[open]

[heirring]

WHO: Flint, Wysteria, Miriam, Cassius & You
WHAT: Catch-All
WHEN: Post-dreams, nebulously Guardian-ish
WHERE: Various
NOTES: Warnings (if any) in subject lines.

((OOC NOTE: Anything in bold is closed to one thread, though group threads a-okay.
Feel free to turn this into action brackets if The Spirit Moves You.
Wildcards welcome, bespoke starters available upon request.))

Comments

[radicans]

Maud's confidence in the plan, growing at Wysteria's steady certainty, is stopped short at the mention of divorce. That furrows brow again, though she allows Wysteria to keep talking beyond it (she could hardly do otherwise). A squeeze of her hand then, and a tilt of her head, clearly hesitant to deliver bad news.

"I'm afraid divorce is not an option here," she says, "Monsieur de Foncé ought to have told you. The Chantry does not permit such things, though they do grant annulments on occasion. Will--" another pause, this one more palpably awkward. "Will that present an obstacle to your plan?"

[heirring]

Her laugh is a sharp thing, more akin to a cackle in the cool pitch of the night than it is the pleasant chime of a bell or something more charmingly ladylike. When she has mastered herself with a great patting of hands and so on, Wysteria manages—

"No, not at all. De Foncé and I closer to rivals than to—" She clears her throat, allowing it and her eyebrows to do the work. "Well. Whatever else. No, forgive me. Annulment is surely what I meant. It is what was done in Kalvad before the Second Church recognized divorce, and I imagine it will be what returns when it is unrecognized. But your concern is that of a true friend."

[radicans]

"I see." Maud allows relief to outweigh the twinge of offense at being laughed at quite that hard, since at least it comes with hand-patting and some appreciation of the question's intent. "Well, I am glad to hear you have everything arranged. It sounds very clever of you." With another smile and final supportive squeeze, she withdraws her hand again.

"But why is it a secret from Warden Ellis? I had thought you two were very close. Surely he would be relieved to learn the truth of it? Or do you think he would he disapprove?"

[heirring]

Secure in the her own genius, Wysteria withdraws her hand and pulls the blanket tighter about her until she is little more than a self-satisfied face poking cheerfully from a bundle.

"I will no doubt reveal the details to him eventually. Truly, it is one of those things which I have said little about as if speaking any detail aloud will jeopardize it. A silly superstition. I have no doubt that Mister Ellis would be the very image of discretion and support were I to say something. —But we have gone on and on about my secrets! What is your plan to be rid of your maid?"

[radicans]

That question draws a sigh. "I don't know," Maud admits with a shake of her head, "I was sure the strange dreams would drive her off, but still she lingers despite my hinting that I could do perfectly well on my own. I may have to contrive to go on a mission to somewhere objectionable again--she was very upset for the few moments I pretended I wanted her to come to the icy southern reaches with me."

[heirring]

From her blanket burrito, Wysteria hums thoughtfully. She takes a moment to tip her head back and squint, without really taking in any of the features, at the sky

After some consideration the angle of her chin comes down again.

"Perhaps you could say you have been assigned some secret intelligence work posing as a lady's maid for some extended period of time. A lady's maid surely cannot keep one of her own, and so it would only make sense for her to return to Tantervale until such a time as your assignment was finished."