RVA: Shadow of Doubt, Ali's Idea
Mar. 15th, 2016 07:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jeriendhalThe day of Lady Aganatha Highglider’s investiture to the Highglider domain came two days later. As was traditional, it was a dawn event, beginning at the Darktail sacred grove. Salli was woken two hours beforehand by a diffident Nari, who touched her briefly on the shoulder and whispered, “Lady Salli? Time to get ready.”
“Mmph,” Salli muttered, pushing herself up to a sitting position, keeping herself covered with the sheets. “Please tell me there’s tea somewhere, Nari,” She blinked her good eye, wishing briefly that she could have had the replacement for her lost one installed before she had to go this event.
“In your sitting room, milady,” Nari said. Then she let a short shriek of surprise as Ali pushed her head out from underneath the covers, her smaller body having been hidden by the heavy blankets.
“Do you have to be that loud this early?” Ali grumbled.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t see you,” Nari gasped. “I didn’t know you’d been sleeping… I mean...”
“It’s all right,” Salli interrupted. “Nari, did you lay out my clothes for today?”
“Er, yes Milady,” the serving girl replied, ears flushing bright red.
“Then that will be all.”
“But don’t you need my help…?”
“Thank you, Nari. That will be all,” Salli repeated firmly.
Nari bowed mutely and stepped out, closing Salli’s bedroom door behind her.
Ali just shook her head. “You need better locks in this place,” she noted, as Salli slid out of the bed to stand and stretch. “She was poking around in my room a couple of days ago while I was showering.”
“There isn’t much point to having servants, if they can’t get into your room to serve, Anyway, Nari hardly qualifies as a security risk. She’s been with our House since she was fourteen in one capacity or another, and many of her family served before that.”
Ali chose not to argue with this, instead padding after Salli to her dressing chamber, helping her pull on the same dress she’d worn to her coming home party, governor’s sash included.
“I guess I’ll never make it as a Noble. I don’t know how you can stand having people do stuff for you,” Ali said, helping her into the dress. The younger vixen knowing, thank goodness, exactly how snug to the pull the laces.
“In Nari’s defense, I think I owe her my life,” Salli admitted. “During my darkest days after my divorce from Kev she sat on the settee out in the hall in front of my door, keeping watch over me in case I tried to harm myself. I’ll admit during most of that time I barely had enough willpower to get out of bed, much less commit suicide, but I don’t blame my parents for guarding me so. I can’t imagine how she stood it without going a bit mad herself, sitting there all day in what had to be a combination of stupefying boredom and sheer terror, waiting for a cry that she had to hope would never come.”
“Hmm, I guess that would have been my job, if I’d been here back then,” Ali said, tying off the dress laces. “Especially until you found the spotter.”
Salli turned to face her. “I’m sorry, what spotter?”
It was Ali’s turn to be confused. “The spotter for the assassination attempt. Y’know, when that fellow Hotclaw tried to snipe you and Lord Rolas.”
Ali was referring to the final incident that had brought Countess Highglider to the attention of Council of Countesses and instigated her downfall. The old countess, mad with fury at the continued incarceration of her son Kev after his years of abusing Salli, had been bringing increasing pressure against House Darktail, through punitive taxation, outright sabotage, and hiring Lady Melanie’s old persona the Red Vixen to attack House Darktail’s only freighter, which captained by Rolas, was carrying a fortune in valuable cargo with the intent to sell it and finance their family’s escape from Foxen Prime.
Melanie, in revenge for being used in this scheme after falling in love with Rolas, had in turn hunted House Highglider’s freighters, forcing the crews to evacuate and blasting nearly a dozen of them of to bits. This pushed Highglider well over the edge of financial vengeance to attempted murder. She had sent Hotclaw, Rolas’ traitorous second in command and the one who held had sold their freighter's flight plan to the Red Vixen on Highglider’s orders, to attempt to shoot Salli and Rolas when they had been dropping Melanie off at her home after picking her up from the spaceport.
It had been raining at the time, and Salli had loaned Melanie her shawl to wear when they stepped out of Rolas’ skimmer. Hotclaw, mistaking Melanie for Salli, had shot the vixen, grazing her head, prompting Rolas to engage in a mad dash across open ground to disarm and subdue the traitor. Hotclaw had then turned Council witness to implicate Highglider and provide the final evidence to remove her from power and jail her in the same mental health facility as her son.
“Hotclaw was working alone, Ali,” Salli said.
Ali shook her head. “Couldn’t have been. I mean, he’d shot at you and Lord Rolas while you were in front of Lady Melanie’s home. How could he possibly known you were going to stop by just then? Sure, he might have been camping out in the woods nearby for a week in case you two came over, but that would have been a pretty uncomfortable wait.”
Salli blinked, not liking Ali’s inference at all, especially the logic of it. “I… I hadn’t thought of that,” she admitted.
“Actually, that would explain a lot about what happened when we were out on your Grand Tour,” Ali said eagerly, warming to her own idea. “I mean, even you didn’t know where you were going at first, except to Earth to start. But old Countess Highglider was still able to arrange those attacks against you. Somebody in your House must have been passing your itinerary to her as you sent updates to your parents.” Her expression sobered as she say Salli’s own drawn face. “Wait, you did catch them, right?”
“No, we didn’t even suspect.” Salli admitted, her voice sounding hollow in her own ears as the rightness of Ali’s supposition became obvious. She straightened up. “Help me finish dressing, I must bring this to my mother’s attention as soon as possible.”
“Yes, Milady.”
“Mmph,” Salli muttered, pushing herself up to a sitting position, keeping herself covered with the sheets. “Please tell me there’s tea somewhere, Nari,” She blinked her good eye, wishing briefly that she could have had the replacement for her lost one installed before she had to go this event.
“In your sitting room, milady,” Nari said. Then she let a short shriek of surprise as Ali pushed her head out from underneath the covers, her smaller body having been hidden by the heavy blankets.
“Do you have to be that loud this early?” Ali grumbled.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t see you,” Nari gasped. “I didn’t know you’d been sleeping… I mean...”
“It’s all right,” Salli interrupted. “Nari, did you lay out my clothes for today?”
“Er, yes Milady,” the serving girl replied, ears flushing bright red.
“Then that will be all.”
“But don’t you need my help…?”
“Thank you, Nari. That will be all,” Salli repeated firmly.
Nari bowed mutely and stepped out, closing Salli’s bedroom door behind her.
Ali just shook her head. “You need better locks in this place,” she noted, as Salli slid out of the bed to stand and stretch. “She was poking around in my room a couple of days ago while I was showering.”
“There isn’t much point to having servants, if they can’t get into your room to serve, Anyway, Nari hardly qualifies as a security risk. She’s been with our House since she was fourteen in one capacity or another, and many of her family served before that.”
Ali chose not to argue with this, instead padding after Salli to her dressing chamber, helping her pull on the same dress she’d worn to her coming home party, governor’s sash included.
“I guess I’ll never make it as a Noble. I don’t know how you can stand having people do stuff for you,” Ali said, helping her into the dress. The younger vixen knowing, thank goodness, exactly how snug to the pull the laces.
“In Nari’s defense, I think I owe her my life,” Salli admitted. “During my darkest days after my divorce from Kev she sat on the settee out in the hall in front of my door, keeping watch over me in case I tried to harm myself. I’ll admit during most of that time I barely had enough willpower to get out of bed, much less commit suicide, but I don’t blame my parents for guarding me so. I can’t imagine how she stood it without going a bit mad herself, sitting there all day in what had to be a combination of stupefying boredom and sheer terror, waiting for a cry that she had to hope would never come.”
“Hmm, I guess that would have been my job, if I’d been here back then,” Ali said, tying off the dress laces. “Especially until you found the spotter.”
Salli turned to face her. “I’m sorry, what spotter?”
It was Ali’s turn to be confused. “The spotter for the assassination attempt. Y’know, when that fellow Hotclaw tried to snipe you and Lord Rolas.”
Ali was referring to the final incident that had brought Countess Highglider to the attention of Council of Countesses and instigated her downfall. The old countess, mad with fury at the continued incarceration of her son Kev after his years of abusing Salli, had been bringing increasing pressure against House Darktail, through punitive taxation, outright sabotage, and hiring Lady Melanie’s old persona the Red Vixen to attack House Darktail’s only freighter, which captained by Rolas, was carrying a fortune in valuable cargo with the intent to sell it and finance their family’s escape from Foxen Prime.
Melanie, in revenge for being used in this scheme after falling in love with Rolas, had in turn hunted House Highglider’s freighters, forcing the crews to evacuate and blasting nearly a dozen of them of to bits. This pushed Highglider well over the edge of financial vengeance to attempted murder. She had sent Hotclaw, Rolas’ traitorous second in command and the one who held had sold their freighter's flight plan to the Red Vixen on Highglider’s orders, to attempt to shoot Salli and Rolas when they had been dropping Melanie off at her home after picking her up from the spaceport.
It had been raining at the time, and Salli had loaned Melanie her shawl to wear when they stepped out of Rolas’ skimmer. Hotclaw, mistaking Melanie for Salli, had shot the vixen, grazing her head, prompting Rolas to engage in a mad dash across open ground to disarm and subdue the traitor. Hotclaw had then turned Council witness to implicate Highglider and provide the final evidence to remove her from power and jail her in the same mental health facility as her son.
“Hotclaw was working alone, Ali,” Salli said.
Ali shook her head. “Couldn’t have been. I mean, he’d shot at you and Lord Rolas while you were in front of Lady Melanie’s home. How could he possibly known you were going to stop by just then? Sure, he might have been camping out in the woods nearby for a week in case you two came over, but that would have been a pretty uncomfortable wait.”
Salli blinked, not liking Ali’s inference at all, especially the logic of it. “I… I hadn’t thought of that,” she admitted.
“Actually, that would explain a lot about what happened when we were out on your Grand Tour,” Ali said eagerly, warming to her own idea. “I mean, even you didn’t know where you were going at first, except to Earth to start. But old Countess Highglider was still able to arrange those attacks against you. Somebody in your House must have been passing your itinerary to her as you sent updates to your parents.” Her expression sobered as she say Salli’s own drawn face. “Wait, you did catch them, right?”
“No, we didn’t even suspect.” Salli admitted, her voice sounding hollow in her own ears as the rightness of Ali’s supposition became obvious. She straightened up. “Help me finish dressing, I must bring this to my mother’s attention as soon as possible.”
“Yes, Milady.”
