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[mansuetus]

This day has found me sad.

[ there is not much of an introduction today. Lucrezia Borgia, wrapped in a blanket in her bed, pale fingers flipping through a book which lies open in her lap. ]

What can be done to expel such?

Comments

[mansuetus]

Yes.

[ she half fears it; if she asks to see her, it must be horrid. She wonders if it's about Giovanni Sforza. ]

Tell me where, I will go there.

[inafadingcrown]

The gardens. I will await you near the entrance. [She's rather hard to miss anyway.]

--> action;

[mansuetus]

[ she nods her head. ]

I will go there now.

[ she does exactly that, walks from her room to the gardens, dressed in her crimson silks, hair falling down her back since arriving there is more important than braiding it. She is hard to miss, yes; beautiful and royal as she is, it is impossible not to catch a glimpse of her.

For all that she worries (what did she see?) Lucrezia cannot help but smile, something sweet and indulging on her lips as she curtsies. ]

My Lady.

[inafadingcrown]

Lucrezia. [Smiling a little herself, Galadriel simply gives a little nod in acknowledgement of the curtsey and gestures for the girl to walk with her.] If I have given you cause for concern, I hope you will forgive me. I simply did not wish to inform the entire ship of your personal affairs. [Or of her own. She's curious about what Lucrezia saw too, of course, and fully intends to ask.]

[mansuetus]

In that you are wise.

[ she walks alongside her. ]

Many on the ship know a bit too much of my secrets already.

[ whatever lies they read in their history books. ]

[inafadingcrown]

I understand all too well. [That's something they have in common. It's just that Galadriel has lived to see her past become history.

She falls silent for a moment, trying to decide how to phrase this.]

I will not leave you in suspense longer than is necessary. In your memory, I bore witness to a conversation between you and your servant. She bathed you and cleaned your wounds, advising you how to cope with the husband who inflicted them upon you.

[So simply said, but such powerful implications. It takes a great deal of restraint for Galadriel to school her expression- to keep back the anger and the disgust she feels on Lucrezia's behalf, at least until she knows how the girl will react. This is not about what Galadriel feels, after all.

She stops in her tracks and turns to face Lucrezia.] Forgive me. It brings me no joy to come bearing a reminder of atrocities committed against you. You have been hurt enough already; I would not add to your pain.

[mansuetus]

[ Lucrezia hates the Sforzas; all of them, certainly. One of them had beat and raped her and the others were simply traitors. She hates the Sforzas and the ship for making them more known than they should be. ]

He is no longer my husband.

[ she stops as well, meets her eye. She is calm. ]

He is no longer among the living.

[inafadingcrown]

Good. [Her answer comes shift and sharp, without hesitation or question.

And then it is repeated- slowly and more controlled, but no less fierce for it.] Good.

[mansuetus]

[ she wants to nod but holds herself from it. It comes as no surprise that the one soul who feels the same as her about this is also a woman. Some things, she thinks, a man will never understand. She looks at her for a long moment and then, eventually, she nods slowly. ]

Yes. I do not miss him.

[inafadingcrown]

Naturally. [It's hard for her to imagine that anyone would feel any other way. If someone had touched her like that- or her child- there's a very good chance that she would have killed him herself.] One does usually miss one's tormentor.

[mansuetus]

It is a woman's duty to be faithful to her lord husband, so I was told.

[ and when it came down to her own husband, she didn't mind the duty; she prayed to God to forgive her for breaking her vows after Giovanni Sforza broke his and took away from her the one thing she thought would not be her share (I will not be beaten, she said to her moor one summer morning). ]

I could not perform such duty, I fear.

[inafadingcrown]

Even when he mistreats you? [She shakes her head.] Your duties to him were no more than his to you. Among my people, at least, there are none who would think poorly of you for renouncing yours when he had violated his so grossly. You were not his possession, to do with as he wished.

[It reminds her, in a way, of Irissë and Eöl. Eöl had thought he could own her cousin, thought that his wife and son were his utterly, and it had ended with her death. And his, in punishment; Galadriel wasn't sorry that he was dead either.]

[mansuetus]

Among your people - would he be punished? for what he did?

[ she cannot imagine it but it does catches her interest ]

[inafadingcrown]

He would. [Not that she's had it come up often- it's an almost unimaginably grave sin amongst elves.]

[mansuetus]

Would that my world was the same.

[ it's only here that she learned to think of all of this as a wrongdoing, as something God nor men would approve. ]

And here - there is no one to speak of such justice if he would come.

[inafadingcrown]

You think no one would speak for you? [She knows that you don't know her well, Lucrezia, but surely you already know better than that.]

At the very least, I may promise you that, even should he arrive, he will not touch you again. [She doesn't make promises lightly either]

[mansuetus]

They will, if they shall still be here. Many leave, Tesora. He may come and there would be no one left to voice words for my sake.

[ but the promise does make her smile. Lucrezia's cunning goes hand in hand with kindness. she keeps her allies close but she loves them well. ]

but with a promise from one so wonderful, I may yet be able to sleep in peace.

[inafadingcrown]

Somehow I doubt you will ever find yourself at a lack for allies- not with your charm and cleverness.

[A knowing smile. Don't think that she's missed that there's a little manipulation going on here. It just happens that Lucrezia's goals are perfectly acceptable to her and she's glad to help if she can.]

But if I have given you any peace of mind at all, I will be content.

[mansuetus]

[ eep caught. she smiles, looks at the grass beneath her feet and then laughs, something light and bright and careless. the next moment she halts, curtsies and then kneels on the grass as a knight would. ]

I wonder if I may place a kiss on the palm of the one who made me so joyous.

[inafadingcrown]

[She laughs in turn, slightly startled by the gesture, but also rather charmed. She gives Lucrezia her hand.]

If you wish.