The sound of children at play slipped into the house through the aging windows. Their laughter colored Kvornan's early morning dreams, igniting long-buried memories. He saw Jennail running through the palace orchards, little more than a girl, flushed and glowing. Her dark hair battered her face as she smiled, all crooked teeth and piercing eyes. He had been so in love with her once. It was easy for him to forget those feelings during the last years of her life but recently the memories were becoming more vivid, more potent.
Kvornan pressed his fingers into his tear ducts. He regretted that Alexei left early for his bakery job. Without Alexei blathering away, Kvornan was left to the mercy his imagination. Eventually, he detangled himself from the comforter and forced his body out of bed, seeking a source of distraction.
The grandfather clock in the corridor chimed the hour as Kvornan descended the staircase. Dinner was roasting in the kitchen, filling the house with the scents of rosemary and citrus. In the parlor, Emilia sat softly humming to herself. Kvornan could not remember when he had last been in a place that was so comforting as this. Perhaps he never had.
The Garrisons were a tightly knit, rather private family and Kvornan was under the impression that Alexei had done something unprecedented in allowing an outsider into their home. Emilia had been instantly welcoming but not in the merry way that a person might normally welcome company. It was more defeatist than that. She seemed to think that Kvornan was an obligation that she couldn't shake. When Alexei first introduced him, Emilia shrugged her shoulders as if to say, What's another one? and instructed them to wash up for dinner.
Antoine made himself scarce. This suited Kvornan well enough since he had long since fallen out of the habit of communicating with people. Alexei, on the other hand, rarely left Kvornan's side. He was a motormouth and could be rather pestilential at times but Kvornan was grateful for him.
At the bottom of the steps, Kvornan placed his hands on his lower back and arched his shoulders, stretching. It had been over a year since he had last slept on a mattress and the Garrisons had insisted that he migrate from the livingroom to the fold-out bed in Alexei's room. In the time that it took for Kvornan to stretch, Emilia stopped humming. Kvornan froze where he stood.
"Why don't you come in for a sec and keep an old lady company? It's dull as tombs around here." Kvornan approached the sitting room slowly, apprehensively. With each step, he wondered how long it had been since he had been alone in a room with a woman. Perhaps years.
Emilia sat on a worn and tattered sofa, surrounded by blankets and shirts, sewing needle in hand. Kvornan paused in the doorway, clutching the wall.
"I don't want to interrupt," he said.
"Interrupt what? I'm just doing the mending. Did Alec go out?" Kvornan took the seat adjacent to Emilia, nearest to the door.
"He did, I think. Early." Emilia clicked her tongue disapprovingly.
"Boy runs around like a ferret in a minefield. He don't know where he's going but he's headed there fast and sooner or later, the ground's gonna blow up right from under him. You settling in okay?" Kvornan blinked, unsure of how to respond. He had not considered 'settling in'. Being here was only a temporary condition.
"I am. Thank you. I apologize for having been dumped in your lap, so to speak. I know that you and Antoine were not expecting me." Emilia waved dismissively.
"We was surprised is all. Our Alec doesn't normally take to folks. I mean, he takes to everyone soon as he meets 'em but then he goes off 'em just as quick. Must really like you." Kvornan shrugged. Emilia looked back down at her sewing.
"Antoine's just the opposite. He don't take to no one at first but don't think that he's cold, 'cause he ain't. He just needs a little while to get used to you." Emilia bit down on her thread and yanked, severing it from the needle. Kvornan watched her with interest. She was beautiful and reassuringly maternal. Any hesitation that he might have had about holding a conversation with her had dissolved.
"And what about you? What are you like?" he asked. Emilia smiled, her brow lowered in a way that made her look quite cunning.
"Me? I do their mending. Stick around long enough and I'll be doing yours too."
Hmmm. I wonder what sort of issues Kvornan and Jennail ran into near the end of her life. Did it have something to do with Fricorith? Or perhaps Gvaudoin?
ReplyDeleteNice establishment of the relationship between Kvornan and Emilia. He seems more at ease with her, perhaps because she seems a little more conservative than women like Tara or Jennail. It was also interesting to meet the last of the three siblings. They're quite different, but their personalities are such that they sort of balance each other out, don't they? I can't wait to see all three of them together.
Great work, Pen :)
Jennail and Kvornan simply fell out of love with one another. They married much too young and slowly drifted apart. It wasn't really anyone's fault. By the time Kvornan started perving on Gvaudoin, he and Jennail were pretty extinct. Fricorith was the only thing holding them together. His death drove Jennail nuts and Kvornan, too wrapped up in his own grief (read: selfishness) decided that he couldn't cope with his emotions in addition to hers so he had her committed. This is what Kiernan meant when he accused Kvornan of killing his wife. But this might just be Kvornan's biggest source of guilt.
ReplyDeleteBut yeah, if Kvornan has a type, Emilia isn't it. He does like her though. The more time that the spend together, the more she will remind him of his mother and Kvornan can't really pay a person any higher compliment than that.
And absolutely-- The Garrisons worked as a unit. Antoine was the brains of the operation. Alexei was the heart. Emilia was the hands. They didn't mix with other people because they didn't want to tip the balance. But also, they didn't need anyone else.
I occurs to me right now that with this body part metaphor, it is kind of funny that Alexei would be the one to bring Kvornan into the fold. The heart has lead them astray!
Thanks, Van!
There's something about Emilia and I have been trying to describe what it is. She reminds me of my grandmother. Settling in is what she would expect, or at least offer, because to offer or expect less would assume Kvornan had a place to go and put him in an awkward position if he did not.
ReplyDeletethere's so much more in this piece, but I'm having trouble focusing beyond those two. Such an odd thing for him to ask her, "What are you like?" And her answer, what she did, mending, was such a strange response, but then given who she apparently is, probably the only way she could respond. Not what am I like, but what do I do. You could say the same thing for Kvornan.
Ok I'm making more of this than I should, but I was completely fascinated. As usual!!
That's an interesting point because I don't know how much Emilia knew about Kvornan's situation. Antoine has probably given her an earful by now about the inappropriateness of having Kvornan in their household (and the danger as well) but she just isn't the sort of person to turn away anyone in need, let alone a friend of her brother's.
ReplyDeleteAnd that is Emilia-- She has spent her entire life being the person that other people come to with their problems in the hope that she'll solve them. Poor woman is never allowed to worry about her own issues because she is so burdened with everyone else's problems. Now Kvornan has wandered in looking lost like someone just waking up from a very long sleep and Emilia simply brings him in.
For the general record though, Kvornan always has somewhere to go. He is meant to be at Ethelden Palace, keeping out of sight and out of mind. But the fact is that when he wants to leave, there isn't anyone who can stop him.