Chapter 40: A Crack In The Calm
The next day Vivian was in an excellent mood, which was no surprise really since she'd spent the night with Renard in one of the guest rooms. Her good moods were always really evident though, because she talked so much more when she was in one.
"I always thought that Lady Dandridge's manor was large but it's only a fraction of the size of Lady Deveris's household! I suppose if you host as many events as the Dominion nobles then you'd need a big enough space for them all. It's crazy how many more people are needed to keep a place like that running: she had to have at least 30 slaves, and that's just the ones I saw!"
The two friends sat in the nursery while the children played nearby, and just as Vivian seemed to be in a good mood Kyrie had also woken up feeling refreshed and delighted. As she worked on some of the mending, one of her hands kept trailing to her neck where the necklace was hidden under her dress, and when she felt the metal through her clothes a small smile would light up her face.
Vivian had brought up a section of the silver to polish while they kept an eye on the children, though for the most part they did a fairly good job policing themselves. Raine and Markus were both old enough to not need too much supervision, and while Breida needed a bit more, she was a fairly mild-mannered little girl. Markus also was used to playing with her, so he was able to keep her both entertained and out of trouble on his own; all in all, it made the afternoon a rather relaxing one for the five of them.
Vivian and Kyrie had expected Neri to be joining them, but she'd been called down to wait on the two ladies as they spent time together. To be honest though, they were both rather glad to have time to spend with a very familiar face and no one else. There would be no having to put on smiles or public faces, it was just a completely comfortable atmosphere for the two. Vivian and Kyrie had known each other for years now, after all, and they were more willing to speak their mind in that case. Even shy Kyrie spoke a little more around Vivian.
"30 slaves...? Did you know any of them?"
"Not a one! I thought maybe I'd see some of the people that came with the lady last time she was here but they were no where to be seen!"
Kyrie idly raised her hand up to her chest again, comforted by the slight bump that she felt there. It was as if she was expecting it to disappear for some reason, but every time she reaffirmed the existence of her necklace a wave of relief washed through her. A gentle warmth bubbled in her as she remembered last night with Isaac, and she lightly pushed the necklace around through her dress while she pondered what Vivian said. It made her a little nervous, to be honest, and that was the chief reason her hand had gone up to her necklace.
"Do you think maybe they got sold because they were involved in the attempted poisoning of our lady?"
Vivian started at that, and it was clear that she had not thought that was a possible reason for them not being there. To be perfectly frank though, Vivian hadn't really put a huge amount of thought into her surroundings beyond thinking about how much she missed the Dandridge house. Now that it was brought to her attention though, she felt like it was a real oversight on her part. Perhaps if she'd been trying to investigate this issue better she would've not only had something to occupy her time, but perhaps she could've helped the lady as well. Still, she tried to at least remember what she'd seen now that Kyrie had queried her.
"I... I don't know. I didn't really catch any whiffs of conversation about what happened at the Dandridge house; I'm not even sure anyone knows that there is something to know in regards to that aside from Lord and Lady Deveris themselves. Well, I assume Lord Deveris knows: I can't imagine Lady Deveris wouldn't tell him about such an injustice that came from their household."
Kyrie let out a soft hum of contemplation before she noticed that Vivian was staring pointedly at her. Feeling like she'd just been caught doing something wrong, she turned her gaze down and let her hand drop from around her neck to dig back into her mending. For some reason her heart pounded with anxiety to have Vivian looking at her like that, and a completely irrational part of her brain screamed to her that this would be the big reveal that she was trying so hard to hide. Both dismayed and horrified by this snap reaction, she tried her best to push down those feelings. There was no way that anything they'd just been saying would loop around to her and Renard. It was completely ridiculous that it should, and the fact that she was thinking about this at all told her that she didn't have as much confidence in keeping this secret as she'd hoped.
Thankfully when Vivian opened her mouth, it was to ask a different question; though to be fair, the one Vivian did ask made Kyrie tense up just as well.
"What do you keep messing with? You didn't have a habit of touching at your neck before I left."
Here Vivian sidled up close to Kyrie, and Kyrie shrunk a little away from her. Kyrie had decided to put the necklace in her dress so that people wouldn't see it, both because slaves in the Terra Kingdom really didn't wear adornments like that, and because she wasn't sure how Vivian would react. It wasn't like Renard had gotten Vivian anything special, so if she saw that Kyrie had gotten something of her own from Isaac then Kyrie could see how Vivian would get a little upset. Not a get angry and in her face kind of upset, more of a dampening of her mood kind of upset.
Still, now that Kyrie was called out on it she didn't really want to lie. She was already omitting a truth to her best friend, she couldn't add another one to it.
"I-I--"
Clearly seeing how nervous Kyrie was, Vivian's curiosity peaked even further, and that's when she noticed a tiny bit of a chain poking through the collar of her dress. Vivian's eyes widened in surprise before it turned to a smile of triumphant victory.
"Ah-ha!"
Pulling down Kyrie's collar a bit, this made the younger girl blush brightly: not only was Vivian revealing the necklace, but she was also revealing some of the love bites that Isaac had left on her skin.
Kyrie's automatic response was to jerk backwards, bringing one hand up to her collar while her other covered her face to try and hide the embarrassment.
"Vivian!"
Horribly flustered now that she had some of her more private and intimate moments revealed to her friend, Vivian wasn't nearly so flustered. Instead her friend let out a suggestive whistle, a smile lighting up her features.
"Looks like you and Isaac had a nice time last night."
Kyrie's face just got even redder at that and she hid her face in her hands. Vivian only let out a soft laugh, ruffling Kyrie's hair a bit.
"Nothing to be ashamed of, I definitely enjoyed my evening with Renard."
For a moment there was silence from Vivian as she thought back to the night prior, but she didn't want to dwell for too long on it; it would inevitably make her want to go and pounce Renard again. Instead she turned her attention back to Kyrie.
"In all seriousness though, what is this? How did you get a piece of jewelry? Did Isaac somehow get it?"
Vivian reached for the chain once more, and this time Kyrie didn't try and stop her; she did continue hiding behind her hands though. Vivian pulled on the necklace until she had revealed the simple silver heart, and she could feel a stab through her own heart to see this. Surely Isaac had given this to Kyrie, and it hurt because she'd known Renard for longer and he'd never given her something like this. He would give her flowers from the garden, sure, but flowers never lasted. She could press the petals and put them into a book (which she had done), but it didn't change the fact that they weren't particularly unique. They weren't anything that she could carry around with her everywhere she went.
Swallowing the lump in her throat, Vivian could feel the horrible monster of her jealousy stirring. Kyrie was just too innocent though, there was no reason for her to have to take her ire. Biting at her bottom lip hard enough to make it rather uncomfortable, Vivian only spoke when she was sure that her voice wouldn't betray her emotions.
"Kyrie this... This is so sweet. I can see why your hand trails up now."
Slowly, Kyrie peeked between her fingers at her friend, and Kyrie could see that Vivian was looking down at the heart in her hand with such a conflicted expression on her face. There was happiness for Kyrie, but there was also pain, so much pain...
When Kyrie actually shifted her hands more visibly, the pain practically disappeared from Vivian's features as she gave Kyrie a smile... Would it be better to say nothing of how Kyrie felt about the necklace for Vivian's sake?
As Vivian let her necklace go, Kyrie brought her hand up to hold the heart in her palm once more. No... she couldn't just say nothing; it felt like it would be a slight to Isaac if she didn't, but more importantly, it felt like she'd be trying to hide her own feelings. It was painful having to do that once already, she should at least share what she could of them then.
"I love it, more than I have the words to express. I never would've dreamed that I'd have something like this, but then Isaac put this on me last night..."
She trailed off as she replyed that encounter in her head and the love that Kyrie had for Isaac was so obvious in her expression that it just about tore Vivian apart. Before she could really compose herself well enough to be able to come up with a response, a yell from the other side of the room got both women up immediately.
"You take that back!"
"Nuh-uh! It's true!"
Kyrie and Vivian immediately swooped into the scene; Vivian pulled Raine off of Markus (who she appeared to have tackled and was trying to pull at his hair), and Kyrie stood between them while she hoisted the now crying Breida up into her arms.
"What in the world is going on here?"
This was demanded of the children in a tone by Vivian that made them both flinch, and Kyrie just soothingly rubbed her hand against Breida's back as she slowly rocked back and forth. The little girl clung tight to Kyrie as she cried, but she was calming down now that she was being treated so gently.
"He called mother a snake and said that she was awful because she gave me no father! She is not a snake! And she's not awful!"
Vivian could see now that there were tears gathering at the edges of Raine's eyes, and as she spoke her piece they immediately started falling. Raine brought her hands up to wipe away the tears, but that didn't stop them even remotely. Instead she just cried against Vivian as Vivian pulled her in for a hug. Turning her attention towards Markus now, she was careful to keep her expression stern but not too accusatory.
"Markus, why would you say this to Raine?"
Markus pouted a bit at first but eventually did let out a mumble.
"Because it's true."
"What makes you say it's true?"
"Well there's no father here! Raine doesn't have one! And my father always said that we can't grow up without being led by the right people."
Even though this was only part of an explanation, it was clear to Vivian that Markus had come to think from that exchange that a father was the one with the right sort of guidance. Raine's father was a little bit of a sore spot for Raine though; usually it was little more than a curiosity of hers, but when she'd gone to that party in the Dominion her queries about him had renewed. It would seem that she felt more than a little bit like the odd one out being the only one without a father. Raine had already tried asking tons of questions about him to both the slaves of the Dandridge house and to Mae herself, but ultimately that led to very little. Vivian remembered hearing her ask her mother once if she would ever meet her father. The response she had gotten was "ideally, no."
It had been both an exciting answer and a disappointing one; it raised further intrigue about Mae's mystery man, but it also said at the same time that Mae would never satisfy that intrigue. Raine's inquiries had made it very clear to her that her father would not be made a visible part of her life, and as such his existence did not matter. The girl had struggled to accept that; Mae was usually so reasonable and willing to accommodate most things, but in this case she was resolute about the fact that Raine's father did not matter in the slightest. This was an aspect of Raine's life that she didn't fully understand, and that's why Vivian felt that it was a bit of a sensitive topic for her. So for Markus to make a biting comment about it probably hit Raine even harder.
Turning her attention towards Markus once again after giving the crying Raine a couple soft rubs to her back, he had his jaw set in a way that seemed to say that nothing was wrong with what he'd said.
"Is Lady Dandridge not someone who could lead?"
Here Markus hesitated. He didn't give Vivian an outright no, which told Vivian that there was something more to why he'd defaulted to a father instead of Mae.
"Markus."
Markus once again flinched a little at this, and pouted something fierce, though his lower lip trembled a little.
"She's not... She's not normal."
"Is there something wrong with that? Isn't she your mother's good friend?"
Markus's lips pursed at that, and he struggled internally with trying to gather his thoughts in the right way.
"Other people don't like her though..."
Ah, so it would seem that the rumors of the court didn't pass over this boy's ears, as much as he found the social gatherings boring.
"Is that why you called her a snake?"
Markus just turned his head to the side, refusing to say anything more now. Vivian let out a soft sigh and settled herself to sit on the ground. Shifting Raine so that she was more to one side of her, Vivian held out her free arm to Markus.
"Markus, come here."
Not wanting to move towards Vivian, he briefly looked up at Kyrie as if she could help him out of this, but Kyrie simply brought an arm down to gently touch his back and push him in the direction of Vivian. Trudging forward now, he was really dragging his feet until he got in range of Vivian and she pulled him down to sit next to her. With one arm around Markus and one around Raine now, she could see that Raine was still giving Markus evil eyes. Jostling Raine a little, Vivian gave her a look until the little girl cowed under her caretaker's gaze.
"Do you like Raine?"
The question came out of no where for Markus, and he looked up at Vivian with wide eyes before looking over at Raine. She was no longer glaring at him, but her eyes were red from crying as she watched him. Markus suddenly turned to look down at the floor then, and he shuffled his feet as if that would help him avoid the question. Vivian was patient though: Markus wasn't getting out of this one until he answered the question.
"She's fun..."
"So you enjoy playing with her then? But surely you know that her mother, Lady Dandridge, helped to raise her? Without Lady Dandridge, she wouldn't be the fun girl that you enjoy spending time with today. How can Mae be so awful if she was able to give you such a good playmate?"
Markus didn't say anything in response to this, but he eventually did look over to Raine once more. Raine just quietly watched him now, her eyes already saying that she forgave him because she enjoyed playing with him too.
"And here's another question, have you actually had any bad times with Lady Dandridge? Has she ever done anything to make you think less of her?"
"W-Well... She doesn't talk much."
Vivian chuckled softly at that.
"Neither does Kyrie, but do you dislike her?"
Markus promptly shook his head and Vivian softly ruffled his hair.
"Then there you have it. There's no reason for you to have insulted the lady, thereby upsetting Raine."
"But if there's nothing wrong with her, then why do so many people not like her?"
Vivian let out a soft sigh at that.
"I can hardly speak for the minds of others, but what I can say is this: sometimes what people say and what actually is are two very different things. You need to really make sure to weigh your own thoughts against those of others, and see which ones you truly believe and why you think the way that you do. It's unwise to just take others at their word all the time because they are likely to judge things in the way that is most favorable to them. Does that make sense? For the both of you?"
Raine quietly nodded and Vivian was pleased to see that Markus also nodded. By this point Breida was fully calm once more, and she was trying to grab at Kyrie's ponytail from her spot which Kyrie was horribly patient with.
"Good... Now Markus, I want you to apologize to Raine for upsetting her with something you said, and Raine, I want you to apologize as well for trying to hurt Markus. He may have said something mean, but it's always better to use words than violence to solve your problems."
Both of them bristled at having to apologize to one another, but Vivian jostled the both of them until she coaxed out some soft giggles.
"Ah ah! Don't you two make those faces! Come on now, apologize and let's put this all behind us."
Raine's eyes looked down and to the side for a moment before she sat up a bit straighter and rubbed her quickly drying eyes.
"I'm sorry, Markus."
Effectively moved into wanting to apologize himself, Markus looked down at his feet as he mumbled his apology.
"I'm sorry, too."
"There now... Doesn't that feel so much better? Come on, give each other a hug."
They both were a little reluctant at first, but when Vivian pushed the two of them towards each other they relented and gave each other a short hug.
"Now can you two play without fighting? Or do I need to sit here and watch you all up close like this?"
Shoving her face right up into their faces with a bit of a stern brow, she kind of snuffled at them causing Raine to let out a soft giggle and push her further towards Markus who then tried to push Vivian back at Raine. The consensus between them was that they could play without fighting, and Vivian leaned in to give each of them brief little kisses on the cheek.
"You're both good kids; now play nice!"
Kyrie kept a hold of Breida for now who was quickly starting to doze off in her arms, and the two older women returned to their chairs. Vivian practically fell into hers with a sigh.
"I wish adult conflicts were as easy as kid ones."
Kyrie gave a soft smile at that and let out a hum of agreement. Finding herself thinking about what would ever come if her secret got out, her shoulders deflated a little as she sat back in her chair like Vivian.
If only they were.
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