Dante: Dinner Gloss

The children found their seats again, with Wolf on the floor, as dinner was served from silent carts teeming with silver domed dishes. It was more than even the most stout of boys could have eaten... A soup to start that tasted of cheese and something fishy... A light chicken salad... Then some slab of creature that only existed in handful of shadows, but that was as dangerous as it was delicious... Mounds of vegetables and potatoes... With little bowls of sorbet between to cleanse the palatte.

Talk was light, and, the older children could tell, stilted. Their Aunts and Uncles seemed almost relieved when it was announced by a steward that the adult dessert, with thick, sweet apertifs, would be served on the balcony, while the children's would be searved indoors.

[Feel free to start threads, or respond to this one. Don't worry about timing.]

For some reason, Lillith had several whispered converences with Crispin during dinner and despite what anyone may have heard to the contrary, she seemed a charming dinner companion.

But she looked as relieved as their Elders that dessert was going to be seperate.

Lillith watched the Elders depart then nudged Crispin. "What would happen if we snuck off?"

Alexius blushed, as his ears picked up what Lilith said to Crispin. He then turned to look at Keenan. "Royalty and Nobility generally doesn't work that way, Keenan, even if some who have noble blood act like..." Alexius smiles. "asses. And some who have not a drop act more proper than any nobility."

Cori ignored her brother and Lillith. She would not cover for him if he snuck off with Lillith, would not!

To Keenan and Alexius, she said, "Our blood does make a difference, though. If we weren't who we are, and our parents weren't who they are, we wouldn't be able to walk the Pattern when we get old enough. If your Annie tried to walk the Pattern, she'd die, and nobody wants that. And it's the Pattern that lets us take up duties like our parents have, and that's why we have special privileges, because we have special duties."

And she smiled, a little bitterly, as if she were aware of the irony of Bleys' daughter saying such a thing to Gerard's son.

Crispin glanced over at the adults, who were smoking and drinking on the balcony, then at the tight cluster of children. He leaned in even closer to the center, his voice low so that it only carried to them.

"Guess where we went today?" he said, glancing at Lillith, but speaking to everyone.

Cori paled slightly and buried her face in her hands, unwilling to look at either Alexius or Harri.

Lillith perked up and leaned closer in. "Where?" she whispered.

Alexius looked relieved when Crispin's point was lost with the arrival of Seramina and her question. He turned to look at her. "A friend of Keenan's, Seramina." Alexius said gently. "Keenan can tell you and us much more about her than I or anyone else."

Alexius looked at the blushing Cori. "But your point about blood and the specialness of same is true, Cori, but I was speaking of more general nobles, rather than the royal family. Admittedly, we are heirs to something bigger and larger, with the duties falling on that. We all are special in that way."

Dulcifera sat down near Crispin and Lillith, wanting to hear about Crispin's latest adventure.

[I'll split off Kee's conversation tonight]

Crispin's smile widened, as he remained purposefully oblivious of his sister. "Uncle Brand's mansion. We went inside

Crispin reached beneath his seat, pulling out his back and opening it quietly. He drew out a tome, red leathered and gold trimmed, dusted with age. "And here's the proof. One of his journal--"

As it came out, something fell from the pages... A thinner tome, barely a book. It was more a handful of pages stapled together and bent to be a very slim volume. Crispin frowned as he put the book away and picked it up.

"Funny... didn't see this..." He opened it, and the frown deepened. "It's not Brand's script."

Cori rose from her chair and turned to Alexius, the nominal representative of her host. Apparently all the lessons that Flora had pounded into her through the years had taken at last, for she said only, formally as her aunt might please, "If Your Highness will excuse me, I need to powder my nose."

Two high spots of color had appeared, one on each of Cori's cheeks, and she was blinking, but she waited for Alexius' response without saying anything.

"What is it?" Lillith breathed as she leaned over to see what Crispin had found now.

Harri had been sitting quietly on her chair, watching events wide-eyed. She's also been watching Wolf to make sure he was happy with the boy and girl who were talking at his side. Of course, if Wolf had been unhappy, he would probably have made his way to her side ... but still.

When Corisande spoke, Harri rose to her feet. "Me too!" she announced.

Harri might have been growing up in a primitive Shadow, but some things are universal. Girlfriends don't go and powder their noses alone ...

Besides, she was dying to ask Cori some questions ...

Wolf looked up from where he lounged, surrounded by Little Ones. His whuf was most definitely a query, and he started to stand, watching Cub for her response.

Harri made a small gesture to Wolf - which he could interpret as "Be easy. I will move with our friend, who hurts inside. Make friends here."

One didn't, Harri felt, say "Stay" to Wolf.

Wolf looked uneasily at Cub, letting her go off alone in this strange place of uncomfortable scents. But he settled down again slowly, knowing that a Wolf really shouldn't follow Cub if she didn't want it.

Alexius grinned, realizing that he was the unofficial representative of his father and the other adults when it came to such logistics.

"The ladies may be excused." Alexius said formally, without a trace of irony. He bobbed his head in the direction of Corisande and Angharad and smiled.

Crispin gave his sister a quick, worried look, but quickly wiped it away as he handed the book over to Lillith. "Look familiar?"

Indeed, it didn't... It was too messy to be Benedict's. Seramina didn't know it either. Then the book landed in Alexius's lap.

The letters were scratchy, in a careless print. There were no names mentioned, nothing to show who's log it was, but Alexius knew the script anyway. It was Martin's.

"Thank you," Cori replied, and, ignoring her brother, left the hall, Harri in tow.

"What is it? What is it?" Dulce craned her neck out to see.

"What does it say?" Lillith asked, leaning closer over. "Whose is it?"

"Martin's, I expect." Alexius said dryly, looking at Crispin and fingering the book. He pointedly did not open it. "Where did you get it, Crispin?" he asked, looking at Bleys son.

Alexius continued to run his finger along the spine. "As you've gotten older, you've only gotten more kleptomanic, cousin." Alexius added, with a trace of a smile.

Crispin's eyes widened. "It was in the book! I hadn't had a chance to look through it-- Come on, Lex, if I'd been nicking your brother's stuff, I'd be smart enough not to show it to you."

Crispin frowned. "What does it say?"

"Where'd Brand get it?" Lillith wondered.

Dulce watched with greatest interest, but didn't say anything.

Alexius grimaced and paused a few moments in indecision. Finally, he opened it up, looking for a page that seemed to be particularly well-read or dog-eared.

"You'd think you my cousins were jackals." Alexius teased with a grin, looking at the contents of the selected page.

Quote: Stumbled upon another sunset shadow... Really great place. Quiet. No people. Warm and dry. Found myself a little shack and holed up for a few days.

Silence at night is... complete. Utter. All-encompassing. So is the dark, outside my fire.

Wish you were here.

Crispin leaned over, involved in the dubious task of reading the journal upside down.

Alexius read a little further and then closed the book, feeling guilty.

"I think I know why Brand has it, even if not the how of it." Alexius explained. "Brand had to go through a lot of work to trump Martin, whom he had never met, to do his evil business during the War." Alexius said. "I bet that Brand used this to try and get a sense of who and what my brother was, so that he could make that trump."

Cori, listening from her vantage point, very carefully did not roll her eyes at Alexius' comment.

At the jackal comment, a storm passed across Lillith's eyes, followed by a scowl and an opinion she kept to herself. She sat back, looking a tad annoyed at not being able to read the book, then she turned to Crispin.

"Let's see the other one."

Cori finally spoke up. "No," she said, "I don't think so. Maybe later."

She gave Crispin a look that said, we'll talk about this later, and Crispin could tell from her expression that crossing her would have Serious Consequences.

"Later" Alexius said firmly. He then looked at Lilith. "No offense intended, cousin." he said, realizing just what he said and why it would irk her thusly.

His fingers drummed on the top of Martin's book.

Lillith's brow furrowed faintly and she drained the glass in front of her. By the time she set it down, she was looking decidely bored and restless.

She glanced over her shoulder towards the balcony, looked thoughtful, and turned back around, drawing complicated patterns on the tablecloth with her fingernail.

The dark haired girl looked at Dulce. "I dunno. I think class was more entertaining. At least we were doing something. Are these things always like this?"

Dulce's expression was peeved and disappointed as her older cousins seemed unforthcoming about the books.

She answered Lillith. "Well, as I told you, when the whole court is here for dinner, you can always see what everybody is wearing. There are the guys who practice in the training yards, all dressed up. And there's dancing. But that is not tonight."

She cast a meaningful look at Crispin and at the journal and back up at Crispin questioningly, and then threw a cautious glance over to Corisande to see if she was watching.

Lillith rolled her eyes.

With the napkin from her lap, she tied a knot in one end and proceeded to make it dance and twirl about the table, directing it with her finger as it swooped and swirled and bonked Crispin on the noggin before moving on.

"These things have been known to be worse, Lillith" Alexius said to her, looking at the three female cousins. "It could be definitely be very worse than this."

"And seeing what everyone is wearing is no salve when you are bored to tears by Golden Circle diplomats with no conversational skills. Unless." Alexius added. "you want to hear endless arguments against sugar cane import tariffs."

Cori was paying a little attention to everything in the room. Dulce saw her frown as Lillith popped her brother on the head with the napkin.

[OOC: Crossing the streams with the other thread]

"If we do go hunting, Dulce, do you want to come with us?"

Crispin shoved his book away, then looked at Martin's book expectantly.

"Are you keeping it?" he asked at his most innocent. "Or is your brother going to be in town again soon?"

Lillith's napkin pirouetted in midair and spun to a slow curstey before she got bored with it and let it lay.

Her attenion wandered again and she slipped quietly out of her chair and headed for the door leading outside to the gardens.

"I'm keeping it. I can get it to him." Alexius said firmly. "He won't question it if it comes from me." He then regarded Crispin.

"You really don't want Martin to find out you ever took it. He's usually placid on the surface, but taking his possessions can end that placidity." Alexius added.

"That would be very nice of you. Thank you, Alexius," Cori said, cutting any protest her brother intended to make off.

"I didn't take it!" said Crispin one last time before settling back into his chair with a 'hmph.' He glowered at nothing in particular.

"That doesn't matter," Cori reminded him. "It just matters whether you get caught with it. Lex is doing you a favor, keeping you out of trouble, and I appreciate it even if you don't."

She decided to wait for later to remind him that it would be a very bad thing if somebody had to explain to Martin exactly how they'd gotten hold of it in the first place.

Alexius nodded and smiled to Cori. "I'll take care of it, sooner rather than later. Have no fears of it." He then looked at Crispin. "Listen to your sister in this." he grinned.

Crispin slouched in his chair, rolling his eyes. "Fine, fine. Probably nothing good in it anyway..."