The Adventure continues...
Jul. 28th, 2009 03:17 am![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
mistresshuette.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
fandomaniaPlease click and view our eggs and hatchlings. I do the same for you. Thanks.
Our eggs:
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Our hatchlings:
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I tried to put up a good front for Tru. I liked the respect and admiration he gave me, because he felt that I had managed my emotions well for the execution. But the reality was that this was just a façade. I had nightmares for weeks afterwards, but I swore my maids to secrecy about them. I did not want to be a disappointment to him or be rejected by him if he were to find out how weak and unstable I was. So, I endured and hid my weaknesses from him. Whenever he came to visit the children, I put on my happy face for him.
Several weeks after the trial, Tru came to me and asked, “Would you like to take a ride with me and go visit Ancil conMoros at his studio?”
“Yes!” I answered enthusiastically. “That would be lovely. When would you like to go?”
“How long will it take you to get ready?”
“Hmmm … Half an hour?”
“Take an hour, my dear. You don’t have to rush.”
“I will be totally ready in an hour.”
The thought of seeing Donal’s grandfather again and the thought of having a jaunt outside the walls of the compound buoyed up my spirits considerably. I hurried to my rooms and rang for my maids. They rushed to find a fresh dress for me to wear. Ellyn kept bringing out lovely dresses, but they were in bright colors. I finally snapped. “Ellyn! I only want black dresses! Bring out only black ones!”
“But my lady, you look beautiful in these dresses. You know that!”
“I don’t care to be beautiful any more. Donal is not here to see me in them. Why should I want to be beautiful for anyone else? Get rid of those dresses. Bring out only black dresses.”
“Very well, my lady.” Ellyn replied defeatedly. She then brought out the black velvet dress, with the low décolletage. But before I could reject it also, she then brought out a black lace partlet that covered my uncovered chest. It hid my cleavage, but still hinted at it at the same time. It would have to do, I thought. We were running out of time. Mahli completed the outfit by putting my hair in a black lace snood that matched the partlet.
I retrieved something from the safe in my closet and then went out, finding Tru waiting for me by the front doors. He looked at me and looked disappointed. “You look lovely as usual. But I was hoping that you would wear something more cheerful.”
“I am a widow now, Tru. Widow’s weeds are appropriate for me.”
“True. But you are also a very young woman. Don’t cut yourself off from life forever. Trust me. I did that after Anya died. I made many mistakes because of that and I didn’t enjoy life for a long, long time. Don’t follow my example.”
I didn’t know what to say, so I said nothing. We walked in silence to the carriage and got in. I noticed that Thom again was not driving. Instead, there were the same two guards from the other day. I turned to Tru, and asked, “What happened to Thom?”
“Nothing,” he replied nonchalantly. “From now on, whenever you leave the compound you will be constantly guarded. Even if you are going to some place safe, like the Temple. Josar and Milo have volunteered to be your personal body guards. Even if you are going out with me or with Izshaq, they will come along also.
“I need you to give me your most solemn vow, that you will never, ever, set foot outside the compound wall alone. That you will take protection every where you go, from now on. I need your vow, Patra.”
He was looking at me very intensely again. “I give you my solemn vow that I will do as you ask of me.”
“Thank you.”
“Is this because of Count Torfen?”
“He is one of my concerns.”
“Just one? Are there others?”
“A few. But you needn’t worry yourself about this. You are being protected.”
From Tru’s tone, I could tell that he was not willing to share this information with me at this time. I knew that I would not be able to wheedle the information form him.
We drove through parts of Daihor that I had never seen before. It was interesting to see how other people lived. Finally, the carriage came to a very middle-class neighborhood. The houses and businesses were modest, but well taken care of. The people seemed happy as we passed them. The children were playing outside with abandon, seemingly without a care in the world. It looked like a wonderful, close-knit community.
At last we arrived at a two storied house with a well maintained yard. The bottom story was made from red bricks, laid in an unusual, to me at least, herringbone pattern. The upper floor was slightly larger than the lower one and there were dark wood beams supporting it. The walls were made from some form of yellow clay, with more dark wood beams laid into the walls to support them. There were some sort of green vines climbing up the wall on the north side of the house. The roof was covered with overlapping red slate shingles. There were many windows, but instead of large panes, there were small triangular panes held together by lead canes. It gave each window a faceted look. To me, it looked like a lovingly cared for home. To me, it exuded warmth and happiness.
Tru and I got out of the carriage, and walked to the door, but before we got there, the door was thrown open and Ancil welcomed us with open arms. “Come in! Come in!” he said happily. “I am so happy to see you both!” He ushered us into the main sitting room of the house. The room was cozy, with comfortable furniture placed everywhere. The walls inside were made also with the yellow clay, but they supported few decorations. In the center of the wall opposite was a large fireplace, with a heavy dark wood mantelpiece made from the same wood as seen in the beams. There were a few objet d’art on the mantel. Obviously, mementos from their past.
As we walked in, two women entered the room from another entryway. The oldest woman was about fifty-five years of age, thin, with a heart shaped face, dark eyes and dark hair that was streaked with white, here and there. She was dressed in a plain dress of brown wool. The other woman was about forty, plump, with a rosy complexion, merry brown eyes and auburn hair, also streaked with white.
“Ah, good, you are here!” said Ancil. “Piatrus, Patra, I would like you to meet two of my daughters, Arbela, my first-born daughter, and Giesa, my youngest. I have another daughter, Minda, who is married and lives in Bellermine. Piatrus is Helene’s father and Patra is, or would have been, Ercil’s daughter-in-law.”
We all exchanged pleasantries after Ancil’s introductions. Then came a few moments of awkwardness, because we didn’t know each other well enough to know what to say next. Finally, I broke the silence and asked, “Do you have your studio here? Or do you have one elsewhere?”
“My studio is out back. Would you like to see it?” Ancil inquired.
“That would be lovely!” I replied.
We followed Ancil through a hallway to a door into the back yard and then outside to a separate building. This building was also made from brick like the house. He opened the door to his workshop and invited us to enter.
The room was a whole lot bigger than the outside promised. It was very clean and very white, with a huge set of windows in the ceiling as a skylight, which brought in the northern light and suffused the room with clear light.
In the center of the room was a half done sculpture of a man and a woman, with the woman holding a young child in her arms. The man has his arm draped around the woman’s waist while the child is holding its arms up towards the man, just as a child does when it wishes to be picked up and held. I found it very beautiful and moving.
Off to the left were unused blocks of marble. To the right, at the other end of the studio was a bust of a young man, which had been placed on a pedestal. To the immediate right was Ancil’s work bench, with a built in chest of drawers to one side of it.
“What a wonderful studio!” I said sincerely. “I can feel such positive and creative energies flowing here. It must be a joy to work here.”
Ancil practically glowed hearing my words. “Yes. I have always felt so here. I have done some of my finest work here.”
I walked over to inspect the bust much closer. The subject was a very pleasant looking youth, with soulful eyes and long flowing hair. After a few minutes, I realized that the face looked very much like Ancil, but a very much younger version. I turned to Ancil and asked, “Is this you, when you were a young man?”
Ancil smiled sadly. “No. That is my son Ercil. I did that from memory after he disappeared.”
“He looked just like you.”
“My late wife used to say that also. He would have been sixty years old this year …”
“Do you have any grandchildren?” I inquired.
“No. The two daughters you just met have never married. Minda has tried to have children, but most have ended in miscarriages. The two that didn’t died at birth. She and her husband are now resigned to being childless.”
“I am sorry that you never knew about Donal until it was too late. He was a wonderful man, despite that man’s attempts at destroying him. I know that you would have been proud of his talent. He did inherit it from your son, I know this. And you do have great-grandchildren. Most are my children that Donal adopted, but he did make four and a half children of his own. Three boys, one girl and the one yet to be born. You have an open invitation to come visit us whenever you wish. I am hoping that one of them will have inherited your talent for sculpture and I hope that one day you will help them learn this art.”
Ancil’s face was filled with happiness. “It will be one of my greatest pleasures to do so.”
Tru then pulled out his notebook and removed several pieces of paper from it. “You asked if you could see some of Donal’s works. We have several left at the estate, which you are likewise always welcome to come and see. Here are two lists of where his commissioned pieces are. The first list has where all the public sculptures are. The second has where all the private commissions are. This third paper is a letter of reference from me to show when you go to see them. I have gotten permission from all of Donal’s patrons to allow you to see them, although I think that it might be best to write them to set up an appointment rather than just showing up at their doors.”
“Thank you, Piatrus.. This means a lot to me.”
I, in turn, brought out the portfolio that I had been holding. I walked over to the work bench and opened it up in a clear area. I asked the men to join me there.
“You may not know this, Ancil, but Piatrus recently lost his third son, Stevar and most of Stevar’s family, in a hurricane in the Archipelagos.”
“I am so sorry to hear that, Piatrus. I know what you are going through.”
“Thank you, Ancil. Patra, you didn’t tell me you were going to do this!”
“No, I didn’t. It came to me just before we left today that this would be the appropriate way to go. I hope that you don’t mind?”
“Mind? Not at all! You are correct. This is the perfect way. Thank you for thinking of this.”
Ancil looked confused.
“Let me continue. On the night that Donal was murdered, Piatrus had commissioned Donal to design and create a huge memorial to Stevar’s memory and to the memory of all the others who lost their lives in that hurricane. The memorial was to be installed in the capital city there. Donal, being the constantly inspired artist that he was, immediately started sketching and designing what the memorial would look like. Unfortunately, this was as far as he was allowed to go. Rather than see his ideas be locked away from the world, I, or rather Piatrus and I, ask you if you would take up this commission from us and, using Donal’s last sketches, bring his ideas to life and complete this memorial for him. It seemed appropriate to me that this memorial would show the greatness of two brilliant sculptors, who were grandfather and grandson.”
Ancil look awestruck. He looked at me and at Tru in wonderment. He then turned to the sketches in the portfolio. With every page, he would say something, like “So beautiful” or “Brilliant” or “How innovative”.
When he finished looking at the sketches, he looked up at us, with the light of inspiration in his eyes similar to that which I used to see in Donal’s eyes. “You want me to complete this work of genius? I have never done anything this size before…”
“Can you handle a sculpture this size? I know that this is an ambitious project. Can you bring this to fruition?”
A myriad of emotions seemed to pass through Ancil’s face. Finally, he looked up and said, “Yes. I can and will do this. It would be my greatest honor to be allowed to complete my grandson’s work. I cannot believe that you would be asking me to complete this project for you. Thank you! I will put my heart and soul into it. This will be my greatest work, so that it will be equal to the greatness of this design. Thank you.”
“Do not worry about any of the expenses,” Tru added. “If you come to the estate in a couple of days, I will introduce you to my purchasing agent. He will be your supplier for whatever you need. No reasonable request will be denied you. And I want to pay you for your talents, just like any of your patrons do.”
“No! I couldn’t charge you that! You are like family now!”
“Yes you will,” argued Tru. “I am a very wealthy man. What you might consider a considerable amount, I would call pocket change. And if you continue to deny me this, I will then put the money into a trust fund for your unmarried daughters, so that they can live the rest of their lives, worry free and comfortable.”
“I am amazed and boggled by this. I accept this commission with my whole heart and soul.”
Our eggs:
§ § § § Our hatchlings:
§ § § § I tried to put up a good front for Tru. I liked the respect and admiration he gave me, because he felt that I had managed my emotions well for the execution. But the reality was that this was just a façade. I had nightmares for weeks afterwards, but I swore my maids to secrecy about them. I did not want to be a disappointment to him or be rejected by him if he were to find out how weak and unstable I was. So, I endured and hid my weaknesses from him. Whenever he came to visit the children, I put on my happy face for him.
Several weeks after the trial, Tru came to me and asked, “Would you like to take a ride with me and go visit Ancil conMoros at his studio?”
“Yes!” I answered enthusiastically. “That would be lovely. When would you like to go?”
“How long will it take you to get ready?”
“Hmmm … Half an hour?”
“Take an hour, my dear. You don’t have to rush.”
“I will be totally ready in an hour.”
The thought of seeing Donal’s grandfather again and the thought of having a jaunt outside the walls of the compound buoyed up my spirits considerably. I hurried to my rooms and rang for my maids. They rushed to find a fresh dress for me to wear. Ellyn kept bringing out lovely dresses, but they were in bright colors. I finally snapped. “Ellyn! I only want black dresses! Bring out only black ones!”
“But my lady, you look beautiful in these dresses. You know that!”
“I don’t care to be beautiful any more. Donal is not here to see me in them. Why should I want to be beautiful for anyone else? Get rid of those dresses. Bring out only black dresses.”
“Very well, my lady.” Ellyn replied defeatedly. She then brought out the black velvet dress, with the low décolletage. But before I could reject it also, she then brought out a black lace partlet that covered my uncovered chest. It hid my cleavage, but still hinted at it at the same time. It would have to do, I thought. We were running out of time. Mahli completed the outfit by putting my hair in a black lace snood that matched the partlet.
I retrieved something from the safe in my closet and then went out, finding Tru waiting for me by the front doors. He looked at me and looked disappointed. “You look lovely as usual. But I was hoping that you would wear something more cheerful.”
“I am a widow now, Tru. Widow’s weeds are appropriate for me.”
“True. But you are also a very young woman. Don’t cut yourself off from life forever. Trust me. I did that after Anya died. I made many mistakes because of that and I didn’t enjoy life for a long, long time. Don’t follow my example.”
I didn’t know what to say, so I said nothing. We walked in silence to the carriage and got in. I noticed that Thom again was not driving. Instead, there were the same two guards from the other day. I turned to Tru, and asked, “What happened to Thom?”
“Nothing,” he replied nonchalantly. “From now on, whenever you leave the compound you will be constantly guarded. Even if you are going to some place safe, like the Temple. Josar and Milo have volunteered to be your personal body guards. Even if you are going out with me or with Izshaq, they will come along also.
“I need you to give me your most solemn vow, that you will never, ever, set foot outside the compound wall alone. That you will take protection every where you go, from now on. I need your vow, Patra.”
He was looking at me very intensely again. “I give you my solemn vow that I will do as you ask of me.”
“Thank you.”
“Is this because of Count Torfen?”
“He is one of my concerns.”
“Just one? Are there others?”
“A few. But you needn’t worry yourself about this. You are being protected.”
From Tru’s tone, I could tell that he was not willing to share this information with me at this time. I knew that I would not be able to wheedle the information form him.
We drove through parts of Daihor that I had never seen before. It was interesting to see how other people lived. Finally, the carriage came to a very middle-class neighborhood. The houses and businesses were modest, but well taken care of. The people seemed happy as we passed them. The children were playing outside with abandon, seemingly without a care in the world. It looked like a wonderful, close-knit community.
At last we arrived at a two storied house with a well maintained yard. The bottom story was made from red bricks, laid in an unusual, to me at least, herringbone pattern. The upper floor was slightly larger than the lower one and there were dark wood beams supporting it. The walls were made from some form of yellow clay, with more dark wood beams laid into the walls to support them. There were some sort of green vines climbing up the wall on the north side of the house. The roof was covered with overlapping red slate shingles. There were many windows, but instead of large panes, there were small triangular panes held together by lead canes. It gave each window a faceted look. To me, it looked like a lovingly cared for home. To me, it exuded warmth and happiness.
Tru and I got out of the carriage, and walked to the door, but before we got there, the door was thrown open and Ancil welcomed us with open arms. “Come in! Come in!” he said happily. “I am so happy to see you both!” He ushered us into the main sitting room of the house. The room was cozy, with comfortable furniture placed everywhere. The walls inside were made also with the yellow clay, but they supported few decorations. In the center of the wall opposite was a large fireplace, with a heavy dark wood mantelpiece made from the same wood as seen in the beams. There were a few objet d’art on the mantel. Obviously, mementos from their past.
As we walked in, two women entered the room from another entryway. The oldest woman was about fifty-five years of age, thin, with a heart shaped face, dark eyes and dark hair that was streaked with white, here and there. She was dressed in a plain dress of brown wool. The other woman was about forty, plump, with a rosy complexion, merry brown eyes and auburn hair, also streaked with white.
“Ah, good, you are here!” said Ancil. “Piatrus, Patra, I would like you to meet two of my daughters, Arbela, my first-born daughter, and Giesa, my youngest. I have another daughter, Minda, who is married and lives in Bellermine. Piatrus is Helene’s father and Patra is, or would have been, Ercil’s daughter-in-law.”
We all exchanged pleasantries after Ancil’s introductions. Then came a few moments of awkwardness, because we didn’t know each other well enough to know what to say next. Finally, I broke the silence and asked, “Do you have your studio here? Or do you have one elsewhere?”
“My studio is out back. Would you like to see it?” Ancil inquired.
“That would be lovely!” I replied.
We followed Ancil through a hallway to a door into the back yard and then outside to a separate building. This building was also made from brick like the house. He opened the door to his workshop and invited us to enter.
The room was a whole lot bigger than the outside promised. It was very clean and very white, with a huge set of windows in the ceiling as a skylight, which brought in the northern light and suffused the room with clear light.
In the center of the room was a half done sculpture of a man and a woman, with the woman holding a young child in her arms. The man has his arm draped around the woman’s waist while the child is holding its arms up towards the man, just as a child does when it wishes to be picked up and held. I found it very beautiful and moving.
Off to the left were unused blocks of marble. To the right, at the other end of the studio was a bust of a young man, which had been placed on a pedestal. To the immediate right was Ancil’s work bench, with a built in chest of drawers to one side of it.
“What a wonderful studio!” I said sincerely. “I can feel such positive and creative energies flowing here. It must be a joy to work here.”
Ancil practically glowed hearing my words. “Yes. I have always felt so here. I have done some of my finest work here.”
I walked over to inspect the bust much closer. The subject was a very pleasant looking youth, with soulful eyes and long flowing hair. After a few minutes, I realized that the face looked very much like Ancil, but a very much younger version. I turned to Ancil and asked, “Is this you, when you were a young man?”
Ancil smiled sadly. “No. That is my son Ercil. I did that from memory after he disappeared.”
“He looked just like you.”
“My late wife used to say that also. He would have been sixty years old this year …”
“Do you have any grandchildren?” I inquired.
“No. The two daughters you just met have never married. Minda has tried to have children, but most have ended in miscarriages. The two that didn’t died at birth. She and her husband are now resigned to being childless.”
“I am sorry that you never knew about Donal until it was too late. He was a wonderful man, despite that man’s attempts at destroying him. I know that you would have been proud of his talent. He did inherit it from your son, I know this. And you do have great-grandchildren. Most are my children that Donal adopted, but he did make four and a half children of his own. Three boys, one girl and the one yet to be born. You have an open invitation to come visit us whenever you wish. I am hoping that one of them will have inherited your talent for sculpture and I hope that one day you will help them learn this art.”
Ancil’s face was filled with happiness. “It will be one of my greatest pleasures to do so.”
Tru then pulled out his notebook and removed several pieces of paper from it. “You asked if you could see some of Donal’s works. We have several left at the estate, which you are likewise always welcome to come and see. Here are two lists of where his commissioned pieces are. The first list has where all the public sculptures are. The second has where all the private commissions are. This third paper is a letter of reference from me to show when you go to see them. I have gotten permission from all of Donal’s patrons to allow you to see them, although I think that it might be best to write them to set up an appointment rather than just showing up at their doors.”
“Thank you, Piatrus.. This means a lot to me.”
I, in turn, brought out the portfolio that I had been holding. I walked over to the work bench and opened it up in a clear area. I asked the men to join me there.
“You may not know this, Ancil, but Piatrus recently lost his third son, Stevar and most of Stevar’s family, in a hurricane in the Archipelagos.”
“I am so sorry to hear that, Piatrus. I know what you are going through.”
“Thank you, Ancil. Patra, you didn’t tell me you were going to do this!”
“No, I didn’t. It came to me just before we left today that this would be the appropriate way to go. I hope that you don’t mind?”
“Mind? Not at all! You are correct. This is the perfect way. Thank you for thinking of this.”
Ancil looked confused.
“Let me continue. On the night that Donal was murdered, Piatrus had commissioned Donal to design and create a huge memorial to Stevar’s memory and to the memory of all the others who lost their lives in that hurricane. The memorial was to be installed in the capital city there. Donal, being the constantly inspired artist that he was, immediately started sketching and designing what the memorial would look like. Unfortunately, this was as far as he was allowed to go. Rather than see his ideas be locked away from the world, I, or rather Piatrus and I, ask you if you would take up this commission from us and, using Donal’s last sketches, bring his ideas to life and complete this memorial for him. It seemed appropriate to me that this memorial would show the greatness of two brilliant sculptors, who were grandfather and grandson.”
Ancil look awestruck. He looked at me and at Tru in wonderment. He then turned to the sketches in the portfolio. With every page, he would say something, like “So beautiful” or “Brilliant” or “How innovative”.
When he finished looking at the sketches, he looked up at us, with the light of inspiration in his eyes similar to that which I used to see in Donal’s eyes. “You want me to complete this work of genius? I have never done anything this size before…”
“Can you handle a sculpture this size? I know that this is an ambitious project. Can you bring this to fruition?”
A myriad of emotions seemed to pass through Ancil’s face. Finally, he looked up and said, “Yes. I can and will do this. It would be my greatest honor to be allowed to complete my grandson’s work. I cannot believe that you would be asking me to complete this project for you. Thank you! I will put my heart and soul into it. This will be my greatest work, so that it will be equal to the greatness of this design. Thank you.”
“Do not worry about any of the expenses,” Tru added. “If you come to the estate in a couple of days, I will introduce you to my purchasing agent. He will be your supplier for whatever you need. No reasonable request will be denied you. And I want to pay you for your talents, just like any of your patrons do.”
“No! I couldn’t charge you that! You are like family now!”
“Yes you will,” argued Tru. “I am a very wealthy man. What you might consider a considerable amount, I would call pocket change. And if you continue to deny me this, I will then put the money into a trust fund for your unmarried daughters, so that they can live the rest of their lives, worry free and comfortable.”
“I am amazed and boggled by this. I accept this commission with my whole heart and soul.”
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