They sat in a very modern room upstairs in Rose's family estate. It was comfortable, having been redecorated by Rose. It was late afternoon and winter and so she had draped a blanket over herself as she played on her tablet. The television making noise in the background.
"I still will never understand why you have the television on when you're not even paying any attention to it!" Baldwin commented grabbing the remote and making to turn it off.
"Hey! Yes I am!" Rose put her tablet down and won back the remote from Baldwin. She turned up the volume a bit and placed the remote next to her, while she picked back up the tablet.
"If you are then what is happening on the screen?" Baldwin gestured again to the television. "How you can have all this noise is beyond me."
"If you must know, Victoria and Albert are all in a tiff because of Feodora."
"You don't have to explain it to me, I remember it. I was there."
"Well you asked. Anyway it gives me something to tune into. You know, background noise. Something to let me know I'm not alone." She turned the volume down to a whisper.
"Rose, look at me." She put her tablet down. "You're not alone anymore." He sat down next to her outstretched feet. She gave him a playful kick. Baldwin responded in kind by pulling the blanket off her lap. They both fell into a fit of giggles before his phone rang.
"And you give me grief about distractions!" Rose playfully rolled her eyes.
Baldwin pulled out his phone and looked at the screen. "It's the Congregation. I need to take this." They're probably getting back to me about you, He thought as he pushed the green button. "Hello. Baldwin. Go ahead." His words were clip, succinct and to the point. The very things that drove her crazy. In contrast to his business like stance and body, his hand had started to rub her legs up and down.
"No. She doesn't." Baldwin was cut off. "What this report says, Baldwin, is that she has witch fire?" asked the voice on the other end.
Baldwin's hand stilled, they weren't listening and he didn't like it when people, anyone, didn't listen to him. "No. That's not what I said. She doesn't have witch fire. She has."
"And this witch wind. Baldwin the Congregation, especially the Witches, want to test her."
"No. It isn't witch wind. I'm not sure. It isn't witch wind." Baldwin's face grew hard and darkened. This call was going to have to take more of his persuasion tactics. Rose was studying him again.
"Excuse me for a moment." He said into the phone and Rose knew he was also talking to her. This side of him was always a bit frightening. And she curled her feet towards her, feeling the chill in the air as well as it seemed coming from Baldwin. Baldwin too felt the temperature in the room drop. He stood as he gave her a reproving. "Everything will be alright. Stop the chill." He put the blanket back on her. Reaching for her hand he brought it to his lips. They locked eyes. He let her hand go before straightening and brought the phone back up to his ear.
"Yes." Baldwin said tersely into the phone while leaving the room. Rose wrapped her arms about herself, still a bit chilled. Rose was going to have to think long and hard.