Be Gentle with Me

Mica smiled warmly at Rene’s words, it felt good being with someone that knew her brother. As heavy as the grief was, she was so focused on finding Adaria she hadn’t properly mourned yet, eventually it would hit her all at once, and then she’d grieve, once she knew Addy was safe.

As if he’d wait that long to go after you, he’d come back as a spirit first and haunt you. She said with a chuckle, all while eyeing the alcohol. Nope, she needed to keep somewhat level headed, one was plenty. She sighed and then tipped her head as Rene answered her question. She felt bad for Rene and Claude. She’d gladly spend the money to send an assassin after Geralt, though apparently he had some sort of fail safe in place, that if he ever died by suspicious circumstances, Claude’s family would pay the price.

Mi querido, lo siento mucho. She muttered, she imagined there was no chance that Claude wouldn’t go to the wedding of a pair of dear friends. There’ll be lots of people there, perhaps you won’t even run into her. She wanted more than anything else to see a happy ending for Rene and Claude, but she was also a realist and there was a lot weighing against the two.

Rene chuckled with a nod, she would know her brother best. Above all things, Francesco had valued his family above all else, it had been the first thing he had scuttled to safety when the Royal house had gone into hiding. [color=#44b8ff]“Yes, she is like her father, but she has her mother in her too.”[/color] He hadn’t met Eularia often, their lives were busy ones and both couldn’t slip away often for long bouts of leisure. [color=#44b8ff]“It’s certainly going to be noisy.” [/color]

A poor attempt at trying to lighten the mood, but as her apology fell from her lips he waved it off. [color=#44b8ff]“Do not pity a man who lost and failed. Not even your brother could help the matter, how was I to?”[/color] he sighed, leaning back heavily. [color=#44b8ff]“What’s done is done, but Mica… seriously. You think we won't?”[/color] Rene scoffed, amusement not quite reaching his eyes. [color=#44b8ff]“She is the air I breathe. I’ve been suffocating these past few years, each day a slow, agonisingly silent fight.” [/color]Though pride did come before the fall, and Manchette had become overly boastful. Perhaps there were cracks to be exploited, but Rene had no eyes or ears on the inside, just rippled reports of the consequences of the man's plans.

[color=#44b8ff]“I may do something foolish. So might she. We… we are the perfect equation, Mica.”[/color] His stomach suddenly growled loudly and the unkept professor groaned. [color=#44b8ff]“I’m going to get away with, ‘I’ll eat later,’ will I?” [/color]

Mica knew what it was to not be with the person you loved. She’d spent ten years married to a man who genuinely believed he was the father of Gab, all while it was really the stable boy she’d fallen in love with. Not that Pero was a bad man, nothing like Claude’s husband, which she was endlessly thankful for. No, Pero was just a beautiful face that was sadly dumber than a box of rocks. Someone she couldn’t hate, but didn’t feel she could ever love.

It was easier for me, I never saw Antonio again after I was whisked back home to Antiva, and honestly it was nothing like the love you and Claude have for each other. Yours is the love that poets and minstrels drone on and on about. Mine was just the fleeting passions of a headstrong child acting out. She hoped she’d be done in time to attend the wedding, but even with the eluvian network, not everywhere had one, and she had no idea where the clues would take her as she went after Addy.

As the conversation moved to eating, Mica tsk’d with her tongue at the suggestion he hadn’t eaten. Knowing him as well as she did, that also brought to question how long since he’d last eaten. She realised she wasn’t going to feel good about leaving her friend until she was sure he’d eaten something. Her meeting with Maeve could easily be pushed back an hour or two.

[q]Well, no not now that you’ve told me that! Come, I’m not leaving until we’ve gone somewhere and gotten some actual food in your stomach.[q] She fussed a bit like a mother hen, she hadn’t always been like that, but ever since raising her son, she’d found she had a nurturing side she’d never imagined.

He did wonder what became of that stable boy, but Rene couldn’t deny that becoming a mother had changed Mica for the betterment. She was still the fussy, headstrong young Campana that he recalled, but her kind, nurturing hand had grown and excelled.

[color=#44b8ff]“Yes, well. We’ll see how the wedding goes,” [/color]was all he had to offer, his thoughts turning to Ettie and the pain of the marriage she was entangled in. He’d scoff at her comment about her own story, [color=#44b8ff]“Fleeting passions often leave lingering marks. The passionate, headstrong child has blossomed from it, and I bet your mother never saw that coming.”[/color]

His stomach growled and he’d lament. Of course she would not abandon him, but in the back of his mind he was grateful for her care. Had it been Lucian, Rene would not have been as forthcoming and willing to leave his chair, but for Mica, or Ophelia, certainly. The fairer sex wouldn’t be denied a reasonable request. Expelling a heavily exaggerated sigh, Rene pulled himself up to his feet, hands grasping the chairs arms to provide the leverage needed on getting him upright.

[color=#44b8ff]“Very well, but it is Thursday, remember. Avoid the paella at all costs.”[/color] Offering her his arm, the two would make their way out of his office and towards the eating hall.