"Survival?" Yes, survival. This is the high mountains in winter. Without the warmth and shelter of this place I wouldn't last a night out there." I sw...pt my arm in a broad arc and gestured at the wilderness beyond the walls of the conference room. "Survival is much more than staying alive while we wait to die." I rose from my chair and walked to the edge of the stage. "Most of my life has been as a solitary man with few friends. Alone but not lonely. All my best friends have been female. I have. .. for a year and a day. After that year and a day, I will determine his fate, whether or not he has earned or atoned his way back to my favor at all. Does this sound fair to you, my King?” Aunt Tessa proposed, causing a look of utter resignation and defeat to appear on Daryl’s face.“Sounds fair to me, but then, I’m not as given to despair as your ex here, I think,” I alluded to his facial expressions.“He’ll get over it, methinks,” Aunt Tessa reassured me, even as she poured a little amaretto. I thanked her and made my way out of her room and back to the couch. I laid back on the couch, with my two blankets now cozily covering my whole body. But sleep didn’t come easy, as the image of Mariah in her sports bra with her hand down her sweatpants replayed over and over in my mind. As well as questions. Being in theatre you’re going to see some people in their underwear from time to time in dressing rooms and whatnot. It happens, and Mariah and I had seen each other in underwear when we. I pretty much followed her around like a lost puppy as she set about herdaily tasks. First she started dinner for us and then she put a load oflaundry in to the washer. While she cooked dinner she cleaned up thekitchen she then went into the dinning room and started dusting.After we had dinner together she folded the clean laundry and put it awaybefore she vacuumed the dining room and the entrance hall. By the timeshe was done with her daily chores it was nine o'clock and she got readyfor.