presents...
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Viscount
Game Date: 06/23/06
Still Amordi, Quintus 18 Audience ended, the three men backed respectfully away from the prince. Francesca scanned the crowd to see who was watching them. Well, after all the news of a possible royal wedding and the dramatic speeches, everyone was watching - but one fellow with a particularly speculative look in his eye caught her attention. He was named Don Giorgio, she learned, and asked Gianina to have a look. The strega found no particular attachments between this Don Giorgio and Gianfranco, but there was a large Coins strand to Marchese Gallisus - in the direction of Giorgio owing Gallisus money. Pietra quietly promised to investigate Giorgio's doings later in the evening. The Donati lingered to gossip and chat; Father Donati found that a representative of a local parish - this islet, but about five or six stories down, nice neighborhood - was interested in what his plans were here. Angelo indicated that his duties would call him home soon enough. At the end of court, a costume ball that very Voltadi was announced. Cloth merchants, seamstresses and tailors would be converging on the palace to offer their services. Salvador still got in his training bout with Niccolo, sword versus giant ham fists. Each gave about as good as he got, which was pretty good - both men needed some stitches or ice afterwards. But it seemed to be friendly enough. Evening Salvador went out and down, to find a genne house belonging to the Daughters. He wanted to find a way to talk to Gallisus, to reiterate that this wasn't personal and that he hoped the marchese would remain neutral. The genna couldn't conjure the prince's ear, but did have information that an allied courtesan named Celestina was supposed to be arriving on the island soon - maybe in a few days, maybe in a few weeks - and that she was going to be angling for Gallisus. He might try asking her to plead his case. The ladies went to pick out their fabrics and commission dresses. Francesca wanted something brilliantly red, with a feathered mask, and a daring but not too-daring neckline. Gianina, dazzled by the colors, decided she wanted to be a butterfly. Francesca hired a seamstress; Gianina decided to take Renato up on his offer of service. He was from Lucani Island, after all, where the money was in textiles. Marco had tried to get out of the suite to go gaming again, but got collared for more Rose and Cross training. That left Father Donati to wait alone for Pietra, who was out spying on Don Giorgio. He had found waiting for him a note summoning him to lunch with the prince tomorrow - so he was understandably concerned when Pietra returned with decidedly mixed news. Don Giorgio had gone to Gianfrance to offer to pick a fight with Salvador, if Gianfranco could get his gambling debts to Gallisus forgiven. She'd decided then to follow Gianfranco when he left, which was a good idea - he went almost straight to find Gallisus with the offer - but she didn't get to hear the marchese's reply because they caught her. She tried her standard excuse of being lost, but Gallisus was having none of it. He'd taken her by the wrist and was dragging her off to "teach her better" when the prince himself happened out into the hallway and intervened. He'd stopped his son, gestured for her to come to him, and then sent her back to the Donati rooms with a guard. Angelo told her about their lunch invitation. A good excuse would be needed to explain her presence in that wing of the palace - naughtily sneaking out at night to see the royal fountains in the moonlight seemed innocent enough and like the kind of thing a girl would do. Terdi, Quintus 19 Morning Lady Donati received a private invitation to meet with one of the Atropos on the island for chocolate. Enjoying the cup, the conversation turned to her earlier comments on "seeing something new." She gave a truthful account of the incidents in Agitazione, which greatly unsettled the older witch. She turned the conversation to other things - including Francesca's strands, which some people were commenting on - and what the Unbound father was like. Finally, almost negligently, she brought things around to Renato Vasari. His strands were oddly hard to read. Did Lady Donati know why? She confessed that she did not, although she'd noticed the difficulty herself. Lunch with the prince was fairly momentous. Mondavi had recognized Angela in Pietra and sought confirmation of that suspicion from Angelo. He admitted that Angela was indeed her mother, although in public she passed for his daughter. That caused Mondavi to rub his brow and inquire after her father; he seemed relieved when Angelo lied and said the man was unknown to him. If the girl was a full-blooded strega - and Mondavi was careful to say how he understood that these powers often did not manifest until puberty and so might not be detected - he would be more eager to marry her, and to his second son Oreste, than to marry Anna to Riccardo. However, that would leave Don Antonio with all his women married into the Mondavi - and the prince understood that one of the main purposes of women is to make alliances with as many families as one could. So he would see to it that Tigran's fickle affections ran elsewhere. Afternoon Salvador had just sent a concillatory letter to Gallisus. The family was taking a stroll, reflecting on what may have caused the majordomo to suddenly announce that their rooms would be moved closer to the prince's family, when Don Giorgio made his appearance. The man was obviously spoiling for a fight, and rather than wait to catch the inevitable insult, Salvador went ahead and gave the man the pretext he needed. The duel - to satisfaction - was brief but brutal. Giorgio was a fast little weasel, quickly scoring several hits on Salvador. That, however, was his one trick. Salvador was a tougher customer than expected. When Giorgio's initial burst of energy was spent, the younger, fitter man put two well-placed holes into his body. Giorgio would not yield, though, and tried another wild swing. This was parried and returned and the gambler fell to the ground, gasping. The Donati left him to his family and doctors - and let out word that he was just a pawn for Gianfranco, who was not enough of a man to fight his own duels. Guerdi, Quintus 20 Gianfranco was unavoidably needed on his lord's business for this day and the next, and so could not respond to the rumors circulating about him. Marco and Francesca went mountain climbing as originally planned. Someone else was recently arrived in the "guests of the prince" quarters. Lord Guy Duboise du Arrent, Nemise du Arrent Mondavi's cousin, had just Walked over from Profeta Chiesa to take in the sights of the island. As a bit of a scholar and astronomer, its lofty mountain peaks promised him excellent views of the night sky. And on his arm was a mainland courtesan, a girl of pretty but unremarkable appearance named Celestina. She had apparently heard of Salvador - stories of his first encounter with Countess Odessa had apparently made it out of the Palazzo Donati, through Monfalcone, and over to Profeta Chiesa, with the antics getting louder and louder the farther afield the story traveled. But it was all business when she caught the subtle hand signals he was sending. She sent Lord Guy off to procure outfits for the upcoming ball and went off to talk with Salvador. Listening to his story, she wanted to help but wasn't sure how much help she could be. She didn't have Gallisus's ear just yet, and really didn't think she'd make a good impression by asking for favors for a young courtier he was angry with. She'd do what she could and further indicated that she'd have some time to flirt around the court before settling (supposedly) with Gallisus, so maybe they'd have some cause to see each other again... Redi, Quintus 21 Father Donati finally hit upon his next big charitable gig. There was work enough to do in Chiarisa. It didn't all pay well, but most of the poor here were working poor, getting along. Those who weren't had some sort of other circumstance - some crippled, some mad, and some drunk. He decided to preach to the drunkards, trying to get them to find strength in Theus to wean themselves off the oblivion of the bottle. Voltadi, Quintus 22 Prince Mondavi opened the ball with his daughter Lavinia on his arm, his royal children falling into the line of the pavane behind him. Father Donati took the first dance with his adopted daughter, and it had the slightly awkward but endearing look of a father-daughter dance to it. Francesca, a "lady of mystery" behind her feathered mask, took her first dance with her brother-in-law Salvador so that she wouldn't be recognized by being with Marco. The pair of them, both young, courtly, and graceful, she in red and he in black, were a delightful sight to the other dancers. Lady Donati, resplendant in her butterfly-inspired dress, tread the measure every inch a queen. Renato kept up but couldn't hope to compete - but he wasn't particularly interested in competing, anyway. And there are some things that happen here which we'll cover in the next series of adventures, but had to skip because it was late and we needed to resolve Salvador's rival. In a feat of daring and courage, and with most respectful and beautiful words, Salvador asked the intimidating Lord's Hand La Reina for a dance. She stared at him flatly for the space of a breath. Then, speaking with her hands, she asked something of her lord, who shrugged. She paused, considering, before accepting Salvador's offer. The court noticed. Gianfranco also noticed. He was back from the prince's business, and he called Salvador out in the middle of the ball - if he was done "imposing" on his colleague. It wasn't an imposition at all, Salvador protested - but what did Gianfranco want? The two sparred with words before going for swords. Gianfranco insistede that he would have left the matter of the viscounty to the prince's wisdom, but could not ignore these slurs that had come upon his honor. Salvador insisted that they were no slurs, that it was the truth that Gianfranco's friend had insulted him. Gianfranco riposted that Giorgio was no friend of his and did what he did for no benefit to Gianfranco, and furthermore, that as he heard tell, it was Salvador who started that fight. Salvador had to allow as that was perhaps true, but that Giorgio was certainly looking for a fight - anyway, if the prince didn't mind, he had no problem settling this here and now. The prince, of course, didn't mind. The court was buzzing, eager to see what happened next. Father Donati questioned the propriety of this, as Salvador was still wounded from his encounter with Giorgio. Gianfranco replied by opening up his doublet to show off his own serious wound, acquired while on his lord's business, not while picking fights in court. The field was even, he said. Salvador asked his brother to stop helping; he wanted to get this done with. To what point should they fight? The implied accusation of cowardice would demand nothing less than a fight to the death. And it started off very badly indeed for Gianfranco. The mainland boy was impossibly quick on his feet - faster than Niccolo said he'd been, faster than he'd been with Giorgio. The lucky socks Salvador had acquired in Agitazione were turning out to be lucky indeed! Worse for Gianfranco, the brief bout with Niccolo seemed to have somehow mystically tutored the youth in hysterical strength. The first thrust he caught in his side nearly sent him to his knees, crippling him in a blow. This was not how the fight was supposed to go. Salvador taunted him, calling him the marchese's lap dog, and he slashed air again. That wouldn't do. He took a breath, collected himself, and launched a flurry of blows. The damnable youth wouldn't stand still, and he missed at least once, but he felt another blow land solidly. He took another, another of those impossibly hard blows, in return and staggered back, barely able to keep his feet. He was heartened somewhat to see that Donati didn't look much better. And then the youth, the boy, this interloper in his almost self-consciously stylish party clothes, had the nerve to ask if he surrendered. Well, there was a coward in the room, but it wasn't Gianfranco. "The terms were 'to the death,'" he snarled, before pressing his attack once more. He flickered past Salvador's guard and was merest inches from landing a killing blow - When Salvador's point found his heart. Gianfranco's body slid to the ground in silence. Then, the crowd erupted. Amidst the chaos, Mondavi's surgeons fell upon the two duelists. There was nothing to be done for Gianfranco, but Salvador they could help. The prince held up a hand for silence and announced that he saw the hand of Theus acting here. Clearly, the choice of viscount had been determined by right of combat, as of old. The viscounty would go to Don Salvador, no longer Donati. Continue to next game.
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