xvii. dictated, action

[heloise]

Paradisa
For my Giovanni. If you would be so kind.


[ Lucrezia can be found at highest roof with a wooden box inlaid with pearls at her feet. It is small and finely made, but the real (belated) gift is within: a white silk shirt fit for a little prince with golden narcissus embroidered on its sleeves. She turns away after enough time, retracing her steps back to her room. ]

Ovid once wrote, est etiam placuisse sibi quaecumque voluptas: virginibus cordi grataque forma suast.

But mirrors never turned out for good.

[ Translation goes: Besides, all women take a secret pride in being fine or else they are belied; for when the conscious maid explores her mirror and finds she's handsome, she herself adores. ]

Comments

[kryptonian]

[She looks away for a second.]

Only my cousin and I are left. There are a few others, but for the most part, we're the last of our kind.

[heloise]

[ She frowns, at least in this she is genuine. ]

Does it make you feel alone?

[kryptonian]

Of course. I mean, I'm surrounded by people, but nobody has the memories I do. Even my cousin doesn't –– he was only a baby, but the first fourteen years of my life weren't on Earth.

[heloise]

And you remember, long for a home that will never be again.

[kryptonian]

[Nod.]

Yup.