NationStates Jolt Archive

Princess Helen lay on a lounge covered in soft ermine cushions in a drawing room overlooking the gardens at the Despotic Court of New Constantinople, reading a letter as palace staff and courtiers buzzed about the place, frantically preparing for the planned fête to celebrate the return to New Constantinople of the Despot and his bride.

Marian ni Gwydion, Countess of Mortville, stepped up quietly behind her friend. "Anything interesting, Your Highness?"

"My mother wants me to go back to New Rome." Helen replied, rolling over from her side onto her elbows to look up at Marian behind her.

"Any particular reason?" Marian asked, sitting down beside her.

"She thinks this place is a dreadful place for a young lady. Or my father does, I can't tell. I think she wants me to leave before André arrives." Helen answered.

"I doubt André would appreciate that." Marian commented.

"Do you think he'd even notice?" Helen asked, frowning faintly at the thought. She folded the letter back up.

"I think so. There'd be no beauty around." Marian smirked slightly.

"You'd still be here!" Helen smacked her on the wrist playfully. "And so would Madame de Montmanuel. Oh, and his wife's coming with him."

"Alright. There might be two pretty women then." Marian commented.

"You don't think Madame de Montmanuel's pretty?" Helen asked.

"She is." Marian answered.

"The Empress is pretty." Helen replied glumly.

"She's just a duchess." Marian playfully corrected.

"You know I wasn't talking about Madame de Montmanuel anymore." Helen answered with a sigh and sat up properly.

"Oh. Well, I'm just a countess."

"I know. And you're both pretty, so I assumed that out of the three ladies I mentioned who'd still be here, the one you meant... sigh, nevermind Mari." Helen said.

"I was trying to say I didn't think the Empress was particularly pretty." Marian pointed out.

"Hence why I said that she was." Helen replied.

"I know. I'm right though." Marian smiled with a light twinkle in her eye.

"She's blonde." Helen complained.

"So?"

"All those barbarians they're all blonde." Helen continued to complain.

"Helen?" Marian asked.

"You know there's not a single woman in my family with blo... yes, Mari?" Helen almost ranted before Marian cut her off.

"You do know you're beautiful, right?"

"That's sweet of you to say, Mari." Helen blushed. "Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to have blonde hair though..."

"It wouldn't make that much of a difference." Marian commented.

"I don't know..." Helen shrugged. "And she's much younger than me too, you know."

"She's a child." Marian said.

"I don't like her. Maybe I should go back to New Rome. But I don't want to leave you here by yourself with them." Helen thought out loud.

"I don't like her either." Marian said.

"Maybe we could both go to New Rome." Helen suggested.

"I guess we could..." Marian said hesitantly.

"You don't want to?" Helen asked.

"Not really." Marian answered.

"Neither do I, not really..." Helen sighed.

Marian nodded a little. Helen smiled as she looked out over the gardens thoughtfully.

"What do you think André will make of little Marie-Jeanne?" Helen asked.

"I think he'll love her." Marian answered.

"What do you think she will make of her? The Empress?" Helen grinned, a little insensitively.

"They might be friends. They're close to the same age." Marian said with a mean smirk.

"You're one to talk." Helen chided and elbowed Marian lightly.

"What? I'm old!" Marian exclaimed.

"Exactly. Disapproving of André marrying a sixteen year old. Now that's hypocrisy!" Helen laughed.

Marian laughed as well. "I suppose one might argue that. One might."

"One just did." Helen smirked with a mischevious sparkle in her eye.

"Is the Empress coming?"

"Yes." Helen answered with a sigh.

Marian nodded a little.

"I wonder if he'll introduce her... to Madame de Montmanuel, I mean." Helen wondered.

"That would certainly be awkward." Marian said.

"It's his own fault." Helen said with more than the tiniest bit of self-satisfaction.

"It is." Marian said. "Although he wasn't married at the time."

"She was." Helen replied quietly with a shrug, looking about the room to make sure nobody was listening.

"I suppose so." Marian said. "Albeit it is hard to have any sympathy for Montmanuel after seeing the news from Marlund... butcher..."

"Mari!" Helen frowned. "That wasn't his fault!"

"Yes." Marian said. "It really, really was."

"No it wasn't! He wasn't able to think straight, because of her." Helen replied.

"That's a flimsy excuse for murder." Marian said coldly.

"Besides, it's not his fault those terrorists were hiding in people's homes." Helen frowned.

"It is his fault he blew their homes up knowing there were innocent people inside." Marian said.

"How could he know that?" Helen asked.

"He was getting reports."

"You don't know that." Helen sighed. "Let's not be too hasty to judge."

"Oh?" Marian asked sharply.

"Judge not lest you be judged." Helen said, matter-of-factly, crossing her arms in front of her.

"Thou shalt not commit murder." Marian responded.

"Bah!" Helen exclaimed, and got up off the lounge.

Marian just watched.

"I have to say goodbye to grand-papa, he's going back to New Rome now, I have to see him off." Helen said, indicating to the clock on the wall behind her. "Would you like to come with me?"

"Certainly." Marian said, moving to follow.

Helen smiled and offered Marian her hand to hold. Marian took her hand and the two walked hand-in-hand to the palace entrance to bid farewell to the Duke of Adrienople.

(OOC: Would it be alright if I had a character rp in this thread: Return to New Constantinople? I honestly don't know where you're headed in this, or if you're accepting anyone to join. I couldn't contact you using the T.G. feature so I'm sorry that this OOC post is here.)

As she and Helen walked to say fairwell to the Duke of Adrienople, Marian let her mind wander to all the things that had changed in New Constantinople and the things which had stayed the same. At her instigation, a private Pantocratorian charity had set up shop in Mortville to help the largely unemployed, underemployed, and poorly employed population of the country find jobs. She'd instituted a neighborhood watch program to help bring the rule of law to the county. She'd set up a neighborhood council and instituted normal collection methods for reasonable rents (with the help of Princess Christiana of Excalbia). She'd even gotten Prince Andreus to fund a free public swimming pool for low-income families. In short, she'd used her delegated right to directly govern her own county, unique among the courtiers of the Despotic Court, to try and normalize life in this one little neighborhood and she'd had some sucess. Still, Mortville had almost none of the amenities which even the poorest people in the rest of Pantocratoria took for granted and the rest of New Constantinople was almost the same as it had always been, except for the normalization of rent collection methods and the creation of the swimming pool.

"I'M SICK OF HER!" Andreus, Despot of New Constantinople, and Prince Consort of Lavenrunz screamed at the top of his lungs. While the guards in the room didn't budge, the Despot's butler visibly shrank from his master's rage as he paced up and down the room, his handsome face twisted with anger. He picked up a gold-framed photograph of his wife, Empress Aurora, which was sitting on a small nearby table, and flung it as hard as he could into the wall, shattering the glass and bending the frame out of shape, not to mention damaging the plaster.

He was standing in his apartments in the Imperial Court of Christ Pantocrator, the apartments which he was due to leave that afternoon for New Constantinople and his long neglected pleasure palace. An hour ago, Aurora had informed him that an emergency in Hofburg necessitated her immediate return to Lavenrunz. At first she had wanted him to return with her, but he would have none of it. He had waited too long to return to the Despotic Court, where he was the centre of attention, where everything existed only for his pleasure. When they were married they had agreed to split their time between Lavenrunz and New Constantinople, spending four fifths of the year in Lavenrunz and one fifth in New Constantinople. The New Constantinople stay had been deferred long enough, and now, back in Pantocratoria, Andreus had come too far and waited too long to go back now. He was sick and tired of the Palace of the Moon and Stars, sick and tired of the Lavenrunzian Court, sick and tired of Hofburg, sick and tired of speaking German, and most of all, sick and tired of being second fiddle to Aurora. He had insisted that he had to go to New Constantinople, that he had business to attend to there - was he not its ruler, after all? - that he couldn't possibly return to Hofburg now. He hoped she would relent. From his perspective, it was most selfish of Aurora to put her position of Empress above her position of his wife, and above his own interests. She didn't relent - Lavenrunz beckoned, and Aurora returned, without Andreus. The incensed Despot still couldn't believe it, but he was determined to go through with his planned stay in New Constantinople in any event.

"Monseigneur..." the butler ventured. "Your flight to New Constantinople departs shortly..."

"I've had it with her!" Andreus shrieked at him.

"Monseigneur, the flight..." the butler whispered.

"IT CAN WAIT FOR ME!" Andreus barked, before picking up the table from which he had taken the photograph, and smashing it against the marble floor. "At least it will wait for me! Bitch! Don't I always wait on her?"

The butler backed away slowly. The guards did nothing. Andreus balled his fists so tight his knuckles went bright white as he breathed in and out in jagged, angry breaths. A page hurried into the room quietly.

"Monseigneur, Her Highness Princess Zoë is here to see you, shall I ask her to wait out..." the page started.

"André, what happened here?" Zoë gasped as she entered the room behind the page, evidently not wishing to wait for his return.

"Hmmm?" Andreus turned towards Zoë's voice, his fists still balled in anger, but his face untwisting itself and his tone returning to its usual nonchalance. "Oh... the table... erm... Zoë, are you here to see me off?"

"Everybody's waiting for you in the great hall, to say goodbye." Zoë said, frowning at the smashed furniture.

"Oh. Yes, my flight's soon." Andreus nodded, his fists unballing themselves as he returned to his usual calm demeanour.

"What did you do to the table?" Zoë asked, curiously. She took a few steps forward, but was afraid to come much closer in case her brother had another fit of whatever caused him to take out his frustration on the furniture.

"Smashed it, of course. I would've thought that much was obvious." Andreus smiled and answered quickly as if it were the most normal thing in the world. He walked over to Zoë and put his arm around his shoulder, and then walked with her out of the room. "Come, petite, let's go and let me say goodbye to the court. You know, you're becoming quite a beautiful young lady, ma cherie. You get lovelier every time I see you, you really do. Such a shame that I get to see so little of you these days..."

Zoë blushed and smiled, the table forgotten, as she and Andreus left the apartments for the great hall.

"Do you think His Highness will bring any Lavenrunzians with him?" Marian inquired of Helen as they continued on their walk through the halls of the Despotic Palace.

"I know he's developed something of a distaste for the two Archdukes but I was somewhat hoping to meet Archduchess Raven. It must have been very hard for her to live through all the controversy surrounding her adoption." Marian continued.

"I hope not, they're horrible people." Helen replied, the resentment quite evident in her voice.

Marian smiled gently at Helen. "I wouldn't worry about them."

"I don't. I won't." Helen nodded as they arrived at the entrance of the palace. "In fact, let's not talk anymore about them."

"Alright. What shall we talk about?" Marian commented.

"Well, let's say goodbye to Grandfather." Helen smiled, letting go of Marian's hand to move over to the open door of the waiting limousine.

The door guards, of the Despotic Infantry Legion, snapped to attention as the Duke of Adrienople emerged from the palace doors in a few minutes. The courtiers lined up to bid him farewell as he moved along the line towards the limousine, one at a time. He reached Marian and his handsome old face curled up into a particularly fond smile.

Marian grinned back, peering up at the old man. "Take care, Your Grace." she ventured. "It was very nice having you here."

"It has been very nice being here." the Duke replied. He took her hand and patted it gently. "Look after my granddaughter, mademoiselle. You're the only person here who will, now."

Marian coloured ever so slightly as she nodded. "You know I will."

Mathieu d'Adrienople nodded and smiled back at her quietly, before moving down the line to Helen at the limousine's door. He embraced Helen tenderly and kissed her on each cheek.

"Goodbye, Grandfather..." Helen said, hugging him back. "You make sure Maman takes good care of you in New Rome, won't you? Papa keeps her hands full but you need her more than he does."

"I can take care of myself." he replied, a mock complaint. "Give my regards to His Highness the Despot upon his arrival, but don't let him tease you or humiliate you, that man..."

"Grandfather!" Helen gasped. "André..."

"Don't let him dress you up as a... Turkish concubine, you're an Imperial Princess, and you're my granddaughter, and you deserve respect." the Duke insisted. "Maybe I'm just being a crotchety old man, but..."

Marian watched silently as they said goodbye.

"No, you're being very sweet." Helen replied, although she was blushing. She kissed the Duke on the cheek. "Goodbye, Grandfather."

The Duke smiled and got into the car. In a few moments, he was gone, and the courtiers began to unceremoniously slink off. Helen turned to Marian with a subdued smile.

Marian smiled back softly. "I like your grandfather."

"I worry about him now that Grandmother is dead..." Helen sighed. "And he misses Marie terribly."

"How much longer is her term?" Marian asked.

"She serves with the pleasure of the Emperor." Helen shrugged with a touch of melancholy. "If she were a regular government appointment for whom that statement was not literally true, then it would be a four year term..."

"And it's barely been one." Marian commented.

"Just a year?" Helen said quietly. "It seems much longer. She looked so thin at the wedding..."

"Do you think she's alright?" Marian asked.

"No, I think she's miserable." Helen confided quietly. "Let's go back inside, I'm getting cold..."

"But..." Marian started, moving to follow Helen.

"But what?" Helen asked. "Would you prefer to stay outside? Take a stroll in the gardens perhaps?"

"No." Marian answered distractedly.

"Then what?" Helen asked as they walked back through the halls and salons of the Despotic Court.

"Don't worry about it." Marian said.

"I have something to show you..." Helen said, a touch of mischief about her, after a few moments silence. "Let's not return to the drawing room we were in earlier, let's go to the library."

"Alright..." Marian answered curiously.

Helen grinned mischeviously and took Marian's hand in hers again. The pace quickened as she excitedly pulled Marian along the twisting corridors to the palace's library. Marian followed swiftly, her curiosity growing by the moment. They arrived at the library, and Helen pulled her over to a couch, and almost shoved her down into it she was so enthusiastic. She grinned down at Marian when she had seated herself.

Marian blinked at a little at Helen's eagerness. "So what's the surprise?"

"I'll be right back..." Helen said, before turning rather quickly on the slender heels of her delicate silver shoes. She scurried off behind a shelf of books in what Marian recognised as the periodicals section of the library. Marian sat quietly, just watching. Helen quickly returned with a French-language version of a popular magazine from Tarasovka, called "Empire's Diaries". She opened it up to an interview with Archduchess Vethara (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=10868334&postcount=39) and handed it to Marian. "Read this!"

"Archduchesses in their underwear!" Marian exclaimed with a giggle.

"Not just archduchesses." Helen said mysteriously and sat down to Marian. She fluttered her eyelids mischeviously and bit her lower lip gently while she looked over Marian's shoulder as the other woman finished reading the article.

"You want me to do it?" Marian asked with a light blush.

"No!" Helen frowned. "Well, I mean, you could... but... you're very beautiful, Mari... I know you're sometimes self-conscious about your new body... but no, that wasn't what I meant."

"Marie?" Marian asked.

"My sister?" Helen asked, looking a little upset.

"You said she was upset recently." Marian explained. "I didn't...just tell me!"

"She also looks like your king has been keeping her in a cellar and feeding her nothing but crumbs!" Helen scowled. "Now you've spoiled it..."

"I'm sorry..." Marian said sulkily.

Helen sighed. After a minute or so of silence, she cuddled up to Marian, sliding herself underneath her right arm and resting her head on her shoulder.

Marian squeezed Helen gently. "Is it you then?"

"Yes, I agreed to do it!" Helen grinned. "I decided that if I was going to have to prance around half-naked, it may as well be for a better cause than being the butt of one of André's jokes..."

"What will your parents say?" Marian asked.

"Papa will probably be very upset!" Helen observed, biting her lower lip. Her expression was hard to read, as if she had mixed emotions about what her parents would say. Marian paused, thoughtful. "Maman will... I don't know, it's not important. But I wanted to do it. If they're upset, then I don't care, I still wanted to do it."

"Alright." Marian said, kissing her gently on the forehead.

"Want to see the things I'm thinking of wearing? I can't quite make up my mind..." Helen whispered, kissing Marian's neck softly.

"I'd love to." Marian answered.

"I'm wearing one set now... want to help me out of this dress?" Helen asked, kissing Marian and leaning over her, reaching her hands behind her back to fumble with the light blue ribbons tied in pretty bows which held the back of her dress.

"In the library?" Marian asked in surprise.

"If the librarian sees, he won't be seeing anything millions of others won't be seeing soon." Helen said breathlessly.

Marian laughed lightly. "I suppose not. It will have to raise a lot of money having the most beautiful woman in the world posing for this. Archduchess Vethara must be very grateful."

The courtiers buzzed with a combination of confused excitement and the self-righteous indignation of minorly inconvenienced aristocrats as they were asked to await the Despot in the ballroom rather than greet him out the front of the palace as his car pulled up. Helen and Marian moved with the other courtiers into the hall where they were guided into place, leaving a large area in a rough circle free in the centre of the ballroom. Marian moved elegantly next to Helen, silent for now. Her gaze moved swiftly to the door of the ballroom as she awaited her lord.

The assembled orchestra began to play Lully's Xerxes ballet and there was a collective gasp of surprise as hatches opened in the ceiling, from which descended a dozen acrobats, six men and six women, suspended from wires, dressed in Hellenic garb, their skin painted silver. The men looked like ancient Greek warrior-sailors, and the women like temple maidens. All carried trumpets, and danced through the air on a slow descent to the floor, pretending to play the trumpets - the noise of trumpets and French horns really came, however, from the orchestra pit. The acrobats danced and whirled and played as they twisted through the air gracefully to the delight of the courtiers.

Marian grinned a little and murmured under her breath to Helen. "André loves a show."

"Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose..." Helen murmured back, biting her lower lip faintly and rolling her eyes.

"I wonder how many applicants there were for that." Marian pondered.

"For what?" Helen asked.

A nearby courtier scowled at the chattering women. A much larger hatch opened in the ceiling as the dancing acrobats reached the floor. They deftly detached themselves from their wires which were retrieved through the same hatches in the ceiling from which they had descended, and began dancing with their assigned partners in the style of a more conventional ballet. When this was underway, a silver dolphin (in reality a plaster dolphin painted silver) descended from the ceiling hung on almost invisible wires, with a two-person saddle on its back of purple leather. Seated in the saddle, however, was only one person - the Despot of New Constantinople, dressed as one might imagine Andreus envisioned Poseidon, carrying a trident of solid silver, and wearing an olive wreath. His clothing revealed a good deal of his impressive physique, and his expression was one of his most common - self-satisfied majesty. With his free hand he gestured his appreciation to the delighted (or sycophantic) murmuring from the courtiers below. Marian grinned a little, waving off Helen's question as Andreus's arrival brought their attention to more important things. She was genuinely glad to see him.

The music ended just as the dolphin touched the ground and the Despot dismounted. The ballet finished, leaving the dancers positioned around Andreus in various poses of adoring supplication. Andreus smiled and looked to the courtiers, gesturing again with his left hand in a sort of half-wave. The performance over, the courtiers applauded and bowed and curtsied. Marian clapped politely, making due courtesy to Prince Andreus.

"My friends, it does my heart well to see you all again after so long spent in that frozen wasteland to which I have been banished by my own nuptials." Andreus began in a booming voice. The courtiers laughed politely, although more than a few laughs were nervous. "Amphitrite wishes she could be here, or at least, so I was reliably informed by the dolphin. But I don't think I shall miss her too much, for it seems to me that the creatures in these waters are even lovelier than I remembered." His eyes settled on Marian and Helen and he smiled a somehow objectifying smile. He glanced to the other courtiers. "And now, I shall bid you all adieu for a few hours while Poseidon rests. I trust you shall all join me this evening for dinner."

The courtiers made due courtesy again and began to withdraw. Helen was about to do likewise when Andreus pointed at her and Marian and motioned them over to him with his index finger.

Marian moved towards Andreus quickly and threw her arms around him in a tight, if only friendly, hug. "We missed you, André!"

Andreus returned the embrace, although one of his hands was just a little too low for it to be classified as being as chaste a hug.

"Naturally!" Andreus replied. "I must confess that I've found the company in Hofburg somewhat lacking since your departure."

He finished hugging Marian and turned to Helen. He outstretched his arms.

"Helen, won't you greet me with a kiss?" he asked her.

"Oh..." Helen blushed, hugging him and moving to kiss him. Andreus pulled his lips just out of her range, however, and instead turned his cheek to her mouth. Helen blushed even more furiously.

Marian laughed lightly. "I hope things weren't going too poorly in Hofburg."

"It isn't my concern anymore." Andreus replied, letting go of Helen.

"I'm sorry André, I thought you wanted me to kiss you on the lips..." Helen began.

"I can understand if you can't restrain yourself, petite." Andreus replied.

"André!" Helen complained, crossing her arms and pouting at the suggestion.

"I'm so glad to be back!" Andreus smiled at Marian, sincerely this time. "The last few months have just been... so... I don't know. It's good to be home."

"Now I'm confused." Marian said.

"About what?" Andreus asked her. "You look fantastic, Marian, I'm not sure if I told you, but being a human really does become you... very much so. Anyway, please, about what are you confused, Mari?"

"Isn't your home in the ocean, Poseidon?" Marian asked.

"We're in the ocean. Smack bang in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean, in fact." Andreus informed her.

Marian rolled her eyes. Andreus grinned and winked at her.

"Come with me, both of you, keep me company for the afternoon." Andreus asked, although his tone didn't really sound like it was a question.

"Of course, Poseidon." Marian answered him.

"Don't be tedious, Mari." Andreus replied abruptly. He set his trident down, leaning against the dolphin, and then offered an arm to each woman. Helen took one. Marian took his arm, frowning slightly now.

"You mustn't frown, Mari, you can get wrinkles now you're mortal." he told her.

"Don't tease her, André." Helen entreated.

"Pardon me, I shall do so no more." Andreus apologised, and headed for his apartments.

"Wrinkles?" Marian asked worriedly. "You get those from frowning?"

"Have you ever had the pleasure of meeting my aunt, Irene?" Andreus replied by way of an answer.

"So what do I do when I'm upset?" Marian asked. "I...I...What about...I don't want to..." It soon became apparent that Marian was actually quite worried about something. Nonetheless, she calmed down after a moment and followed Andreus into his apartments.

"So are you alright, Andre?" she asked. "Why do you say Hofburg is no longer your concern."

Helen initially grinned and giggled at Marian's consternation, but started cooing sympathetically when it became clear that Marian was genuinely concerned. When the trio reached Andreus' apartments, Helen and Marian sat down on a couch while Andreus took a little time to pace about his rooms in a nostalgic fashion, a satisfied smile on his face. Helen took Marian's hand in hers subtly while Andreus was admiring his dolphin bed. When Marian asked her question, the Prince turned back to the ladies and walked back closer to them to reply.

"Well..." Andreus began, affecting a non-chalant air. "I don't think I'll be going back there. Not for a while anyway."

"André!" Helen gasped, surprised. She let go of Marian's hand. "How long?"

"Oh... I haven't decided yet..." Andreus shrugged. His lips twisted momentarily as his anger seeped through his feigned calm exterior. "Until that self-absorbed, pompous little barbarian I married realises that she's not the centre of the universe and that I need to be here occasionally too."

"André!" Helen gasped again, this time bringing her hands to cover her gaping mouth. "You can't say that about Her Majesty!"

"I just did!" Andreus snapped, his eyes flashing darkly. "Don't you start telling me what to do as well! I don't take kindly to it! I'm not her creature, I'm the Despot of New Constantinople and I say and do whatever I like!"

Helen shrank slightly from the seemingly unprovoked outburst. Andreus took a deep breath and recomposed himself.

"I'm sorry, petite, I didn't mean to shout..." Andreus said, dropping the pretense of indifference. He sat down on the couch opposite the ladies. "I just... I can't explain how utterly frustrating it is being her hanger-on! She treats me like some sort of secondary concern, not her husband. She keeps me at arms length, never listens to a word I say, or if she does she listens only with suspicion, and she's disregarding of my own responsibilities back here! It was unfair of me to call her a barbarian, she's very clever and charming, in her naïve way, despite her Lavenrunzian upbringing. The rest of her court, however, are so entirely lacking in anything one might mistake for wit that they might all be accurately described as barbarians, or bores, or both, and that goes doubly for her contemptible, presumptious uncles, to whom she listens far more than she does to me. I'm sick to death of it... so I've decided, for a change, she shall have to be the one who makes concessions to me, rather than the reverse. We agreed when we were married that we'd spend a certain amount of time in New Constantinople each year. Not an excessive amount of time, mind you. Despite our long standing arrangements, she decided Hofburg couldn't spare her. Well, I have decided that Hofburg can go hang itself. I shan't leave here until she swallows her pride and asks me to return, or better still, asks to be allowed to join me here."

Marian sighed heavily. "The Lavenrunzians are...well...they're...I understand completely. I don't think Her Majesty has the...I support you completely, Andreus. Helen and I support you complerely. It's just that this is very sudden."

"Sudden?" Andreus asked. He rubbed his chin. "I suppose it might seem that way, after all, you've not been in Hofburg these past few months..."

"Thank Dana." Marian said. "But the imperial family are actually the kindest and gentlest of Lavenrunzians."

"They're barely literate barbarian thugs." Andreus answered.

"Exactly." Marian said. "The kindest and gentlest of Lavenrunzians."

"And the Empress would soon listen to the proto-verbal gruntings of her uncle than the advice of her husband." Andreus complained.

"You have friends here. You don't need Lavenrunz." Marian said.

"I'm married to the Empress, Mari, remember?" Andreus sighed. "I'm stuck with Lavenrunz. But if I'm going to be stuck with Lavenrunz, I'll be damned if I am going to play second fiddle not only to a child wife but to every ape in a uniform to whom she is distantly related. So I'm going to stay here until she realises that she's not the centre of the universe. Can we change the topic now? What's been going on here?"

"There's a new Danaan Ambassador." Marian said.

"I meant in New Constantinople." Andreus clarified.

"Oh, André, Mari's done lots of things!" Helen gushed. "Tell him, Mari!"

"Oh, well, I've done a lot of work with your officials on normalising rent collection and I was at the opening of the swimming pool and we invited in a charity to help people find good employment and we set up neighbourhood councils and a neighbourhood watch in Mortville." Marian said.

"Swimming pool? Hmmm?" Andreus asked, clearly having no idea what she was talking about.

"Remember? You approved a swimming pool?" Marian prodded.

"Uhhh..." Andreus began. He couldn't remember at all. "Oh yes, of course. What's a neighbourhood council, Mari?"

"It's sort of like a really small parliamentary body concerned with one neighborhood." she explained.

"What?" Andreus frowned. "What does it do?"

"It talks about beautification and cleaning up litter and crime prevention and keeping out drugs and things of that sort." Marian said excitedly.

"And asides from talking, what does it do?" Andreus asked suspiciously. He sat down next to Marian.

"It does all the things it talks about." Marian answered.

"Mari, this is terrible, it's got to stop!" Andreus said urgently, appalled by the idea.

"I won't be a party to stopping it." Marian said. "I couldn't live with myself."

"Mari, you don't understand..." Andreus began. "That neighbourhood council of yours is the only council in the whole Despotate! We can't have that!"

"We should have more then." Marian said.

"More?" Andreus began incredulously. "I take it this monstrosity is elected?"

"No...They elect their own officers, but the body itself isn't elected." Marian replied.

"Well thank God..." Andreus sighed, calming down. "By what authority do they act?"

"It's a volunteer group. It consists of anyone who volunteers." Marian said. "Under my protection."

"Well..." Andreus shifted in his seat uncomfortably. "Just anybody can participate? Anybody can just show up and become a member of this council?"

"Anyone who wants to help, yes." Marian answered.

"My God, so it's direct democracy?" Andreus blanched.

"You could describe it that way." Marian said in a slightly baffled tone.

"It can't be!" Andreus began. "We mustn't have democracy in New Constantinople, it will be an end to Despotic prerogative!"

"So you want to go back to shooting and raping in the streets and rule over a kingdom of poverty and suffering?" Marian asked angrily.

"That didn't happen!" Andreus replied. "Look, I fully support you improving the quality of life in Mortville, Mari, I think it's very charitable of you. But I can't have you going about creating democracies. Soon everybody will want a say in how things are run, and that won't do. So, you can keep your neighbourhood council, but you can't keep letting anybody volunteer and participate in its decision making. An appointed council, now, that would be fine."

"This is such ridiculous nitpicking." Marian said. "You're acting like someone just proclaimed themselves president of the Despotate because people are getting together and picking up litter. And you know perfectly well it did happen, even if you didn't pay as much attention to the inquiries as Princess Chrisiana and I did." Marian continued, her temper not cooling.

"Mari, people can get together and do what they want, but I want no democratic legislatures or local governments in any part of the Despotate, Mortville included, am I clear?" Andreus insisted.

"Crystal." Marian said, standing up and leaving the room.

"I didn't..." Andreus started as Marian left the room. He looked back to Helen. "I didn't dismiss her!"

"André, you've been away for a long time..." Helen began. "She had to do what she thought was right, it wasn't as if you were taking any interest in what she was doing from Hofburg, after all..."

"True enough..." Andreus conceded. "Anyway... I think I should change... it's lovely to see you again, petite."

"Am I dismissed?" Helen asked, unsure after his outburst just a few moments ago whether it was safe to take permission to leave as granted.

"Of course. I'll see you later." the Despot replied with a smile.

"Bye bye, André." Helen smiled as she rose. She turned and followed Marian out of the room.

Helen left her cousin's chambers and looked about the hallway, wondering where Marian went. She turned to one of the guards.

"Did you see where Mademoiselle de Mortville went? Which way did she go?" Helen asked.

"That way, Your Highness." the guard answered, pointing in the direction Marian went. Helen walked off in that direction and the guards exchanged knowing glances. The nature of the relationship between the two women was a subject for much gossip amongst the palace guards and serving staff.

Marian had, in fact, headed towards her chambers in something of a hurry. Helen followed afterwards at a slow pace, asking for directions from the staff along the way until she concluded that Marian had gone to her chambers. None of the staff told her that Marian had been in a hurry because Helen didn't ask anything more than just what way she went, and the staff were so used to speaking only when spoken to that they didn't even realise that it might be helpful to volunteer that information. When Helen reached Marian's door, she knocked lightly.

"Come in!" Marian called out.

"You must have been just ahead of me, Mari..." Helen began as she entered.

"He's not coming, is he?" Marian asked. She had changed rather rapidly into a pair of black shorts, a white t-shirt, and some plastic flip-flops. Her gown lay more torn off of her than removed. She was hurriedly stuffing things into bags.

"Mari, what are you doing?" Helen frowned in concern.

"Going away." Marian answered.

"Where?" Helen asked, incredulously.

"New Jerusalem." Marian answered.

"What?" Helen gasped. She was clearly angry. She put her hands on her hips. "You're just up and leaving me?"

"You're coming with me." Marian replied. "Let's go."

"What?" Helen demanded again. "We can't just go to New Jerusalem. What's the problem?"

"Sure we can." Marian answered. "We can afford it."

"I'm not going to New Jerusalem with you now tell me what's going on!" Helen yelled at her.

"Well, there's nothing left for me to do here that's for damned sure." Marian said.

"I can't believe it. He's back for thirty minutes and you're doing this again!" Helen scoffed. "Be sensible, will you? He told you to change one thing! One! There's plenty for you to do here! Stop being so melodramatic just because he's back!"

"It's not just because he's back." Marian said. "And I'm not doing anything."

"You're packing your bags because you had one little argument!" Helen pointed out.

"He comes back after not doing anything and just casually undoes what I've been working on for months to try to help him in a fit of pique." Marian said.

"So go then. Let him undo everything else too." Helen shrugged.

"This isn't what I need right now, Helen." Marian answered.

"What do you need right now?" Helen asked.

"Not being spoken to like a disobedient child." Marian answered.

"So stop acting like a child!" Helen replied, exasperated. "André did what he always does! You've been able to talk him around with everything else! Why are you just packing up and running away? And why New Jerusalem of all places, it's cold and grey there..."

"Because he doesn't actually care two figs about me and he only ever lets himself be talked around because he cares even less about his responsibilities." Marian said.

"I care about you, Mari." Helen said, suddenly changing her tone, now crossing her arms and pouting. "I don't want to go to New Jerusalem."

"Then help." Marian said impatiently, starting to sound a little frustrated now.

"Help what? Packing? I don't see how that would help." Helen replied.

"Helen..." Marian whined, made even more desperate by her beloved's evident cluelessness. Helen unfolded her arms and held them open, offering to hug Marian. Marian walked over and hugged her tight. "Helen..." she pleaded again.

"Yes, Mari?" Helen asked her, hugging her back.

"Nevermind." Marian finally said resignedly.

"No, please tell me." Helen pressed.

"Helen, please.." Marian responded.

"Please what?" Helen asked. "What do you want me to do?"

"Nothing. You're humiliating me." Marian protested.

"How?" Helen frowned, letting go of Marian.

"Helen, just stop." Marian begged, her face turned a deep shade of crimson and her eyes tearing up.

"I'm not doing anything!" Helen protested.

Marian sat back down on her bed. "Alright. I won't leave."

"Good." Helen smiled. "Don't worry Mari, you'll change André's mind, you always do."

"Maybe." Marian said.

"Maybe if you explain to him what this neighbourhood council actually is," Helen offered. "He will realise it isn't anything to be worried about."

Marian just nodded. Helen knelt down on the floor by Marian's feet and lifted one of them up. She removed the sandal and then put the foot back down. She looked up and grinned at Marian.

"What?" Marian asked.

"I'm getting you unchanged." Helen told her, and then removed Marian's other sandal.

"Oh." Marian said.

"I don't think sandals, shorts and a shirt really work for you." Helen said matter-of-factly as she stood up and put her arms around Marian's waist.

"Maybe not." Marian conceded.

"Are you going to help me or do I have to do the rest of this?" Helen asked her, slipping her hands underneath Marian's top.

"I'll be changed in a few minutes." Marian said.

"Oh..." Helen said, withdrawing her hands. "You... want me to go then?"

"Just give me a couple of minutes." Marian said.

"Sure..." Helen said. She started slowly to leave the room. "Do you... want me to see if André is changed yet?"

"Yeah..." Marian answered. "...and Helen..."

"Yes, Mari?" Helen asked, standing by the door.

"Thank you, dearest." Marian said.

"See you soon!" Helen grinned, before ducking out of the room.

While Helen was gone, Marian changed back into her gown and sat down on the edge of her bed, waiting for Andreus.

After a few moments, a still furious and distraught Marian stood up and began pacing her room.

The Despot of New Constantinople, however, wasn't coming. He fully expected that Marian would attempt to get his approval for her neighbourhood councils scheme at her next convenience, and certainly didn't feel like he was the one who needed to do any apologising. He showered and changed, a process which took about an hour, all told. Helen arrived midway through to find that he wasn't finished changing. She was told that the Despot would be told that she was looking for him, and then she departed back for Marian's chambers. She was admitted by the staff into the antechamber, and scratched at Marian's door.

"Mari? André's not changed yet. May I come in?" she asked.

“Come.” Marian said quickly. As Helen entered, she was still pacing the room in a rather agitated state but Helen’s presence seemed to calm her a little. She walked over to the other woman and gave her a gentle hug before sitting on the edge of her bed, adjusting her flowing gown off-handedly.

“I suppose he’ll either come around or he won’t. I hope, at least, he isn’t under the impression that this is about the Neighborhood Councils. That’s not a real issue. He just didn’t understand what I said, I think. Although he does seem quite hostile to the people whose welfare he’s supposed to be looking after sometimes. Almost … I don’t want to say anything I can’t take back.” Marian sighed heavily and leaned forward, resting her fair chin in her small hands. Her body felt weaker than she was used to. The last year had been depressing in many small ways. It had certainly been an adjustment.

“I helped and served him even after he kidnapped me and had me hauled over the ocean in the most unsanitary, if not outright torturous, conditions. I used all my strength helping his people. I went to that dreadful country with him and put up with their barbarous insults and their carelessness with other people’s lives. I saved his name from the Lavenrunzian Archdukes at the risk of my own life. I’ve done everything I can think of to be a friend to him but he still doesn’t have it in him to care about someone else, not unless he’s trying to sleep with her at the moment.” Marian sulked bitterly.

“Well, I suppose if he’s not coming, I had best make arrangements for dinner. Would you eat with me, dearest? I promise I won’t make you have haggis again. I got the impression you didn’t much care for it. We can have anything you like.” Marian smiled slightly even as she turned a thoughtful eye to the door, going over in her head what she knew of the various courtiers of the Despotate.