The Black Widow and the Peacock: Second Date

[Ivone]

And talk they did. For the pair to stand so near to one another lent speculation.

"Oh, look, have they finally made a truce?"

"Supposedly, he has been agreeing to marriage mart meetings lately. Didn't you hear about the incident at that patisserie?"

They comments were made among little groups or pairs of people and certainly were not the only comments.

"Did you see that little bit of thing Merynir arrived with? What did they think they were doing drying each other's hair like that?"

Sparrow smiled, surveying the crowd, fan still waving gently as she basked in the attention Aurelio and the crowd gave. The top of her head aligned with the hollow of his cheek. They were quite the pair to look upon, the king and queen of the soiree.

"How sweet of you to say so," Sparrow tittered gaily. "Sometimes a woman's touch is needed." The smile resumed.

"And I cannot help but admire the way you so carefully tend your newest treasure. Oh, isn't that her there?" The fan closed and was used to gesture - a flick, before Sparrow opened the fan and resumed the gentle back and forth motion.

Even before Ivone could get to the edge of the dance floor, a pair of hands managed to draw her back in. It was Mohler. Ivone wasn't sure if she should be relieved or annoyed. He smiled, though it wasn't as warm as many of the others, and it disappeared quickly enough. Mohler swept her through the steps. His hold on her hand and waist was tight, as if he wanted to ensure she knew who was leading and in charge.

"Don't get too full of yourself," he murmured down at her. "You are just an indulgence and he will get bored of you quickly."

"I bow to the voice of experience," she responded. Though she wasn't even sure if Aurelio dabbled with men as well as women. He probably did, if it suited his needs. Ivone turned her head to avoid looking up at Mohler. He got her attention by squeezing her hand hard.

"See? He's already back where he belongs."

What? Ivone blinked and looked where Mohler gestured with his chin, to find Aurelio standing beside Sparrow.

Oh. Why did that bother her so much? As if sensing her weakness, Mohler murmured,

"Now that is what a woman should look like."

Ivone laughed suddenly, with that deep, throaty laugh that had gained her Aurelio's curiosity in the first place. To say Mohler looked surprised would be an understatement. The expression didn't last long, but it was long enough.

"Master Mohler, you say the most delightful things!"

The response made absolutely no sense and wasn't meant to. She was just changing the subject back to the pleasantries. The look on Ivone's face softened and she looked up at Mohler earnestly.

"Please forgive my earlier comments. I did not mean to offend. I reacted defensively and shouldn't have." He could rebut as an ass or as a gentleman. The choice was his.

[Aurelio]

Aurelio had been looking at Ivone when she saw him. He winked. At least two pairs of eyes had seen that wink, though not who, precisely, he was looking at.


Mohler had not seen. "Does Malastrast still bind you in your mannerisms, Lady? You seemed quite ready to participate in the teasing, but now you resort back to formality. I confess I am not sure why. Have I seemed offended to you?" He paused, turned them. His hand remained firm upon her.

"Or is it. . ." he lowered his voice, "that you merely wish to avoid the topic of Sir Aurelio Merynir?"

[Ivone]

There was that bubbling feeling again of holding some knowledge that Aurelio did not. It made Sparrow feel positively buoyant and magnanimous. Sparrow saw Ivone see them. She gave Ivone a wink as if to say, "I am keeping your confidence." . She did not see that Aurelio gave the woman a wink, as well.

The second set of eyes to notice Aurelio's wink was Rafe Elys. His gaze, still curious, turned to where the wink was directed, finding Mohler and Ivone dancing. He watched as Ivone laughed. He watched as Mohler turned Ivone and saw Mohler's expression change.

Ivone shook her head, still looking at him with that open expression.

"You say teasing, but the look in your eyes earlier said anything but. I am... too new, too earnest to be good at the teasing for very long. And, I worried that I actually offended you."

"Or is it. . . that you merely wish to avoid the topic of Sir Aurelio Merynir?"

When he mentioned Aurelio, he caught her. She looked away and blushed before looking back.

"What is there to say that you haven't already? Details? What do they matter?"

Sparrow lifted her fan to her lips, barely hiding a smile.

"Oh my, look how she blushes. She really is just darling! I wonder what Mohler is telling her now?"

[Aurelio]

"Of course," Aurelio murmured. "A woman's touch is always needed." His voice was low, throaty. He swept his eyes across the room, his expression turning haughty and commanding. Yes, they were the king and queen, the supreme rulers, the ones who stood head and shoulders above the rest.

He turned to her. "What were your plans for the evening?"


Rafe Elys had started to move towards the dance floor, but Reese Calder caught him up. The two started talking. Rafe was clearly more animated than was usual.

"Are you?" Mohler pulled her an inch closer than what was required for the dance. "You seemed quite comfortable with me earlier. Curious, even. Why clip your wings before you have even spread them -- if I am so delightful."


"Mohler is but a petulant boy whose toys are continually taken away. I've no interest in his words. But I do wonder why your own words seem to never reach my ears." Aurelio lowered his voice further, turning his gaze outward, away from Sparrow. "I have written letters."

[Ivone]

The fan imperceptibly sped up in response to his tone. "Me? I was thinking of attending a little after-party at the Morrington's. Or perhaps, I will spend some time with Master Garrick. What of you? What do you plan for the evening?"

Ivone blinked, surprised at Mohler's change in direction. She had been sure he had been annoyed with her, was sure he and Reese Calder were the pair. Had she inadvertently implied she wanted him in any way? She really was out of her depth. She allowed it to show as he pulled her closer.

"I don't know what to say, Master Mohler."

Sparrow continued to smile. Her fan closed as she waved it at someone, nodding as they looked her way.

"Oh, have you? I will have to have words with the butler when I return home. I haven't received any love letters from you." It was a lie that rolled smoothly off her tongue and a tease, to say she received many missives. She cast a glance to Aurelio.

"If you have something to say to me, why don't you just say it?" Sparrow glanced toward the little alcove from which she'd just emerged.

[Aurelio]

"Who knows?" Aurelio looked askance at Sparrow, his tone amused. "Can't say I've made many plans. I'm surprised you have." Not that he looked surprised.


Mohler would draw closer yet to Ivone if she gave him the chance. "I think perhaps you have expected to find the field ripe for sowing, this night. I think you have much to say, but no vector in which to say it. In which case, I might offer you the suggestion that if you wish to play amongst the synevives, you should know there are already descendants at play. Descendants who have made their mark, and put down their roots." His gaze was intent upon her, his smile full of edges."


Aurelio was smiling at Sparrow. There was depth to that smile, and history, but he did not let any of it out to air. Instead, he had to say: "You used to be so fun, dearest Sparrow. Now, you let the fields go fallow. I must admit to some surprise."

[Ivone]

Ivone was looking up at Mohler. Her expression held curiosity, but in an open sort of way. She blinked. She exhaled through slightly parted lips. What was he talking about? Finally, it dawned on her.

"Yes, I see them." Ivone smiled sweetly at Mohler as she inclined her head in Sparrow and Aurelio's direction. Mohler's arm tightened and his hand nearly crushed hers. The banked fires of Ivone's anger flickered to life and showed in her gaze as she looked up at him sharply, before looking back at Aurelio. The smile had disappeared and she wore an impassive expression. Mohler ducked his head so that his mouth was close to her ear.

"Apparently, I am not making myself clear. I am the Descendant with roots." The strains of the song heralded its completion, a fact Ivone welcomed.

"Master Mohler," Ivone turned to him and smiled, executing the most perfect of curtsies - a courtesy expected at the completion of a dance. "You have made yourself most clear. As for me, I just like to dance." The reply was noncommittal and not indicative of her intentions. Ivone gave him another smile and look in her eye, a look that probably said something along the lines of "you're an idiot and an ass, your loss." All of his manhandling and posturing rolled off her like a water from a duck's back.

He would have to make a scene if wanted to keep attempting to bully her. This time Ivone managed to make it to the refreshments table without getting dragged back into the steps. A kind voice, accompanied a kind smile and a cup of water, greeted her: Gyls Elys.

"You look like you could use a drink." Gyles held out the water, then offered his arm. "Come, I'll walk the perimeter with you and give you a respite."

Ivone's relief was palpable. "Thank you, Gyles. You are my hero." Amusement sparkled in Gyles' eyes.

"Be careful or I might become one of your conquests, too."

"Conquests? Have I made conquests?" Ivone looked around in curiosity.

~~~

Sparrow's smile thinned, but only slightly. The fan covered it. "And you used to be so much more ... acceptable, darling." Sparrow's face lit up as Garrick finally appeared.

"Garrick, love, I feel the need to have a drink. Aurelio, another time perhaps." Garrick arched a brow at Aurelio before smiling down at Sparrow. "My pleasure."

With that Sparrow took her leave, leaving Aurelio standing on his own.

[Aurelio]

Mohler did not pursue Ivone. On the contrary, he smiled and bowed, and then drifted over to Rafe and Reese.

"I would rather --" Rafe was saying, as Mohler approached.

"There is a game afoot, gentleman, but it shall not intersect with the one we are playing."

Reese's smile was like the sun. "As I was saying, Master Elys. You owe me one-hundred gil. Aurelio Merynir may be a cat amongst canaries, but his games always did tend towards the dramatic."

Mohler nodded to Reese companionably. "His newest pet is a sight more transparent than she thinks herself to be, mores the pity."

"You're not going to keep an eye out?" Rafe asked, some of the prior animation draining from him.

Mohler laughed. "You say the most amusing things, Master Elys. Come then, I fancy myself a cigar."

The three men left the room.


"Where's the fun in acceptable?" Aurelio murmured as Garrick and Sparrow walked away. He watched them with an amiable expression, keeping track of Ivone through his peripheral vision. He turned and started walking towards Felice, a thoughtful expression on his face.


Gyles laughed, the sound cheerful and innocent of scheming. "My dear, you surely must be aware of your own appeal? Your husband, may Teodinus see to his rest, was a good man, but one not well versed in tending to his lady if he did not ensure you were showered with poetry of your own radiance."

[Ivone]

Felice had been returned to the group's original resting place. She studied the crowd, just watching the coming and going of this or that person. She saw the trio come together and leave. She watched, too, as Gyles led Ivone on their walk around the room. The woman seemed a little too well-polished for a grieving widow.

Gyles' laugh made Ivone smile even as she shook her head. "We weren't like that. He wasn't." Ivone fell to thinking, memories threatening to surface. It was nice to have someone actually mention Tian as if it were OK for her to talk about him. A flush of warmth went through her. Ivone fought the feelings that threatened to overwhelm her. She gave a rueful smile tinged with a humor born on hurt.

"We loved each other, but it wasn't a crazy, passionate kind of love. It was... comfortable." Ivone fell silent for a moment. "I think his passionate kind of love was the one he had with Jaime."

Ivone looked up at Gyles, putting a smile back on for his benefit. It was a broken smile, but it was still a smile.

"That is the second time tonight I've drifted into maudlin places. I hope you'll forgive me." She was feeling that sense of rawness again, that sense of knowing something had broken and could never, ever be put back right.

Ivone inhaled a breath, marshaling her thoughts and mood as best she could.

[Aurelio]

Aurelio approached Felice, offering the barest inclination of his body towards her. "May I have this dance, madame?"


Gyles was not, inherently, a kind man. He was successful in the manner that often precluded kindness, but he was also expansive. As were many of Marn's peacocks, he was admiring of his own contradictions. He could be docile when he wanted, and was often generous for his own amusement. He was known to have his own stable of charity cases: men and women who might otherwise be cast aside who he took under his wing. It provided entertainment, and drew fresh blood into the ever expanding and shrinking circles of Marn's elite.

It would be a dangerous place for Ivone to rest.

But there were advantages to be had, too.

"There is nothing to forgive, milady. You are no scavenger, to move from conquest to conquest. You are pure of the machinations these wolves enjoy." He smiled at her. "All the same, I hope that you are perhaps ready to smile again; your mourning is known to have been . . . intense, in scope. Not that any can lay blame on you, but there is still much life to live."

He shrugged. "It is never easy to contend with reality when we hope for so much more."

[Ivone]

Felice turned her gaze to Aurelio, brows raised and a hint of a smile curving her lips.

"Oh my, when have I ever been able to say no to you, Master Merinyr?" Felice held out her hand and gave a small curtsy as Aurelio took it. As they moved through the steps, she said,

"You look as though something is on your mind." Felice's gaze drifted to Gyles and the smiling Ivone, before resting once more on Aurelio.

Again, a sense of relief and gratefulness filled her. It probably sparkled or shown in her gaze as she looked up at Gyles. Ivone had been trained well, but even so little "tells" gave her away. She blinked, once, slowly. She looked down, then back up. She wanted to say - of course, I lost a baby and a husband all in one day and go on living without justice for them and without them. She didn't, of course, so the broken smile remained, but it softened. When she spoke, it was without guile. She meant it.

"Again, you do me honor. Surely, people such as yourself give me reason to smile. I will try harder to live better." Ivone resisted a shiver, but chill bumps raised on her arms. At first, the exercise had made her overly warm. Now, though, she felt a chill.

"I'm torn between hearing of whom you think I have made a conquest or hearing more on the wolves, as there seem to be many fierce ones all in one room."

They had paused mid-circuit. Ivone inhaled a deep breath, which pushed her breasts in a comely way against the cut of her dress. She put her chin up and her shoulders back and looked up at Gyles. It got as far as her posture, and for someone at a distance who did not know her well, even to her face. But, she had exposed herself to Gyles already, and as such, found it hard to shutter herself away from him. The attempt to "live better" would be an obvious one, though. Obvious in that she did it because Gyles had bid her to.

"Shall we continue and you may choose the topic - wolves or conquests or maybe even conquered wolves?

[Aurelio]

Aurelio's return smirk was free of guile, but full of deeper things all the same. "I could think of a few times," he murmured as he took her hand and pulled her a hair closer than necessary. "To be free of thought in this setting is to be nothing more than decoration, my dear, and I am never just that."


There was fondness in the way Gyles regarded her: it was the same sort of expression one might have when looking at a small, frightened animal, or a child who has worked hard to please. It was proprietary, in its own way, and filled with comfort. She'd pleased him in some way, and it was reflected in his smile.

"Have you no experience of your own with the wolves of Marn. Can you truly be so innocent of them?" His tone was wondering, and charmed; there were no obvious barbs to his words that were so typically found in the games women played.

Perhaps that was why he enjoyed the fresh blood to that which had already been spilled.

[Ivone]

When Aurelio pulled her closer, Felice pulled an amused smiled and subtly regained that fraction of space as they parted and came back together again as part of the dance. "To everything its place and time," she responded. To the other comment she said, "No, never that."

Felice let the moments pass without comment. It was what she was good at: waiting people out until they were ready to talk. Aurelio'd come to her for a reason.

~~

The way Gyles smiled at her reminded her of Tian, though Gyles was much younger than Tian. For all that had passed between she and Aurelio, the comfort ... the supposed safety Gyles offered raised her esteem of him. For all that had sparked in her and made a craving in her with Aurelio, Gyles was ... familiar.

His question earned him a smile of chagrin, coupled with a glance down to the floor. The gesture was not contrived.

"I know. It's so painfully obvious, isn't it?" Looking back up, Ivone indicated with a nod of her head that they could continue their walk.

"Tian entered an engagement with me when I was 15 and we married when I was 17. Tian preferred quiet garden parties. His peers were much older than this group, excluding Mr. Peris, of course." If Gyles thought about it, he'd realize that although Tianthalus Malatrast could have hosted his wife's debut, he intentionally chose not to. Ivone glanced up shyly at Gyles' profile as they walked before looking around, then smiled again.

"So, yes, truly, the wolves of Marn have never really crossed my path." Unless he counted Tian as one. Or maybe even Aurelio as one. Ivone was unsure if Aurelio counted as a wolf or just if Aurelio just thought himself one. She also supposed that depended on one's definition of "wolf." Ivone glanced around just in time to see Aurelio draw Felice close with that smile on his face. Her gazed continued past them through sheer force of will.

"Alas, wolf-tamer is not on my list of skills." She sighed with another self-aware smile up at Gyles, "... and I am not sure I am up to the task." One step, then two.

"But what about you?" An soft smiled played at her lips and in her gaze as she looked up at him again. "You seem... different somehow."

[Metarie]

These characters are in hiatus until further notice.