012

[cursedqueen]

I... am very glad that the weather has abaited somewhat, I...

Well, at any rate, I suppose I really will have to take that dea- that doctor's advice, and look to my health more. I'm more used to trying to waste away than to live.

Lord Autor, I apologize for not making it to your celebration, I fainted from the heat when trying to see Lady

Comments

[misterblackbird]

I'm so relieved glad you're doing better, Lailis.
May I join you in the garden?

[cursedqueen]

Thank you, Cain.

Of course you may, I'd be delighted.

... Is the Lady Cromwell adjusting?

[misterblackbird]

Thank you.

Oh you've met Lukia. She's doing about as well as anyone does after arriving here. I set her up in one of the flats nearby. I spoke to her yesterday; I suppose I ought to check on her again.

[cursedqueen]

I have.

That is kind of you, Cain. She mentioned you were distant blood relatives.

[misterblackbird]

We're both distant and rather estranged.

And her arrival here seems to have dropped her out of our last encounter, which was simply strange. And she has no idea what awaits her...

[cursedqueen]

Strange, my lord?

[misterblackbird]

Lailis, if I tell you this, you must not tell her. Please. I know what's going to happen, but she doesn't. What happened to Merry has happened to her, but in a worse way.

She was supposedly possessed by her mother's vengeful ghost, and her stepmother died in the middle of a séance. But there was nothing supernatural about any of it. We were ordered to stay in the house until the investigation was completed, so what else could I do but try to solve it?

And I did, but...it didn't matter.
And she knows nothing of what is to happen.

1/2

[cursedqueen]

Oh, I see...

[cursedqueen]

A different period in time?

[misterblackbird]

Somehow, yes.

I can't understand it at all, but it's as if she were dropped out of a time which for her is the present, but for me is the past. Though I remember her being there, and I know what is to happen.

For all I want to believe that the future is a thing yet to be shaped, I know what's going to happen.

[cursedqueen]

It's... something negative.

[misterblackbird]

More darkness, and more deaths.

Is it fortunate that none of them are her own?

[cursedqueen]

Not neccesarily.

Can she fend for herself I hope?

[misterblackbird]

Then you understand what I mean by that, Lailis.

To a point: she's used to having maids to to wait on her. I'm one of the few people she knows here, but I don't intend to become her nursemaid. I'm done with her, anyway. I have been for some time.

[cursedqueen]

Yes, I do.

I see... understandable.