(A/N): We're back in 1967 with Amelia and Miasenna.
October 18th, 1967
Amelia
I sent Annette on her way once Miasenna was finished with her tray of food- and I had scavenged some of her scraps, since I knew no one was going to be bringing me a full spread anytime soon, and I had also missed dinner. Once I had closed the door behind Annette, I turned around to face Miasenna, and found her staring out the window. Or at the window, at least.
"I'm sorry about earlier. The way I spoke about you to Annette- it wasn't right, even if it was necessary." She did not so much as look at me. "It's awful, but it's better for all of us if she thinks you're nothing more than some helpless child," Because although Miasenna was a helpless child, that wasn't all she was. "It means you can get away with more, because she won't think you're a threat." It was meant to be conciliatory, since she'd shown that she was interested in making as much trouble as possible, but she didn't seemed at all moved by this. "I know it seems counter-intuitive-"
"Can you get to Leo or not?" I blinked at her interruption, then blinked again at the implication of what she was asking.
"...decidedly not, I think, unfortunately." Her face didn't change, she just nodded- as though she had expected that answer. "If your mother is refusing to let anyone near him, there isn't much I can do about it without losing my job, and possibly a whole lot more than that." None of this was a comfort to her, of course. "And don't you even think about trying to get into his room- you may feel that the consequences are worth it, but I guarantee you that your brother doesn't agree." Because if there was one thing that was important to Leonides above all else, it was Miasenna's safety.
"He's going to spend the night hungry, with a broken leg, because of me." That... wasn't strictly true, but I wasn't sure how to convince her of that, so I didn't say anything. "I can't fix his leg- and maybe I can't even get him any food- but if I could just get a note to him... maybe he doesn't have to be so alone." It pained me to hear- pained me to even think about- but there was nothing I could do about it.
"Even if I were to slip a note under his door, I'm sure your mother has it charmed to alert her if anyone tries to interact with it. If I can get the note under the door in the first place, that is." Her face didn't fall, she wasn't surprised by this, and I had the feeling that her disappointment had reached its peak long before this conversation had started. "I would say that we could talk in the hall so he can overhear us, but if your mother were to catch us-" She nodded grimly.
"I know, I know." Her frustration was apparent, and I couldn't blame her.
"Not that there's any guarantee that he could hear us, given that your mother most likely cast a silencing charm on the room- I wouldn't put it past her to rid him of even that small comfort, given everything." She winced, then nodded again.
"And even if we could get a note under the door, there's no way of knowing if he'd be able to get to it."
I pursed my lips, narrowly resisting the urge to cross my arms over my chest in an attempt to both protect and comfort myself. "Right, his leg. Would she have taken his crutches, do you think?" I knew Cipicia would despise that sort of thing- that very visible declaration of weakness- but would she really have taken them away from him? Even just for the night? It seemed unthinkable to me- but then, so was much of what she'd already proven herself capable of.
Miasenna shrugged tersely, lopsidedly, like she was still getting used to moving her body in that manner. "I meant she might've tied him to the bed or something, but yeah, his leg, too." My mind went awfully, terribly blank for a moment, and when I reclaimed my faculties, I could be nothing but horrifically appalled.
"To- to the bed? Tied? To the bed?" She shrugged again- favoring her other shoulder, this time, as if to make up for her last attempt.
"Seems the best place, doesn't it?" I couldn't help but to flinch, her casual tone chafing.
"The best place is no place!" I objected quite nonsensically, and she stared across and up at me, as though I was acting rather odd. "Miasenna, do you- has she- is that sort of thing... normal? For you, I mean?" She hesitated.
"She's never- it was just... it's not something she's done before, but I-" 'I wouldn't put it past her' was surely what was meant to follow- or something along those lines, at least. "Binds aren't her preferred method of condfindment."
I corrected her without even thinking about it. "Confinement." Then her words sank in, and I felt sick to my stomach. "What- what is her preferred method of confinement?" She stared at me for a second with narrowed eyes- she knew I was trying to dig, but in the end, she shrugged again, and opened her mouth. I don't think she cared what information I may or may not have had on her mother, or anyone else really, besides Leonides and herself.
"A locked door." Fitting then, considering I didn't doubt that the door to Leonides's room was locked by key, as well as spell. "She doesn't usually bother with the silencing spell until we've been crying for a while, though." The fact that this had happened enough for her to form an opinion of what was 'usual' for their mother locking them in a room was... well, it was disgusting, quite frankly, and I felt impotent rage prickling at the back of my neck, knowing there was very little- if anything- I could do about it.
"That's-" I didn't know what to say beyond that, so I stopped myself, and changed tactics. "It's only for the night," I told her, as if that somehow made up for it. "I'm sure that, in the morning, your brother will have a big breakfast, and we'll go back to our lessons, and everything will be-" 'As it should be', I wanted to say, but no- no, none of this was as it should be. "-normal, again." It was the best that I could do, and even with this, she looked skeptical.
"He has a broken leg," She said bluntly. "Things won't be normal again until it's fixed." Well... she wasn't wrong, but it came at the cost of my attempt to comfort her, so I tried again.
"Miasenna, I'm sure-" There was a knock at the door that would have cut me off in and of itself, but then a half-second later, the door opened without waiting for permission from either Miasenna, or I- and of course, standing in the doorway, was Cipicia Joannis.
She looked... it was hard to describe. She was just as put together as she always was, her impeccably applied grooming spells still unwaveringly in effect, but there was something... off, about her. There was something intangibly unstable in the way she held herself, a sort of vaguely unpredictable air that was incredibly menacing, considering that I didn't know what she was capable of at the best of times.
"Mother-" Miasenna started- maybe she was going to try to curry favor with her to avoid any punishment that might be coming her way, or maybe she wanted to try to persuade her to let her give a note to her brother- but none of that mattered, because Cipicia wasn't interested in letting her talk.
She cut Miasenna off sharply, her eyes staying on her daughter, even as she spoke only to me. "You are dismissed, Ms Rochester." I opened my mouth to argue, but she cut me off, too. "You are to report to the grand foyer first thing tomorrow morning, to receive your..." She smiled in a manner that was just as sweet as it was threatening. "An opportunity to earn back some semblance of trust in your competence." I did my best to hide my nervous swallow, but by the cat-that-ate-the-canary expression on her face, I suspected I'd not been successful.
"...I look forward to it, Mistress." I was not. "I welcome any and all opportunities to prove myself." But not to you. Clearly, she did not care about the distinction, because her smug smile only grew.
"You'll certainly be proving something for me." I stiffened at that worrying phrasing- and her choice of emphasis placement- but she simply waved a hand at me. "Run along now, Ms Rochester, so I can speak to my daughter in private." Her tone left no room for hesitation- and yet, I did. She couldn't send Miasenna to bed without dinner since she'd already eaten, but she could still tie her to the bed, or maybe lock her in the closet. "Run along, dear- and try to avoid my husband on your way... he does so like a pretty face, as I'm sure you're aware." I was- as was every woman and girl that had ever interacted with him, I expected.
I gave Miasenna one last look- a promise of tomorrow, in case tonight turned out any worse- and then, reluctantly, I left. I did my best to ignore the predator-sharp way that Cipicia Joannis's eyes followed me- because at least if those eyes were on me, they weren't on Miasenna- but Merlin, it made me feel like a target. I had somehow found myself caught in her sights- now I just had to figure out how to get out of them again.
(A/N): Mia: 'If I could just get a note to him-'
Amelia: 'Even if we could get a note under the door-'
Cipicia: *stamping 'return to sender' on everything*
Cipicia: 'The person you are looking for no longer resides at this address. Please STOP trying to reach them.'
also
Amelia: 'I'm sure that, in the morning, your brother will have a big breakfast, and we'll go back to our lessons, and everything will be- normal, again.'
Mia: 'He has a broken leg. Things won't be normal until that's fixed.'
Leonides: *is in a different county*
Removed lines:
(because at least if those eyes were on me, they weren't on Miasenna) -the smallest of blessings- (but Merlin, it made me feel like a target).
(but Merlin, it made me feel like a target) Like she was a bull, and I had made the unfortunate mistake of wearing a red dress. She may not have literally been a bovine, but (I had found myself caught in her sights) nonetheless (-now I just had to figure out how to get out of them again.)
Like I was a clay pigeon that had (found myself caught in her sights- now I just had to figure out how to get out of them again) before she pulled the trigger.
Info:
I thought you might like to see some of the reworking I did for the end of the chapter here. It originally ended at the 'the smallest of blessings' part, but it felt really abrupt, so I had to find a way to make it end a tad more smoothly (hopefully I succeeded), and while trying to figure it out I had some lines that didn't quite fit or didn't really make sense, but I think my intention/the vibe behind them is pretty clear. I just thought that it might be nice for you to get a glimpse behind the scenes a bit, especially if you're someone who writes (or is thinking about writing). It was only after I wrote this entire big paragraph explaining why I removed these lines, that I went back and actually removed the 'the smallest of blessings' line, because A, I didn't like the way it flowed, and B, I didn't like the two hyphen-y, sentence interruptions in a row. I removed the 'Clay pigeon' part because, obviously, purebloods (and wizards in general) don't really do guns, and as such, probably don't have much concept of a clay pigeon, which if you don't know, is the little clay disk target that they use for skeet or target shooting. I considered changing it to something like 'clay phoenix' and have her say 'fire her spell' rather than 'pull the trigger', but I thought that even if I could work something like that into the story, I shouldn't do it in the last sentence of a completely unrelated chapter. The bull thing just felt superfluous, and the seeing red thing is a myth, and I went from 'predator-sharp' eyes to a herbivore? I was trying to add in some foreshadowing, but the message is basically that Amelia feels threatened by Cipicia, and like Cipicia is singling her out maybe kind of unfairly (okay, really unfairly, but Amelia feels guilty for Leonides's broken leg, and Cipicia is abusing her power- how's THAT for foreshadowing?)
Also, I say that Leonides is in a different county, because as I've said previously, I imagine that the Joannis manor is somewhere like Cambridge Gate, which is in Regent's Park, which is in London. The alley that Cipicia left Leonides in is in (I've decided) Watford, Hertfordshire, which is one of the counties NEXT TO London. London the county, not London the city. London the city is in London the county (like how New York City is in the state of New York), but the city isn't next to Hertfordshire, is what I'm trying to say. Watford and Cambridge Gate are about 18.2 miles/29.2 kilometers apart, which is about 5 1/2 - 6 hours walk, just for reference.