Reima Vitalis
kind hearts and coronets
Reima glanced around the room.
Even with the place stripped to bare bones, there were memories here. Mostly with George, although Uncle Pierce and Auntie Petra and Uncle Thad were there, too. Grandmama Vitalis, in her brittle grandeur, wearing a fur coat at all hours because it was so frightfully draughty even thought it really wasn't so bad near the fire. She remembered how irritated Auntie Petra used to get by those comments and she never understood until later that Grandmama Vitalis was trying to erase Natasi and Herevan from their lives as surely as their Uncle Thaddeus had.
For Thaddeus it had been a vendetta against Natasi personally. For Grandmama it was because Natasi and Herevan reminded her of the son partially buried there, in the mausoleum beyond the gardens. It was simply too painful.
"I don't think modern is the way to go," Reima said dubiously. "At least... not here. Maybe in one of the less important rooms. Do we really need a music room, when there's a grand piano in the drawing room? There are some things that just are Herevan. The red couches in here. The books. The tea table by the window. Grandfather and Grandmother's portrait. Although we'll have to find a place to put one of mother, too. She is the immediate predecessor to the current Earl and you know what tradition is here."
She sipped her drink, wincing at the sting.
"Have you decided whether you'll take the big room?"
The master suite, with its large bedroom, huge balcony overlooking the waterfall side, the enormous bathroom and huge dressing room and closets would be a little much for George now, Reima thought. "One day you'll have a Countess who will need the space. You know. Dresses, hats, grudges." She shrugged. "Don't let me talk you into anything, but imagine Mother's face if you show her to her old room in the girls' corridor. Hendersmith will have to make an exception to the ring the alarm if a man is found in the corridor if it's Dyrn."
Even with the place stripped to bare bones, there were memories here. Mostly with George, although Uncle Pierce and Auntie Petra and Uncle Thad were there, too. Grandmama Vitalis, in her brittle grandeur, wearing a fur coat at all hours because it was so frightfully draughty even thought it really wasn't so bad near the fire. She remembered how irritated Auntie Petra used to get by those comments and she never understood until later that Grandmama Vitalis was trying to erase Natasi and Herevan from their lives as surely as their Uncle Thaddeus had.
For Thaddeus it had been a vendetta against Natasi personally. For Grandmama it was because Natasi and Herevan reminded her of the son partially buried there, in the mausoleum beyond the gardens. It was simply too painful.
"I don't think modern is the way to go," Reima said dubiously. "At least... not here. Maybe in one of the less important rooms. Do we really need a music room, when there's a grand piano in the drawing room? There are some things that just are Herevan. The red couches in here. The books. The tea table by the window. Grandfather and Grandmother's portrait. Although we'll have to find a place to put one of mother, too. She is the immediate predecessor to the current Earl and you know what tradition is here."
She sipped her drink, wincing at the sting.
"Have you decided whether you'll take the big room?"
The master suite, with its large bedroom, huge balcony overlooking the waterfall side, the enormous bathroom and huge dressing room and closets would be a little much for George now, Reima thought. "One day you'll have a Countess who will need the space. You know. Dresses, hats, grudges." She shrugged. "Don't let me talk you into anything, but imagine Mother's face if you show her to her old room in the girls' corridor. Hendersmith will have to make an exception to the ring the alarm if a man is found in the corridor if it's Dyrn."
