. (He would not mind having the children with them; he wasn’t sure if he would sleep after today, not being able to see them safe and in arm’s reach.) “Are they still awake?” He asked Alfred, of Orion and Carina, as if to say we won’t disturb them. But perhaps they were waiting up for their mother too.

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