xxiv. dictated

[immacolato]

[ The journal shows that it is indeed Lucrezia, but her voice is infinitely lighter, as if the weight of the world has been lifted from it and now her words can lilt more freely. ]

To the most gracious Cassandra Cain,

I was told you are kindly and most eager to help lost souls such as myself find my proper rooms at this certain Castle. Such that I would be grateful if you might ride fast to carry me away from this palazzo.

Perhaps my presence can bring you more joy than it has brought the master of this house, who does not seem entirely pleased by my interruption.

Most humbly,
Lucrezia Borgia

[ ooc; loss start! ]

Comments

[inafadingcrown]

It is a most solemn gift and one not lightly accepted.

[immacolato]

Yet you accepted.

[inafadingcrown]

It was a beautiful and flattering name, given to me by a man I loved. And I knew by then, I think, that I wished us to be wed.

[immacolato]

Do love and marriage imply each other, Galadriel?

[inafadingcrown]

I have been told that it is not always so. But my people marry only for love, from the most humble to the mightiest of kings.

[immacolato]

I wish that were also true of my people.

[inafadingcrown]

[Softly:] As do I, pinig.

[immacolato]

Did I ever tell you I was going to be married?

[inafadingcrown]

You did. [Or that you were married already. But perhaps its best to keep what she knows of that particular situation to herself.]

[immacolato]

I will love my husband. It is no marriage worth suffering otherwise.

[inafadingcrown]

It should not be suffering at all.

[immacolato]

Should it be bliss?

[inafadingcrown]

It should be a partnership. It will not always be blissful, but, at times, it should be.

[immacolato]

What is the difference between friendship and partnership?

[inafadingcrown]

Friendship is a part of it, to be certain. But when you have bound yourself to another, your decisions are no longer entirely your own. Your concern must be not only be for your own life but of the life you two would share.

A husband should be friend, counselor, and lover- and many more things besides.

[immacolato]

And leader and protector, I was told. I thought it is the woman who must be the counselor and lover.

[inafadingcrown]

Must it be one or the other? Cannot a wife lead one day and a husband the next? Can they not protect one another?

[immacolato]

I do not know. Can I protect anyone?

[inafadingcrown]

Do you think you could not? Not all protection is given with sword or bow.

[immacolato]

How else if not with shields and walls?

[inafadingcrown]

With wit and planning, naturally. Do you play chess, Lucrezia?

[immacolato]

No, but I know the pawn can become a Queen when it reaches the end of the board.

[inafadingcrown]

Then you know also that one wins the game not by force, but by out maneuvering one's opponent.

[immacolato]

Do you think me capable of out maneuvering anyone?

[inafadingcrown]

If you are not yet, you will be, given time. But I think you are much more clever and capable than you allow most to see.