It had been one week since Francesco had moved in with the Archbishop. It had been quickly discovered that, having had very little in the way of formal education, Francesco, although perfectly literate, was well behind Katarina. Given that Katarina and Alessandro had private tutors, I was decided that Francesco would have lessons with Alessandro. This arrangement didn't work well for either of them, as Alessandro's tutor, a man named Hans, tended to treat Francesco like he was a small child, which caused Francesco to snap at him, which upset Alessandro.
The Archbishop also saw fit to have Francesco take protocol lessons three days a week, in the afternoons when they didn't have lessons. Katarina took Protocol lessons two days a week, and Alessandro once a week, on different days. If they weren't in lessons, Katarina, Alessandro, and Francesco were supposed to stay with Maria and play quietly. Francesco had run off once, but after he was caught and she was punished, he didn't run off again.
It was Saturday afternoon. Alessandro had been sent off to Protocol Lessons right after they were done with their academic lessons, so he sat sullenly in the drawing room, watching Maria and Katarina engage in some childish amusement.
There was a hesitant knock at the drawing room door, before it opened hesitantly to reveal a young maid, who hesitantly cleared her throat as the occupants of the room fell silent, and said, "Pardon me, but a letter arrived for Master Francesco."
He frowned, nonplussed, but stood up and approached her anyway. She held out the letter, and he could immediately tell who it was from. As soon as he took the letter she closed the door quickly. He said, "Thanks, I guess," to the closed door. He didn't like how everyone in the house seemed to be a little bit scared of him. He shook his head slightly and brought the letter to his nose. It smell faintly like the ointment Maria used to rub on bruises and like soot, the way with mother always smelled when she got back from work and like baking bread. He breathed deeply, savoring the scent of home.
Katarina frowned and stood up. Francesco made his way back to the same couch he had been sitting on before and flopped back down. Katarina frowned and his behavior, but took a seat daintily, leaving a fair amount of space between them, "Didn't you learn anything in a week's worth of protocol lessons?"
He smirked, "Sure, I just don't chose to apply it when I don't have to." She hummed and looked away, watching Maria, who had been kneeling on the floor, shift so that she was sitting side saddle.
After a moment, Katarina, still not looking at him, asked, "Who is the letter from?"
Francesco took a moment to look at the envelope. Although there was no name other than his, he recognized the hand writing, "It's from Maria." Glancing sideways and seeing her confusion, he added, "Different Maria. She's my half-sister."
"Oh," Katrina swallowed. It struck her painfully just how little she knew about him, "I didn't know you had another half sister."
"Three," he said as he pulled his knife from his pocket. She inhaled sharply. He frowned as he slit the letter open quickly and tucked his knife back in his pocket, "I'm not going to stab you, you know." He liked to think she'd trust him.
She bit her lip, "I..I knew that." It wasn't that she thought he was going to stab her, per say, it was just that, she'd never known anyone else to carry a knife.
He just sighed quietly and pulled the letter out of the envelope. It was paper, which was cheaper than parchment and he could see that there was writing on both sides. Maria has signed the bottom of the first half. He flipped it over curious as to what was on the back. He smiled when he saw that there was another letter on the back, "Vincenza wrote me a letter too," he said.
Glancing sideways, Katarina asked, "Is Vincenza your half-sister as well?"
He hummed in agreement, "She's the one who told me to always carry a knife."
Katarina looked down at her hands, "What does the letter say?"
He shrugged, "Just news from home."
She frowned, not liking to think that he had a whole other life outside of the one she was part of, but knowing it was true. They sat in silence as he read the letter.
A/N-The letter gets its own chapter.
