InWhichTheDukeArrivesHomeAndComfortsTheDuchess

From IMiA

Shortly after dark on the second evening of Carnival, the Duke arrives at home to find his wife sitting behind a desk in the library, writing a letter. She looks up upon his entrance and smiles softly.

"Hello, darling. Do you need to eat?" she asks.

"I ate at the club, actually. You?"

"I've been snacking all day," she admits. She glances down at the letter and back up at him. "Is Patrice in town? I've been writing her this letter, asking her to come, and it just dawned on me she may well already be here."

"She may well be. She does seem to enjoy Carnival," he replies. "Was your day restful?"

She grins and sets down her pen. She leans back in the chair. "I was extremely lazy. I did manage to get out a rough draft of the invitation for the damn party. I made some lists... did some needlework. Daydreamed for awhile. Did you do anything fun?"

"Fun? Not as such. I went to the club." Then, as if an afterthought, he adds, "Nicholas and Hobart held their duel today."

"What? Over what?" she exclaims, surprised and annoyed.

"Hm. I assumed you knew about this," Phillip frowns. "Hobart crashed the party and eventually, Nicholas asked him to leave. This resulted in an opportunity to duel. The duel was initially set for yesterday, but Nicholas was with you all day and was forced to reschedule."

"Why that little…" she fumes. "This could only have happened while I was off being curious about what little Varien was up to. And Van Alikki did not even mention it to me. He is sneakier than I'd credited, although it was uncalled for in this case, as I could really care less who he duels with. And to think, here I was presuming he'd rest today so he'd be ready to deal with me tomorrow. Well! I suppose this is what I get for believing the world revolves around me." She does seem a bit offended that it doesn't. "Well, did he win? Is he hurt? How did the pirate do?"

Phillip appears vaguely amused. "It appears they dueled in the street in front of his school and before a rather impressive crowd. Everyone is already talking about it. I'm told it was quite the impressive display of acrobatics and swordsmanship. One might have thought them a circus act. Nicholas won of course."

She shakes her head and rolls her eyes. "Well, it will undoubtedly do more for his business than following me around will. At any rate, I don't really need him tomorrow – I'm just going to go about in the Merchant's Quarter. And if I can get Patrice to go to the Circus with me, well then, I'll have Patrice and we'll hardly need a guard at all."

Phillip arches an eyebrow, but refrains from commenting. Juliana just continues talking.

"Well, what else is going on down there today? It's Carnival... have there been any naked boys running through the streets yet?"

"None that I've noticed," he replies. "Though I wasn't looking for any."

She rolls her eyes. "Of course not. But these things tend to be so much more exciting at the beginning of Carnival and so old by the end no one even raises an eyebrow." She gets up, comes around in front of the desk, and then sits up on it. She looks thoughtful a moment, then asks, "Have you happened to run into Abigail yet? I'm quite interested to hear what she has to say about the fire."

"I saw her at the club, actually," he replies. "She didn't mention the fire specifically. She did say she had been rather busy. For the most part, we discussed upcoming parties. It seems she was not invited to the Dumas party."

Juliana grins grimly. "I can't imagine she was very disappointed about being left off the list, but it is a bit odd, don't you think? Of course, I can see the entire Bayle clan trying to distance themselves from the memory of what happened at their last little party." She sighs. "So we're all going mum on this fire, aren't we? I really just want some clue she's doing what she can, although I daresay all our hands are tied." She looks very sad.

"I am certain she is doing what she can."

She looks down at the floor. "I'm sure she is. I just... want the babies to be alright, and I have a very bad feeling that that is just not the case."

"I'm sorry, love."

She keeps looking down and nods. "Me too." She slides off the desk and looks up at him. "Are you in for the night?"

"I believe so."

She nods. "I need to cry on you for fifteen minutes or so. Would you like to change first?"

"Unnecessary," he replies and extends his arms in an embrace.

She goes into his arms and mumbles, "Thank you," against his chest. She lets it come on slowly, and cries it out. When she begins to calm down, but still is crying a little, she whispers, "I didn't think it'd hit me this hard. It's because of the little ones, I think."

"I'm sorry, love." Phillip holds her and does his best to comfort her.

She nods. She calms down a lot. She's just very sad about the deaths, the deaths she's imagining, all the babies she's lost, and some flat out fear.

"All these things keep going wrong, and it scares me Phillip, and I'm not brave enough to risk my life trying to fix whatever has gone wrong. I just want everything to be okay."

"You know that I will do whatever is in my power," he promises.

She looks up at him, runs her hands through his hair, and says dead seriously, "Everyone else can go to hell if I can just keep you."

"I love you."

"I love you too. I want you to make staying alive a priority, please," she says seriously, really almost begging, but then grins, "at least until this damn party is over."

"On the one hand, it would give me an excuse to skip out of it. On the other, you'd never forgive me."

"No, I wouldn't forgive you. I might follow you in death just to nag. And then we'd have your sister after us both." She sighs and lays her head on his shoulder. "We should try to find out where Patrice is and invite her and her friends up here."

"Certainly."

"Good." Juliana seems content to just stand there and be held. Phillip seems content to hold her… until a moment later she slumps, unconcious.

-- Main.LizTrumitch - 20 Aug 2004