A Favor to Ask

[Lady Vivianne Trevelyan]

The plans were made and all was in readiness for the Princess to return to Triadon. After some brief but candid discussion with her mentor, it was agreed that Vivianne was the better choice to approach Lady Rosalie and pose the favor both needed from her in regards to the Princess. While Vivianne could ostensibly go back and forth, her constant disappearances were sure to be noticed, while Rosalie's place was known to be with the Princess, making her the ideal choice to keep an eye on things in Triadon. As Vivianne herself had been tested, so too it was Rosalie's turn to meet their mentor's expectations.

Dropping a discreet note on the lady's dressing table in the pavilion she shared with Princess Emma was no easy task, but an open conversation where an assignation was made was not a good idea. Relying on shadows and stealth, Vivianne made it in and out with relative success - the note requested that Rosalie meet her down at the lake in the treeline before moonrise and after Court dinner. There was a matter of some sensitivity that she wished to discuss with her. Trusting that Rosalie would be there, she slipped away after dinner.

The lake was quiet, though there was a line of torches flickering on the shore near the camp. She kept to the darker shadows, aware that too much movement would betray her location. Hoping Rose took the necessary precautions, Vivianne settled in to wait and watch. She would get here when she could, as much a slave to duty as Vivianne herself was. 


Lady Rosalie St. Claire

[Lady Rosalie St. Claire]

Surprised to find a note requesting a meeting from Lady Vivianne, Rosalie immediately realized the need for stealth, especially after seeing the time it indicated. Of course, she could just stroll around, and given her nature, no one would raise an eyebrow or give the young St. Claire a second look, but this time she figured a bit of fun was in order. Stealth was important, considering the nature of delivery of her message, so Rose chose one of her more unremarkable gowns, a dark shawl to hide her too-bright for her current purposes hair, and set off in direction indicated when the time was right and she judged she’d make it through the shadows in time for the meeting.

Sneaking past the large, brightly colored tents was easier than she thought it would be, though she managed to make herself stroll through the camp toward the lake with as an unassuming air as she could, though she hid each time she thought someone was coming toward her. Muffling an involuntary giggle, she skipped the remaining few steps, considering that there was no one around, at least, not that she could see – and she looked – and finally noticed the target of her search sitting under one of the trees, a harder task than getting away from her pavilion had been.

A cautious look given the trees around them, Rosalie grinned and snuck up to sit next to Lady Vivianne, as quietly as she could manage it, though the soft rustle of skirts probably gave her away. She’d have to do something about those skirts, too, they were a dead give-away and earned a bit of a frown. “Good evening, Lady Vivianne,” she greeted in a bright, but hushed tone of voice, not really wanting either of them to be discovered. “I trust your day so far was good?” Given that said day was slowly coming to an end, it was bound to have been interesting.


Lady Vivianne Trevelyan

[Lady Vivianne Trevelyan]

Challenges were made to be overcome, and locating her was a challenge Vivianne fully expected Rosalie to conquer with finesse. Not disappointed as her bat-like ears noted the muffled swish of skirts, she smiled to herself as the young lady in question crept up on her and dropped down beside her. A minute or two passed before her head rolled in Rosalie's direction, dark eyes twinkling merrily at the opening comment. Leave it to one of the little Dragons to observe the niceties, even when the task at hand had nothing nice about it. "Oh, it was tolerable, thank you. And your own, Lady Rosalie?" She could play too!

Smoothing her skirts out of Rosalie's way, Vivianne took a moment to examine her fellow protegee's attire. She could see the effort put into Rosalie's sneak-costume, leaning closer to whisper, "Next time, lose the underskirts unless they're made of linen or cotton. Silk and taffeta gives you away when you move."

Lady Rosalie St. Claire

[Lady Rosalie St. Claire]

The young woman gave in to the urge to giggle, although she could guess this wasn’t a social call. “Mine was extraordinarily boring, thank you for asking,” she complained in the same soft tone of voice, playfully grinning as she did. She took her chances with practicing her sneaking and more openly taking part in some of the events going on around the festival, but all in all, with her sisters being elsewhere and her father too busy fuming, Rosalie steered clear of that quarter all she could.

Oh, that was that? Nodding to show she got the message, Rosalie wrinkled her nose at her noisy underskirts, making a reminder to change them to the two materials indicated before sneaking anywhere next time. “Thank you, I’ll see what I can do about it,” she added, a grin in her voice. It meant dresses, of course, or at least, underskirts, and some time standing still, which was one of the things she hated the most in the world, but some sacrifices had to be made if she wanted to remain as unnoticed as possible.

“So, what can I help you with, My Lady?” Not a social call, she reminded to herself, even as her hand crept up to fiddle with a lock of her hair, an unfortunate habit she had when she had to sit still. They didn’t need being noticed, that was for sure, so she’d take care about it, well, for now anyway.


Lady Vivianne Trevelyan

[Lady Vivianne Trevelyan]

Amused at the conversation that took place between the two, half pleasantries, half shop talk (so to speak), she nodded in confirmation of the choice of underclothing and skirts. What you wore contributed to your sneaking success, a fact she'd learned from the start. While she preferred to sneak in breeches, they made her stand out unless she was in her boy's disguise, and frankly, no one would ever mistake Rosalie St. Claire for a boy, no matter how much soot and mud was smeared on her.

Dragging her thoughts back to the topic at hand, Vivianne smiled a little. "An assignment for you, from our respective patron. As you are heading back to Triadon, you will be in an excellent position to keep an eye not only on our melancholy Princess to keep her out of rash actions, but to intercept any messages for His Lordship. Pass on what seems important, or leave it, but he'd like somewhat regular reports as to what goes on in his absence. Feel up to it?"


Lady Rosalie St. Claire

[Lady Rosalie St. Claire]

Thoughtfully twisting the lock of hair around her fingers, Rosalie considered the request. It was easy enough to do in her opinion, particularly if she knew which of His Lordships she was delivering information to. “It should be easy enough, considering the reporting’d be what I pick up on each day, either case, though the rash actions are something I am going to need some help with. I happen to be prone to those myself, though not the kind you probably suspect Her Highness may be able to do.” A quick look to confirm her statement and a grin full of mischief shone on her face, before the expression turned puzzled.

“I’d like to know which of His Lordships I’m reporting though. I mean, I wouldn’t want the information needed to go into the wrong hands, and there be several of those running around both the castle and the festival grounds.” She had a likely suspect, but she wanted a confirmation from Lady Vivianne to confim her suspicion, and thus, the question asked.


Lady Vivianne Trevelyan

[Lady Vivianne Trevelyan]

Rosalie's response admittedly puzzled her - just whom did Rose think Vivianne meant by His Lordship? Tilting her head, she took a minute to study her fellow partner in crime. "I'm not certain what you mean when you ask which. To me, there's only one we report to, unless I've missed something?" Vivianne kept her tone light, but the eyes grew sharper with sudden wariness. She doubted Rose was playing a dual game, but assumptions could lead to serious trouble. She'd rather have the whole of it directly from Rosalie before she thought, decided or acted on anything. "For my part, when I speak of our patron, I'm referring to Lord Rupert. Yes, technically I am one of your father's vassals, but I'm little more than a child in his eyes and so he overlooks me."

Vivianne shrugged, neither offended nor affected by that fact. It was precisely the attitude she wanted most of Demeria's high ranked nobles to take where she was concerned.

Lady Rosalie St. Claire

[Lady Rosalie St. Claire]

Rosalie nodded with her confirmation received. “Thank you, I needed to make sure I have the right Lordship,” she chirped, nodding again and making note of the name. She had her suspicions, but they were vague at best and she didn’t want to name names. As for her father, she wasn’t at all surprised to hear that much.

“Aren’t you trying to be overlooked?” Curiosity killed cats, kittens, and young ladies who put noses into the wrong businesses, and Rosalie really hoped that she wasn’t on the last list here. In her opinion, when one was attempting to be a spy, the Lordship they were a vassal of usually didn’t know about it. Her finger stilling on her lock of hair, she considered for a few brief moments at having one other person to inform aside from Lord Rupert, made a note on it, then dismissed the thought, at least for now. Time would tell whether it was a useful thing or not.


Lady Vivianne Trevelyan

[Lady Vivianne Trevelyan]

"You meant your father, didn't you?" A shrewd look went to Rosalie when she realized the other was dodging the question, her eyes narrowing. True, Lord St. Claire was the sort one reported to, but Vivianne very much doubted that His Draconic Lordship would be all that pleased to discover one of his little golden dragons was sneaking about and interacting regularly with Lord Rupert. Lord St. Claire's opinion of the Master of Intelligence was well established.

"Of course I am," she answered in reply to the question. "People who overlook you are less inclined to watch what they say around you, and you hear more interesting things. Or you can go places where you don't get questioned for being. That's mostly what we do, if you think about it. I blend a little better than you do, but that's mostly due to who I'm not, versus who you are."

Lady Rosalie St. Claire

[Lady Rosalie St. Claire]

The young woman snorted, a very unelegant sound considering her position as a lady. “Frankly, I hope Father never finds out what I’m up to when I’m not being a lady, either now, before I got here, or well after I leave,” she told Lady Vivianne, though her being a lady was really a big word. Still, to her, it meant avoiding difficulties, having fun, and not losing her head, and never was a really long time. “Let’s just say that there’re some things about their children that parents really aren’t meant to know, or at least I hope so.”

Eyes shining with laughter, Rosalie became more serious as she listened, and nodded in agreement. “I might not be the heir to St. Claire, but I am rather noticeable,” she frowned, tugging at the lock of her blond hair. “I think the hair problem can be solved, though, and maybe if I learn to act certain way for certain situations, I might be able to get away with it?” Posing it as a question rather than a statement, she twitched her finger, yelped quietly as she accidentally snagged a strand of her hair on the bark behind her, and rolled her eyes. “And invest in hair nets?” It probably won’t hurt her at all and make her hair safer, that was for certain.


Lady Vivianne Trevelyan

[Lady Vivianne Trevelyan]

Amused to hear how Rosalie reacted to the idea that her father might discover just what she was up to, she nodded, sobering. "The reverse is true as well, though. Keep that in mind. There are things about parents that their children not only aren't meant to know, but should never know about." With that vague comment, she let that particular subject closed, bringing her focus back to bear on Rosalie herself. Vivianne was much more comfortable when the spotlight was on someone else.

She bit her tongue against a chuckle, a finger giving a light tug to a long, golden lock. "This is only one of the issues that keep you from being a prime sneak, my friend. You can get away with sneaking to a point, but I think it's fair to say some people are born to stand out, no matter how hard they try or what they say they're not. Sometimes, being the exact opposite works in our favor too. You play in the sun, and you leave the shadows to me. I know that's not necessarily what you want, but you are who you are, true?"

Lady Rosalie St. Claire

[Lady Rosalie St. Claire]

Making a mental note on the words being said, Rosalie twinkled back at Lady Vivianne. “Then I shall not ask what I’m not invited to and thus avoid getting caught.” Half-statement, half-question, it was probably as silly as it came, but it was likely in part the most serious she had ever been. In part, since she was still jesting, and would do well to remember when not to jest, which she honestly had a hard time with doing.

Still, Rosalie giggled at the tug to her blond lock and nodded in agreement. “Very true. I might even catch something that otherwise would remain unfound, isn’t it so?” Plus being a mouse on the open would prove to be even more challenging than she thought it would, but she hoped she’d be up to the task. Of course, there was the question of how successful she would be, but Rose decided she’ll find that out when she actually tried to do so. After all, discussing the act was one thing, and doing it – entirely other.


Lady Vivianne Trevelyan

[Lady Vivianne Trevelyan]

The sparkle slowly returned to dark eyes, satisfied that Rosalie got the point she was making and understood it well. There was no question of an active, working brain behind those pretty, twinkling blue eyes, and Vivianne did not take her fellow sneak for granted, nor did she underestimate her. They were utterly dissimilar, but she saw that as a strength for both of them. "Wisely said, and I'll strive to keep that in mind myself."

Amused at the giggle, she nodded. "Exactly so. As people look at me and see a child, some may look at you and greatly underestimate the power of your mind, your ears and your eyes. You and I both know there is far more to you than your golden hair, blue eyes and laugh, after all. Even our patron would tell you to make the most of what you have, and what plays naturally for you."


Lady Rosalie St. Claire

[Lady Rosalie St. Claire]

Her finger returning to furious teasing of the hair, Rosalie puzzled over the words, though she strove to keep them in check, before it finally clicked. Sometimes it took her longer than the others, that was for certain, but eventually she would figure things out at her own sweet time, even if it sometime resulted into mistakes. “I just act the way I normally do, it’s very much a natural form,” she giggled, reminded of something she wanted to do later, especially once she ditched the skirts as Lady Vivianne recommended she do.

Pausing there, she grinned back at the other young woman, a curious expression on her face. “Anything else I can do for you once I’m in Triadon? I don’t promise success, but at least I can give it a nice, solid try.” Attempts never hurt anyone, after all, that much she knew, but she had to be very careful in these little attempts. If Lady Vivianne and Prince Tristan both could catch her at her sneaking game, who knew who else frequented those old ways! She best be careful, after all.


Lady Vivianne Trevelyan

[Lady Vivianne Trevelyan]

Vivianne could see the mind turning over the words, the questions she wanted to ask but held back. She didn't encourage her to ask them yet, but knew the time might come where Rosalie didn't check herself. Until then, she was prepared to exercise the patience she'd developed from childhood, but smiled to hear the artless, honest explanation. "Maybe it is, but you won't find me underestimating what you're capable of when you put your mind to it." Another playful tug to a golden lock was given.

The question sobered her anew, her eyes averting to gaze over the lake as she considered the answer. "If you can find the time and the means to practice the code I showed you, send me regular messages and any questions or concerns you have. I can be back in Triadon if you need me to be, but most importantly," Vivianne turned to regard Rosalie bleakly, "try to keep an eye on our patron. I have an unshakable feeling that disaster is headed our way, albeit with the best of intentions."


Lady Rosalie St. Claire