"Misery causes someone to perform the most questionable acts."
Misery
The salty smell of the sea fill Julia's nostrils as she stands on the dock, overlooking the harsh rolling of the waves; them crashing against the edge of land roughly. The cry of seagulls sound far above her head. The moans of distant whales swimming in their underwater sanctuary carry along the ragged movements of the waves. The wind blows freely and catches her coat, the ending trailing behind her being like the tail feathers of a bird.
She looks upon the boat with an emotionless expression. "She will be safe in Serkonos," she speaks, turning around to Thomas, who is too looking at the boat. "But why must you go?"
Thomas looks at her and walks closer. "I need to find someone who will help me with Jenkins," he explains, as he has done many times before this moment. "Do not worry, for my men will watch over you with their lives."
"I do not want them," Julia growls. "I want you."
Thomas allows a small smile and looks past the young woman, spotting Waverly slowly walking up to them, staring at the two with an expression that suggests that she doesn't want to be here. With haste, he moves past Julia and leads Waverly to her niece, giving the two a moment together while he goes and converses with the captain.
Waverly watches as he leaves before turning to Julia. "Why are you staying here?" her voice is a hoarse whisper. "Please, come with us."
Julia crosses her slim arms across her chest and smiles sadly. Her aunt has taken a turn for the worst as far as she could see; her blond hair is thin and limp while her skin a deathly pale, her body broken and a shell. A shell that traps the beautiful and powerful woman Julia grew up knowing, and instead replaces her with a scared and ill woman. "You know I have to stay here."
Waverly recoils as if struck hard, and then softly nods. She doesn't touch Julia or even looks at her as she walks to the boat, boarding it alongside Thomas and moves out of sight, while the assassin looks down at Julia. He waves briefly as the boat lurches forward and breaks away from the docks, and from Julia. She stands there. Watching. The boat soon disappears from view and yet she remains there, waiting to see if somehow the boat would come back and she wouldn't be alone anymore, but that doesn't happen and she knows it.
She stands there until an assassin transverses beside her. "Lady Boyle," he greets. "I am afraid that Her Royal Majesty Emily the Wise has arrived at your household and wishes to speak to you."
Julia feels her shoulders tense and nods. "Very well."
-f-
Emily sits in a plush chair with Corvo by her side, the latter stroking his gristle chin thoughtfully; a habit that came along with age. The Empress however, is nervous to say the least. It shocked her to find out that the Boyle family was the name amongst others to stop funding her. She couldn't bring up the subject of treason; something her faithful Lord Protector wasn't afraid to bark. Now she sits in the Boyle household, surrounded by men who killed her mother and kidnapped her, awaiting the return of the heir anxiously.
The voice of Corvo is the first thing she hears after the long silence. "I do not trust these men Emily," he growls, keeping an eye on the youngest whaler, who looks away in response. "I will never trust them."
Emily raises her chin and looks over at him. "That makes the two of us Corvo."
Corvo frowns deeply and remains stiff in his chair. Emily following his actions like she did as a child; playing with a strand of her dark hair. The Lord Protector spots this and taps her hand away. "Stop it. If you keep doing that, your hair will-"
"Will grow thinner, I know Corvo."
He smiles slightly and then frowns, standing up quickly and face the door with his hands behind his back. Confused, Emily turns her head and spots Julia moving gracefully through the door, an assassin by her side like a servant. She bows her head to the Lord Protector and the Empress. "My Empress," she starts, straightening her slender form. "To what do I owe this visit?"
"I think you know already," Corvo scowls. "You have stopped funding the Empress!"
Emily rises and places a hand on his shoulder gently. "Calm yourself Corvo."
He stares at her and then nods softly, before gazing back at Julia, who stares straight into his onyx eyes. With an innocent smile and a soft voice, Emily continues to speak in place of her life-long friend. "We are just curious as to what prompt you to-"
"I lost everyone because I was your funder," Julia interrupts. "My aunt Lydia died not a week ago and I just had to send my aunt Waverly to Serkonos to avoid the killer's blade. So there, that is my reason."
Corvo glares at the bluntness from her words and she sees his hands -gloved like Thomas'- clench tightly. She's treading on thin ice now. Emily doesn't seem hurt or offended by the Boyle's harsh words, instead her eyes contains a trace of... remorse? Pity? She does not know, nor does she care. "I am truly sorry for your losses, I understand-"
Julia snaps her head back at the Empress. "You know nothing!" she cries out, her mind screaming at her to be quiet. "You may have lost your mother my Empress but how about your aunts? Your life? Are you able to walk freely without the fear that someone could come and gut you like they did with my mother?!"
Emily raises her eyebrows in surprise and then frowns, Corvo meanwhile looking somewhat guilty and enraged at the same time. Without giving them the chance to reply, Julia looks at the floor and bites her nails. "Do you see him? Your mother's murderer? I see him every night, ever since I first saw him with my mother..."
Emily looks sympathetic and moves towards the Boyle. "Yes. I do," she replies. "And let me tell you something, when I found out that he lives to this very day, I was full of anger and hatred and all I wanted was for him to experience a truly painful end. Not very fitting for the 'wise' Empress."
She laughs. It is the kind of laugh Esma had when she was playing with Julia when she was but a child. The laugh dies out and the awkward silence soon sets in, only the deathly chorus of dark magic blowing through the air like the breeze. Julia clears her throat and glances at Emily. "I am sorry Empress, but until the murderer is taken care of then I will not fund you. I-I don't want another funeral on my conscious, let alone if it's mine."
Corvo moves forward and places a calloused hand on Emily's shoulder. "So there is a traitor."
"Indeed," she agrees. "He was the one to kill Lydia and force me to send Waverly to Serkonos."
Emily bites her lip slightly and wraps her arms around her thin waist. "If this is true, then he is aiming at you next."
One of the senior whalers comes forward and bows to Emily, not seeing her back away slightly and Corvo moving forward protectively. "May I speak your Empress?" he asks, and then continues when she reluctantly nods. "We will be protecting Lady Julia Boyle while Master Thomas is gone."
"Gone?" Corvo speaks up. "Where has he gone?"
The whaler turns slightly to him and crosses his arms. "He went to Serkonos with Lady Waverly Boyle to bring back Master Daud."
"I forbid it!" Emily hisses, resembling nothing like the fair and graceful Empress she is. "I don't want that murderer back in my city!"
The whaler moves more nervously now as he wrung his wrist slowly. "But your Empress, Master Daud may be the only one who can help us with Jenkins!"
Corvo closes the space between him and the whaler and stands against him, his superior size and stature the very meaning of intimidating. "So you know the traitor?"
The whaler stands tall as well, though not coming close to Corvo's height. "Yes Lord Protector, Jenkins' is a traitor to the whalers along with a group of others. We are working hard to stop him."
"And how do we know to trust you?"
"You have too," Julia interrupts, moving between Corvo and the whaler. "But we need Daud to help us. I want Jenkins dead as I suspect you do too Empress."
Emily doesn't speak a word as she gazes at the nearby painting thoughtfully, her fingers grazing her bottom lip lightly. Corvo doesn't ever look at the painting, as if he could not bear to look at the hidden woman forever imbedded in the fine canvas. Eventually the Empress speaks. "Very well, but I do not want him near Dunwall Tower or me."
Julia bows. "As you wish Empress."
Emily spins back around and brushes past Julia, Corvo close and never leaving her side as they leave the building, not once glancing back at the Boyle household. Julia stands strong until the door closes in the distance, and only then does she collapse into the chair that previously held the Empress, brushing a stray dark hair away from her eyes. Finally for the first time today, she feels the sting of loneliness and misery in her chest, slowly spreading throughout her body like a cancerous disease.
The whaler walks to her side and stands there. "Shall I leave you in peace Lady Boyle?"
She gazes up at him and inhales a deep breath. "No," she sighs, gesturing the whaler to sit in the chair next to hers. "Please stay, I can't bear to be left alone."
"As you wish."
