Sweat off the Brow

[Lady Tamara Fontaine]

There was no time for grieving. There was no time for mourning. Tamara had been thrust into a world of responsibility for which did not feel prepared. She had been prepared to be a knight of the realm. She had been prepared to ultimately lead brothers and sisters in arms, not peasants and sheep. A single nod acknowledged and accepted his condolences, but she had no desire to comment on it further. To do so would admit that she did not take the time she needed to not only mourn the loss of her family, but the loss of her life as it was.

"I honestly know very little of Rose and thus I can't offer you much of an assessment. By the Triad, I don't think anyone really knows much of Rose. They seem to keep themselves more than anything else." The list of suspects was growing and Tamara wasn't certain what to do about it, at first. "Well," she began slowly, "You could look closer to those vassals that are connected to your house first. I will see what I can learn about Kendall and Peveril. If none of those reveal anything, we'll start looking elsewhere." She gave him a questioning look to see if he approved of those ideas.

Sir Christopher de Winter

[Sir Christopher de Winter]

The nod was noted and topic closed, for Chris was well aware these matters were not something people liked talking about, much less so his fellow knights. Allowing himself to focus on the problem, he inclined his head in agreement with her words.

“Then perhaps Rose and their vassals should also be investigated, which I shall try drawing people into. Lord Halton is at the grounds, and Jasen plans on visiting Marbury soon as he can, so I believe I have the vassals of de Winter covered. Lady Natalie Kendall is Princess Emmaline’s lady-in-waiting, so the best place to find her at the moment would be Triadon, or wait until the Princess and her ladies will rejoin the Court. Of Lord Peveril’s location I have no hints since the last festival feast he was present at, a few days ago.”

Which in itself made his forehead crease with thought. Of many nobles at Court, Lord Richard Peveril seemed to be present most rarely next to several others notorious for being such, though it made no reason to make the man suspect. Perhaps it merely meant he had business to attend to which made him even less noticed than anyone else with dislike of Court put together. Perhaps it meant other things, and perhaps it meant the man should be watched. Waiting to see what the woman had to say about it, Chris mentally filed the slim possibility to the back of his mind. Time and research would tell whether he was correct to be so and hopefully what to do about it, if so.


Lady Tamara Fontaine

[Lady Tamara Fontaine]

"No one has seen Lord Peveril?" She asked curiously, "is this normal behavior for the man?" Tamara did her best not to jump to conclusions, but prominent people that came and went could merit some suspicion. Then again, Tamara had not exactly been in Court for quite some time and neither had Lady Rose. Were they to be suspects, as well? No. She would keep herself calm and level on the matter.

She was also unaware that she was thinking exactly in the same manner as Christopher. "Let's start inward and work our way out. Start with the borders, then move elsewhere." She nodded, feeling confident about this plan. Then, she realized that she had taken command of it and promptly flushed with chagrin. "That is, er, if you agree."

Sir Christopher de Winter

[Sir Christopher de Winter]

Slightly surprised that he wasn’t the only one not to know the man’s whereabouts, Chris inclined his head, thinking about it. “Now I think of it, I’m uncertain whether it is so, but Peveril bears checking out.” As did all the provinces they named, and it seemed like a lot of people all of a sudden. Wondering how much he could delegate to his siblings and whoever else was drafted into the search, Chris hid an amused smile at the woman’s flush. Some things never changed with their kind, it looked like, all of them liked to take charge of a situation and go with the flow.

“That is as good a plan as any, Dame Tamara. If you think you may have those that will help us rather than hinder, perhaps we could enlist more people into the search. It seems too large for two knights.” His assignment, he was certain, would ensure his absence sooner or later and inability to contribute to the search, him grateful that important to them provinces were without suspicion. Suspecting that the woman he was speaking with was also Lady Fontaine was easy enough, though he hadn’t asked her for proof. If she was the lone member of that family, it was natural that County Wooldale would go to her. Yet that form of address would wait until they crossed paths at Court, if then. For now they had more important things to focus on.


Lady Tamara Fontaine

[Lady Tamara Fontaine]

She nodded in agreement regarding Peveril and then considered his other perfectly valid point. "I do not have a great number of friends in Court, unfortunately. There is my liege lady, of course, but I do not know if it will be wise to bring it to her attention just yet. Having this spread like wildfire would only make it more difficult for us. I can send inquiries to my steward back home regarding my part of the border. But as for adding anyone else to our plan..." She spread her hands out, and then smiled wryly, "We are the first and last line against treachery, are we not?"

Sir Christopher de Winter

[Sir Christopher de Winter]

“If your liege lady is aware of the goings on in her family, she’s more than likely already involved,” Chris noted, returning her wry smile with a small one of his own. “As are my siblings, and I’ve a suspicion Jasen’s doing his own investigating.” The Lady Jardinier had been a Carlisle by birth, so it was only logical for her to be so, though he had doubts whether it was or not.

“A point, but if I’m right, there are quite a few people working along the same lines we are. I shall make a discreet inquiry whether my brother will divulge their names if it is agreeable.” Despite his expression largely remaining the same, his eyes showed a hint of amusement. So far, he liked the form the plan was taking where there was none before, and if they were lucky, they may even make it in time.


Lady Tamara Fontaine

[Lady Tamara Fontaine]

It seemed that they had worked out the initial details of their plan. "So, Sir Christopher, do all of your first encounters with women go in this fashion? Recruit them into dangerous ventures for the betterment of crown and country?" She was, of course, teasing. She felt the need for some levity after such a serious conversation. The thought of a traitor in their midst, while not surprising, was a depressing nonetheless. A smile was playing at the corner of her lips as she gazed at him.

Sir Christopher de Winter

[Sir Christopher de Winter]

The quest for levity was working, for Chris’s mouth twitched in slight approximation of a grin. He guessed, as their talk went on, who the lady he was speaking was, and while their sketch of a plan was good, it was also going to take its time to fulfill, considering both their stations at Court. “Only those who come looking for a knightly deed when meeting men for the first time, Dame Tamara,” he teased quietly, having recalled just how this conversation started. This was not quite what he had in mind when he started out, but he wondered whether the woman he was speaking with found what she was looking for. This, however solid a plan, was not going to be easy.

Lady Tamara Fontaine

[Lady Tamara Fontaine]

"You poor dear," she quipped back, "You must not meet many such women, then. I shall endeavor to be everything that those women could be... and probably fail. I should warn you that I am not the best dancer, even I am quite skilled with a blade. Yet, I doubt the Court would appreciate replacing the typical dances with duels, even they are quite similar." There was something about the intimacy that threw her off. The rigidity of it all was another factor...

Sir Christopher de Winter

[Sir Christopher de Winter]

“Please, don’t trouble yourself on my account. I’m certain my brother’s determination to see me out at Court would ensure that my lack of meeting ‘proper’ ladies would be remedied sooner or later.” Amused by the ensuing banter, Chris slightly tilted his head to the side, trying and failing to imagine the scene she described. “And I can see where we’d run into trouble at Court, even if both of us would enjoy putting on such a show immensely,” he allowed, an amused look over his features once again.

He wouldn’t even fathom letting loose with a sword dance in the middle of a ball, though he was certain more adventurous nobles would appreciate it. As for the more formal dances, well, he supposed time was going to tell. Surely there was an occasion to be put to test waiting.


Lady Tamara Fontaine

[Lady Tamara Fontaine]

She chuckled, a warm, deep and rich sound. The man was so practical that it amused her. She wondered just how far that practicality went. He was most certainly interesting and she privately wished that they would work side by side for a good deal of time. "Ah, but he is a duke and he has to think along those lines." She waved that aside with a gesture of her hand, "No need to worry on it too much. I understand how you think and feel. Don't worry too much about me, Sir Christopher... unless, that is, we happen to get into a practice duel."

Sir Christopher de Winter

[Sir Christopher de Winter]

Here, he was forced to agree. Much as they were close, perhaps as much so as their younger siblings were with each other, Jasen oftentimes had to look at his decision from the viewpoint of a Duke rather than a brother, and Chris could understand how difficult that could be. It was why he, mostly, was going along with his elder brother’s decisions, but argued his way around some if he felt he was right.

Pulled out of his musing, he allowed a quick grin upon hearing a laugh from the woman. “Perhaps then I should need to, Dame Tamara. Particularly so if you’d like to join myself and the others in the sparring in a couple of minutes’ time?” Having seen her exercising on her own, he thought she may appreciate a sparring partner in more controlled than this one setting, but if not, then this was where their ways would part for the time being.


Lady Tamara Fontaine

[Lady Tamara Fontaine]

Tamara found herself studying the man once again. Once again, she found herself missing the freedom that came with her knighthood. The freedom to travel the lands, dispensing the King's justice and seeing what the world had to offer. Now, she was stuck at home, forced to tend to sheep and listen to the myriad of complaints offered by those living on her lands. Her lands. What a strange notion. She was still getting used to it. Once again pulling herself from her dark thoughts, she mulled over his words.

"Very well. I'm warmed up, but I am not certain I can say the same for you lot. Take all the time you need to get ready for me," the grin was a challenging, but playful one. Clearly, this woman was confident in her ability.



Sir Christopher de Winter

[Sir Christopher de Winter]

Seeing the woman study him again, Chris thoughtfully studied her in turn. If she was as good as she claimed to be, though he had seen enough to ascertain it for himself during her warm-up, then his group would get a challenge some of them needed. He was not going to voice anything upon the matter, however, for the last thing he would do is to doubt a fellow knight without enough evidence given.

“I have finished my warm-ups before taking this walk, and it’ll be their problem if my men had not done the same by the time I get back,” he murmured instead, amused again. An incline of his head, a quiet acceptance of her challenge, and he turned toward the path that would bring him to the pavilion where he and his were housed for the duration of the festival. “Come, then, if you would like to. There are details still we may need to iron before getting started with our plans.” His words might have the signs of going over the trodden road again, but he liked to consider all possibilities, and it seemed to him they were just scratching the surface of something much bigger.


Lady Tamara Fontaine