24 May, 2001
Lisle, already angry at Eric, had tried to elope with Caivar, Flora's ne'er-do-well son. Eric has previously put an end to this. They nearly part with no intentions of knowing each other.
Amber: Courtyard off Lamp Street(#12488RAFJL) This wide open courtyard is cobbled in granite tile and walled by red brick and wrought iron. There are fountains spewing cool jets of water in each of the four corners and a small flower garden in the center. Also in the center is a fishpond, complete with waterlilies. Passage to the street outside is barred by an iron gate. A set of double doors carved from heavy wood leads into the townhouse.
A functional stable is set against one wall and a single heavy door marks the service entrance into the townhouse along another wall. Up top, a second story balcony runs the width of the townhouse.
Contents:
Eric
Obvious exits:
Main Door
It is morning in Amber, Lamp street still quiet. Spring birds are starting to chirrup in the trees, but in addition to that there is, at first, the sound of the iron gates opening just enough to pass a willowy woman. There's the sound of heeled shoes on cobbles and the rustle of crisp silk. It is Lisle, walking toward the fish pond. There's little sign upon her now of being sick, the only evidence lay in the slowness of her gait. Blonde hair is unbound to the small of her back, still damp. She clasps two books to her chest.
Joseph works busily at the stable, grooming. Could it be the Prince's horse? Indeed it is, that noble chestnut steed. He glances your way and greets "Milady," with unasked questions in his tone. The townhouse seems alive, for echoing from within is the din and clamor of activity. Cook's voice can be heard above all and strangely, the low murmur of several others.
Lise stops when she nears the front door to smile at Joseph, his familiar voice warm comfort. She's been staying here, except for the last few days. Joseph and Cook must have noticed she was gone. "Good morning, Joseph," she replies easily. She steps inside, closing the door behind her, scanning the sitting room, looking toward the kitchen. The books are set aside on a table somewhere.
Several unfamiliar men pass by, headed outside. The offer deference to Lise by way of gracious nods and plenty of space as they walk on. Their garb is, notedly, similar to that which Sir Alaric prefers. Then, Eric's voice can be heard from down the hall. Several more men exit the study and exit towards the courtyard.
You push open the wooden doors and step into a sitting room.
Amber Townhouse: Sitting Room(#13254RAFLh)
This formal sitting room is done in an elegant fashion. The floor is covered by dark wooden parquet, polished to a shine. Clever use of light from a bank of windows and various oil lamps lends a cozy feel to the room. Potted green plants add the scent of life and some of them boast red blossoms. Set into a corner, a sturdy hearth crafted of stone serves as the room's focal point; the various pieces of furniture and floor rugs are set facing it.
A long hallway leads deeper into the townhouse, towards bedchambers and the study. A set of heavy double doors lead outside to the courtyard.
Obvious exits:
Study Courtyard
You enter the study.
Amber Townhouse: Study
As in the rest of the townhouse, the floor here is tiled in dark wooden parquet, rich and full of luster. Hand-crafted furniture and and works of art decorate the chamber. There are several plush chairs about a chessboard, a davenport, an easel and stool, a few tall bookcases, and a massive desk littered with parchments. A feathered quill and inkwell rest on a blotter upon the desktop. Upon one wall, a woodcut hangs. On another, a framed work of stained glass. Lush green plants abound.
Contents:
Eric
Alaric
Obvious exits:
Sitting Room
Eric is seated at his desk, daunted by the stack of documents upon it.
Lise is polite to these gentlemen, offering only quiet smiles. She makes her way down the hall -- looking for Eric, guessing he is in his study. She pauses on the threshold to push the sleeves of her blue linen jacket up to her elbows. There's little visible apprehension in her demeanor, instead there is serene resolve.
Eric is rifling through parchments - matters of payment and the like. The tedioucness of a household left too long unattended.
Eric says "Alaric have all your comrades been given their assignments for the non?"
Alaric nods, "Yes, Milord. Their assignments, and billets found. Some are having a hard time adjusting, but I can say from experience they will be all right in a day or three."
Lisle knocks on the side of the door, trying to get her father's attention.
Eric nods absently as his quill works tirelessly to dispatch the pile before him. "Excellent - it is absolutely vital that they acclimate theirselves with all due haste; we shall need them soon enough."
Alaric is explaining with a bit of a gesture, "The smells of the city can be excrutiating."
Eric mms softly, then cants his head at the knock.
Alaric nods, sniffing a bit in the direction of the door, then turning his head.
Alaric says, "Just so, Milord."
Eric says "Who calls?"
Alaric murmurs, "I believe it is your youngest daughter, Milord."
Lisle says nothing. Just stands in the doorway.
Eric sets the quill to rest and settles himself in his chair, causing it to squeak and groan in protest.
Eric says "Invite her in, Sir ALaric."
Alaric nods, and approaches the door, gesturing Lisle within, "Milady," he greets her, formal as ever.
Lisle walks in, balance perhaps a little worse than usual, as if she suffered the last vestiges of a hangover.
Alaric watches Lisle's movements carefully, and inhales deeply.
Alaric announces her then, "Your daughter, Milord."
Eric:
Thick wavy hair, so black as to be almost blue, naturally rests in perfect order, and his beard curls about a mouth that often smiles. Cerulean eyes are keen and confidently aware. Handsome features are complemented by his height and athletic physique. Most notable are those hands, prominent and terribly strong.
Dressed simply, his garb consists of a leather jacket and leggings, high cavalier boots, and a pair of gloves - all black. Across his shoulders is a high-collared cloak, red, trimmed in silver. At his waist he wears a red sword belt.
Dependent from the sword belt is a silvery saber, clasped with a ruby. Also at his disposal is an elegantly-tooled revolver, holstered at his hip.
Alaric sniffs again, and adds, "I am almost sure."
Eric glances over his shoulder, settling his gaze upon Lisle.
Eric says, "She nearly looks the part, aye."
Eric says, "But has she lost the power of speech I wonder..."
Alaric adds, with a considering flourish, "Lady, you appear unwell."
And without prompting or leave, Alaric puts a chair in convenient reach for Lisle.
Lisle stands closer to Eric's desk than ever she usually would, fingers pressed against its top. Perhaps for balance. She sits, saying, "Thank you, Sir Alaric."
Lisle turns to Eric, "I think I'd like to speak to you alone, this time."
Alaric bows yet again, with further flourish.
Eric steeples his fingers together, considering the statement.
Eric then waves Alaric off with little ceremony.
Lisle's blue eyes turn up to Alaric, adding, "No offense to you, Sir Alaric. Just there are times when a girl would like her father to herself."
Alaric nods, inclining his head, "None taken, Milady. Milord."
Alaric steps from the room, then.
Alaric departs for the sitting room.
Eric remarks, "We are now quite alone, Lisle. Though much farther now than from when we last spoke."
Lisle turns her regard back to Eric. She doesn't look defiant or willfull. Instead she looks tired. "Yes. Here I am, father, to see what your justice will be. But if you would, I'd like to tell you a story first."
Eric nods a little, commenting rhetorically, "have I not always indulged you? Do tell, then, that it may cause my judgment some effect."
Lisle says, "Often, father, not always." She sits back in the chair, considering Eric's left shoulder, mouth drawn in a vulnerable line.
She begins, "There once was the daughter of a prince. She loved him more than anything in the world. And even though he would be gone from her for years at a time, she never lost faith in him. But one day, she stood in Amber, under the castle's ramparts, and there met his brother."
Eric cradles his chin in his hand, absently stroking the curls of his beard as he listens. He is restrained, that is certain, but what is also certain is that he means to hear out the lengths of this allegory.
Lisle looks to Eric's face, then. "In terse but heavy words he told her no matter her trust in her father, he would hand her over even to his worst enemey, were the crown of Amber within his grasp."
Lisle says, "This would be a few months after the Princes return from the war in Chaos, perhaps not long after he nearly slew his nephew."
Lisle's hands come up, "Though her faith was unshakeable before, this time she felt it strongly. Over the months, she came to fear her father more than love him, the exact opposite of how things had always been."
Lisle pauses to push up the sleeves of her linen jacket. "But months had passed, and she'd met another man. One who was always there, one who gave her courage. So instead of asking for her father's blessing, she married this man in private, fearing her father would take him from her. In doing so she perhaps did a great injustice both to this man, and to her father." She takes in a breath.
Lisle looks into Eric's eyes, "Her faith was restored, you see, perhaps too late, by her Aunt."
Lisle's elbows now rest against the arms of the chair. She meets Eric's gaze if he looks upon her, but even so she may seem vulnerable just the same, heart in her eyes.
Eric says "We are all subject to the vulnerabilities caused by our greatest fears, Lisle. Even I, you see. For what you must learn to comprehend is that a child, while a father's greatest joy, can also be his greatest liability. Uncles, aunts, cousins... these names mean not the same things in all places. and perhaps a daughter's faltering is also a father's failing." At this he reaches for her hand, resting one of his own upon it. It is warm and so very strong, so very familiar. Their is no ire in his voice, only regret and concern. and he goes on, "But all of this given its due, some things have not changed. And they ne'er shall, lest the father and daughter change as well."
Eric says, "You have been wrongly abused by the games of our family, but 'tis our family's legacy nonetheless."
Eric says, "It is time you step out from beneath my shadow."
Eric says, "To cast one of your own."
Eric squeezes her hand softly.
Eric says, "But I shan't be far off, ne'er fear."
Eric says, "I..."
Lisle's eyes are a little watery, not to the point of tears, but near it.
Eric says "I have struggles with these long motnhs away, and the events that have transpired since then."
Eric says "As for you, my daughter...."
Eric's words waver only slightly.
Lisle has eyes for nothing save Eric.
Eric says, "To you I cannot forget your transgressions, but I shall forgive them."
Eric says, "As for Flora's son...."
Eric says, "I will consider your affection for him when I mete out my judgment."
Eric says, "He is a man, you realize, and not subject to the mercies of other men as women are."
Eric says, "He will be weighed, and measured, and I think I shall find him wanting."
Eric lets go her hand and is apparently finished.
Lisle says, "Thank you for your forgiveness, father. But I have a few more things to say. I am already out of your shadow. I hardly see you. If I'm put there again it is because you still want me there in some way. If I was truly independent, would you have sent me from Flora's? Shouldn't that be my own decision? You ask me to be independent but you still guide my every step." Her voice sounds tired, but she continues, "As for Caivar, he must speak for himself, but I ask, for my own happiness, that you give him time before you judge him. He is a changed man."
Eric fixes a look upon Lisle, almost forlorn.
Eric says, "Aye, Lisle. Do what you will."
Lisle looks right back, "You must tell me where I should be independent and where I should look to you. Alix somehow knows this. I don't."
Eric says, "But Flora is not to take you back within her household, and you are not to reside within mine."
Eric shakes his head.
Lisle looks down.
Eric says, "No more will I tell you."
Lisle says, "Then give me Caivar."
Eric says, "He is mine."
Eric says, "And never to be yours."
Eric says, "Now go, with my forgiveness."
Lisle looks back up, "Father, no. I'm not to have you. I'm not to have Aunt Flora. I ~need~ Caivar."
Eric says, "Do not abuse my forgiveness like some cheap bauble."
Eric says, "You have heard my judgment of you, Lisle."
Lisle says, "No. I'm trying to survive."
Lisle stands, hands coming out, palms up.
Eric smiles slightly then, remarking, "Of that you shall succeed. Without him. Have no fear."
Eric says, "But without him it must be."
Lisle says, "Father, I don't think you know what you're doing to me. I'm nothing but my heart. You leave me no one." She seems very serious about this.
Eric says, "No, Lisle..."
Eric says, "You've done tihs to yourself."
Eric says, "You've always known my mind, for I've never hidden it from you."
Eric says, "I'll not have you beg."
Eric says, "Not a child of mine."
Lisle says, "That is not true. I have never understood what you want."
Eric says, "The matter is closed."
Eric says, "Closed."
Lisle's expression is very grim.
Lisle says, "You want me to be independent. Fine."
Lisle turns from him.
Lisle walks toward the door.
Eric warns, "Do not disobey me."
Lisle says, "Disobey you? You won't tell me -anything-? Disobey what? Do you mean I shouldn't marry Caivar again? Do you mean I shouldn't have any boyfriends? I'll obey your wishes in the two things I understand. I'm not to live at the Folly, and I'm not to come here. Be explicit. I cannot possible guess what else.
Lisle is near the door.
Eric pounds his fist upon the desktop, utterly exasperated, "He is your cousin!"
Eric says, "And a man unfit for you besides!"
Eric says, "Dammit child, will you ne'er cease!?!"
Eric calms himself abruptly.
Lisle's hand is on the door knob. But she leans, as if it supports her.
Lisle says, "Father, I didn't love him on purpose."
Lisle says, "But I do. Bid me not marry him again. I'll obey."
Lisle's voice is quiet. "Bid me not come here again. I'll obey."
Eric nods a little.
Eric says, "You are ne'er to marry that man, Lisle."
Eric says, "As for this place, you may not reside here, but you are welcome within these walls."
Lisle's chin comes up, an echo of Eric's own imperious manner. "Then I won't marry Caivar again, unless I manage to have your blessing. But father do /not/ expect me to know your wishes. Unless you say so explicitly, how can I guess? I didn't grow up here. Until I came here, I had no idea I was daughter to a King. I'll never be able to guess what you want of me."
Lisle adds, "That my faith was restored in you -- this is all Aunt Flora's teaching. And now I don't have her. I don't know what I'll do. Walk around blindly in the sea of your brothers and sisters. Right now? I have never felt so lost and alone."
Eric folds his arms across his chest.
Eric says, "Given time perhaps you will come to know why this must be so."
Eric says, "But it will be so."
Lisle's blue eyes are wide. Afraid.
Lisle inclines her head, "Very well, but if you want something of me, you must tell me. Otherwise I only have my own experience to guide me."
Eric says, "Then by the Unicorn, Lisle, go broaden your epxerience."
Lisle's mouth is drawn in a straight and serious line.
Lisle turns her back on Eric, and opens the door. Gone.
You depart the study for the sitting room.
Amber Townhouse: Sitting Room(#13254RAFLh)
This formal sitting room is done in an elegant fashion. The floor is covered by dark wooden parquet, polished to a shine. Clever use of light from a bank of windows and various oil lamps lends a cozy feel to the room. Potted green plants add the scent of life and some of them boast red blossoms. Set into a corner, a sturdy hearth crafted of stone serves as the room's focal point; the various pieces of furniture and floor rugs are set facing it.
A long hallway leads deeper into the townhouse, towards bedchambers and the study. A set of heavy double doors lead outside to the courtyard.
Obvious exits:
Study Courtyard
You push open the wooden doors and step out into the courtyard.
Amber: Courtyard off Lamp Street(#12488RAFJ)
This wide open courtyard is cobbled in granite tile and walled by red brick and wrought iron. There are fountains spewing cool jets of water in each of the four corners and a small flower garden in the center. Also in the center is a fishpond, complete with waterlilies. Passage to the street outside is barred by an iron gate. A set of double doors carved from heavy wood leads into the townhouse.
A functional stable is set against one wall and a single heavy door marks the service entrance into the townhouse along another wall. Up top, a second story balcony runs the width of the townhouse.
Obvious exits:
Main Door
Eric opens the wooden doors, joining you in the courtyard.
Eric pauses at the doorway.
Eric says, "Wait, Lisle. One moment."
Eric follows then into the courtyard.
Lisle has hurried out. She she hears his voice she turns to face him, books clutched to her chest. Her chin is up but there is no mistaking her expression of apprehension and fear.
Eric draws near, then reaches for her elbow with a tender touch. As they stand near the gate to Lamp Street, he draws closer, then embraces her in one of those bear hugs, whispering, "Be well, daughter mine. The city will try to destroy you, but ne'er let it. Remember you own words: you are the daughter of a King." With that, he releases her and begins to turn back to his townhouse.
Lisle returns Eric's embrace fiercely, nearly dropping her books. They are saved in the end, gathered into the corner of her arm. There is perhaps a little more courage in her demeanor, but it doesn't change the haunted fear, now rooted in the depths of her eyes. She says, as he turns, "I can only try."
Eric pauses at his doorstep, to turn and glance briefly before disappearing inside the residence.
Eric pushes open the heavy wooden doors and steps into the townhouse.