ＯＵＴ ＯＦ ＬＵＸ discussion
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༉‧₊˚. ideas: (defo not in chronological order btw)
⊹ lyanna’s death
⊹ her mother’s death
⊹ marrying eadric
⊹ lysa’s operation
⊹ finding out about alex
⊹ finding out about artemisia
⊹ befriending lala
༉‧₊˚. elara calico (née leclaire): log.
leclaire estate; five months before the twins’ birth.
elara frowned at her elder sister, elissa. “please don’t tell me you’re pregnant again.” she was fine with her sister having the occasional affair here and then, but sometimes elissa took it too far and she wasn’t careful enough. and recently, her sister had taken a fancy to elara’s own husband, and… wait. elissa had taken a fancy to… no. oh god, no. please.
“you see, this is why i called you here.” elissa’s authoritative tone wavered ever so slightly. “i know you don’t take it nicely to being summoned, but i have to ask something of you.”
elara hadn’t been expecting much else, if she was being honest. she raised a brow. “so you can have your new child raised away from daphne so she won’t suspect anything? it doesn’t look like it has anything to do with me.” usually, she was softer, but elara had absolutely lost it with elissa recently, and being pregnant herself, she was insanely tired.
“well, yes, but…” her sister faltered. oh god, something must be seriously wrong. elissa never falters.
“daphne’s parents won’t take the new one in? and daniel still refuses to raise up his child?”
“you keep daniel out of this. and who said this is daniel’s child? he still hasn’t come back yet. he’s afraid.” daniel, the love of elissa’s life, and the father of her first child, daphne.
“well, who’s is the child then?” daniel had banished from the sister cities by their father as he was a lowly commoner and elissa was the heir to the house, but not fast for daphne to not be conceived. but if the new child wasn’t daniel’s, elara was puzzled as to who it could be. there is always the possibility— no. eadric would never betray her like that. she loved him, and he loved her, right? he had been acting suspicious with elissa, but that was her sister’s fault, not his. eadric would never. he would never. right?
elissa paused. “well, that’s the thing. you said my child has nothing to do with you, but it does.” it. of course only elissa could refer to a child - a living human - as ‘it’. but the other things she had said were the things that concerned elara much more.
“is it a servant in the calico household? i can always speak to them on your behalf.” when elissa shook her head, elara started fearing for the worst. no, it will be fine. eadric would never betray you. he loves you. he would never. he loves you. he loves you. he loves you. but with each time the phrase repeated in her mind, it started to sound mocking. he loves me. i know he does. and he has alianna to think about as well. he would never. elissa’s just overreacting. she’s tired, too. right?
“no. but i would love for you to care for my child like it’s yours.” the ‘it’ again. elara almost told her that children are not ‘it’s but she held her tongue. she knew the natural phrase in elissa’s head would have been ‘i want you to care for my child like it’s yours’ but something had really struck her sister. she would have never said ‘i would love’ instead of ‘i want’ unless it was very, very serious.
elara looked puzzled. “but why should i?”
“because…”
“none of your servants are willing to take the child in, unlike daphne?” daphne, elissa’s natural daughter, was approaching ten now and still unaware of her true mother. she had been taken in by a couple of elderly servants within the leclaire household under the pretence that her parents had died in a fire and the elderly couple had always wanted a daughter, so it was a win-win for all. but this time, elissa had other plans, it seemed.
“this has nothing to do with daphne. though speaking of her, i plan to tell her on her eighteenth birthday. the elderlies are not going to long outlive her eighteenth birthday, and i think it only fair and right that she knows.”
“that you abandoned her?” elara would never, never abandon any child in need.
“i— i suppose i did abandon her. but not by choice, and this you know. i was told to get her out of father’s sight.”
“well father’s dead, and you could have got her back.”
“and what, pretended to adopt her? i’m not katarina hayden, elara. i’m not even married. i thought you were smarter than this.”
“i don’t understand what you have against marriage. i’m married, and i couldn’t be happier.”
something like hurt or disappointment flashed across elissa’s features. or was it discomfort? elara had never been one for reading people’s faces and expressions unless it was to comfort them. and the last person she wanted to comfort right now was elissa.
“i don’t have anything against marriage. i just haven’t found the right person yet, that’s all.”
“you could marry daniel.”
“what, a commoner? you really have changed, my dear. or maybe you were always like this. weak. thoughtless. overly-caring.”
elara resisted the urge to defend herself, because it was true. she did care too much. “you didn’t seem to have a problem with that ten years ago.”
“that was ten years ago. people change.”
“you still haven’t told me about the child.”
“ah yes. about that…”
[to be finished, i’m just popping off to dinner 🫡]
