Lady Katherine de Bellefeuille sits in the window seat, her legs swept gracefully to the inside as she leans her back against the wide casement before the window. An embroidery hoop froths white linen around her lavender skirts as she works delicately upon it with needle and thread. As she completes one series of stitches, she glances up to smile at her sister.

Opposite Katherine sits Elise on the edge of the window seat, leaning partially on one of her crutches. The officer seems lost in her thoughts until her sister smiles at her, her gaze seemingly distant before her sister's attention returns it to there here and now. Elise looks up and returns the smile shortly after. "Katherine, would you wish to know the truth, now that we are together again?" she asks suddenly.

"The truth about – " The white poodle blinks at her sibling for an instant, then mouths an "oh." She drops her chin, bending to stitch a tiny flower onto the cloth. She unfastens the hoop, and with practiced hands, shifts the fabric within it to a new spot. As she does so, she looks to Elise again, then nods a single time. "Yes."

" – not, entirely him, Katherine … but yes, him too." The noblewoman sets her crutch against the wall before folding her hands neatly in her lap, and turning her eyes from her sister to the sky beyond the window. "I met him in the dreams, you know that. I was never sure he was real until … I found him on Caroban, there, charming as he is within the dreams. But he is not all charming, Katherine. He is … very dark too, which he desperately hides from others. I believe it was this darkness that I loved as well as his charm. I had hoped to help him with it. They know I cannot help myself from such things," she explains quietly.

As her elder sister speaks, Lady Katherine threads her needle with a new color from the packet by her side, and listens quietly. She focuses on the penciled design upon the cloth, stitching with neat, even movements over the sketched image. She frowns at the woman's last line. "Cannot help yourself, Elise?" she asks.

Elise inclines her head. "To lost causes, I think it is? As it was … when our parents died … " She frowns, shaking her head a little. "… I felt responsible even then. I wanted to help that man, because I loved him, because he had helped me … because I felt drawn to him. I do not know how these matters come to be … " She trails off for a moment as something flies by, which she watches for a moment before continuing. "Is there anything you wish to ask me? I fear I make little sense. I am, not accustomed to speaking of such matters to anyone. I fear that is another failing of mine, it seems."

"I don't … " The younger sister stabs at the cloth in her hands viciously with the needle a few times, clutching at the rim of the hoop with her left hand. Then she looks at what she's done and sighs softly. "I have tried to understand, Elise. I even invited … them – " and there is a taste of horror in her voice that she cannot quite hide, " – into our house, because I knew that you considered one of their kind … Well. I thought that you were friends with him." She lifts her chin. "I thought by inviting them I could prove that I could be charitable, too."

"Your attempt was not wrong, my sister. That you even tried is admirable … But I think that I have been negligent, keeping to myself those ideas I have learned from being far away." Her head turns and she meets her sister's eyes, concern in her own. "I did not speak of what I knew, I did not write, because I did not want you to know. I wanted to keep you safe, here, away from the world I knew because … I … " Her words trail off and her gaze moves to the floor, and she frowns all the more.

Katherine seemed on the verge of saying something else, but as her sister speaks she sets her jaw instead. "Because of what?" she asks, her voice fixed in the pleasant, polite lilt she has been so well trained in.

" … Because I wished to keep you safe, in a perfect world that I was to protect. I know it is ridiculous … I know that now, it was impossible … but that is what I desired. I set myself as a buffer and tried to stand in the way of all that might ruin the perfect life I intended for you. I did not want you to suffer again, I could not … stand the thought of it," finishes Elise. She blinks, and shakes her head again. A hand unfolds from her lap and rubs at the base of her muzzle beneath her eyes.

The lavender-dressed poodle turns to the window, folding her hands over her needlework as she stares out of it. After a few moments, she says, "It's all right, my sister. I understand. I … I appreciate all that you've done. Truly." Her voice seems strangely hollow at first, though as she finishes she turns to look at Elise, an earnest sincerity in her words.

"Did I do so badly? Did I fail as I think I have?" asks Elise, sounding strangely weak. It is nothing Elise has ever told Katherine, something she has not spoken of before, instead keeping to accepting her role as a difficult sister. She must have maintained this silence on the matter for a long while, never offering her reasons, always acting as the martyr. "Even before he came I could not maintain it … I could not continue to believe what I was doing was best for you as your letters continued to come asking that I just speak with you."

"Oh, Elise!" The younger poodle leans forward, clasping her hand over her sister's where it lies in her lap. "You did – you did what you had to do. And I was – am – a terrible, selfish person, for wanting you to be here when you have such important work to do elsewhere. You paid no mind to me and you shouldn't've, sweet Elise. You served the Temple, and it is them and the First Ones that make my idle, spoiled life of whining possible. And you." Her light blue eyes, framed by dark lashes, stare intently at her sister's face. "I know that, even when I am plaintive and foolish and pretend to forget."

Elise shifts, then turns her head to regard her sister for a moment before she turns again and leans her head against her sister's shoulder. "I became a soldier for our family at first, for you and for our parents. So that they would be proud and you would be protected again. But … I fear I have grown accustomed to it. It is no longer necessary that I protect you. You have grown up and you are a far stronger woman than I have wanted to believe, and you do not need me to watch over you. But now … as I should wish to return to a quiet life, I cannot manage it. I have seen the road and it is different than I expected. There are other people who need me too, Katherine. All manner of people of many stations. That is what the boy taught me, Katherine. I did not see it until then. I was blind," she whispers.

Katherine touches her sister's curly hair, where it rests against her shoulder. "I know you could never be like me, Elise. But … well, perhaps you will come to see that there are people right here in Rephidim that you can help." A smile quirks at the corner of her mouth, and spreads. "And at least for the moment, you can start by helping yourself." She gestures teasingly at the leg in its cast, resting stiff upon a stool beside the window seat.

The elder sister removes her head and glances back to her injured leg. "Indeed," she says with a touch of humor in her voice. With a hand she pushes herself back to sitting upright, and then reaches for a box that she had brought in earlier. When Katherine had inquired she simply said it was a collection of important documents, that her sister might assume it contained boring paperwork. But now she opens it. "Do you still hate them?" she inquires.

The other woman turns her head away, facing the room. "Yes." The single syllable holds a wealth of bitterness. "I hate them. I hate their squeaking voices and their fluttering wings and their cruel goddesses and – " She stops herself, staring at the picture of their parents hung upon the wall. "And I hate them for being alive when Mama and Papa are dead. I thought that having them here might be different. I have tried to be nice to them, these relatives of your … friend. But – I cannot help it, Elise. I hate them!"

"Do you know who this is?" asks Elise as she offers an object to Katherine. The object, a stone statuette of an Eeee woman in decorated armor carrying an axe, appears to be a idol of the Goddess Rephath.

The Gallee barely offers it a glance before turning away again. She shakes her head. "Only that it is one of them."

Nodding, the elder sister lays the statuette between them and regards it as she speaks. "She is Rephath, one of the Seven Sisters of Babelite mythology. A dark goddess … though perhaps more agreeable than some of the others. She is powerful, and there are some in Babel who worship and desire that power … but there are others who do not." She looks up for a moment and reaches for her sister's shoulder, trying to draw her attention back to the idol. "Do you think she is frightening, this goddess who murders and cares not for mortals?"

"I think she is horrible." Katherine flinches back from the touch on her shoulder, and jumps to her feet almost angrily. She strides forward with a swish of skirts, her embroidery falling forgotten to the floor beside her. "Isn't that why they attacked Rephidim? For vengeance. So that we could suffer because they had, in their stupid war." She balls her hands into fists and whirls. "Why are you telling me this?"

Elise reaches over and picks up the statue again, holding it in her lap and frowning at it. "They think she is horrible, too. Many of them fear their own gods because … they are terrified of what will become of them if they do not worship them. They follow because they are afraid, because the Sisters are their gods and they have no others, and because it is their way. Not because they adore them," she explains. She then looks up and holds the statuette to face her sister. "She is Vengeance. When you would hurt them for what they did to us, you are much like her. You must stop this loathing. They are not all those who killed our parents; they are not all terrible people! You should pity them, Katherine. Theirs is a very hard life. Harder than you may ever know."

"I am not like them!" Katherine shouts, lashing out at the statue with one hand.

Struck, the statuette nearly drops from Elise's hands. The elder sister leans forward to cup the statue before it falls too far, and when she does, she holds it, looking up to her sister quietly.

The younger poodle pivots away from her sister's gaze, dropping her head and covering her face with her hands. "How can you be so cruel, Elise? Why can't you understand?"

"I understand, Katherine. Ddo not think I do not. I hated them once too … But I learned to move on, I came to know the truth about them, not simply seeing what a few of them had done to me. I moved on," answers Elise. She returns the statuette to her lap and lays it there, but keeps her gaze upon her sister. "It would be cruel of me to keep from you what I know, Katherine. I am trying to help you."

"I wish you would stop," the poodle in lavender says, almost petulantly. She crosses the room to sit primly on a divan, not facing her sister. "I … I am trying. Mrs. Krodos has been the soul of quiet courtesy and her child the most irritatingly polite and friendly creature one might imagine. I hate it! I wish they would be monsters, it would be easier! I swear they are nice only because they know it maddens me so." Katherine clutches at the loose fabric of her skirt, growling.

Elise nods again, a quiet and understanding motion. "Do you know why Mrs. Krodos is so quiet? She knows you hate her, Katherine. Her dear boy does not fathom it, I do not think, but he is intelligent and must feel it. They do not wish to upset you Katherine, but do not will yourself to believe they are kind simply to hurt you." She smiles faintly and glances to her box, replacing the statue with another, a bandaged Eeee woman – Gorphat. "She is also quiet because we have met. Indeed, we met within the dreams but that is not the whole of it. I met them in a shrine, and they were dying, Katherine. They were dying and I … " Her faint smile melts away. "… and I did not help them. They were Eeee, they were beneath me in station and duty, and I had a mission to accomplish. I left them to die and moved on."

The other poodle opens her muzzle as if to speak, but as Elise finishes, Katherine closes her mouth again. At last, she turns her head to look at her sister, silent inquiry in her eyes.

When her sister's eyes turn on her, Elise seems to find their gaze of inquiry unexpected, and shortly after noticing them looks away. "Later within the dream I encountered a carriage made from the dead, pulled by the sick and dying – the elderly, even children. They were to pull the carriage to the summit and be cured. If they failed, they would receive nothing. I was to ride the carriage and I did so for a time." Elise takes a breath before she continues, seeming pained by the memory in the way her eyes search and her features darken. "And I could no longer stand it. I was a noble, Katherine. It is my place to ride in the carriage. They were poor, diseased, beneath me … or so we are taught to believe. But I could not stand being pulled by children and the sick, so I got out and I took to pulling the carriage as well."

As her sister relates the tale, Katherine's eyes widen, and she clasps one hand over her open mouth, shuddering. "Oh … how awful!" she whispers. "I … I … " She trails off, dropping her eyes.

Elise continues her story even as her sister reacts, almost as if now that she has begun it the story continues on its own. Or perhaps she just desires that her sister know and will not stop until the story is finished. "The Goddess Gorphat desired not to help these people. We pulled, and we were met with obstacles. We were told to abandon the carriage, knowing it would mean some of us would not be cured. I could not have that, I would not fail them, I thought. We overcame the obstacles and we moved on. I awoke, only to sleep again and dream of the same. It was such that I did not wish to be awake because awake I could not help them. I wanted them to succeed, it was more than my honor … I cared what happened to them. I was not going to let them suffer if I could help it. And … and we arrived, Katherine. We met Gorphat … and they were cured … because I helped them. I knew … I learned then that … they were as deserving of my help as any," she relates.

"I learned too that sometimes it is only you that can make a difference in the life of a stranger, that if you do not act then they will suffer. I saw that they were afraid of their goddess, they wanted so much Her help and She did not care … but they worshipped Her because She was all they had to believe in. That is when I could no longer hate them," finishes Elise.

The younger sister looks at the floor between them without seeming to see it. She flicks her gaze upward for a moment, glancing at Elise, then drops it again. "I am sorry," she says at last.

Elise watchers her younger sister quietly for a moment before she nods to her apology in acknowledgement, saying, "It is all right my sister … you did not know … I did not tell you. But do not be sorry. Learn, understand what I have been through and see what I have seen and you will know they do not deserve your hatred. Alone they would suffer. Their life is hard Katherine. Very hard."

Below, the doorbell rings, interrupting whatever reply Katherine might have made. The young poodle rises to her feet, looking to the window. "Whom might that be?" she wonders.

"A guest? Were we expecting anyone?" asks Elise, breaking from her solemn attempt to teach her sister. She reaches for her crutches after placing the statuette back in the box.

"I was not." The other canine paces to the unoccupied window and brushes aside the filmy curtain to look out. "Oh!" she exhales, breathily.

Footsteps sound on the stairs, then coming down the hall to the closed door of the informal parlor.

Elise eases herself to stand again, limping a bit until her injured leg is under her properly. She leans heavily on her crutch and asks, "Well, do not keep me in suspense, who is it?"

"Grant," her sister answers, eyes unfocused. A knock sounds at the parlor door. "Enter," she calls, and the butler, Armand, opens it.

As best as she is able, in a hurry Elise prepares to greet a guest, though she cannot curtsey or salute in the slightest, she at least tries to be standing when he enters.

The Rottweiler bows to his mistresses. "My ladies, the Lord Grant de Ayde is here. He has requested an audience with the Lady Elise de Bellefeuille. What would my lady like for him to be told?"

"Grant is it? Well then, we should not keep him waiting. Go on, my sister, I know you will wish to see him. I will simply hobble along behind you as best your poor, wounded sister is able to manage," Elise tells Katherine teasingly. She begins making her way across the room to do just that. "Tell him that I shall see him, though you may wish to mention I am not terribly quick to greet anyone at the moment, and that I do not intentionally make him wait."

"As you say, m'lady." Armand bows and departs, walking back down the hall, while Katherine walks to the door and leans one hand against the frame, watching after him, but not following.

"He asked to see you," she says, sounding surprised, and a little breathless.

"I would have assumed that meant you as well," says Elise, sounding surprised herself. "But very well, I will meet him, though I do not know what he could want with me unless the Temple has directed him to deliver my orders." She continues along anyway, off to greet the guest.

"Oh," is her sister's only reply. As Elise reaches the top of the stairs, she hurries after her, offering her arm. "You oughtn't be taking the stairs alone," she chides. "Must Indigo haunt your steps everywhere to look out for you?"

Elise doesn't say anything in regards to her sister's teasing remarks. She just smiles, and hobbles along anyway until her sister offers her arm which she takes. She then continues down the stairs with her sister's aid, forcing her smile away when she reaches the door below in order to meet Grant with a neutral and formal expression. Despite this, she secretly continues to be amused.

Before they appear at the parlor, Katherine relinquishes her sister's arm. "It wouldn't be proper for me to see him if he did not ask," she murmurs. "I will wait for you upstairs, dear sister … and send Indigo for you if I do not think you will get some other servant to help you up." With that, she departs, leaving Armand to announce Elise's presence to their guest.

A black-furred poodle in military dress uniform stands before the fireplace, twisting his hat in his hands, when Armand opens the door for the lady of the household. The dark poodle pivots smartly at their arrival, and salutes Elise before bowing, as Armand makes the presentation. Grant's combination of courtesies seems a little awkward, but he carries it off with the air of one showing proper respect, not merely doing what he thinks is expected of him.

Elise inclines her head to the black poodle as she enters, and when she is inside the room stands fully facing the man, weight positioned upon her leg more than her crutches so that she can stand straight and formal. "Forgive me if I do not return your salute. I fear my hands have been greatly occupied for quite some time due to injury. Tell me though, what business brings you here?" she inquires, her voice returning to the normal tone she uses to speak with those outside the family. A mix of quiet authority and careful, calm inflection.

"Of course," the Lord de Ayde answers, looking almost apologetic when she makes her excuse. "I, ah … " He twists his hat nervously in his hands again, then through force of will stills the motion, fingers clenched. After a pause, he says, "I apologize. I came here today to make a request of you, and now that I have come to it I am finding it deuced difficult to get the words out." He draws in a deep breath.

"Is this in regards to my sister, Katherine?" inquires Elise. She lifts a brow and eyes him, as if summing him up. Her expression does not break from that neutral authoritative guise even as he fidgets.

Grant nods with a military economy of motion. "I suppose it must be painfully obvious," he confesses. "Let me just spit it out, then: Lady de Bellefeuille, as head of your household, I have come before you to request your permission to propose to your sister, the Lady Katherine." He gets it out with remarkable poise considering his apparent nervousness. He leans forward with the air of one desperate to make his case and afraid that it will make no difference at all.

Elise mirrors his nod seconds later, revealing her own military background. "I see," she says quietly. She regards him for a moment more, and then waves Armand to be dismissed before asking the black poodle, "And why do you believe I should grant this approval? Why ever do you think you are worthy of my sister's hand?"

The black poodle meets Elise's gaze levelly. "In truth, I do not," he says, simply. "I am not her equal in station, nor breeding, nor wealth." He hesitates, then goes on. "Not in grace, nor courtesy, nor kindness, either. But I daresay I am her match in this one thing alone: I love her as deeply, as truly, as totally as, I dare hope, she does me." The Gallee seems to have a hard time finding the right words, but when he speaks them, he does so with sincerity, not like an actor reciting his lines.

"And do you believe love has a place in marriage, Lord Grant de Ayde? What of tradition, and breeding? Were I to tell you love is but a fortunate addition to marriage, not a requirement, how would you answer?" she asks him. Her eyes match gaze, and she tilts her head slightly, inquiringly.

"That you were right," he acknowledges. "I am not a wealthy man, Lady de Bellefeuille. I am a soldier and an officer, and not much beyond that. The de Ayde line has a long heritage … but it is hardly as spotless as your own." He winces at his own choice of words, then goes on. "I should never have cast my hopes so high, but from the first time I saw her … the first time I heard her speak … " He shakes his head. "I cannot help loving Lady Katherine. And knowing of our differences, perhaps it was wrong of me to encourage her to love me in return. But I cannot say that I regret it." He inhales again, then rushes on, as if afraid to be cut off. "I love her, and if you will not let us wed, I will accept that answer, if I must. But I will love her no less for it. And you had best marry her off quickly to someone you think better suited, for I will keep coming back to see if you have changed your mind otherwise," he warns.

A tired, yet approving smirk appears on Lady de Bellefeuille's face. She inclines her head to the man again. "You have my blessing, though I find it troublesome that, if I had reserved my blessing, that you would have returned countless times to trouble me for it stubbornly." She laughs softly, shaking her head. "My sister has quite enough stubborn souls to torment her, though I would believe you she would mind not … Armand! Fetch my sister, would you?"

Lord de Ayde parts his muzzle for an instant, then closes it, blinking several times, as if he can't quite believe what he has heard. He still hasn't managed a cogent reply when Katherine appears. Elise notes that her sister has taken the time to freshen her look since they parted. Her hair has been brushed over one shoulder, and a her gown dressed up with a white lace shawl and dyed-to-match lavender gloves. She looks demurely about as she steps into the room. "Yes, sister?" she says with the meekness she only uses among company.

The elder de Bellefeuille sister edges aside so her sister can enter more fully, and walk in front of her. "I believe our visitor has something he wishes to tell you. We have something of a talk, him and I, and we have come to an agreement regarding you." Her face, having returned to its neutral expression before Katherine arrives, gives Lord de Ayde an inquiring glance. "Is that not correct, Lord Grant de Ayde?"

Grant barely nods in acknowledgement to Elise's remark, his eyes riveted by the sight of her younger sister. Katherine glances from her suitor to her elder, then back again, and her sudden shyness seems more real than feigned, even to Elise's practiced eye.

Meanwhile Elise simply watches the two while leaning on her crutches for support. She has been standing so long she doesn't seem able to keep her weight on one foot any longer, and has since shifted herself to lean somewhat. A smile begins to creep across her face, though she seems for the world trying to maintain a formal appearance.

The black poodle takes a few steps forward, then drops to one knee before the poodle in lavender. "Lady Katherine … " He holds out his hands to her, and she slips her slim gloved fingers between his, barely breathing as he continues. "Will you … " He gazes up at her with eyes that blaze with intensity, then drops his head to press her hand to his cheek. "Will you marry me, my lady?"

Katherine's lips part, and she glances wildly to her sister, as if for confirmation. "Am I dreaming?" she half-whispers.

"It could indeed be a dream, my sister. But as I said – some dreams are real and do come true," answers the elder sister. She's smiling now, broadly, as she watches the two. Her head shifts to nod to the kneeling man faintly before she rests it again. "Now, do not keep the man waiting."

The white poodle touches her free hand to the top of Grant's head. "Yes," she tells him. "Oh, definitely, certainly, undeniably, yes!"

Grant's smile splits his face, and he surges to his feet to embrace Katherine, folding her into his arms and whirling her about joyfully. The younger poodle laughs, tears glittering in her eyes, as she clings tightly to him, propriety and restraint, for the moment, forgotten.