The Estate, Sidra, Glacia, Saturday Evening Fandom Time

[wwiii]

Some days, Warren found himself drowning in paperwork. Some days, he walked into his office to be faced with a stack of petitions to Glacia's Consort that was so high he was pretty sure he would never see the bottom.

Today, incidentally, was not one of those days. He'd run through all of the paperwork on his desk two, three, four times just to be thorough, had even gone so far as to write thank you notes to those Queens and Consorts in other Courts to thank them for their attendance at this official function or that one. Karla was busy elsewhere, his phone battery was dead, and Warren had gotten to that point in the day where all there was to do was sit and pass the time by drumming his fingertips on the top of his desk.

It was fortunate that the Court Steward, Lord Mallory, stuck his head into Warren's office before he could drum some gouges into the wood.

"My Lord," he said, clutching a stack of paperwork to his chest, "Lady Karla would like me to remind you that if you're late for dinner and leave her entertaining alone again, she'll tie you to the General and throw the both of you into a closet."

Warren gave a wry chuckle in response to that, gesturing to his empty desk.

"That shouldn't be an issue. I have a few hours to kill yet, and nothing to kill them with." A beat. "What do you have there?"

Mallory looked at his own stack of papers, and then gave his head a shake, even as Warren pulled himself up from his seat to investigate.

"Nothing of any importance tonight, Lord. Merely the sort of correspondence that I've taken the liberty of separating out from the papers that actually need to make it to your desk."

Warren pursed his lips a little as he leaned over the stack. Considering the one on the top was addressed to, 'That Landen Bastard of a Consort,' he could wager a guess as to what the rest of the stack contained.

"Why not leave those with me anyway? It'll help me kill some time, at least. And I'll get a chance to see where I stand in the eyes of the general public, these days."

Mallory's expression suggested that he didn't think it was one of Warren's better ideas, but he wasn't going to argue with the Consort. He tended to do his damnedest to keep out of the way of Warren's baleful glares as much as possible.

"If you wish, my Lord, but do keep in mind that these letters aren't representative of Glacia's most rational people."

"It'll be just like looking at hashtags on Twitter," Warren replied, smiling faintly as he was met with a puzzled glance from the Steward. "I can handle it."

A few minutes and a few more cautionary statements from Mallory later, and Warren was sitting at his desk again, leafing through the mail with one eyebrow raised. He supposed be probably shouldn't have been surprised that 'Landen Bastard' wasn't the worst insult the locals had come up with, and he even set aside a few letters addressed to Karla that were obviously written with the intent of turning her against him in order to give a 'real Blood male' a chance at his position. They could laugh at them together later. Or, at least, make a mental note between them to laugh behind their backs at social functions.

Not that they were petty.

It was a letter about halfway down the stack that managed to actually grab Warren's attention, all of the rest aside. Written in a childish hand, it was one of the few letters that actually used his name, and though it was from outside of the Territory, there was something about a small child writing to the Consort of Glacia that made it difficult to set aside.

A few minutes later still, and he was stalking out into the hallway again, letter in hand, wings mantled, and bristling.

"Mallory! What the Hell were you thinking!?"

Mallory was not having a good day.

[OOC: For one!]

Comments

[glacial_queen]

"An excellent idea, my love." Karla almost purred her agreement, her eyes on Ferric's suddenly sweating form. "It would be best if Cora woke up to a familiar face. We'd hate to miss a single moment of her reaction to discovering we're here."

Her smile showed a lot of teeth. "Well, Lord Ferric? What are you waiting for? Escort my Consort to my ward."

[wwiii]

Warren merely stood patiently while Ferric attempted to backtrack, making a whole lot of noise but not actually managing to say anything.

And then he crossed his arms over his chest and raised an eyebrow.

"If I didn't know any better, Lord Ferric, I'd be concerned that you were stalling for time while attempting to come up with a good reason to not let me inside. As my Queen has already stated, this is a matter of utmost urgency, and we have little patience for anybody who might keep us from our ward."

He glanced at Karla, raising one eyebrow.

"It would be unfortunate if we were kept waiting long enough to start wondering if perhaps some of Lord Ferric's business practices were in any way less than ethical and the children were seeing anything less than the best possible care."

Ferric swallowed, and then walked almost woodenly forward, reaching to open the door.

"Of course. Of course, business is, of course... ethical... best care... of course, this way..."

Warren didn't even feel bad for leaving the man looking so shellshocked, no.

[had-a-birdie.livejournal.com]

Fortunately for everyone involved, the landen orphanage didn't live up (or possibly down) to their worse fears. It was no Briarwood, for one, no little girls in lingerie being posed for special clients. It wasn't even terribly Dickensian--no rats, no large spiders, no crying emaciated children in corners.

That wasn't to say that it was a terribly bright, cheerful place, either. It was scrupulously clean, at least, but also very poor, which contrasted sharply with Ferric's wardrobe and well-rounded gut.

Mostly, though, it was bleak. Gray stone walls with nothing to brighten them up. A few toys, old and bedraggled, and several books that were yellowed with age. They passed a school room filled with hard-looking desks and slates, chalk dust thick in the air. All the windows were high up, enough to let in a little light, but no air.

Ferric led Warren to the girl's dormitory, which he unlocked with a large brass key. Inside were long rows of small beds, covered with thin blankets and even thinner mattresses. The littlest girls slept closest to the door, several girls around three or four who clung to dolls made of rags. "Younger than three sleep in the nursery," Ferric explained in a whisper.

Another landen women dressed in dark clothes with a pale apron and cap made her way over to them. "This is the night nurse," Ferric continued as she curtsied to them. "She stays with the girls all night in case they need something. She also has a key, to make sure that if something happens, the girls can get out." Turning back to the nurse, Ferric instructed her to escort Lord Worthington to 'Cara Huburt.'

The nurse led Warren way to the back the the large room--closer to an enclosed hall than an actual room--to where the older girls were sleeping. There, face tight even in sleep, with dark circles under her eyes to match the dark curls on her head, was Cora.

[wwiii]

"Oh, Cora," Warren murmured as he laid eyes on the girl. The entire walk through the orphanage had been a study in disparity, listening to the explanations almost halfheartedly as they made their way through the halls. His heart broke a little more when he saw her laying in bed, and anything else that was said to him by the nurse fell on deaf ears as he walked forward and fell into a crouch at Cora's side. "Cora, I'm so sorry we didn't come sooner..."

He reached to gently brush a stray lock of hair from her face, and then tenderly stroked her cheek with the back of his hand.

"So, so sorry."

[had-a-birdie.livejournal.com]

"Mommy?" Cora's voice had deepened, gone was the childish reediness of the past. A small cut marred her cheek, more than half-healed by now. "Mommy?"

Her eyes fluttered open and she focused on Warren. "Oh," she mumbled. "'M still dreaming."

[wwiii]

Warren's brow creased a little as he noticed the cut. He'd ask Cora about it later. For now, he was simply shaking his head. Everything worth mentioning in this moment was the here and the now.

"No," he replied, gently. "You're awake, I promise. Karla and I came to get you."

His eyes fell down to the floor momentarily. It was all he could do to keep from begging her for forgiveness for taking so long to come for her.

"We came the moment we got your letter."

[had-a-birdie.livejournal.com]

"Warren?" Cora shot upright in her bed. "Warren, it's you! You came for me! I knew you would!" She leaned forward to wrap her arms around whatever parts of him she could reach, ignoring the nurse's aborted attempt to stop her. "You said Lady Karla's here, too? Have you come to take me back to my house?"

[wwiii]

Warren was going to cling for all he was worth. If there was any doubt as to his friendship with the little girl, it was easily wiped away by the hug, all arms and wings and shut-up-he-wasn't-tearing-up-at-all.

"Karla is waiting outside," he murmured. "Your house is empty, but we have a place for you in our own family in Glacia, if you'll have us."

Because he couldn't offer any less. Not to Cora.

[had-a-birdie.livejournal.com]

"Live with you? Like a princess in one of your stories?" Cora asked, shoving the blankets aside so she could jump out of bed. Her nightgown was clean and serviceable, though washed to the point that no trace of color remained. It was also too short for her, showing several inches of bony wrist and skinny legs. "Leave here forever?"

Her smile faltered a moment. "My mother's buried not far from here. If I leave, will I be a bad daughter?"

[wwiii]

First thing Warren was going to do when getting Cora back to Glacia was call Cook and panic at her a little bit. Well. Maybe the second or third or fourth thing, after getting Cora settled in.

He reached for her hands, still in his crouch on the floor, and looked up at her with as reassuring a look on his face as he could possibly muster.

"We'll visit," he promised, gently. "So long as you don't forget her, you can be a princess and a good daughter, I promise."

[had-a-birdie.livejournal.com]

Cora slid her hand into his. "Then can we go? I hate Doun." It was where her mother died and her aunt had sent her here and she'd had to work all day and dinner was usually thin vegetable soup and crusty bread.

In short, it was a the worst.

The nurse looked like she was going to protest for a moment and then decided that interfering with the Blood was far beyond her paygrade.

[wwiii]

"Of course," Warren murmured, giving her hand a squeeze. "Is there anything you need to get before we go?"

Any keepsakes? Something to remember her mother by, maybe?

... Clothes?

[had-a-birdie.livejournal.com]

"I swallowed mother's ring," Cora said flatly. "Cause they take our stuff away when we arrive so we're all equal and stuff and I didn't wanna lose her ring. Plus, sometimes the bigger boys will take things. So I swallowed it."

And kept swallowing it, every time it reappeared.

The things you did, while waiting for your rescuers that you lost a little more faith in every day that came and went without them.

[wwiii]

Warren bit his lip to keep from growling as he turned a look toward the nurse. It almost certainly wasn't her fault. Not while working under that... that man that owned this place.

"Well, then it looks as though we're all set," he said, a little flatly, himself. "Shall we, princess?"

The less time spent lingering around here, the better. He gave her hand a little squeeze, and the scooped her up into his arms. The look he gave to Ferric as they made their way out of the building was nothing shy of terrifying. Landen or no, Warren had a glare to kill, particularly when his wings were half flared and his claws her in plain view, however tenderly they were situated, given the child he was carrying with him.

"Lord Ferric," he all but growled as he passed him by, "we'll be taking our leave, now." There was a long, pregnant silence between them before he added, "and I had better not find out that you or your business practices were in any way responsible for the cut on her face, or you'll be hearing from us again."

Just saying. For the record.

Warren would leave the man, for now, to change his pants. After the sudden flare of his wings that he gave before folding them at his back and heading through the front door, Ferric was likely going to need to.

[glacial_queen]

It was harder to say who looked more impatient for their arrival, Karla or Nyles. She was worried about Cora and the conditions she'd been living under, and Nyles wanted to know about the little landen girl that had gotten a Territory Queen and her Consort to move the earth and the heavens for her.

Lomb had made good his escape and was presumably somewhere sleeping again, well-rid of the Blood and their whims.

"Cora!" Karla exclaimed when Warren exited the building, Cora in his arms. She flew to them, hugging them tightly. "Hello, darling, we're so sorry. Did Warren explain? Look how thin you are! That's it. We're getting a hotel room for the rest of the night and feeding you until you can't eat another mouthful."

Personally, Nyles didn't see what was so exciting about the girl. Certainly not why she was worth so much fuss. He was just as skinny and no one was clucking over him.

[wwiii]

Warren wrapped his wings around Karla and Cora both, holding them close for what had to be a full minute before finally relaxing, opening them up slightly to let Karla out.

Cora, however, he kept his wings around. After all, she was wearing only a nightgown, and it was winter out here. Some big warm wings were more than good enough to keep her from freezing before they could find somewhere to spend the rest of the night.

He looked toward Nyles after that moment, offering him a tiny smile.

"You were great back there," he informed the boy. "I don't suppose you would mind showing us around one more time tonight? I'm about finished with standing out here, too. And whether you decide to come with us or not, I'll even pay for a room for you to sleep in for the night, as well."

He'd earned it. Little jerk.

[glacial_queen]

Nyles shrugged, having long since perfected his nonchalance. "I suppose I could, what with there being something in it for me," he said. Casually. "Though I'm pretty hungry, too. I don't suppose any of that food you were promising her there could make it's way towards another motherless child of your acquaintance?"

This kid was priceless. Karla had gotten completely onboard with bringing him home and unleashing him on the estate. "There will be plenty of food to share," she promised. "In our home, we don't let anyone go hungry."