(Untitled)
Someone has sent Mary Lennox a message.Mary Lennox is not the kind of young lady who keeps hurt to herself, in a stoic and dignified fashion; Mary Lennox is not the kind of proper young lady who keeps herself under control. Even if she were, she would have trouble doing so now
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Puck's voice is grim, and comes from behind her.
"Because you are surely no fool."
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Mary didn't know who it was - or at least, she hadn't been sure. She had no evidence - and Blodwen had not been seen in the bar, to the best of Mary's knowledge, for a long, long time.
But now . . .
She turns around slowly to look at Puck. "She wants me to be frightened," she says, her hands clenched tightly at her sides, "and so I shall not be.
"It was Blodwen, then."
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And frowns, sharply.
He'd assumed Mary had run into Blodwen as he had.
"What was Blodwen?"
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"The tree - the one out back, that I planted to protect the greenhouse. The Old Ones said apple was a tree of protection, so I planted it, when she first came - years ago."
Her voice comes faster, jerkier. "It is withered now, decayed, all the half-grown apples rotted. It is not natural - it was well only yesterday - someone has done it. They have done it to make me afraid."
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(all beauty withers in time, doesn't it, dear?)
"If what you speak of was truly her work, this is quite a bit more serious than I thought."
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She nods, slowly.
It's good to see he understands just how serious it is.
"Do you know of someone else who might have done it? I have not seen her - it is only a guess. I thought of it, when you said 'her'."
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"And I thought of her when you penned 'you.'"
He frowns. "There are others who might have the will or the power to do this thing-- wizards, perhaps. There may be some here who are careless enough, or cruel enough, or whom you may have angered. But aside from them, the culprits become fewer: I know the one they call Prince of Lies might manage it, in whatever form he may choose, or the horseman Pestilence-- but as to the latter, though this is assuredly the universe's end, I have caught glimpses of him only fleetingly, and long ago."
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(Puck might have made this list, a few weeks ago. But things are different now.)
"But you have not seen her - if she is not here, she cannot have done it, can she?"
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He shakes his head, then turns to her with eyes of a blue as bright as the noon sky.
(It is possible he is compensating.)
"Mary Lennox. I should have to see your tree, touch it perhaps, ere I could say for certain. But I met Blodwen Rowlands last night, and from what I saw, she has the power now to cause living things to sicken."
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Mary is very still.
Then she swallows, and asks, in a voice that is as clear as she can make it, "What did you see last night?"
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"I saw that she is not as she appears to be-- what she has been before. Beyond that, I could not perceive her true shape, or all the powers that attend her."
He frowns.
"When I attempted it, she saw me punished by a terrible sickness, and a foul smell like death. It clung to me ... I admit, Mistress Mary, if only to give you some idea of the magnitude, that I feel faint and ill at the thought of food even now."
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And then she takes a breath, and straightens again, tilting her chin higher. "It seems that if there was ever a time for the measures we have spoken of, it is now. She has shown that she wishes for revenge against us, and she has shown herself dangerous. We must take countermeasures."
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"I think you have the right of it, Mary Lennox. We must indeed."
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Point one: established!
Point two: "People keep imprisoning her, and sending her away, and she keeps coming back worse. I believe she ought to die."
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Beat.
"I do not think Security ought to be involved. They have never yet killed anyone, that I know of - and while that is often something to be said in their favor, in this case, I do not think it is so."
Besides, Mary doesn't have a super-high opinion of their effectiveness.
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