(A/N): This chapter was originally meant to be longer. A lot longer. I decided to split the chapter in half- well... hopefully it's going to be two parts, but they're not evenly split. This is about five and a half pages long, and the whole chapter is just over twenty-eight pages, so it's like... a sixth? But uh... I decided to split it because I'm a bit overwhelmed at the moment. Yes, unfortunately that means there's going to be three Amelia chapters in a row, so if anyone did in fact try to skip the two that I told you guys about in advance, you're probably going to catch one unintentionally- sorry about that. I don't have any other chapters written, and at the current moment- just after one a.m on 1/9/23- I haven't even gotten the rest of the chapter typed up. It's... it's not just that though. I... I uploaded the last chapter at about 3 or 4 a.m, on 30/8/23. I found out at about 10:30 a.m that I was most likely going to have to take my cat to the vet at 3 a.m to have her put down. She hasn't been well for a while, we knew this was coming, but I am absolutely heartbroken. I am decimated. She was my best friend- truly, she was with me just about every second of every day, and has been for the past almost fourteen years. She has been with me for more than half of my life, and it is so incredibly hard having to adjust to life without her here with me. She was just... she was the most beautiful cat. She was so sweet, so gentle, she wouldn't hurt a fly. As my sister said, she was truly the chillest cat ever. I miss her so much. So, if you notice that the quality of these chapters dips a bit, just give me a couple of days, okay? I'll get around to coming back and editing it into something legible, but right now, it might be a bit more iffy than usual.

Thank you for your patience, and giving me a way to distract myself during this time when I really need to think as little as possible.

October 19th, 1967

Amelia

I entered the grand foyer at ten to six the next morning to find it completely deserted- but that was to be expected. For one, I was early- there was no way I was going to risk arriving late, on top of all of my other transgressions- and for another, the grand foyer wasn't exactly the most well-traveled part of house. New arrivals were greeted there, yes, but were either quickly shown out again, or relocated further within the house. Those that lived or worked here- or both- knew that the most efficient way to get around involved avoiding the grand foyer at all costs... as well as the family members, if possible.

I had returned to my room the previous night to find an owl waiting, toting a letter from Nolan. We didn't use personal owls- neither of us owned one- but the family provided a parliament for use in aiding household matters, which was much safer, in the end. Less traceable, at least. Even so, we wrote our letters in a sort of simple code, in case someone decided to take a peek at one of them. Well, I had insisted we write in code, whenever Nolan insisted on sending me letters. I... I didn't mind him writing me letters, if he gave them to me in person- in fact, I loved reading them, those private thoughts meant only for me- but I felt it simply wasn't worth the risk to use the family's owls to ferry love notes back and forth.

He had been worried about me- and about Miasenna, and especially about Leonides, which was... incredibly, predictably sweet of him. He'd asked how things had progressed, after he'd left us in the garden, as well as later- after I'd moved out of the eyes of the rest of the staff. I knew how things worked around here- everyone talked, about everything. It was one of the reasons we had to be so careful all the time- and one of the reasons I wasn't so convinced that we were succeeding.

I had written him back, telling him what precious little I could given the limitations of our code, and a short while later, while I was supping on what few snack-like items I had available to me, his reply arrived.

'My dearest Amelia,' it read in our now rather familiar code- and his even more familiar handwriting. 'That is awful, terrible, and if I could think of a third adjective, I'm sure that would apply too.' Which was just... such a Nolan thing to say- well, write. 'If there is anything I can do- for them or for you- PLEASE let me know. I am all too happy to help.' Of course he was... 'I love you with my whole heart- take care of yourself above all, My Darling.'

Even just thinking about it now, the morning after, made my heart flutter- and it was an effort to keep the surely dreamy expression from taking over my face, as it usually did whenever I thought about Nolan. That sweet... sweet man.

"Ah, Ms Rochester!" My breath caught in my chest for a second, but then I realised that it was only Aldin, and relaxed slightly. Then it struck me how odd it was that Aldin of all people was in the grand foyer at this time of morning, and I re-tensed.

"Mr Aldin," I greeted him as easily as I could manage, trying not to let on that I was anxious- let alone just how anxious I truly was. He walked toward me in a sort of roundabout way, like he didn't want to be seen as too eager to join me- maybe he didn't. It was something I would have put more consideration into if he'd been Nolan, but I shouldn't have been surprised that Aldin was hyper-aware of that kind of thing, given his station- and the likely fragility of it. "What brings you to this place so early? Or do you usually find yourself in the grand foyer at the crack of dawn?" I knew for a fact that he didn't- both by my own observations, and anecdotes delivered by Nolan- but I was not trying to call him out, I was trying to make small talk. Small talk that might, hopefully, help me figure out what might lay before me.

He was dressed unusually well- his clothes were not exactly high-end, but they were clean and in good repair, which was more than could have been said of even Nolan's very best clothing, before I had taken it upon myself to step in. His hair was neatly combed and he was clearly freshly shaven, his lower face bare except for his signature short mustache, which had also been trimmed. He must have been attempting to look his best to impress someone, but if it was his Mistress that he was hoping to sway, then he was out of luck. Cipicia Joannis was not about to be dazzled by, as she had called him, 'a filthy laborer'- not to mention the fact that it was well know that she despised facial hair of all kinds, even just on her hired staff- which was one of the main reasons that Nolan kept his face bare.

"Can't say that I do," Aldin replied, somehow managing to sound stiff and jovial at the same time- like he was trying to be friendly, but not too friendly, and was falling short of both hurdles. "I'm afraid I don't have the foggiest as to why I'm here- but what the Lady of the House wants, she gets, and my presence has been requested." So Cipicia had asked him to be here? Well, ordered, more like, knowing her. It made a lot more sense now, why he had stopped so firmly in front of me- like he wasn't planning on leaving anytime soon, because he wasn't.

"As has mine," I told him, and my nerves must have showed through on my face, because his eyebrows furrowed. I opened my mouth- to explain, or to try to wave it off, I wasn't sure which- but before I could do more than that, I was cut off by a voice from the top of the staircase.

"Ms Rochester, Mr Aldin," It was odd that Cipicia had chosen to address me before Aldin, given that it was customary to greet men before women- particularly in this household- but maybe my role as a governess trumped his as Head Gardener. Either that, or she was so focused on tormenting me, that greeting Aldin had been merely an afterthought. "I take it you slept well?" It was strangely pointed, and I couldn't tell if she was saying it that way because she wanted to exacerbate my anxiety over my punishment, or my guilt over Leonides's leg.

"Well enough, Mistress Joannis- and you?" Cipicia didn't even look at Aldin, not so much as blinking at his slightly flustered attempts to butter her up without being too obvious about it.

"I slept." Was all she said on the matter, and I felt like she might be lying. Her grooming and cosmetics charms were applied with the same deft hand they always were, and she had a healthy glow to her that appeared nothing but natural- and yet, under her eyes, I could make out the faintest of blurs. It was one of those things that a person wouldn't notice unless they were spending an extended period of time meeting her eye- I may not have even noticed it myself, if I had not been almost as well versed in those sorts of charms as she was- but it was definitely there. No, if Cipicia Joannis had slept at all the previous night, it hadn't been well.

Good, I thought perhaps a bit childishly- as though her not being able to sleep at night in anyway compensated for the way she treated her children, or even her staff. Speaking of her children... I hadn't seen her at first, behind the banister and her mother's skirt, but there, beside Cipicia, was Miasenna- thankfully looking no worse for wear than when I had left her the previous night, except quite possible more tired than I had ever seen her.

Even as I watched, she stifled a yawn into her shoulder, blinking blearily- the poor thing must have stayed up half the night worrying about her brother. "Did you sleep well, Miss Miasenna?" She seemed surprised that I was addressing her, and I wasn't sure if it was because she was quite so tired, or if she hadn't expected my more agreeable attitude to continue beyond yesterday. "I-" She hesitated, glancing up at her mother, who was watching her like a particularly hungry hawk. "I slept fine. It was just... too quiet, for my liking." She was trying to tell me that she had not heard anything from Leonides- and going by her mother's disapproving look, Cipicia knew this too.

"I'm sure I could send you to sleep with quite a few unpleasant noises, if that is what you would prefer." Her voice was sweet, and even as I felt the blood drain out of my face, I heard Aldin chuckle amiably.

"I tell you what, those owls make quite the ruckus some nights- if you want unpleasant, it doesn't get much worse than that!" The poor fool had no idea- just like he had no idea why none of us had laughed at his joke. Miasenna's face had gone pale with fear at the blatant threat, and I did my best to diffuse the situation.

"May I ask, Mistress-" She cut me off- of course she did- her eyes just as sharp as her tone.

"No, you may not. Ah, Miss Margate, so glad you could finally join us." My face was not the only one that showed an expression of horrified shock, and luckily for everyone involved, Aldin hid his almost as quickly as I did-

What the hell was Annette doing here?

(A/N): Can't think of a meme for the end of the chapter, but I thought you should know that Aldin originally had a different personality in my head- he changed drastically the second I decided he had a mustache, and I'm sticking with it.

Parliament = A parliament is apparently the proper collective noun for a group of owls. Less common names are a 'congress', a 'stare' or a 'hooting'.

I received an "advice" review mere hours afterward, and I just straight up deleted it. It was anonymous, so I couldn't even explain WHY I hadn't done things they way they wanted me to- because I don't think they realised that this story is over 11 years old, or they wouldn't be asking me to suddenly split it into several more manageable parts in order to not put off new readers- and I was just so sick of receiving reviews like that, so I got rid of it. I normally don't, but this one I did. If you're the person that left me that review- well, you aren't, because clearly it was too much work to even read the summary, so you're not going to go all the way to chapter 441 to be able to read this. But still, that person can join the 915 other people that visited the first chapter of this story during the month of August- and maybe eventually people will learn that I don't write this story to get new readers. I write it for me, and for the few loyal readers who have stuck with me for this long. I eventually plan to adapt the characters from this story into an actual book series, so if people don't want to read it now, maybe they'll read it then. (*shrug*)