Curtains and courtesy

[Erika Leroux]

Erika takes the glass and handkerchief gratefully, her eyes upon Valentina, and unashamedly tear-filled. She listens, drinking in the words, nodding, before dabbing at her eyes, and taking a drink.
"Oh God, Constance is so...constant, so practical. Yet there's always been a part of me that wants to protect her from the world because she sees it so differently. Yet so brilliantly. I don't claim to have known her as..." She pauses, fumbles around the name, it seems so alien to call him such but the three of them are bound in the intimacy of grief. "As...Verity...Reggie...does. Yet the little time I've known her, I've valued her. And this...all this is...it should have been preventable. I wish she'd spoken, let us do something. Anything, other than this."

She sips again at the drink. "I knew he cared deeply. I hadn't realised how deep the friendship was, how long he had known her, or that they were such good friends." Indeed, she'd been blind sided by their startling dichotemy, and had been horrified to hear his almost whisper "Not you, Constance. Why?" as the accused had stepped forth. "I am so sorry for him, for you." Her expression is distraught as she says this. "For you both, for Christine, and for me. For everyone who loves her." She shakes her head. "Dear gods, how it must have hurt him so to be there, in agreement of her sentence, because it was what was necessary."

[Valentina Audley]

Valentina nods hopelessly and takes a sip of her own drink.

"For all he jokes about never wanting work, I've yet to see him shirk a needed duty." Her own eyes are tear filled, though none have yet spilt.

"How is Christine?" The question sounded simple, but Valentina was hoping Erika would see past the superficialness of the enquiry.

Valentina is finding words hard to come by, to express her pain and sorrow and worry. She remembers the paleness of Christine's face, the staring eyes and the desperate clutching hands of the other girl and her breath hitches in response to the memory. That's all it takes for the tears to spill over and Valentina turns her head away pressing her own handkerchief to her face.

What a ghastly, wasteful, hateful mess. Damn Sisyphus! What had he done to Constance? Whatever it was, why hadn't someone stopped him? Why hadn't she noticed something was amiss?

[Erika Leroux]

"Christine is hurting. She's putting on a brave face for the world. But the pain is there." Erika replies softly. It feels strange to share this grief with Valentina, both have always been so proper in the company of each other. But this needs release and Erika is beginning to see a different facet of Valentina. She finds it a comfortable facet. "She's surprised me with her bravery. And not a joy of blame my way." A half smile crosses her face. "She is my strength."

She reaches out to Valentina, a hand upon her arm, a touch, a connection. "I owe you my heartfelt thanks for being there with her, at the time. You were a comfort to her and to me, knowing you were close. That ripped my heart too. I was unable to console her. But I knew that she was in good hands."

Erika stops then, stifles a sob. "I just wish it hadn't been so. I wish a truer justice could have been brought to court, that none of this had come to pass."

[Valentina Audley]

Valentina shifts her arm, so that they are holding hands, a sisterly gesture of shared grief.

"Christine needed someone." She replies simply. "I just happened to be closest."

Listening to Erika's comment on true justice she nods, but stays silent a moment, thinking.

"I did not listen to Constance's explanation, out of respect to her desire not to tell the whole court. But whatever Sisyphus did, I assume it was an unwarranted action and Constance was right to feel so hurt? If that is the case then the best legacy Constance can be given is to make it so that action cannot be performed on another without consequences. Had I the power, that is what I should do."

She looks over to Erika, having calmed enough to stem her own tears at least for the moment.

[Erika Leroux]

Erika meets Valentina's eyes, nods, a barely perceptible slow nod, but a nod neverless. The side of her mouth twitches, a tell, perhaps.

"Now that...that is quite a possibility. I rather think that you, Verity and I need a long conversation to such an end. While you might not think you have the power, you do have the ear of the Prince, and she is willing to consider such an act. Not, per say, out of honouring the hunted, one can argue - more a...preventative measure to stop such happening again."

She smiles grimly. "I cannot be seen to show favour. This way, though, this way might work. Particularly if I have several others backing me."

[Valentina Audley]

Valentina smiles softly, though her eyes remain sad. "You don't have to say why you're doing it darling. If whatever Sisyphus did was that bad then it's probably worth outlawing it anyway."

She pauses, thinking something over, before carrying on, "if you can acquire Reggie for the time needed to have a long conversation then you are more skilled than I! These days I barely see him at Elysium and then only if I drag him out of something else." Her tone is both regretful and resigned. She missed the days when Reggie had time for her, but the advantages his position bought to both of them were worth feeling left out, most of the time.

"I wonder... With regards to Christine and not having been able to comfort her. May I perhaps offer a suggestion?" It's hesitantly asked, because this is personal and therefore potentially extremely touchy ground. Valentina isn't even sure why she's putting herself in this situation, except she can't shake the memory of the desperate, clinging hands, and blank eyes Christine had turned upon her.

[Erika Leroux]

A frown crosses Erika's face as Valentina tells her of Reggie's inattention. It passes as Valentina mentions Christine, but the look suggests that this has been stored away, and should she find time, then Erika will suggest to Reggie that he needs to relax more, spend time with those for whom he cares.

"Of course. I am more than willing to listen to suggestions - in fact, I'd be exceptionally grateful. Christine and I have a ridiculously limited amount of time together these days. And while she is wonderfully understanding, I only wish there was more that I could do for her."

[Valentina Audley]

Valentina relaxes slightly, from a tenseness she'd not been aware she'd adopted.

"It seems to me, that you could perhaps start the custom of a chair for Christine at your table. If you were to open Elysium with her by your side and keep the chair free for her, I suspect people would quickly become accustomed to her presence at your side." She smiles gently.

"The position of Prince's Favourite may not bring power in the traditional ways of our society and yet I think that most will acknowledge the advantages it brings the favoured one. Of course, you would occasionally require more privacy, and I am sure Christine would know when to make a tactful exit, but for casual conversations at least, were you to keep her at your side, I suspect few would complain."

She stops talking, to better note Erika's reaction, and thinking fondly of the Prince who gives her such freedoms and liberties in Bristol.