#earthrunes

"It... I had feared it, you know."

"To be bound, that thing which I despised. I feared I would resent it. And in that, resent him."

"And?" A curious tilt

Clearly, Vashti IS delighted, but a part of her is nervous

"I found not a cage, but... a haven?"

"A nest to alight, where I may always find home."

Her antennae rise then a smile follows "Shalimar calls me his haven all the time"

Clearly not all the time, but she likes the comparison

"And... be not bound to rules, aye?"

"When we swore hearts as one, the boggans decided that thusly wouldst our quarters be joined. As if I did not need my secret spaces! Nay, sister - the rules are what you would have them be, not the expectations of others."

"Ah, Ivanka, nnow there be a gladiator"

Apparently she knows how the maid fougght for sluagh sensibilities

"Aye." A fond smile.

She blinks, and looks at her list , then looks relieved to see Ivanka is on the guest list, "Good. Silly goose of a woman, but I must endure her. She hath fallen and cannot get up"

"Oh?"

"Boggans chatter... amongs themselves, but I hath a ggift for interogationn De Sade would envy" A shrug "Seems some fellow came through, a stranger cloaked in the scent of rain, and more than one gothic heart trembled"

"Ahhhh."

"I see the appeal. I think more than one has been enspelled."

"Fodder for thy novels?" Amusement, though she does not seem serious

"Mmm.. mayhaps."

"I have been working on the second, truth."

"Concerning the heiress and the vicar."

"Ooo... the flame haired heiress with wanton body but golden heart under it all, and the vicar of cluelessness?"

Zara nods.

"Might a sister presume a chance to be among the first to devour?"

"Amongst. Forgive, Bronte insists."

"Ah, yes, the weekly dragon raids" a tisk

"Her hoard is a thing of couplets and iambs."

"And, mayhaps, a Harlequin novelist."

"mmm you and my man have so much in common"

"Oh?"

"You write of them, he often IS One" A pleased look on her featues

A soft chuff, amused.

"Ah, Bronte!" A gasp annd she adds a name to the guest list

"As if she could be denied."

"Ah, the illusion of power will sooth my jangled nerves"

"Fair enough. She will graciously accept, methinks."

"Now, sister, how go thy studiess? "

She could mean college, but might also mean magic

A soft noise - frustration?

"Aye?" A troubled look, "Though has not yet the seven names of tthe wind?"

"I.. it... oh, it's silly."

"O h, we pooka cannot abide silly" blink blink, "Sister, you could tell me where bodies were located and being who I am, I would end up telling someone about thy doll collection."

"It is... much over naught. Nay. Tis foolish to regret the loss of that which was not true. Just the loss of... an ideal, aye?"

"Ideals are in our stitching sister dear, the pattern changes but the start is the start, what foolishness is there?"

She shrugs. "I.. I had helped make a thing... but it... " She frowns.

"It was given away too soon. To too many."

A tilt of her head "Sisterr, did you surrender something just because another touched it?

"

"It is childish. To be upset so. But..." She frowns.