XIV. Shelly Rainsworth
The Rainsworth women are known to be a tour-de-force in the sphere of politics: there is an expression that us diplomats use to describe their behavior: "silken touch, iron fan."
Lady Shelly certainly fit this description quite aptly, yet unlike her mother, the formidable Cheryl, of whom you could sense the metal core of her personality prevalent in her every move, Lady Shelly floated, benevolently, like snowfall upon Winter Solstice's Eve. But, very much like the cold weather, she could suddenly change from light and delicate, to howling and frigid, or transform her presence to become suddenly pressing in much the same way a blizzard's snowdrifts can bury a man alive unexpectedly.
I was paying her a social call for tea, as I was wont to do every few months. She was suffering again from one of her spells of illness. Consumption, rumor had it, a life-long condition that will eventually claim her end.
That was not the last time we visited, but it certainly remained significant, because that was the moment I realized something very saddening about Lady Shelly's situation.
"So good of you to visit," she murmured serenely from her seat at the tea table. More than ever, her wan visage had taken an unearthly quality in its paleness, as if she was a fairy from the moon more than a flesh-and-blood woman.
She pressed her hand into mine in greeting. She had invited me to confer about some important matters that touched upon one of the darker ends of the Nightray duties. I expected us to meet alone, as usual, but was surprised to find young Lady Sharon serving us tea.
In one of the flashes of insight one gets when one feels quite connected to the threads of fate and chance that control us all, I knew, glancing over at little Lady Sharon pouring out our beverage, that this meeting was not only to discuss business matters, but it was also my official introduction to Lady Shelly's eventual replacement.
Kissing the back of her hand respectfully, all I could think of was how very much like porcelain it felt in its smoothness, in its hard veneer, and ultimately, in its frailty.