In the Details

[Eric Lamont]

Free time was still in abundance, and rather than let the quiet get to me I decided to explore the city. A new place each day. Today it was the art gallery. I wondered to myself why I hadn't been here before as I looked about at the paintings and mosaics.

One piece in particular stood out to me. It was a hillside in the as the centerpiece, a beautiful forest behind it. On the hill was a flock of sheep and a shepherd. He was a calm figure, looking up to the sky with wisdom beyond his years. He held a small lamb in his arms, as if that lamb were the whole world. I sighed and smiled at the simple beauty. And part of me wanted , in that moment, to drop everything and become a shepherd myself. I wanted to live the pastaural life.

[Raisa Valois]

After moving to the East Borough I had spent a fair amount of time in the Artisan's District, especially the La Confrérie Artistique, the gallery. I found that it helped inspired me with new designs for commissions, and it was just a generally pleasant place to be.

I moved to a painting with a pastoral scene that reminded me of an old Yeshuite psalm from the Tanakh. There was already someone there, staring up at it with a far away look in his eyes.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" I commented softly, barely audible but not loud enough to disturb. Maybe he didn't even hear me.

[Eric Lamont]

I nodded before it really registered that someone was speaking with me. When it did I turned around, offering a smile to the young lady. She was extremely beautiful, and in a way different than most D'Angelines. I know not why that struck me first, but it did. I then turned the rest of my body about. "Lovely. It makes me almost want to become a shepherd myself. Or at the very least, live in a place such as that." I smiled at her still before remembering niceties. "My name's Eric ... Lamont."

[Raisa Valois]

Returning his smile, I introduced myself as well. "Well met, Eric Lamont. I am Raisa Valois."

I moved closer, my eyes drawn back to the painting, but not before I took in his profile. D'Angeline through and through, I wondered at the longing in his voice. "I imagine that such a place could be found deep in the country, though it reminds me of an old Yeshuite passage."

[Eric Lamont]

I lifted my brows. That did explain the difference in her appearance. I had always been told that Yeshuites rejected Elua. They had but half the story. I was intrigued though and wondered if this painting was Yeshuite in origin as well. "It's a pleasure, Raisa. I wonder ... maybe the artist who painted this was Yeshuite?"

[Raisa Valois]

"They very well could have been," I agreed. "It would make sense; the scene would be depicting a famous psalm with the metaphor of Adonai being the shepherd, and we his flock; or the parable of the lost lamb. Or..." I gave a wry smile as I leaned in to look at the name of the artist, which was hardly Yeshuite at all. But then again, neither was mine really. "It could just be a D'Angeline longing for the tranquility of country life."

[Eric Lamont]

I chuckled good-naturedly. "Perhaps. I was a former Servant of Naamah. I'm afraid I know very little about Yeshuite ways..." I blushed a bit, the residue of Alyssum training left in me. "That's a beautiful image though. I would love to be held in the way the shepherd holds that sheep...."

I looked at the painting once more and then at her. "Do you visit the gallery often? This is my first time. I feel like I should have come here a long time ago."

[Raisa Valois]

A former servant of Naamah? I looked closer and noticed he was wearing a glove on his right hand. I wondered if he had a marque beneath his shirt and blushed at the idea that I had even thought that. What house did he belong to? I wouldn't have even been able to tell he had been of the Night Court if he hadn't told me.

"Nowadays I do," I answered his question. "I only recently moved to the area, but I've made the most of it. I too wish I'd discovered this earlier. I come here for ideas. I suppose you haven't been in the city long?"

[Eric Lamont]

I shook my head. "No, I've lived here, or at least in the Alyssum house for my whole life. Maybe as a child I came here, but I do not remember it." I paused and looked down the room a bit. "Care to walk with me?"

[Raisa Valois]

I smiled. "Okay then." As we began to walk down the gallery, I let my curiosity win over my manners. I couldn't help asking about the Night Court, it was something that I'd learned to regard with a shamed sort of awe. "What was it like, growing up in Alyssum? If you don't mind me asking..."

[Eric Lamont]

I paused, thinking through that answer. There were many times in which I romanticized my time there, and others which I focused only on the negative. "Well it was alright. I enjoyed it, for the most part. It was nice growing up in a community like that, with people who felt the same as you. One thing I have now though, in a different sense than ever before is freedom, though it came at quite the cost. "

[Raisa Valois]

Something about his tone made me refrain from prying any further, though I wondered what the cost had been. Reprimanding myself for being rude, I instead focused on the former part of his answer.

"Community. I'd envy that. It was just me and my mother when I was growing up. But I assume they're rather strict at the Night Court?" I assumed they were at any rate, sometimes it seemed like a walled up set of palaces when I visited with my mother to help with fittings.

[Eric Lamont]

I shrugged. "In somethings yes I suppose. I mean we weren't allowed out without a chaperone for fear that we might lost the gift we are to save for our debut. We have a lot of restrictions on us."

[Raisa Valois]

I nodded. "So I in some ways it's a relief to be away from it?" I could relate a little about the chaperoning, chastity was a rather big deal to Yeshuites as well, for different reasons though, I guessed. "At least now you can explore places like this gallery."

[Eric Lamont]

I nodded as we stopped to look at another painting, one a bit less innocent, showing lovers shiulouetted in an embrace behind a waterfall, light behind by a massive moon. "Very true. There are friends that I miss dearly though. And the circumstances in which I left were not pleasant to say the least. I never even reached my debut. But that's all in the past."

[Raisa Valois]

He seemed resigned, accepting of whatever had befallen him, but I imagine it would have been difficult. Night Court training was done in preparation for a life of serving Naamah, how hard it would be to turn from something you've been doing for most of your life.. .

"You still get to visit though? Maybe be a patron on occassion?" I asked. "What are you doing now that you're no longer in service?"

I looked up at the painting of an embracing couple, shielded behind a waterfall. There was something intimate about it, but it also made you feel a sense of intrusive voyeurism. A random thought flitted through my head. "I think that adepts are rather brave, to be able to give themselves over to complete strangers."

[Eric Lamont]

I shook my head. "No, not really. I don't have the money to even consider patronage. I'm a messenger boy now." I didn't add that my scars would put off many an adept. "I suppose you could look at it that way," I said with a smile. "I can't speak from experience of course, but I imagine it must be a thrill as well, venturing into the unknown every night, tasting of another lover." I was able to hold back any blush as I spoke.

[Raisa Valois]

"Mmm," I was blushing enough for the both of us and hid my awkwardness by clearing my throat. "Do you resent not being able to continue?"

[Eric Lamont]

"At times, yes. But I really try to focus more on the present in those times. An accident happened. That's life. So now I enjoy the joys of the present. Crying comes, but laughter always nips at its heals."

[Raisa Valois]

I nodded in agreement as we moved on to another painting. "That's a good philosophy to have."

[Eric Lamont]

The next painting was of a seascape and what appeared to be a group of mermaids just beneath the surface. "You should tell me something of yourself now. I know you are a Yeshuite, but little else," I told her, giving her a kind smile to match my tone.

[Raisa Valois]

"There is not much to tell." I replied. "My mother was a Yeshuite convert. She was disowned for marrying my father, and for converting for him. He died when I was four after catching the plague from one of his patients and then it was just my mother and me, taking in sewing commissions." I gave a shrug. "It's not very interesting, though I sometimes wonder about my mother's family."

[Eric Lamont]

"Well, I found it very intriguing," I told her sincerely. "Have you ever tried to make contact with your mother's family?" There was much more I wanted to ask her, but only one question at a time.

[Raisa Valois]

I was surprised by his interest, and shook my head in response to his question. "I wouldn't know where to start. It's not like I can just start sending out letters to the peerage with my standing." I fiddled absently with the end of my braid. "When my mother passed, I changed my last name back to hers, hoping that maybe someone would recognise it and word would spread, and then they'd come looking for me." Saying it out loud made it sound whimsical. "A bit silly, really, the odds of that happening are next to none, but I like to dream."

[Eric Lamont]

I smiled and touched her shoulder. "Keep dreaming, Raisa. Dreaming is what lets us know we still have hope. Hope is what keeps us from falling into the system everyone else has. It keeps you smiling in the bad times and makes the good times even better."

As much as I was enjoying the gallery I wanted to spend time with this girl. It was then an idea struck me. "Would you like to get some tea and find a place to chat?"

[Raisa Valois]

His words were comforting, there was something about his optimistic attitude in the face of adversity that drew me.

"Of course," I beamed in reply to his suggestion. "Although I'm not familiar with the eateries around here." I hadn't had the time really, between commissions.

[Eric Lamont]

I nodded. "Well I know that there's a tea shoppe not too far from here. That might be the best place. They have pastries too, should you so desire. We can eat them there, or find a nice grassy spot too, your choice."

[Raisa Valois]

The tea shoppe sounded nice, and I hadn't been there before. "Tea and pastries sound lovely. I guess we can do both, eat there then find somewhere nice to sit outside."

I smiled up at him. "Lead the way."

[Eric Lamont]

I smiled and offered her my arm. "Onward then!" I lead her out the door and pointed to a little shoppe down the street. "That's the place," I said in a chipper voice.

[Raisa Valois]

I accepted his arm and let him lead me out of the gallery and to a quaint little shop that was nearby.

"Do you come here often?" I asked as we approached it.