A Khaleesi Enters the Holy See, 1494 -- Thursday Fandom Time (NFB)
Daenerys
Daenerys had left one city of dust and gold, and walked straight into another.
As soon as she'd stumbled out of her portal, clutching her three dragons as close to her as she could, she'd attempted to get her bearings. It wasn't so different from Qarth, or Pentos, to her mind -- throngs of people crushed together within the walls of a city rich with pride.
She stood tall, letting the dragons climb to her shoulders and arms though they were too big to really allow it long. She was acutely aware of the way her skirt only brushed where her knees were covered by her leather boots, and that her arms were tanned for all to see. There were more than a few looks thrown her way, but she did not care. She was Queen Daenerys Stormborn of House Targaryen, the Second of her Name, and she would carry herself as such.
She ought to have anticipated the response when she eventually sought out a guard. She gave her title and told him of her desire to see the Pope's daughter, flashing a smile that bore no reproach. And Dany suspected it was mostly her attitude -- and his curiosity over her pets -- that eventually got her into the Holy See, into an ornate building unlike any she'd ever seen, and crossing across clean, cool floors to a sort of hall.
Dany kept her head high, though internally she quaked. She felt as though she'd left one world of knives pointed to her back, and entered another entirely foreign to her.
Cardinal Sforza
The girl with silver hair was kept waiting for a while; it was transparent, as displays of power went, but one could not simply stroll into the halls of the Holy See and ask for a meeting with His Holiness, nor any of his family. Especially not dressed as this girl appeared to be.
Of course, one never knew what oddly-dressed visitors might get themselves up to, and having such riff-raff lingering around was not good for appearances. So it was within the hour that Cardinal Ascanio Sforza descended to the vestibule where the young presumed queen had been left to wait. (House Targaryen? Probably mad.)
The man who entered was of medium height, with brown curled hair that was beginning to pepper to gray and a shrewd face. He dressed in a long blood-red frock with a matching pointed hat.
"His Holiness sends his utmost regards to yourself, and all of your realm," he said, sounding utterly bored with the words. "I'm afraid to say that his schedule is entirely booked. I further regret to inform you that his daughter is not seeing visitors today. May I inquire as to a message you might wish to leave?"
Daenerys
Dany raised a brow; perhaps it was her recent experience with the Spice King, but she was entirely sick of little men who presumed to hold the keys to what she could and could not have. She was not a little girl to be put into her place.
"I think she will see me, when she is aware of my arrival," she replied curtly, smiling at the man. "We are friends. You are, of course, aware that the Lady Lucrezia has a great many cosmopolitan and far-reaching interests, and...well, surely you aren't surprised that she extended an invitation to a beloved friend. My dragons and I have traveled long and far, and I am certain that none of the Holy Family would want a friend of Lucrezia's to be turned away after such an arduous journey." She tilted her head, frowning a little in thought. "I'm so sorry, my lord -- I'm afraid I did not catch your name."
Because he had not given it. Dany was more than aware of how to speak to an underling. It was just a matter of determining what sort this man was.
Sforza
"Your Eminence," he corrected smoothly. "Cardinal Ascanio Sforza, Vice-Chancellor to the Pope of Rome. His Holiness is indisposed with personal matters today. It would seem your visit is ill-timed. Perhaps we misunderstand one another. I was not speaking of turning you away, or your ... dragons, or whatever members of your entourage may be wandering Rome even now."
He was simply controlling the flow of people to see the Pope. As for Lucrezia, he could not say more without letting on how ill she was, and that was to be kept private.
Daenerys
"Your Eminence," she amended, gritting her teeth. "I do not wish to see your Pope, but his daughter." She paused, breathing deeply lest she lose her temper outright. "You do not turn me away, but I am not unfamiliar with the politics at work here. You will place me in some small chamber until there is a determination of what to make of me, what to do with me, and my strange clothes and dragons and tales of far-off lands, but I need to see Lucrezia. She will vouch for my title and my sanity, both of which are clearly doubted here."
Sforza
The unfortunate thing was that the more the girl ordered him about, the more inclined he was to believe her. There was something authentic in her high-handedness, and she certainly had predicted his next move quite well.
"It seems we're at an impasse," he admitted. "When I said that Lucrezia wasn't seeing visitors --"
He interrupted himself at the sudden appearance of a third person in the room. "Cardinal Borgia."
Cesare
Cardinal Borgia looked like Hell, or, more properly, like a man who hadn't slept for the past few days. He was wearing the same clothes he had been in when he had brought his sister back from the market square. He had scarce left her room since.
But there had been a strange rumor, brought to his ears by one of his many spies, about a visitor asking to see Lucrezia Borgia. He had to find out who, and why.
When his eyes fell on Daenerys, his shoulders straightened with purpose. "Did she send for you?"
He had not seen his sister move, but he had left the room briefly.
Before Daenerys could answer, Cesare dropped to one knee, bowing his head, then rose again, reaching to clasp one of her hands in his own.
Perhaps she'd forgive the familiarity. It had been a very trying week.
Daenerys
Dany was at once both relieved and very, very worried. Rituals of titles and courtly gestures were forgotten -- she knew Cesare, and her worries of wandering the streets of Rome evaporated. She smiled at him, familiarity more than welcome.
"I think the Cardinal will receive me," she noted to the annoying man with a sunny smile, before turning her attention away from him dismissively. Cesare's question lingered in her mind for a moment, met with confusion. "...should your sister have sent for me? I received a letter some time ago, but the invitation was purely casual, for a visit. I confess I seek refuge, if possible."
Sforza
Cardinal Sforza was more than happy to let the vagrant queen be Cesare's problem, and made a hasty retreat.
Cesare
"Refuge is granted," Cesare said, slipping an arm around her waist and guiding her toward the doorway. "If danger has followed you here, it will never reach you."
He could place guards on her detail. He could send Micheletto out to see if she had been followed. Whatever she may need. No friend of his dear sister's would be harmed in these walls.
He should probably fetch her a change of clothes, as her current dress was somewhat distrac inappropriate.
"My sister has taken to her bed," he said, in a much lower voice. "There has been tragedy, for which she blames herself."
He stopped, as abruptly as he had started, and whirled, staring into her eyes. "I cannot break her confidence," he said. "How much do you know?"
Daenerys
Dany's eyes were wide as she stared into his, and she was suddenly very afraid. Her mind searched for something that would be secret, that Cesare would know and hope she knew too.
"Know of what?" she asked softly, barely breathing the words. "What sort of tragedy? Who has died?" Her eyes grew wild in panic. "The child?"
It was only a guess, that there was more to the 'nephew.' Her heart ached for her friend, prematurely.
Cesare
Cesare exhaled. If she knew about the child, this would be much easier. And she must be far closer to Lucrezia than he had imagined.
"No," he said quickly. "Be not alarmed, Juanito is well."
He shook his head. "Juanito's natural father, however, strung himself up from the rafters in the town square. A suicide."
There was a dark bitterness to his voice that he didn't bother to contain. Before Lucrezia, he respected her mourning, but privately, he resented Paolo. Why not throw himself in the river? Why not leave Rome before hanging himself? Why taunt her with his death? Such cruelty was unworthy of the name 'love.'
Daenerys
Despite herself, Dany breathed in relief; she'd been holding her breath without realizing it. The death of another infant would be too much for her so soon after seeing the illusion of her son in Drogo's arms.
Internally, she chastised herself for her selfishness. Lucrezia had lost someone she loved. And Cesare had been so careful to refer to the boy's natural father. Dany took a moment before offering, "Narcissus? She did not find him herself, surely." That would be too much to bear, and the very thought turned Dany's stomach.
Cesare
The queen seemed distressed; he had not meant to frighten her. Cesare scolded himself for leaving her in suspense about the infant's fate. Some people were sensitive towards tragedy to the very young. She may be one of the them.
"Narcissus," he agreed. "She was there when they cut him down. I could not stop her."
He had failed. He was failing her, now. He had pleaded with her, but he wasn't sure she was even hearing his words. She only clutched Paolo's note and mumbled to herself.
Daenerys
Dany clasped a hand to her mouth. She couldn't fathom coming across such a scene; Drogo's un-life had been the end of her, and it was so much less public, less garish. "And so she has taken to her bed," she whispered. "Oh, Lucrezia. Does she eat? Sleep? I do not mean to intrude, but...I do want to help. At least, to convince her she is not the cause, and move her past her grief into the land of the living again."
She didn't want to assume, but she suspected that her help was welcome -- needed, even. Cesare's desperation was hardly concealed, at least to her eyes.
Cesare
"Come," Cesare said, tugging her gently towards Lucrezia's room once more. "If you can help, I will owe you more than I can ever repay."
He would find a way. Anything, if it returned his sister to him.
Lucrezia
Time no longer had meaning. The curtains were drawn, and her shoes pinched her toes. Paolo's soul burned in eternal torment.
Food was brought, and she refused to touch it. Damp cloths were placed against her head. Sounds were spoken, ones she lacked the energy to resolve into words. Paolo's soul burned in eternal torment.
She had loved a stableboy. She had birthed his child. She had given his child to another to raise. She had abandoned him to the mercy of her brother, who had proven to have no mercy at all. Paolo's soul burned in eternal torment.
The truth would destroy her family, and the lie condemned an innocent. She was so very tired. Could she not sleep until the world went away?
She did not deserve sleep. Paolo's soul burned in eternal torment. Juan had murdered him. Her Juan. Papa's Juan. Their Juan. A peasant to a Pope's daughter. A Pope's daughter to a peasant. Her wish.
Lucrezia clutched the note tighter to her breast and closed her eyes.
Daenerys
Dany let herself be led to Lucrezia's quarters, and found herself beside her friend's bed. "She isn't even out of her gown," she murmured softly, to no one in particular. It was obvious to her; the news had been drastic, life-altering. There was no other way to be.
She knew.
Dany did not wait for an invitation that would not come -- she perched lightly on the edge of the bed, reaching a hand out to stroke her friend's hair. "Lucrezia?" she said, her voice low and soothing. "It's Daenerys, my love. Can you hear me?"
Lucrezia
Lucrezia tried, with some effort, to focus her eyes on the new ones before her. It was exhausting. Paolo's soul burned in eternal torment.
Something ... wasn't right?
"You're not here," she frowned. Dany was from School, not Home. Maybe she was dreaming? Perhaps she had fallen asleep again.
Daenerys
"I came to visit," Dany replied gently, keeping up her soft ministrations on her friend's hair. "You did request it. Your brother says you are unwell, my darling." She wouldn't push, now. She would coax.
Lucrezia
"My Paolo burns," Lucrezia said. "I made a wish and it went bad. He was killed for it, and now he burns. I'll never throw a coin in the fountain again."
Daenerys
"Shh," Dany soothed, shaking her head. "You are not responsible for the sins of others. Your wish did not end his life, Lucrezia."
She frowned, though. One thing did not make sense. "He burns?" She tilted her head to look askance at Cesare, because she had thought the boy hanged himself.
Cesare
Cesare had been pacing, like a caged tiger. He stopped now at seeing that Lucrezia was talking.
He wasn't sure what witchcraft this was, but he didn't want to break the spell. So he sat gingerly at the foot of Lucrezia's bed, trying to follow along.
"Hellfire," he said, simply. "A suicide can't receive funeral rites. They are forever separated from the grace of God. By taking his own life, he'll burn in the flames."
She blamed herself not just for his death, but for the loss of his soul. How had he not seen that sooner?
Lucrezia
No, no, they were getting off-track again. Lucrezia held out the note.
There were more words to go with it, but she couldn't remember them. She started at the beginning:
"He didn't," she told Dany, pleading with her eyes.
Daenerys
Dany looked at her uncertainly, taking the note and unfolding it.
For a moment, it didn't make sense to her. How was this any proof? If anything, it was a confe --
And then the truth came crashing around her ears.
"He couldn't read or write," she breathed in amazement, turning to Cesare. "She's told me this -- he was a stableboy, wasn't he? Uneducated, unbred -- how would a boy like this know how to pen a suicide note? He wouldn't even be able to spell her name!"
Cesare
Cesare ripped the note from Dany's hands, staring at it and trying to make sense of it. He was jealous, suddenly, that she had unlocked this secret from Lucrezia that he could not; why had he not been trusted?
He dismissed the thought, having no time for such pettiness. If Paolo hadn't written the note --
"Then it was no suicide," he said. Which she had known for days. So why the guilt? Why was she staying in bed? Why hadn't she told him? "Why in the name of --"
He was dumbstruck as a second, clearer realization washed over him.
Lucrezia
Lucrezia could sometimes read Cesare's very thoughts. She knew the exact minute he had caught up to her.
"Juan," she said, softly.
Daenerys
Dany looked from one to the other, frowning, and hoped someone would explain.
When no explanation came, of course, she had to vocalize it. "Who is Juan?"
Cesare
Cesare longed to destroy something, to push his fist through a wall. Perhaps Micheletto would find him someone to rough up.
"Our worthless brother," Cesare said. "He committed this murder. We were careless."
He had been careless. All of Lucrezia's suffering these past few days had been his fault.
Lucrezia
"Father will never believe," Lucrezia said, reaching for the note again. "Not if it implicates Juan. Even if he did, h-he'd ... leave the death declared a suicide. For the family's honor."
She had never hated being a Borgia more. It had cost Paolo his life, and placed his soul beyond the reach of Heaven.
Daenerys
Dany's teeth ground together in frustration at the picture being painted before her. A murderous brother, who had slain Lucrezia's love for...whatever reason. Pettiness, it seemed. She was intensely reminded of Viserys, and the cool tip of his blade against belly when he threatened to cut Rhaego out of her if he didn't get his promised crown. But worse was the father's desire to protect the family legacy, at the sacrifice of this Narcissus' eternal soul.
But surely the Pope himself did not perform every funeral. And if the boy did not take his own life, the only prevention of his passage to the afterlife was the rites themselves. Surely their God was merciful enough to embrace a lost soul once it was returned to Him.
She thought of Jhogo, butchered before he could join the Night Lands, and what they had done for him, and a tiny fire of an idea lit in her mind. It was a hope, nothing more.
"Why couldn't we perform his rites?" she asked softly, looking from one to the other. "I know he's been declared a suicide, but he's not, and we know he's not and your god knows he's not. Cesare, aren't you a holy man yourself? Could you perform them? We could ensure his safe passage to the afterlife, and save him from this damnation you speak of."
Cesare
Yet again, Lucrezia's friend had cut through the trappings and fog of Rome straight to the heart of the matter. She had to be quite the formidable queen.
"Yes," he said, pulling himself to his feet in a rush. "I can. I will. We will take Paolo to sacred ground ourselves, under cover of darkness, and perform the rites. By the time anyone finds out, his soul will be secured."
If his father objected, so be it; he would have saved Lucrezia from her anguish. If he was stripped of his rank, he was not fond of it in the least. Nothing anyone could do to him weighed in the least against the thought of Lucrezia slipping away again.
Daenerys
Dany grinned -- her first real smile in weeks. "His soul will be secured," she repeated. "He will be safe, and home. It will work? I was just...speculating."
It seemed impossible that she'd stumbled across an answer that would work, in the midst of this hopelessness.
Lucrezia
"It would," Lucrezia said. "A-as you said, he isn't ... a suicide. But Cesare, it's blasphemy to perform the rites when they've been forbidden."
Her resistance was weak. She dared not risk blemishing Cesare's soul further, but to rescue Paolo from the flames ...
Cesare
He moved forward quickly, kneeling next to his sister and pressing his lips to her forehead.
"Let me worry about my soul, Sis," Cesare said. "I will absolve myself later, once your love has been buried. I swear it."
He stood in one fluid motion, then turned to Daenerys. A light tug on one of her hands pulled her onto her feet, and cleanly into his own arms.
"Thank you," he murmured, in a tone he hoped was too low for his sister to hear. It was insufficient. The debt would be hers to call upon.
He could not linger, much though he may want to.
"Food," he said, releasing Daenerys and striding towards the door. "No arguments. I will send a man at nightfall, and you will need your rest, and your strength. I'll take care of the arrangements, but I send food up now and I expect you to eat it."
That was directed at Lucrezia, but he would send sufficient food for Dany, as well. And a few small armies should any drop by.
And with that, Cesare was gone.
(OOC: Hey, guess where Dany's going ... ? Played with the fabulatastic unburnt_queen for some epic crossover hangout good times! Somewhat taken from / variation on episode 2x03 but this is where we've made the right turn and are 40 miles down the road, and that's not even counting the Targaryen. WARNING for aftermath of murder/suicide still, as well as religious views on suicide and more of the aforementioned mental breakdown. Non-serious warning for Khaleesi awesomeness and lots of Cesare being a BAMF. NFB, OOC is love, and this one's being continued in the comments.)