84th Summer 514AV
Late Afternoon
Late Afternoon
The Season was drawing to a close, and though Adelaide felt this knowledge strongly, the air was still heavy with Summer, sticky with the end of Summer feeling. A season like any other in Kenash - Adelaide never liked it when Spring faded away, signalling the almost unbearable heat that walked hand in hand with the next season. That is not to say that she didn't enjoy the Summer, much in the same way that she held no issue with the Autumn, when everything seemed to go tremendously quickly through the harvest days. When even she had, in the past, found herself out in the fields, indicating to the slaves where they ought to be. Every year was the same. However, in the last Season, she was overcome by the feeling that she had not done anything useful... that she had already wasted eighty-four days, in spite of the time spent helping prepare Maya for marriage, organising a Party for any dynasty member who wished to attend and setting about the preparations for re-decorating the upper level of the Mansion. On paper, she had been productive. In her mind, however, she felt like she had languished through the Summer like some sort of leech off her family. Such a thing was intolerable to the proud young woman, especially when seeing the amount of effort her Uncle Dervain put into his work and seeing how being magistrate had taxed him.
That day had certainly not been very laborious. Adelaide had taken breakfast with her Grandmother, Uncle and Father before Dervain went off to the city and Roland and Yatmina retired to their rooms, Roland announcing that he had almost finished his book (for perhaps the seventh time that year) before Adelaide went off to speak to the servants about that evening's meal and arranging a bedroom to be prepared for some merchant friend of her Father's who could arrive at any point within the next few days. Since Lunch, she had taken refuge in her own room - starting to brainwave the idea for a play she had... though the more she fleshed it out, the more she felt that such a play would probably anger quite a few people.
"And such is life." she murmured, writing down something or other about a character's unreasonable apathy for another.
It was then that she started hearing shouting outside of her window, coming from the Rose Garden. With a little start, she stood up and crossed the room, momentarily blinded by the sunlight coming in through the pane.
"What is going on?" she called irritably to one of the gardeners, who didn't seem to hear her as the shouting continued, and a group of gardeners (what looked to be most of the gardeners) started gathering around.
With a small sigh as the shouting finally faded away, Adelaide turned around and returned to her desk, going back to what she was doing. "A great number of small factions can only cause division and, ultimately, tragedy." she wrote down hurriedly.
Then the shouting started again. This time, she was feeling more than a little irritable.
"What is going on down there?" she called again.
As no answer came and the shouting only increased, she realised that it was her duty to investigate. Five chimes later, she had found her shoes (they had been under her bed) and slipped them on. And she'd thought that she was going to be able to have a day when something wouldn't go wrong for once. A day where there would be calm at the Bloodflower House and, most of her duties carried out, she could take an afternoon for herself before dinner. How silly she had been.
That day had certainly not been very laborious. Adelaide had taken breakfast with her Grandmother, Uncle and Father before Dervain went off to the city and Roland and Yatmina retired to their rooms, Roland announcing that he had almost finished his book (for perhaps the seventh time that year) before Adelaide went off to speak to the servants about that evening's meal and arranging a bedroom to be prepared for some merchant friend of her Father's who could arrive at any point within the next few days. Since Lunch, she had taken refuge in her own room - starting to brainwave the idea for a play she had... though the more she fleshed it out, the more she felt that such a play would probably anger quite a few people.
"And such is life." she murmured, writing down something or other about a character's unreasonable apathy for another.
It was then that she started hearing shouting outside of her window, coming from the Rose Garden. With a little start, she stood up and crossed the room, momentarily blinded by the sunlight coming in through the pane.
"What is going on?" she called irritably to one of the gardeners, who didn't seem to hear her as the shouting continued, and a group of gardeners (what looked to be most of the gardeners) started gathering around.
With a small sigh as the shouting finally faded away, Adelaide turned around and returned to her desk, going back to what she was doing. "A great number of small factions can only cause division and, ultimately, tragedy." she wrote down hurriedly.
Then the shouting started again. This time, she was feeling more than a little irritable.
"What is going on down there?" she called again.
As no answer came and the shouting only increased, she realised that it was her duty to investigate. Five chimes later, she had found her shoes (they had been under her bed) and slipped them on. And she'd thought that she was going to be able to have a day when something wouldn't go wrong for once. A day where there would be calm at the Bloodflower House and, most of her duties carried out, she could take an afternoon for herself before dinner. How silly she had been.
