Roman Candles and Chinese Lanterns [Hellvion Ball]

[kleineklementine]

[Re-entering from here after a little bit of time!]

Olive had to slow her pace as she approached the ball again. She'd basically ran back to the manor after 'dealing' with the Templar in the garden. Well, he was far enough away, she told herself, that she should be safe for awhile. Plus, who knew when he'd even wake up? Olive smoothed out her dress, guilt nagging at her. But whatever happened to the Templar, it wasn't her fault. She kept telling herself that.

Something interrupted her grumpy, doubtful thoughts as she stepped onto the veranda, however. From a shadowed little nook on the far side of the large stone veranda - in fact, you wouldn't likely pass it if you were coming from the ball, rather than from the gardens - Olive heard the quiet sound of someone crying, and trying not to. Olive paused. She should keep going, she knew. It wasn't very long now before she needed to meet Roderick outside of the main hall... But something stayed her. Maybe it was her guilt about lashing out at Dwight, or clobbering Kentamin over the head, or any of the other things she seemed to be doing more often lately that she wasn't proud of... Whatever it was, Olive stepped quietly to the entrance to the little garden nook.

She recognized the young woman there instantly. Oh, she hadn't really seen her since she was a child, but she was so distinctly pretty and, Olive thought, had changed so little. She took one step into the nook and called softly,

"...Aella?"

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Aella, the one and only child of the duke and duchess of Hellvion, was in tears. The news of who she was to wed, after being paraded around all of Connlaoth for over a decade just had her shocked and distraught beyond all belief. Not only did she not love this man, but she was old enough to be one of his children! And though he was a handsome, she had always presumed she would marry someone... well, more her age!

It was just too much to bear, but being the obedient girl that she was- she couldn't say no, she couldn't protest, even as she felt as if her heart wanted to burst into a billion broken pieces out from her chest. She was so overwhelmed in this world of sorrow, only the small voice that broke through her sobs.

Immediately recognizing her childhood friend, (and not realizing how absurd it might be to throw herself at her in such a way- or the fact this woman should have been 'dead')- Aella did just that- throwing her arms around Constance as she cried into her shoulder.

"Oh, Constance! The world is full of cruelty and shame. And though I beg your forgiveness for not visiting you as often as i would have liked over the years, you had always been there for me when we were little- and I dare say not much has changed. My mother is enraged, and my father must truly be mad! Did you hear to whom they expect me to marry?" She went on, tears glossing her eyes as she peered up at the other woman with trembling lips.

"I'm engaged to the Duke of Orchy!" And at the very exclamation of it, the young woman was balling again.

[kleineklementine]

Though she wasn't sure what reaction she was expecting, Olive was startled when Aella threw herself into her arms. And by what Aella was telling her. (And telling her as though they were still children and friends, and not torn apart by the war... as though it weren't odd for Olive to be there in the first place!) It was like listening to something from another time, another world. But for all that, her reaction wasn't to scorn Aella for crying over a marriage when there was so much strife and suffering in the country. Somehow she simply couldn't imagine scorning the other woman for anything. And her grief was so... genuine.

So Olive wrapped her arms around Aella, hugging her tight for a minute, before gently leading the crying woman to sit down on the bench at the back of the garden nook. Partially to keep Aella's tears private, partially to prevent her calling out the name 'Constance' too openly!

Truth be told, Olive was also startled by what Aella had said! "Micah Coleridge?" Surely not. Maybe one of his son was duke now... It's possible Olive wouldn't have heard about it. But his son was already engaged. Or, by now she realized, probably married! But Micah was old enough to be either of their fathers!

"That can't be true, Aella," she said gently, brushing aside a stray hair from Aella's face and trying to find her eyes through the tears, trying to look calm and reassuring. "Your mother would never allow it. She'll have you marry whoever is to inherit Hellvion, surely." But even as Olive said it, she wondered... Who was the heir to Hellvion? And how many opportunities did Melora's daughter have to be a duchess?

But Olive didn't say this outloud. She simply took Aella's hand in one of hers, the other arm wrapped around Aella's shoulders.

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Aella, still in tears, was consumed in sobs once more before giving a terrible shake of her head and blurting out, "But it's true! All of it! My father arranged it, and approved it! I'm sure my mother must've known about it and gave her blessing." Even if she could not believe it herself! She knew how her mother felt about Micah.....
and even that made her feel almost sick to her stomach. She might be niave, but she wasn't that ignorant. She knew her mother liked, or had liked, the Duke of Orchy. Had her mother gone over the top? Was this her idea to get her own self close to the duke by using this marriage?

Then again- it was said her mother was to know at the end of the event....
That she didn't know-
But how could she not?
Had her own father gone mad?

Just thinking it over again brought her to tears.
"What am I to do? I can not marry him! I do not love him! And he lives so far away!"

[kleineklementine]

Olive didn't know what to say. The trials and tribulations of arranged marriages were something she thought she'd left behind a long, long time ago. But Aella was beside herself. She bit the side of her lip, searching for something (and at the back of her mind thinking about where she needed to be soon, and why, and what that meant with her arms around the daughter of Hellvion!).

"But Micah's old enough to be your father," she heard herself saying. Not that that would really be unprecedented. It was still a rather large age gap. And an odd pairing, considering Aella's mother and the Duke of Orchy...

When Aella burst into tears agin, and beseeched what should she do, Olive looked at her seriously. "Aella, say no if you really don't want to. Your parents love you. They won't force you. Perhaps they will be unhappy at first, but they wouldn't force  you into something that you want so little. Surely!" Even as she said it, Olive wondered if it was true. And if Aella would ever stand up to her parents like that! "You've got to stick up for yourself."

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Aella trembled, tears clinging to her eyes as she shook her head.
"But I... but they.... how could I?" she said, trembling as more hot tears bubbled within her eyes. "They're my parents. It's.. it's my duty to obey- and I've waited so long on their decision for this, to whom I would marry. I.. I just never thought I-"
And sobs choked the rest of the words from herself as tears continued to stream down her cheeks.
"I know there is so much worse going on in the world now, but it isn't fair! I don't know what to do! I feel as if I'm trapped... oh Constance!" And she clung to the girl even tighter.

[kleineklementine]

"Aella," Olive asked firmly, trying to get through the other woman's tears to make eye contact with her, "do you want to marry the Duke of Orchy?"

They both knew the answer, of course, but Olive was trying to make a point. If the last five years had taught her anything, it was that life was short and precious and not to be taken for granted. You shouldn't give it away out of a misplaced sense of duty.

"It's your life, Aella," she said gently but firmly. "Your duty is to yourself and to Hellvion. Surely there are other ways to serve those duties, if your heart is set against this marriage. You parents will see that."

Olive broke her steady gaze at Aella only for half a second to glance anxiously upwards. She wasn't considering leaving her distraught friend, if she could call Aella that, but Olive hadn't forgotten who she was, what she was, and where. And the very real danger that presented. Especially the more Aella cried and called 'Constance.'

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Aella shook her head.
"No, no, I was just a fool. I'm sorry you have to see me in tears after all that's happened to you, to your family..."
ANd it was only then it began to sunk in, as her face took on a questioning look.

Wait... wasn't Constance taken away to the mage camps?

[kleineklementine]

Olive saw the look on Aella's face and felt her own stomach seize up and grow cold. What Aella would do once she realized Olive was most certainly not meant to be here, she had no idea. Unsure what else to do, she decided to keep on acting as if everything were normal.

What choice did she have?

"You don't have anything to apologize for, Aella," she said reassuringly. "I'm fine. And you've had a big... shock. I still can't believe you'll have to go through with it."

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Aella looked around, wiping at her tears.
"Should we... we go someplace more private? I... I feel as if I really need to talk and... out here..
This... this is not the place. We could go back to my room.." And she took Constance's hand and gave it a light, imploring squeeze.

[kleineklementine]

Olive's eyes are locked onto Aella's. She should go. She knew she should go. She never should have come to Aella in the first place. But just as something had drawn her to Aella then, something stayed Olive now.

A memory of a childhood friend? Wanting to preserve some tie to her past? Or, maybe, Olive wanted to feel as though she could be good to someone.

"I... I shouldn't," she finally heard herself saying, quiet and uncertain. "I came hoping to find my family. I know now that I won't, can't. I shouldn't stay longer. It isn't safe." She blinked. Despite her words, Olive had yet to get up, as if some invisible force were keeping her in place and she continued, "For me. I shouldn't stay here."

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Immediately guilt over took her, her eyes pooling with fearful emotions.
"I.. I have almost forgot!" she said, looking around carefully before leaning in closer to Constance as she spoke low. "You're a mage."
But she already knew that...
And then she began to realize....
"You weren't on the guest list.. were you?"
But she couldn't have known just why. Her mother did keep her daughter quite ignorant to most things regarding the war.

[kleineklementine]

At Aella's words, it was Olive who now looked afraid. Her eyes widened slightly, flashing with something akin to fear, but not quite. She suddenly realized what a stupid risk she was taking. She had known that Aella would recognize her. But she hadn't been thinking about it. She'd just found her crying and...

Olive thought suddenly of Dwight, and Kentamin. And all her other reckless risks. She never should have mingled in the ball at all. She should have mingled specifically with strangers just enough to not draw attention, carry out their plans once the time was right, then leave. That had been the plan. But Melora had winded her when she'd arrived...

"My condolences about your cousins. Though we have lost many good men and ladies to this war, to lose ones of such high caliber is an atrocity. Duke and Duchess Carwick were well loved and your brothers..."

The duchess's words echoed in her mind. Olive never should have separated from Roderick. Never should have gone off on her own. But the unwelcome news had sent her into the gardens. Clearly she'd underestimated the dangers she'd find at this ball. And now what? Aella was her friend, was. Would the young woman who wouldn't dare speak out against her parents about a marriage really protect a mage?

They both knew what Aella should do now.

Slowly, Olive shook her head. "No," she said, her mouth dry, "I wasn't."

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Aella went quiet, digesting over this but not fully comprehending everything that was said.
"Then you'd better avoid my mother." She gave Constance a small smile. "She'll be raging mad to find out there's a guest who's uninvited."

[kleineklementine]

Aella's smile put Olive a little more at ease, and she found herself returning it. "I'm sure she would be. Luckily for me she doesn't recognize me anymore."

It might seem like a neutral comment, Aella warning Olive about Melora, but it touched Olive deeply. Because it came moments after Aella remembered that Olive was a mage, that she'd snuck in and... Her childhood friend only warned her to avoid her mother. Without thinking, Olive reached out and squeezed Aella's hand.

She glanced around to make sure there was still no one around, then decided to stay. At least a moment longer.

"Aella, listen to me for a moment," she started, her speech slow but warm, "I've learned and seen a lot in the last few years. But I think the most important thing I've learned - and never would have fully appreciated staying in Wulfbauer Keep - is how precious life is. How important it is not to take it for granted. I don't just mean staying alive, but... really living it. It's precious. It's short. It will end, for all of us. You never know when it will change, in the blink of an eye. Spend it doing what you want, Aella. If you think marrying Micah Coleridge is the right thing to do, if it's what you want to do, then do it. But if you don't, or if it isn't... Then tell your parents. Don't give away years of your life because of what someone else wants."

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And Aella could not help herself as tears began to well up in her eyes.
"Oh... but Constance, you of all people should understand that.... as.. as a lady born into privilege... our fate is with the words of our parents. I... I could not disobey.. and to voice such opinions..."
Her mother, she feared, would slay her.

[kleineklementine]

That stopped Olive short. And it showed. She looked at Aella with her mouth half-open, but she couldn't think of an argument. How could she argue with Aella on that mark? Of course she understood the pressure to do what her parents decided. Had she forgotten? Aella was taking about following her parents' decision into a marriage. But Olive had followed her parents' words to the north, to the mage camps. When she'd first gone, she'd thought she was following them to her death. She'd understood why she had to do it then, and thinking back to it now, she supposed she still did. If she were to go back in time, Olive knew somehow she would do it again.

But that was only for a few years, and I didn't know what was before me, she wanted to say. A marriage will be for decades, even to an old man like Micah.

But of course it hadn't been for a few years. Olive might not be in the camps anymore, but her life was changed forever.

She let out a breath and her expression changed, softened. Olive put a hand on Aella's, then said gently, "Come on, if you still want, we can go to your room and I'll help you clean up.We can't let everyone see 'the most beautiful woman in Connlaoth' all covered in tears."

What she didn't say was, You're right. But she knew they would both likely understand. Olive glanced back at the ball. She had enough time. As at-odds as her objectives were, there would be time to help Aella, before she had to find Roderick.

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At that comment, Aella's cheeks rosied.
"Thank you," she told her softly, and gave a bow of her head before guiding Constance along with her to her room where a pitcher of water was already waiting near her vanity, and as swiftly as she could, she doused the wash cloth and dabbed away her tears. But her face still looked red.. flushed, and she sighed at her reflection.

"You know it's rumored that phrase... the one about me... that my mother just made it all up." She bit her lip, violet eyes looking down at her hair brush before pickign it up and beginning to move it through her blonde hair. "My mother... does a lot of things for herself.." She went on, but didn't go into further detail until her brush made a few long strokes through her long, silky locks.

"I think... if it were not for her... I might have been married already. She's.... a bit... cautious of me. Of my future." But at that, she realized it might make her poor mother seem horrible! So she was quick to add, as she turned around on her stool, "Oh! Not to say her intentions are not good. For they are. I suppose if I were a mother I would be the same. But I'm not sure I'll ever know...."

And then thinking on it, her cheeks turned pink as she gasped and turned to Constance.
"You do not think the Duke will... will wish to share a bed with me? He has... his own children- some even older than myself!"

Oh, and to think how awfully awkward that would be for all!

[kleineklementine]

Olive took the hair brush from Aella and, standing behind her, gently ran it through her childhood friend's long hair as she spoke her concerns. Olive had to hold her tongue as Aella defended her mother. She was sure Melora had someone's best interest in mind, but she wasn't sure that someone was Aella. Otherwise she'd never have let her daughter go on so long unmarried. Surely, if she'd been less 'picky', Aella could have been married to one of the heirs to a duchy that was, well, younger than Micah Coleridge.

But her last question made Olive stop, and for a moment she paused in brushing Aella's hair, making eye contact with her in the mirror. Oh, she couldn't really be so naive... For half a moment, Olive was tempted to tell her that surely of course he wouldn't, but what service would she be doing her?

Finally, she started brushing Aella's hair again and said, "I don't think a husband lies with his wife only to beget children." But then she shrugged and said, "But maybe at his age, he won't have the energy," she gave Aella a grin though the mirror, and added, only half-joking, "and you'll be able to find a younger man to share your bed. After all, like you said, he has children. His line is secure."

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At such an idea her violet eyes went wide as saucers before she dropped her gaze and began to chew on her lip.
"Oh, but I.. I would never do that to my husband!"
Even if it were to be... Micah.