plots

Message 369:

Date:     Sun Dec 31 20:16:13 2000 CST
From:     Rose (#5837)
To:       *plots (#1506)
Subject:  Fair winds...

It was silly to be nervous.  Rose knew that.  But still, as she stood on the docks, watching the
 'Elesie' prepare to sail, she felt her hands trembling with what had to be unease.  She willed the
 trembling to stop, with only minor success.  This was ridiculous.
Going home.  The words seemed so foreign.  Bernia was her home now; Caer-Anglia, the Aristos. 
 Anywhere Ashram was.  Tyrell had never seemed more alien than at this moment, the seaside mansion
 she had grown up in a prison of thatch and whitewashed walls.  But the compulsions of her
 childhood were strong in her still, and she had to at least -try- to get her father's permission
 to marry.
<<Even though I'm certain he won't give it,>> she thought to herself.  <<Ashram's
 not the kind of man he ever wanted me to marry, not the kind of man who'd stoop to marrying into
 the bourgeois for money, the kind who'd sell our family the title Father craves.  He loves me. 
 -Me-.  And I won't settle for less.>>  Her chin firmed, eyes glittering with unshed tears.
Wren had wanted to come with her, but she had been firm.  It wouldn't do to have the sailors see
 her crying, nor to let them speculate on why a small boy had come to see her off. 
 <<Appearances are everything...>>  She'd left him behind, and left a note for Ashram,
 knowing he'd insist on coming along.  <<If he comes, Father will never let us leave.  He'll
 insist on Ashram staying, taking a position with the business...and I don't want that.  I can't go
 back to Tyrell, not now that I've tasted freedom.>>
She shouldered her satchel, making her way up the gangplank onto the 'Elesie', savouring the irony
 of returning on the same ship that had exiled her.  Her cabin was provided, no mention made of
 payment.  After all, going home, she was still family.  It was the return trip she wasn't so
 certain of.  Who knew what the future would bring?