( the relief of reunion is real; it will be all the realer, behind a locked door, only them. not far, then— a short trip across the harbour, hands clasped like children and their knees pressed together in the ferry, the short walk not up to the imposing structure of the gallows but cutting sideways to step back onto the (now familiar to her) tilt of her houseboat on the water. it is dark and strange and if she described it as prettier on the inside, there's pride in her expression before they reach that.
she finds it rather beautiful as it is, but alexandrie knows her well; she has a soft spot for terrible things that's never been blind to them.
it is warm and intimate and polished inside, lit with elaborately decorated hanging lanterns, and gwenaëlle bundles her directly into the gallery nearest the foyer (past the portrait of a beautiful elven woman who can only be her mother, and which must have been painted for her father), where the cushioned conversation pit takes up most of the room but for a ledge running its full exterior, the walls taken up with art pieces (some, lexie's own) interspersed by high windows. she flings her cloak carelessly, going to a latched cabinet, )
Tell me the whole of it, ( she instructs, fetching bottle, glasses, ) and you know—
you can stay, if you need.
( needn't, if she doesn't, but it's important she know. there is always a safe place for her to land. )
no subject
she finds it rather beautiful as it is, but alexandrie knows her well; she has a soft spot for terrible things that's never been blind to them.
it is warm and intimate and polished inside, lit with elaborately decorated hanging lanterns, and gwenaëlle bundles her directly into the gallery nearest the foyer (past the portrait of a beautiful elven woman who can only be her mother, and which must have been painted for her father), where the cushioned conversation pit takes up most of the room but for a ledge running its full exterior, the walls taken up with art pieces (some, lexie's own) interspersed by high windows. she flings her cloak carelessly, going to a latched cabinet, )
Tell me the whole of it, ( she instructs, fetching bottle, glasses, ) and you know—
you can stay, if you need.
( needn't, if she doesn't, but it's important she know. there is always a safe place for her to land. )