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Post by Justine-Juliette de Vair on Sept 10, 2020 0:27:33 GMT
Justine sat at a table in the corner, half watching the people milling about, drinking, laughing, and half reading the book she had gotten. Some sort of history, on Thalia’s recommendation. Not exactly the Sort of romp written by Thornheart. She had a glass of whiskey and ice on the table in front of her from Which she Drank periodically.
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Post by The Forgotten God on Sept 10, 2020 0:43:50 GMT
Justine has her back to the wall and so even semi-engrossed in her book she saw the man approaching before he arrived. He didn’t say anything at first, just took a seat and waved a half naked server over for a whiskey. “Good afternoon,” he said pleasantly. “You’re the once and future Lady de Vair, right?”
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Post by Justine-Juliette de Vair on Sept 10, 2020 0:50:36 GMT
She put her book page-side down on the table, held open by the weight of its cover to mark her page. She smiled at the man, interested in his Interest, that is, until he spoke. The smile faded and she quickly took a sip from her glass. “I suppose so. Most people just call me Justine. Who are you?”
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Post by The Forgotten God on Sept 10, 2020 1:09:45 GMT
The man is in his early fifties and is trim and impeccably dressed. “So good to see you,” he said happily. “I’m Terrence of Valgard,” he said. “The Countess Chevalier sent new your way. I used to be friends with your father.” He breathed out like a weight had come off him. “I’m very happy to see his daughter has overcome the travails odious men put you through. Lord Lockhart banned me from seeing you in his...prison. The Countess has helped clear your family’s name, and I am here to see if you’re interested in reclaiming more than that,” he continued pleasantly. “I also have some of your father’s effects that his political enemies could not rip from his grasp.”
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Post by Justine-Juliette de Vair on Sept 10, 2020 1:32:58 GMT
The man is in his early fifties and is trim and impeccably dressed. “So good to see you,” he said happily. “I’m Terrence of Valgard,” he said. “The Countess Chevalier sent new your way. I used to be friends with your father.” He breathed out like a weight had come off him. “I’m very happy to see his daughter has overcome the travails odious men put you through. Lord Lockhart banned me from seeing you in his...prison. The Countess has helped clear your family’s name, and I am here to see if you’re interested in reclaiming more than that,” he continued pleasantly. “I also have some of your father’s effects that his political enemies could not rip from his grasp.” Justine barely remembered her father’s face, let alone any of his friends. She wondered if he had been part it; the thing that had sent Papa and her brother to the gallows and her and Mama to the asylum. Her years with Lockhart taught her skepticism and to trust no one. “Pleasure to meet you, Terrence.” Her voice held little pleasure. “What of his do you have? I probably don’t have enough coin to buy it, whatever it is.” |
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Post by The Forgotten God on Sept 10, 2020 1:37:57 GMT
The elder man looked offended. “Buy?” He said as though she had suggested pegging him, “I didn’t hold onto my friend’s belongings for twenty years to extort his only daughter. He left his sword and some journals and a key but he never did tell me what it opened. He said you’d figure it out when you got out one day.” He seemed genuinely pleased to see her. “Your slate is wiped clean. If you ever decide that your home should be yours again, I pledge my service to seeing it done.”
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Post by Justine-Juliette de Vair on Sept 10, 2020 1:51:53 GMT
He had managed to pique her curiosity. To have her father’s sword...she touched her belt where her own sword would hang, if she wasn’t in Ceutinde’s house. “I would be interested in seeing these things at least,” she said finally.
“You’re the second person to suggest that. A friend...” She paused. Was Nigel a friend? “Well, it was suggested that I go to Edysse and ask the new Emperor for it. He has a very expensive sword he thinks could be traded for many favors. I turned him down.” Another sip of whiskey, and she picked up the book and closed it properly. “What was your plan?”
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Post by The Forgotten God on Sept 10, 2020 3:41:43 GMT
“That suggestion was made by a man who is destined to be a commoner for life,” Terrence said. “You are nobility. You don’t need to peddle blades to buy yourself into your own home. If you want what was yours back, do as your family did for generations and take it. Favor is fickle,” the suddenly much more vigorous man said, “so you must rely on yourself.” He finished his drink and merely held up his hand for another. He had every appearance of a man who expected the world to bend to him.
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Post by Justine-Juliette de Vair on Sept 10, 2020 13:20:42 GMT
“That suggestion was made by a man who is destined to be a commoner for life,” Terrence said. “You are nobility. You don’t need to peddle blades to buy yourself into your own home. If you want what was yours back, do as your family did for generations and take it. Favor is fickle,” the suddenly much more vigorous man said, “so you must rely on yourself.” He finished his drink and merely held up his hand for another. He had every appearance of a man who expected the world to bend to him. “I always have.” She drained her glass, needing a bit of liquid courage. “Relied on myself at least. I’m not sure I could take a manor and a title back on my own, though. I would need more blades and more men at my back. And funds. Reclaiming only earns so much.” She studied her hands and thought of Konrad for the first time in ages. A title and lands and she would be worthy of him. And she would have position, money, and influence to move against Lockhart. Tempting, all of it. And she decided. “Alright, what is Lady Justine de Vair’s next move?” |
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Post by The Forgotten God on Sept 10, 2020 15:30:37 GMT
Terrence smiles just a shade. “Your father made a grave mistake in his plotting,” he said. “But he paid for it. The Chief Magistrate at the time, however, had no reason to punish you and your mother. He chose to however in order to claim your lands as his.
He is an old man now, but still powerful, and it just so happens he lives just outside the city on one of the great causeway estates. There’s pieces of the story I don’t know and he won’t tell.“. He shrugged before downing his drink. “I have reason to believe you can get him to reveal why he chose to exercise his vengeance on a girl of...” he thought a second. “We’re you six? Seven? Far too young.”
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Post by Justine-Juliette de Vair on Sept 10, 2020 16:41:31 GMT
Justine shrugged. She no longer remembered how old she had been when she had been brought to that miserable cell. “I always thought the land and the fortune were the price for what my father had done. I don’t even remember what he did.”
She leaned in and pitched her voice very low. “So what, we kill him? The land would go to his children. It would never revert to me.” She looked contemplative. “Blackmail? Force him to sign it over? Make him pretend to hve been holding the lands in trust? If he lives here, surely the manor and all have gone to ruin.” She remembered a long hall with windows on every side and a garden full of neat hedges and yellow flowers. It was foggy like in a dream. She wondered if she had really forgotten so much or if Juliette took up that space in her mind now.
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Post by The Forgotten God on Sept 10, 2020 17:39:41 GMT
“Your father fell in with a group of disaffected nobles called the Knights of Nine. They formed in response to a land tax, but when the Emperor’s Herald met with them he ended up dead and the Knights scattered, all but your father. I don’t know what he told the inquisitors, but two days later you were all gone and his head had been taken off. They only found three of the other Knights.” He was silent a moment. “The Magistrate’s name is Reynald Aurelion. His sister is married to Lord Edmund Lockhart.” He let out a breath. “Do you see how it ties together now?”
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Post by Justine-Juliette de Vair on Sept 10, 2020 19:08:33 GMT
Well that was all tied up neatly with a little bow, wasnt it?
Justine let out all her breath in one long hiss. "I do see. He deserves to die for what he did. My mother, in her last years...a shadow of herself, every day thinner, barely able to feed herself or wash herself. She died alone in a cold filthy cell. They laughed when they told me. And my brother, innocent, not even a man grown. And apparently my father as well?" She nearly began to cry but held it back as best she could. She breathed in deeply and raised her glass to her lips again. Only ice and water. She trembled as she called a waitress over for another.
"Help me do this thing. Please."
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Post by The Forgotten God on Sept 10, 2020 19:27:04 GMT
Terrence nodded. “If I didn’t want to help I’d have never told you in the first place,” he said. “What would you have me do?” He seemed relieved she had reacted with righteous anger. “He has three children, all grown. His son and younger daughter live at your old estate. His elder daughter stays at his original estates on the south side of Edysse.” He rose. “Would you like to come get your things?” Like any good noble, the past tense didn’t exist when it came to property. Unless it involved a mission to reconquer it.
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Post by Justine-Juliette de Vair on Sept 10, 2020 20:12:21 GMT
Justine tilted her head to one side, confused. "I don't know what to do next. All I know is sleeping rough and fighting. I'm not much of a Lady, not anymore." That got a sad, wry laugh.
"Alright, let me leave a message for Ceutinde...and finish this." She downed the whiskey all at once, making a little face and shuddering as she swallowed. No sense in wasting the good stuff. Taking the glass with her, she went to the bar and did as she had said she would: a short message for Ceutinde or Demetrius should they need to find her...and also if she were betrayed by this kind-seeming erstwhile friend of the last Lord de Vair.
And then she was back. "Alright, lead the way." She didnt have her sword, but there was always a dagger on her person and she was sure it would be enough.
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