Welcome to Gaia! ::

It was a relatively quiet party, as far as such things went. An afternoon luncheon and tea with only a couple dozen guests, hosted by an acquaintance of his. Anna was mingling whereas he had managed to disentangle himself from most of the socialization and had found himself a nice, quiet corner or the room. He was not entirely certain what he was doing here, to be perfectly honest. Of course, given his station, he could not be completely reclusive, and there were certainly worse events to attend than one like this. However, he would still rather not have been here at all. His books were calling most persuasively to him.

Ah, but Anna insisted that he needed to be around people more, and he always did find it difficult to deny her, especially after the accident. Besides, she had been expressing much more interest in life of late. He was worried that if he did not keep encouraging her, Anna might have a relapse. It was unlikely, he knew, but that did not keep his fears at bay. He really had not choice but to come. Besides, the host had expressed an interest in meeting her. New friends were always good, right?

Startled out of his reverie, Alexei is unsure what to do with himself for a moment before he finally decides to bow slightly. "Milady," he said, still clearly a bit bewildered. "I am surprised to see you here. I did not know you knew the host." Indeed, that did come as a shock. The host was an acquaintance from his scholarly life. Though he was of noble stock, he did not mingle with socialites like Miss Marie any more often than Alexei himself did. Of course, society was a small place, so perhaps it should not be quite so shocking as he had found it.

"I am very well," he added as an afterthought. Anna would surely scold him for ignoring a lady's question, after all. Or at least, he thought she would. He might be surprised to learn that there were certain exceptions to every rule and that evasive speech was an art he ought to learn more thoroughly.

Indeed, she must truly have a wide-ranging social circle, to be here of all places. Of course, she was friendly enough to befriend him, so it should not come as such a surprise. After all, not very many people would keep coming back to visit with him after he went off on one of his tangents. Anyone as nice as her surely had many friends.

"Sumerki? She quite enjoys visiting people," Some people, anyway. The doe adored attention, so long as her admirerors were not too boisterous. But, how best to explain? "Not many people welcome guardians indoors." Or most animals, for that matter, but guardians were particularly large, and therefore most frowned upon having them in their drawing rooms.

Indeed, completely oblivious to the young vixen's plans, Alexei was quite simply intrigued by the mere notion of such documents. His eyes lit up and he leaned forward in excitement.


As though she possessed some sixth sense that informed her of Marie's impending victory, Anna deftly excused herself from her current conversation and appeared at her brother's side, laying a casual hand on his shoulder. Or rather, it would feel casual to him, but to another woman, it was a clear flaunting of liberties. Touch between members of the opposite sex was most restricted in polite society. Marie would rarely be allowed to lay a hand on any of her intended conquests, but Anna had the advantage. Alexei was her brother, of course. There was nothing untoward about such a simple gesture.

It would certainly not help Marie's mood to note that this intruder was an exquisite creature - exotic in the way of Alexei, delicate, dreamy-eyed, almost feline in appearance and grace. The similarity between the twins was too marked to be missed, but even beautiful women can feel threatened by other beauties, no matter their relation to their targets.

"Alexei," she purred. "I have been wondering where you had gotten to." Lie. She knew where he had been all along. Then, she blinked and glanced at Marie as though noticing her for the first time. "Oh! Who is your little friend?"

Alexei sat back and smiled up at his sister, the excitement leaving his eyes in favor of warm affection. "Anna. This is Lady Marie. I believe I've spoken of her to you."

"Have you?" she mused. "I do not recall."

He frowned slightly. It was not like his sister to be so forgetful, but he supposed that she had been a little distracted of late, so perhaps it was not so odd, after all.

"Milady," he said to Marie, continuing introductions. "This is Lady Anna, my sister."

"Not at all, Lady Marie," she said, settling herself on the seat next to her brother. "I could not expect anyone to have heard of me," she lowered her lashes demurely. "I am afraid I have been unwell these past few months. It is such a pleasure to meet one of the kind people who have been keeping my brother company."

"Lady Marie has been most kind," Alexei agreed, as oblivious to the indecipherable feminine undertones as ever. "In fact, she has just begun telling me about a viewing that she is going to hold. Her friend has documents concerning Sunderland's first reigning queen. Does that not sound wonderful?"

"Quite," Anna agreed.

Oh, yes. It seemed she was right in interfering with this...female after all. Marie was no more interested in those documents than most of society would be. The woman's heart might not be anything akin to evil, but it was certainly filled with self-interest and hidden agendas. Ones that no doubt boded ill for her brother. He was such a kind man, and too oblivious by far. It would not do for him to be taken advantage of by a woman of loose morals - and Anna had little doubt that that was exactly what little miss Marie was. Such things were not spoken of openly of course, but there were always rumors. Rumor painted a very colorful picture of Marie. Scarlet seemed to be the color of choice.

"Good heavens, no," she cried, for all appearances taking the bait. "I believe one lady such as Sumerki is quite enough for our household." By no stretch of the imagination could Anna be construed as one of the Chosen. Instead, she was blessed with her own unique familiar.

"However, I do have a darling rook," she admitted. "Aranka is ever so clever. She is as golden as the sun and as sweet a creature as you will ever meet." If Anna knew her brother at all, she would have all the help she needed in thwarting the vile little temptress. There was no need to hurry. Let her believe for a moment that she was safe. It would only be all the more satisfying when she realized her error later.

"Only to you, Annushka," Alexei laughed. It was a well-known fact in their household that the golden bird did not have the time of day for anyone other than his sister. "Let us say instead that our household has two grand ladies."

"Perhaps you are right," she conceded. "But what about you, Lady Marie? Have you a companion of your own?"

"Such a pity," Anna said, sounding genuinely sympathetic. Of course, she could not imagine this little trollop being graced with a Familiar, let alone a Guardian. It may well be an insult to all Chosen should she ever join their ranks, and there was no sense of power about her, so Anna sincerely doubted that she had any power as a hedge witch. In fact, she probably thought those of Anna's ilk were quite ridiculous, which suited this particular witch quite well. Better to be underestimated by this type of foe. Of course, it would not hurt to be a little feared, either, but she would take what she could get. No need to be greedy. Fear could always come later.

"I would hardly say one need be adventurous to have a fine lady like Sumerki come along!" Alexei laughed. He might not speak of it often, as it rarely came up, but it was no secret that Alexei was not knight material. He had learned some of the skills growing up, of course, and he was passably fair at them, but his heart was not in it. It was all a matter of disposition, and his leaned more toward books than swords or muskets.

It was lucky for Marie that Aranka had not decided to bless this particular gathering with her presence. The rook might not be prone to violent tendencies, but she could be quite menacing when she chose to be. It might also surprise the other woman to see the reception of such a beast. Few would look at the rook and the lady and think Hedge Witch. Rather, they would look at the bird and think her merely a pretty little pet. Perhaps it spoke more of Marie, then, than Anna. The Belastranan had certainly made no such claims, not that she would necessarily deny any accusations of that nature if they were issued.

At the impudent question, Anna frowned disapprovingly. It was a very private matter. Not one that was openly discussed with, well, anyone, really. Even Alexei, whose nature was easy and unconcerned, frowned slightly. For all his friendly and genuine manner, he was a private person. "Something of the sort," he said, which could mean anything or nothing, and clearly that was the end of the matter.