Game Log

To Mondavi Island

Game Date: 04/21/06
Many of the Donati family ready for journeys.

Guerdi, Quartus 12, afternoon

During the carriage ride, Salvador again brought up Anna's engagement with Tigran - and added that the Vodacce nobleman was in town that very day. That got the countess's attention, although she wasn't sure right away what to do about it, the penalties for throwing people into open Portals typically being rather strict. Finding a way to get him to abandon the engagement seemed to be an appealing challenge for her, and she promised to give it further thought.

Back at the house, Francesca's eyebrows were raised when Anna sent for Marco. He excused himself - they had been thankfully discussing his father's renewed health - and she quietly followed, seating herself nonchalantly in the sitting room in the women's quarters. Anna didn't seem to have much coherent to say; she stammered and talked without saying much, as if trying to bring herself to come to some difficult topic. But no - all she asked was that he pick her up a trifle the next time he was in the market. Puzzled but polite, Marco took his leave of her - and, Francesca heard, her mother.

Concerned, she took the matter to Gianina, who was alarmed to hear that Marco had been alone, more or less, with Teodora. At the next opportunity, she looked at him with the Sight. His Rods strand to his father, his most important for as long as she had known him, was significantly weaker and flickering in and out of her Sight. When it disappeared, it was replaced by his Cups strand to Francesca, which was as strong as ever. While it was possible that the argument he had with Antonio early Veldi morning could have affected their relationship - that was affected an awful lot.

The ladies were downstairs when a carriage rolled up; Ellen and Gabrielle were back. Not long after, the other carriage returned as well, bearing Countess Odessa and Salvador. The two Montaigne women had an endearing, heartfelt reunion that looked so genuine, it was hard to believe that this was the aunt Gabrielle had spent so much venom on.

After teary condolences, the countess switched moods abruptly to greet Ellen in her native tongue. The Avalon was taken aback, since the countess apparently knew who she was, but Ellen had no idea who she was. Odessa merrily explained that she was an old friend of Breg and had made the arrangements for Ellen. And she was so happy that the engagement with Angelo was going forward. It cost her quite a lot of favors, you know!

None of the Vodacce had any idea of what "Breg" might be, so Ellen explained. It was a little kingdom within Avalon, where she was from. But wasn't Avalon a kingdom? Well, Ellen explained, when Queen Margaret died, there wasn't a clear heir, so there was a bit of a civil war. Duke Piram of Breg, now calling himself High King, was making good headway towards making himself King of Avalon when Elaine returned with the Graal. Two years after that, Piram was the last to swear loyalty to her - and he would only acknowledge her as Queen of Avalon if she would acknowledge him as High King of Breg. She allowed him the vanity.

The countess chirped then that, while she'd been able to talk Piram out of pursing Ellen, she wasn't sure the arguments would take; she and Angelo really might want to consider speeding things up, you know? Ellen got rather alarmed as the secret of her other suitor was tossed out so casually; she only got moreso as the countess was about to oblige people's curiosity about how "putting in a good word" and talking someone out of marrying someone else could be the same thing. Angelo stood up suddenly, declaring the room to be too warm and asking Ellen if she found it the same. She looked at him gratefully and said that she did, and the pair left. Outside the room, Ellen expected a barrage of questions from her fiance; Angelo instead took his leave of her.

After all, he had to go plot his mother's murder.

With Ellen out of the room, everyone just pressed the countess for more details. Eventually rationalizing it - better to hear it from a friend of the family from a foe, no? - Odessa confided that her "good word" to Piram had been about Ellen's legitimacy. There was a persistent rumor, you see, that her mother was not her mother. Her father, the half-Vodacce apothecary, had been made a lord by Queen Margaret for saving her life, and rumor had it that he remained, ahem, close to the queen thereafter. Marrying the only remaining Lovaine (Avalonian royal family) heir would do a great deal to help Piram's royal ambitions.

The conversation moved back to Vodacce life after that; the countess was apparently greatly interested in Antonio's pair of wives. Sensing possible trouble ahead, Salvador excused himself and dragged Cristoforo out with him. He himself could be trusted to discretion about whatever personal details were about to be covered; Cristoforo could not. Just as well; Angelo had something to ask the family capo. He knew that he would need the guard on his mother's carriage reduced; what excuse could he use? Salvador's report on the conversation after he left gave him what he needed. A northern king was likely to kill him and kidnap his fiancee! Grumbling at the request - he was currently posting extra guards on Anna, on Antonio, on Teodora, and now on Angelo and Ellen, never mind the regular watch - Cristoforo said that he'd do what he could do. Pleased, Angelo went out "to Santa Sophia" - actually to his contacts with his criminal lackeys, to find some highwayment to waylay the carriage.

It took some doing to convince them to attack a carriage with a strega in it; he recommended speed, and masks. They waffled, perhaps sensing to some degree Father Dontai's own misgivings; but he buried them, and gave more advice on fighting witches. Wasn't he a priest, after all, and a nobleman? He knew what he was talking about, and he would pay well. The thugs were finally convinced.

Angelo had a long walk home, alone, even though the distance was not far. It had been one thing, to plan Teodora's death when he believed her guilty of Angela's murder. And while she may have been guilty of other crimes, in that she was innocent - in fact, she had done everything she could, short of murder, to save Pietra. But now, his sister's witchery would draw her to Pietra and somehow encompass her death, if he did not move to stop it.

Back in the parlor, Francesca was realized that when a Montaigne said "sophisticated," at least one alternate meaning was "perverted." Slightly scandalized, she clarified that, while she shared a husband with her sister, she didn't share her husband with her sister, thankyouverymuch. The countess was disappointed, apparently not seeing the point to the multiple marriage otherwise. After all, they managed multiple partners without such "sophistication" as bigamy back in Montaigne. How? Francesca was curious to know. Countess Odessa was happy to recount the good, the bad, and the ugly of extramarital affairs at court - mostly the bad and the ugly, since foolish mistakes and terrible embarrassment made for more amusment than a properly discreet affair.

Angelo's return to the palazzo signaled dinner. There was a general bustle of preparation; in it, Teodora took Gianina briefly aside. Without preamble or explaination, she offered the younger strega a Cups blessing. Gianina hesitated, unsure of Teodora's motives. Marco's strands were still on her mind. Still, she had been kind and respectful to the old woman recently; and what harm could a Cups blessing do? She accepted, and Teodora gave what was promised.

Dinner had an unwelcome surprise: Don Tigran, finally arrived to offer his condolences. He was not apparently expecting Countess Odessa. When he set eyes on her, his usual charming, suave facade cracked for a moment, showing anger hard, cruel and hot. The countess returned the look, no less unpleasant, but icy cold.

Despite Antonio's token efforts to keep the conversation civil, it quickly became a sparring match between the two. The recurring theme in their barbs was superiority of strength. Tigran's position was that physical strength was the ultimate; without it, the will was powerless to force the world to yield up what it desired. The countess took the opposite side: all the muscle in the world would not aid the weak-willed, who could be swayed easily by those with stronger minds.

The argument had somehow grown to encompass what ladies wanted in men. Tigran's idea of the ideal seducer looked, unsurprisingly, exactly like himself. Odessa complained that he wasn't what she wanted at all; Tigran riposted that he was talking about ladies. Eyebrow raised, Odessa turned her head to look down to the foot of the table. "Donna Anna? What do you think?"

Anna, predictably, choked and froze, unable to even articulate to herself what she might want. Salvador leapt in immediately, suggesting that it was really time for Tigran to be on his way to the evening party at the Barozzi's. Tigran demurred, but Salvador insisted, bluntly. Tigran relented, only asking for a few moments' speech with Anna. This was done in the dining hall, in full view of all, for propriety. Still, Tigran employed the full force of his magnetism, against which Anna had little defense.

Antonio was not pleased with Salvador; some of his remarks had come perilously close to causing real trouble. Salvador pointed out that it worked. The countess expressed her approval, giving Salvador a look that made him pay especial attention when Antonio told Odessa in which room she would be staying the night. She retired there almost immediately; he was quick to follow. Ellen and Angelo took their now-customary stroll in the garden. The ladies went upstairs, Francesca going to Gabrielle's rooms to see if she could help her with her packing.

The countess was no shrinking violet. A thin veneer of metaphor cloaked her brief conversation with Salvador, on sampling local cuisine, one's preferred tastes, and communicating them to the chef. The chef, said Salvador, was of course obliged to ask what his guests most delighted in. There resulted much asking and telling, often at quite loud volumes.

Accidentally or not, the window had been left open.

Out in the garden, Lady Ellen was trying to explain herself to Angelo; the noises coming from the countess's room proved so terribly distracting that she eventually had to insist that they go inside. She told him what Salvador had already told him, expressing her distaste at both the risky politics and treason and being given to Piram as just another tool in his arsenal to retake Avalon. Was it the second thing or the first that bothered her more? Angelo wanted to know. Ellen, sensing that a certain amount of tact might be called for here, thought it over before answering. Of course she wasn't pleased to be considered an advantage rather than as a wife, and she had no royal ambitions herself. But on the balance, it wasn't Piram's ambitions that bothered her so much as her belief that he would fail and she'd end up beheaded. She didn't say it outright, but Tomasso had reminded her more than a little of her regent, and they all knew how that had turned out.

Francesca talked with Gabrielle as that lady oversaw the servants packing her things for her trip home. The Montaigne was torn. She had thought perhaps to go home, but now her aunt was saying that the situation in Montaigne was getting unstable. On the one hand, Antonio had offered her Tomasso's job as negotiator, at least for the foreign contracts. It somewhat pleased her to think of scandalizing her relatives back home by working, especially when the "job" would involve travel to interesting places and the network of interesting contacts she and Tomasso had already established. (And, unsaid, she had the opportunity here in Monfalcone to work her alchemy on Angelo's Unbound blood.) On the other hand, there was her daughter Carlotta to consider; the girl would never get a decent education in Vodacce. There was the Montaigne custom of "chaffing," or fostering a child, but that would mean giving her up. Francesca had some distance from the problem and so some clarity; she sensibly suggested that Gabrielle stay with the Donati in Vodacce and keep her daughter with her some years more. Then, when she was seven or so and ready to receive an education, send her away. That way, she would remember her mother and know where she came from, yet could gain the advantages that were denied Vodacce women. Gabrielle, caught up in all her problems, had never considered the simple compromise but seized on it immediately. She genuinely thanked Francesca for her help.

Gianina's night was notable in one small but important detail. Antonio visited her, still limping from his wounds, but with a passionate urgency she had never before seen in her husband - at least, not toward her. As he left, her Sight confirmed what had just happened. His Cups to her, always having been a small and respectable strand, was enflamed. Not a truly great passion, but compared to what had been! But why? Teodora? Or an effect of the evening's, ahem, unasked-for entertainment? Or... because of what she'd said and done to prove her devotion, this past week?

Redi, Quartus 13

Teodora was sent back to the country house, now that both carriages had returned. Knowing the exile for what it was, she said goodbye to each of her dear children in turn. Salvador promised to visit, even. Antonio she thanked for his years of kindness toward her, even as they were ending. She boarded the carriage, and it rolled away. Angelo excused himself to Santa Sophia. He had duties to attend to.

Pietra found him. She hadn't seen him in days and was worried, and now he seemed upset. He told her what had happened, what was happening. She tried to take it all in. For her part, she had spent most of the last three years hating Teodora, a woman she had never really met. Now, that woman wasn't supposed to be all that bad, but had to die anyway - for her safety. And it hurt her uncle, because that woman was his mother. She had no affection for Teodora. Upset, she overstepped her bounds and told Angelo he was stupid to have arranged for her death if it hurt him because she could have done it and it wouldn't have hurt her. He wasn't willing to risk her life on that; in three years, she had become less of a niece and more of a daughter to him. There was nothing for it.

At the palazzo, Salvador found himself apologizing to the countess that he would have to be out for the morning; his sister-in-law had just left the house, by herself, in a colored Montaigne gown, and he had to leave at once to see that she was all right. And it was well that he did so. He found her just as Atillo Masacci did. The thuggish young man only made a few remarks at Gabrielle's expense before turning to the more attractive target Salvador presented. He noted the apparent Donati preference for foreign women and suggested an Ussuran bride for Salvador, but Salvador set him back on his heels by idly mentioning that no really, he was thinking Vendel. Promising Atillo that they'd finish the conversation later, Salvador escorted Gabrielle away.

She apologized for running out of the house like she had. She was used to Tomasso taking her wherever she needed to go, and she just felt like going. Salvador said that he would be pleased to chivvy her about, so after a moment's hesitation, she lead him to the back door of a druggist's run-down shop. She unlocked it, revealing a staircase going down. She asked him to wait above, and to send down his brother Angelo when he arrived.

Angelo, in his distress, had entirely forgotten that Gabrielle was to bleed him before she left for Montaigne.

Nearly an hour passed before Gabrielle opened the door a crack. Salvador could see that she was no longer in her gown, but rather in a sleeveless shift of some sort. Vexed, she asked if Angelo had been by or had sent word. Keeping his voice neutral, Salvador said that he had not. Gabrielle departed, to return not long after, sheepishly asking Salvador if he could lace up her gown. He did, deftly but politely. They stopped by Santa Sophia at Gabrielle's request, to see if Angelo could be found. Father Sergio informed them that the priest had been in meditation all day. Returning to the palazzo, Gabrielle realized that some sort of explaination was probably in order...

Continue to next game.