Chapter 43: The Preparations
Quasimodo was frantically pacing through the tower. He couldn't believe how foolish he'd been: Questioning Esmeralda about her friendship with Frollo. None of what he'd said had helped the situation, and now Esmeralda was upset.
"UGH!" The bell ringer grunted. "I'm such an idiot... Why did I do this? What if she doesn't talk to me again? This is so-"
"Quasimodo?"
The bell ringer stopped mid-pace, noticing a curious Elaine a mere few paces from him. He hadn't heard her enter, since he'd been too busy yelling at himself.
"Oh, Elaine..." Quasimodo mumbled. "Uh... Hi."
Elaine looked at him blankly, but soon strode toward him.
"I brought you a gift." She announced, handing a folded item to Quasimodo.
Quasimodo unfolded it and saw that it was a tunic. It was new and clean, bright blue in color.
"I like this." Quasimodo said appreciatively.
"I thought you might like something new to wear to the dinner party." Elaine suggested with a smile.
"Definitely." Quasimodo agreed, a grin spreading over his face. "Thank you!"
"You're welcome!"
They both stopped talking, each waiting for the other to say something. Elaine finally broke the silence.
"Is something troubling you?" She asked.
"...Esmeralda was here earlier." Quasimodo responded unhappily. "I... I was foolish. I told her I knew about her and Frollo. I asked why she was friends with him. And now... Ugh... I did a terrible job of hiding how I felt about it! Now I've upset her!"
He sat down at the table, practically slamming his face into it in shame. Elaine sat next to him.
"Quasimodo..." She said reassuringly. "I'm sure she can forgive you..."
"How can you be so sure?" Quasimodo asked, barely lifting his head. "You don't even know her..."
"I know she's your best friend." Elaine reminded. "Best friends tend to forgive each other."
Quasimodo thought about it. Esmeralda was a kind person. The way she treated Frollo was ample proof of that. Even if she hadn't fully forgiven him, she was willing to call the man a friend despite what he'd done to her and her people. Surely a much smaller transgression wouldn't get rid of her forever.
"You're right." Quasimodo decided. "I'll have to talk to her about it... Try to fix things..."
Unfortunately, Quasimodo knew that he probably shouldn't speak to Esmeralda yet. He wanted to apologize, but he also knew that his feelings about Frollo were unlikely to change soon. He worried that his discomfort toward Frollo and Esmeralda's friendship would make any acknowledgement of the situation worse, since he couldn't find a way to effectively hide it. He also knew that Esmeralda had to go to the wedding of the man she unrequitedly loved, which would certainly be an emotional time. It was probably best not to add to her struggle until that was over.
Claude met with the captain after the day's work was done.
"I've been asking around." The soldier reported, referring to his search for Esmeralda's attackers. "No information yet, I'm afraid."
"Keep searching." Claude encouraged. "I won't let them get away with this."
"Yes, Sir." The captain responded. "But... There is something else you should know."
"Yes?"
"Some of the men are... Angry with you."
"What?! I know I've done plenty of awful things, but what have I done to them?"
"They're not happy about all this manual labor. And since you've been so different lately, they know that they can't be as ruthless as they want to be. They actually liked you better when..."
The captain stopped himself, realizing that he was about to say something insulting.
"When I was a monster." Claude said to finish the sentence.
The captain didn't acknowledge Claude's assessment. Instead, he sought instructions.
"How should I handle this?" He asked.
"It will have to wait." Claude said decisively. "Right now you need to act like you're their friend. It's the only way that the men I'm after will confess to what they've done."
"Very well, Sir."
Claude spent the rest of the evening with Esmeralda. They mainly talked about the wedding, which Esmeralda was dreading.
"Are you sure you want to go?" Claude eventually asked.
"Phoebus is my friend." Esmeralda insisted. "I care about him a lot. And this is important to him, so it's important to me to be there. Plus, I need to get used to the idea of him being someone else's husband."
Claude nodded.
He hated to see Esmeralda go through this, but he understood why she wanted to attend the wedding. He would have done the same thing if it was her getting married. He'd want to be there for her as a friend, even if it meant seeing her love someone in the way that he wanted her to love him. That was strange to think about, considering that Claude and Esmeralda were already married. But that fact meant little to Claude, since it was a marriage that never should have happened. Knowing that he had forced Esmeralda into it, Claude couldn't see his marriage to her as valid. And if she happened to love someone else, Claude would gladly pretend he had never married her so that she could be with that person instead.
"Is there anything I can do to make this easier for you?" Claude asked.
"Keep me company." Esmeralda replied. "Just as long as I'm not alone, it will be much better."
"I can do that." Claude promised.
Esmeralda was relieved that Claude would be going with her. She truly wanted to be a good guest, a supportive friend who could be happy for Phoebus. That was going to be difficult, but she knew she would handle it better with someone there to make her feel less alone.