#earthrunes

August, in an effort to clear his head, sits in the muggy, steamy, Missouri summer on a bench in the gardens. He reads and re-reads his notes, hoping to find something he missed, some other, better way ....

A light feeling on his shoulder. One of the sisters.

It takes a moment, but he looks over. "Oh. Hello."

The little spider waggles her pedipalps in a greeting. They can be hard to tell apart, but he thinks it's Decem.

"Is Zara ok? Does she need something?"

Tappity-tap on his shoulder. {everything ok)

"Good. Is there something I can do for you?"

Headshake and she settles down.

He nods, accepting, and goes back to his notes, searching.

Coradel locates him and takes a seat near him. She tries not to interrupt his reading too much.

He stops as she approaches, anyway.

She leans in and gives him a kiss on the cheek. "I have made progress."

"Good. Will you tell me?"

"Mmm," she nods. "Bachdion is back. He says that, with a bit of dross, he will be able to transport Rachel to Countess Jessica once we get her out of the hospital."

"A -bit-?"

"This is what he says. I'm sure I can provide what he needs," she says confidently.

"Have you learned more?" she indicates the papers.

"No."

"I cannot see a way through."

"Then it is a matter of stealing her. Simple."

A sigh. "And the Duchy?" he reminds her.

A pause...and a frustrated pout.

"If we steal her quietly...they will never know."

He looks away."Coradel, I realize this is me talking but... is it worth the risk?"

She touches his shoulder. "For me, it is."

"You have always maintained that you have nothing to do with Chloe DuBois. You're risking censure, if not worse, from the Duchy and the Right of Ignorance, not to mention the trauma the family may suffer."

"It isn't that I don't care, or I'm not sympathetic. I am. I'm.... deeply troubled and moved by all of this. I just......"

"August...Chloe is no longer simply this body's past. She has presented one conflict after another to my life recently. She is, now, my enemy. I cannot defeat her bodily. But I will not let her win."

"Your -enemy-??"

"She is!" This seems like a reasonable conclusion to her. "She has done horrible, hateful things with these hands..." Coradel holds out her hands, palms up, to him. "And with my voice. And she will pay."

"She -can't- 'pay'!"

"Her legacy, August. Her legacy will not win over my own acts. My acts will erase her legacy."

"My concern is that it will be a Pyrrhic victory."

She frowns and gives him a puzzled look.

"Your victory will come at the cost of great losses."

"I do not believe so. I believe it can be done, and must be done."

"Enough to risk your title, or at least these lands?"

"Oh!" she exclaims as she stands abruptly in irritation. "You, of all people!"

"I know!" just as frustrated "I know."

She paces angrily a few moments. Then she stops and looks at him. "What of the mother?"

"Weatherly said she would return home exhausted from visiting the hospital. That she ... not that she wasn't allowed to visit but that she had to sneak in. Her children are Rachel and Weatherly; I don't know if there are others. Weatherly is the younger."

"Wait...allowed to visit, but needed to sneak in? I don't understand."

"I admit I don't really either. I haven't been able to follow up with Weatherly."

Coradel thinks. "It cannot be hard to find the mother. Or Weatherly for that matter. Hume could do it easily, I'm sure. The mother must know or sense something more." A sigh. "August, regardless of what Rachel is or is not, I still want to do this. And perhaps do this through the mother is the easiest course. If we have her cooperation, then the Duke and Duchess cannot accuse us of interference in their matters. It would be a personal favor at the behest of a family connection."

He nods. "Then.... if you'll have me, I'll go with you to Lord Hume."

A surprised look. "Of course I'll have you, August!"

He nods and joins her to head to Hume's.

As he stands, Coradel moves to slip her arms around him and claim a kiss, causing them both to pause.

His arms go around her as well, and he returns the kiss.

The kiss lingers. When the eventually part, she murmurs, "My anger is not with you, my love. You know this?"