Helga and Alessandra
Helga found herself in a bit of shock, she had fully expected to need a new Count of the Moor. What had that woman said to cause Kathrine to lose her composure enough to attack a Royal servant? Luckily Etain seems to have decided to treat an insult to Alessandra as an insult to the family, sparing Kathrine the death sentence she had earned. She and Jerome would be having a come to Death moment with Kathrine later. Spotting a very frightened maid running their way clutching a dress, Helga stopped her.
Taking the dress, she said, “Let me see that dress, girl; I will dress my daughter.” Looking at the dress, she decided that it was lovely, though pale violet was not the best color for Alessandra. It clashed a bit with her deeply tanned skin, but it helped draw the eye to her dark hair and purple highlights. Acceptable for just going home, she decided.
Entering the changing room, she saw Kara practicing her magic, tossing a ball of…acid…from hand to hand.
“Kara, dear, while it is okay for me to know one of your magics, you really should not practice outside of a training room,” she said, catching the ball of acid in a wind current when the startled child lost control.
Kara quickly dismissed the acid and replied, “Yes, Aunt Helga.”
Nodding, she proceeded behind Alessandra’s privacy screen, pleasantly surprised to find her already in her undergarments and stockings. She dismissed the maid with a wave of her hand. She held up the violet dress for Alessandra to inspect.
“Is this color acceptable?”
“Yes, Mother,” Alessandra replied after a quick inspection.
“Good, let us finish getting you dressed.” It only took Helga a moment to find where the buttons were hidden-and why a dress for a little girl need so many- and help Alessandra step into it. Redoing all those buttons while Alessandra squirmed trying to get the dress to sit comfortably was another matter. But a light admonishment to hold still and she was done.
“There, all done,” Helga said, “Look in the mirror, dear, and tell me what you think.”
Alessandra looked in the mirror for a few moments and then, tugging at the fabric on the stomach and chest, replied, “It’s pretty but too tight to really run around a play in.”
“It is, but you are done running around for the day anyway. Come along. It is well past time to head home.”
Rounding the corner of the privacy screen, they were met by Kara, who immediately bombarded Alessandra with questions.
“Why is green bad? Did you really run down the hall in nothing but your robe? Why is calling someone a street mouse bad?”
“I don’t know, yes, and I don’t know,” Alessandra replied.
“Oh,” replied Kara disappointedly.
“Kara, we do not know why Alessandra hates green clothing, and it is impolite to ask that sort of question of someone. As for running down the hallway, never do that. Calling someone a street rat or street mouse is very rude because it is insulting them for simply being poor, something many people have no control over. Alessandra was poor, but now she is my daughter, and insulting her for a past she had no control over is unacceptable behavior. Before you ask, that is why Countess Moor got mad at your Caretaker,” Helga explained while ushering the girls out of the room. She noticed a couple of maids strategically located to hide the dented walls and was thankful for Etain’s foresight, she did not want to answer even more questions.
“Thank you for a lovely afternoon, Etain, but I believe it is time that we took our leave.”
“It is getting late, isn’t it? Please allow me to walk you to your carriage. Come along, Kara.”
As it was closer, they headed to public entry. Entering the main hallway and upon seeing who was there, Helga inwardly groaned. There had not been a Court today, so why were Countess North Lake and her cronies here? Unfortunately, they had heard the door and were making their way over to her and Etain.
“Duchess Halrond!” shrieked the useless piece of human-shaped pettiness.
“North Lake, I did not realize that you were in the palace today. If I had, I would have brought a Priest of MacDonald, they are good at removing unwanted creatures,” Helga replied dismissively. Turning from the woman, she attempted to drag Alessandra by the overdressed pettiness, but Alessandra was entranced by the gems adorning the popinjay and was dragging her feet. This, unfortunately, gave the pettiness a chance to reply.
“I see your sense of humor is as unrefined as ever, Duchess. I also see that your sense of fashion is also unrefined,” the countess gestured vaguely at the simple grey silk dress Helga was wearing. Helga was prepared to ignore the insult, plus she loved this dress; it was comfortable and in a cut that never truly went out of style, perfect for business or casual get-togethers. However, that was not to be, and the pettiness continued to squawk. “You should really get that dolt of a husband of yours to at least let you look through the treasury for some baubles or clothes old enough to be considered vintage instead of just unfashionable to wear if he won’t buy you new ones.”
“Tread lightly, Beatrix, lest you waken the wrath of my dolt of a husband, for surely a dolt knows not restraint. Come Alessandra, it is almost supper time.”
“Oh, this is the precious thing causing such a ruckus at the Guild, is it?” she crouched down to examine Alessandra. Helga pushed Alessandra behind her; Kathrine, loosening her sword in its sheath, started moving to place herself between North Lake and Helga.
“Hhhmm, if a priest of MacDonald is needed to remove me, an Archbishop is needed for this piece of….”
Her sentence was cut off by a wind blade separating her head from her body.
Helga glared at the shocked nobles and yelled at them, “NEVER EVEN THINK OF INSULTING MY CHILDREN!”
Those nobles that did not immediately flee nodded vigorously until Kathrine growled at them, causing them to flee as well.
Realizing what she had just done, she turned in horror at her actions towards Etain, who was grinning, and then at Alessandra, afraid she had frightened the girl. She needn’t have worried; Alessandra was already stripping the body of its jewelry far too efficiently for Helga’s peace of mind.
Turning back to Queen Etain, she spoke, “My apologies for breaching the peace of your house, My Queen.”
Etain laughed and wove off her apology, “I have wanted to shorten that woman for years, and she did provoke you in a most grievous manner.” She motioned to Alessandra, happily humming as she grabbed some rings off dead fingers, and Kara who had her face buried in her skirts, “Honestly, I’m more worried about why your Alessandra is not hiding in your skirts like my Kara is mine.”
“That makes two of us, My Queen,” Helga replied. The two women watched, in morbid fascination, as the girl systematically stripped and searched the late countess for a few minutes. A short while later, Alessandra gathered her treasures in a makeshift sack made out of the late countess’ camisole and turned back to Helga and the queen.
“She had a lot of pretty loot, Mother! Who do we need to bribe to keep most of it?”
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****
Mother was scary when she was mad. Alessandra vowed to herself never to make Mother THAT mad at her. She was pleasantly surprised when Miss Etain only took a ring and pendant from the loot the lady that made Mother mad had, saying that they didn’t belong to the lady but her holdings, whatever that meant. Mother had handed her loot bag to one of her Guards, saying that they could sort it later with Father and Evan. She was sad that Kara was so upset by all the blood, but she figured that her parents had never let her see someone lose their head before; she remembered how she felt the first time she had seen it happen and how she had felt. She had curled up into a ball and cried until a whore found her and had taken her away and explained that it was all ok and violent death was just a part of life in the Slums. She wanted to tell Kara that, but this was not the Slums, and her Caretakers had taken her to her to her Father after some hugs and kisses from Miss Etain. Miss Etain then politely, but quickly, saw them to their carriage. Once in the carriage, Mother pulled her into a hug.
“I am so sorry that I did that in front of you.”
Alessandra wriggled out of the embrace and looked up at Mother, “Why? She was being a …” Alessandra quickly changed what she was about to say at the look in Mother’s eyes, “…mean lady, so you made sure she couldn’t be a … mean lady again. If someone doesn’t want to get hurt, they need to be nice or a fast runner.”
“I see. Have you seen a lot of people killed?”
“Yup. At least one every week for as long as can remember. Someone’s head being chopped off? not often…. The way the blood sprayed out was awesome. Will I be able to do that?”
Mother glomped her again and started rubbing her hair.
“Sweetheart, that’s not something you should ever have to get used to seeing.”
Mother released her without telling her if she would be able to chop people's heads off like that as they pulled through the gate into their palace, though Mother insisted on calling it The Townhouse.
“Did you loot the bodies often? You were rather quick stripping the body of valuables.”
“Yeah, I had to be quick ‘cause whoever shanked ‘em would chase me off…usually yelling about killing me.”
That statement resulted in another glomping. Alessandra was getting worried about being suffocated.
The carriage pulled to a stop in front of the house, and the door opened. Father reached in and lifted her out of the carriage into yet another hug.
“Did you have fun, sweetheart?” he asked.
“Yes! I had lots of sweets, played tag with Kara and Xander, took a bath and ran from the green and got to loot the mean lady after Mother chopped off her head!”
Father set her down and turned to look at Mother, who had just finished exiting the carriage.
“I see,” he said.
****
“I see,” Jerome said, giving Helga a hard look. “Alessandra, why don’t you run along and find Evan and tell him about your visit before dinner? I think your mother and I need to have a little chat.”
“Okay,” Alessandra cheerily called out and ran off into the house.
Jerome and Helga started into the house at a more sedate pace. After a few moments of silence, Helga decided to speak up.
“The bitch was about to insult Alessandra,” she stated.
“Okay.”
“I did it in front of the Queen, Princess Kara, and a gaggle of the bitches hangers-on.”
“Okay.”
“This was after Kathrine threw one of Kara’s Caretakers into a wall for trying to force Alessandra into a green dress.”
“Nothing out of the ordinary there. Anything else?”
“Other than Alessandra running through the palace in nothing but a robe and barging in on me and Etain in that state, no.”
“So, nothing else important.”
“Nothing else that cannot wait.”
Entering a sitting room and taking seats, they sat in silence for a few minutes. This time Jerome broke the silence.
“How did Etain react to our runner?”
“As you would expect, she followed me to see what was going on. She expected Alessandra to be a bit wild still.”
“Expected. And Kathrine’s…exuberance?”
“Literal slap on the wrist. Asked her to ‘remove the problem next time.’”
“Somewhat unexpected. I didn’t expect Etain to execute her, but I did expect her to be banished from the capitol, if not the whole of the King’s Lands.”
“I think she was sending a message about Alessandra’s standing as a member of the extended Royal Family. The Caretaker had ignored our orders about no green as well.”
After thinking about it for a few seconds, Jerome grunted in affirmation, “I can see her doing that.” He stood, went to the door, and spoke to the Guard, “If a messenger from the Palace arrives, send them in right away.” He then poured two glasses of Clan whiskey and rejoined Helga. They sat in silence for quite a while, sipping their drinks. Finally, Helga could take it no longer.
“I know I messed up killing North Lake.”
“MESSED UP? Dear, you broke one of two laws that could get you executed! You broke the Peace of the Palace. Even though Etain didn’t have you dragged off in chains right then doesn’t mean it won’t happen. I know Nico won’t want to execute you, but he may have no choice but to placate the other nobles.”
“I know, I know. But when that BITCH started to talk about Alessandra being unwanted and trash, I lost it.”
There was a knock on the door, and after a moment composing themselves, Jerome called for their visitor to enter. It was a Palace messenger.
“My Lord, My Lady, the King has instructed me to inform you that he has decided to declare Countess North Lakes' death an assisted suicide. He, unfortunately, has banished Duchess Helga from official court functions for the remainder of the month. My Lord, the King requests your presence at the first hour after lunch tomorrow to discuss this fortunate event.” Jerome nodded his understanding. “Very well, I will take my leave then.”
They both let out a sigh of relief. Helga moved over to Jerome and cuddled up on his lap, clinging to him in relief.
“That couldn’t have gone any better. Banished from the court for two weeks? Phish.. that’s nothing, you would have been unlikely to show anyways…we’re on vacation.”
Helga chuckled. “I think we should finalize everything with Alessandra soon and get out of here. I am quickly remembering why I hate the capitol.”
“I’ll send a message to the temples in the morning. Evan is going to start teaching Alessandra how to control her mana tomorrow. With her talent and quick mind, I think it will be safe to travel in a week or two.”
“Etain wants to have a party to welcome Alessandra to the family. I will work with her to plan one here so that it is not an official court function.” Helga released Jerome but didn’t leave his lap. “Did I mention that Alessandra looted the Bitch? She was quite quick and thorough about it.”
“You didn’t, but I’m not surprised. What did you do with it?”
“Etain took the North Lake jewels and let us keep the rest. I promised Alessandra that we would sort the rest later.”
Jerome chuckled, “Well, I guess game night is canceled for loot sorting.”
Helga raised an eyebrow, “Or we could use the loot as prizes.”
“Good idea!”