She continued humming as she moved from room to room, until Sedriil made his presence known with a small cough. "Would you mind telling me the reason why you're so happy, sister?"
"Didn't Skori tell you?" Mericlou said, suspecting that he might actually have blurted the information to Sedriil -as remote as the chance was. Still, the way her little brother posed the question made it sound like he suspected something.
"He didn't have to," Sedriil replied.
Mericlou gasped. "You mean you knew?"
"There's no logical way that anyone could not have known," he said, and grinned. "With your uncharacteristic incompetence during work yesterday, combined with the less than subtle hints you've been dropping my way in the last few weeks, it's obvious that you are in love."
"I guess I can never pull one over on you, can I?" Mericlou said, shaking her head at her own obtuseness. Of course Sedriil would be the one to guess it first; he was, after all, the most astute of her family … even more so than Skori.
"Well, my thinking would not have gone down that avenue," Sedriil remarked, "if I hadn't seen you and Aldrec kissing in front of the door last evening."
"Oh my god! You saw that?" Mericlou squeaked. She nearly dropped the watering bucket. Her face was flushed in utter mortification.
"Don't be upset," Sedriil said. "It's nothing to be embarrassed about. As a matter of fact, I'm glad for you. It took long enough, but you've finally come to terms with how you feel about each other."
"No, it's not that," Mericlou said, and then clasped Sedriil on both of his arms, her eyes staring intently into his. "Tell, me, brother, did anyone else in the house see what happened?"
"No," Sedriil said after a moment of thought, and then corrected himself. "Wait. Now that you mention it, Noroa saw it too. I went to the door after I heard someone talking in front of it, and she was standing right beside me. She was more surprised than I was, of course, but-"
"Did Alaema see it?" Mericlou said, her voice tense with dread.
"No, she didn't." Sedriil replied in a more certain tone than after the first question. "She was in the kitchen when it happened, and didn't hear us talking. At least, I don't think she did."
"Listen, Sedriil," she said, relieved but wary. "Not a word of this to Alaema, okay? I'll tell Noroa and Garen as well."