Watermelon 17, Cantaloupe 4, Blue Raspberry 7
Title: Midday Sunlight
Story Continuity: The Lethean Glamour
Author: darkfaerieclaw
Prompts: Watermelon #17: what are you waiting for?, Cantaloupe #4: gray hairs, Blue Raspberry #7: handshake
Extra: Malt (birthday prompt: Marika Kailaya: "If I go to heaven I'll be bored as hell / like a little baby at the bottom of a well," Conor Oberst's "Milk Thistle")
Rating: PG-13 to be safe
Summary: Holly says goodbye to Arethusa, and Sofia knows all.
It was after she remembered where her journal was (the second loose floorboard under her bed, below her mother's forgotten habit) that Holly remembered that manners dictated that she say goodbye to everyone she knew in the convent. It had been so long since anyone had left - the last had been Holly's mother. Holly contemplated conveniently forgetting her goodbyes - it would be so easy - but the sudden vision of Sofia raving at a patron for, as far as she could tell, mocking a book of classic literature quickly nixed the idea for her. The book was Dracula, nowhere near the top of Sofia's favorites.
"Sofia, could I have a moment?" Holly said, making sure to wait until after Sofia was through ranting, because Dracula was near the top of Holly's favorites.
"Of course," Sofia said. "What seems to be troubling you today? And if you say it's that Cygnelius boy-"
"No!" Holly said. "Well, yes, but not entirely. Apparently I've been...recruited onto the mother of all science projects. I'm leaving, and I'm sorry to have been a bother-"
"Everything is forgiven," Sofia said. "You are leaving, after all."
Holly didn't quite know what to say to that.
"Oh, dear," Sofia said. "Not all of these gray hairs are because of you. I've been running this library and teaching children to become sisters since Arnadia's prayers for her habit seemed to be grantable by miracle only."
"So that was a joke? From - from you?" Holly said, and wondered if Sofia wasn't as strict as she seemed or if Holly was dreaming. She hoped it was the latter; Sofia secretly laughing behind the collective back of the world was an odd and slightly troubling thought.
"I've witnessed the war's effects on this town, the soldiers crippled by irreparably burned limbs, and the widows and widowers who have not even a solid reason behind why their spouses will never come back to them. I've taken in children of all ages abandoned by their parents. One needs a sense of humor to get through these times, Holly Asher."
"I knew you'd leave one day," Sofia said. "Your life...your life is outside these walls. I don't know what kind of a life you'll lead, but promise me you'll remember what we've taught you. Hubris comes before a fall, the butler is always discovered, books are sacred."
"I'm pretty sure I've got all that memorized," said Holly, who had been forced to read fifty relevant books on all three lessons in the span of two years. She stuck her hand out. "Tell everyone goodbye for me?"
Sofia eyed the hand with sharp wariness. Holly sighed. "I washed my hands after breakfast. The only thing I've been handling are books."
"What kind of books?" Sofia said, not budging. Holly reddened and crushed down the urge to cover her face and make a mantra out of her denial. She said, "The ones without sex. And nothing interactive."
Sofia hesitated a moment more, then took Holly's hand and shook it.
"You could have been a good sister," Sofia said as she pulled away. "But you have too much of your father in you, I think. Too much peace, and you become restless. You may not know it yet, but that's the kind of woman you are. It's been wonderful knowing you."
"I'm coming back," Holly said. "I'll see about bringing one of Dr. Corvo's books back. You and Arnadia seem to like them."
"Yes," Sofia said, her voice a sigh of resignation. "I think I'd like that."
"I will come back," Holly said, and was reminded of all those times as a child she had used that tone to assure herself that she could climb to the top of the tallest cedar. She had never quite made it past one third of the way.
"I would like that, too," Sofia said, and very nearly smiled, but did not. "But you have to leave before you can come back."
Holly smiled, said goodbye a last time - not, she hoped, the last time - and walked out of Arethusa.
"I'm ready to leave," Holly said. It was a fine day to leave home; bright sun and blue sky and summer-like warmth. Cygnelius looked her over and said, "If you say you're ready."
Holly was still too rattled by Sofia's lack of faith in her to reply to the unspoken, "that doesn't really mean you are ready."
The third-of-the-way point of the tallest cedar had not been a pleasant experience towards the end of it, as Holly recalled, but there had been such light shining through the leaves.
Story Continuity: The Lethean Glamour
Author: darkfaerieclaw
Prompts: Watermelon #17: what are you waiting for?, Cantaloupe #4: gray hairs, Blue Raspberry #7: handshake
Extra: Malt (birthday prompt: Marika Kailaya: "If I go to heaven I'll be bored as hell / like a little baby at the bottom of a well," Conor Oberst's "Milk Thistle")
Rating: PG-13 to be safe
Summary: Holly says goodbye to Arethusa, and Sofia knows all.
It was after she remembered where her journal was (the second loose floorboard under her bed, below her mother's forgotten habit) that Holly remembered that manners dictated that she say goodbye to everyone she knew in the convent. It had been so long since anyone had left - the last had been Holly's mother. Holly contemplated conveniently forgetting her goodbyes - it would be so easy - but the sudden vision of Sofia raving at a patron for, as far as she could tell, mocking a book of classic literature quickly nixed the idea for her. The book was Dracula, nowhere near the top of Sofia's favorites.
"Sofia, could I have a moment?" Holly said, making sure to wait until after Sofia was through ranting, because Dracula was near the top of Holly's favorites.
"Of course," Sofia said. "What seems to be troubling you today? And if you say it's that Cygnelius boy-"
"No!" Holly said. "Well, yes, but not entirely. Apparently I've been...recruited onto the mother of all science projects. I'm leaving, and I'm sorry to have been a bother-"
"Everything is forgiven," Sofia said. "You are leaving, after all."
Holly didn't quite know what to say to that.
"Oh, dear," Sofia said. "Not all of these gray hairs are because of you. I've been running this library and teaching children to become sisters since Arnadia's prayers for her habit seemed to be grantable by miracle only."
"So that was a joke? From - from you?" Holly said, and wondered if Sofia wasn't as strict as she seemed or if Holly was dreaming. She hoped it was the latter; Sofia secretly laughing behind the collective back of the world was an odd and slightly troubling thought.
"I've witnessed the war's effects on this town, the soldiers crippled by irreparably burned limbs, and the widows and widowers who have not even a solid reason behind why their spouses will never come back to them. I've taken in children of all ages abandoned by their parents. One needs a sense of humor to get through these times, Holly Asher."
"I knew you'd leave one day," Sofia said. "Your life...your life is outside these walls. I don't know what kind of a life you'll lead, but promise me you'll remember what we've taught you. Hubris comes before a fall, the butler is always discovered, books are sacred."
"I'm pretty sure I've got all that memorized," said Holly, who had been forced to read fifty relevant books on all three lessons in the span of two years. She stuck her hand out. "Tell everyone goodbye for me?"
Sofia eyed the hand with sharp wariness. Holly sighed. "I washed my hands after breakfast. The only thing I've been handling are books."
"What kind of books?" Sofia said, not budging. Holly reddened and crushed down the urge to cover her face and make a mantra out of her denial. She said, "The ones without sex. And nothing interactive."
Sofia hesitated a moment more, then took Holly's hand and shook it.
"You could have been a good sister," Sofia said as she pulled away. "But you have too much of your father in you, I think. Too much peace, and you become restless. You may not know it yet, but that's the kind of woman you are. It's been wonderful knowing you."
"I'm coming back," Holly said. "I'll see about bringing one of Dr. Corvo's books back. You and Arnadia seem to like them."
"Yes," Sofia said, her voice a sigh of resignation. "I think I'd like that."
"I will come back," Holly said, and was reminded of all those times as a child she had used that tone to assure herself that she could climb to the top of the tallest cedar. She had never quite made it past one third of the way.
"I would like that, too," Sofia said, and very nearly smiled, but did not. "But you have to leave before you can come back."
Holly smiled, said goodbye a last time - not, she hoped, the last time - and walked out of Arethusa.
"I'm ready to leave," Holly said. It was a fine day to leave home; bright sun and blue sky and summer-like warmth. Cygnelius looked her over and said, "If you say you're ready."
Holly was still too rattled by Sofia's lack of faith in her to reply to the unspoken, "that doesn't really mean you are ready."
The third-of-the-way point of the tallest cedar had not been a pleasant experience towards the end of it, as Holly recalled, but there had been such light shining through the leaves.