(Untitled)

[anneotherboleyn]

After the blistering heat, Anne had welcomed the snow with open, if surprised, arms. It was a time to wear as many of her heavy dresses as she liked and twist her hair into ornate styles and simply be in a way that the warm weather did not permit. Oh, it was very cold, but the compound remained warm, and it was a marvel of architecture now--

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[turnthebadinme]

Serena had finally made up her mind to check in on Blair, but that didn't mean she wasn't glad of a little distraction, almost relieved to discover friends in the rec room. "Hi, Jason!" she called cheerfully, giving a wave before heading over to Anne. She felt for him, she really did. It seemed as if he'd been through a lot, and then this place had just got so much more confusing right around the time he'd shown up. Still, Anne's work caught her attention more fully. "What is this you're working on?"

[anneotherboleyn]

How sweet of Serena to know the help.

Even if the help was distracted by lights flashing off of the shinier decorations about.

Anne smiled at her and beckoned for her to sit. "I am simply adding some beadwork to a bodice I was able to scavenge from the clothing box. It's been a great while, but I think I might be able to do something passable."

[turnthebadinme]

Serena eased into a nearby seat, leaning forward to get a better look at Anne's work. "It's lovely," she said, smiling. "You really have a knack for these things." She had no gift at all for handicrafts. For the most part, she would lay that at the door of not having had any training in it, but really, it was more that she lacked the patience.

[anneotherboleyn]

"Before my family came into any sort of money," Anne said, "we did do a surprising amount of our own work. And then under Katherine, who came before me-- she liked her women to be industrious."

Anne had introduced her to a new sort of industry, she liked to think.

[bennet_beauty]

Jane found Anne within the rec room and crossed the room to join her side, giving her a kiss to the cheek as she approached, curious at the strange decorations. "Whatever you have done with the place, it is beautiful," she pronounced.

[anneotherboleyn]

"I've had help," Anne said graciously. As she tugged Jane to sit beside her, she said quietly, "I found the poor thing wandering about looking for something, so I employed him for the afternoon. It brings to mind charity work that Henry's first wife was responsible for doing."

Here, and only here, would she acknowledge Katherine as such.

[bennet_beauty]

Jane curiously glanced at the man that Anne spoke of and could find nothing too poor about him and she gave Anne a wary look. "And he was happy to simply devote his services with no wish for money or a response of charity?" Jane wondered.

[anneotherboleyn]

"I can tell the sort who needs a woman to keep him in line from very far off," Anne said. "Men like him need a pretty face and a strong hand. I'm sure he'll grow bored and wander away soon enough, especially when I shan't let him flirt with you."

[goingtodorking]

Karen pads into the rec-room in her socks, her wellies discarded somewhere by the door and watches, for a moment, fiddling with the hem of her jumper with one hand, Puss Cat tucked under the other.

"Hello, Miss Anne." She pauses, and thinks about it, for a moment. "Queen Anne. What are you doing?"

[anneotherboleyn]

"I am Queen no longer, I'm afraid," Anne said with a soft laugh. "And I thought I might pretend, for a while, that I was simply at court again." The child was certainly not too young to educate about such things.

[goingtodorking]

"You still look like a Queen," says Karen, sitting down beside Anne on the settee and looking at what she was doing.

"What do you...um...do at Court?"

[anneotherboleyn]

"Usually whatever our King or Queen asks of us," Anne said, and showed her the beadwork. "When I first was a lady under Queen Katherine, who came before me, we did things like this, and sewed and were very serious. I did things rather differently."

[good2bthequeen]

"Why whatever are you doing in here?" Antoine paused in the doorway and surveyed the room, reserving passing judgment on it for the moment. Feeling in a Russian mood, she was all in red and furs today with gold braiding that the young queen was certain looked suitably Eastern and exotic. The other queen looked lovely as well, even if she was terribly old fashioned. Antoine knew things sometimes came back into style, but she hoped the cut of that petticoat never would.

She flounced into the room and took a seat next to the other woman. "It looks terribly... interesting."

[anneotherboleyn]

"I thought I might pretend a bit," Anne said. "I'd forgotten how good I was at pretending, only it is called being a courtier at home." She smiled, and beckoned for the younger woman to sit. "This is just a bit of beading."

[good2bthequeen]

"Oh, I was never much good at that sort of thing." Antoine waved a hand lazily in the air, mimicking sewing. "When I was first married to Louis, I promised my Grandfather King that I would make him an embroidered suit. That later turned into an embroidered waistcoat. ...And then just an embroidered handkerchief." She bit her lip for a moment in a display of something that might have been regret. "I was half finished with it when he died. But there are so many much more interesting things to be doing with one's life than lady's work, don't you think?"