ｖｉｄｅｏ.

[matre]

[ vanozza is no less beautiful in the darkest gown she owns, a grey so dark it is almost black, with her dark hair plaited over her shoulder. there is no pearly hairnet today, no jewelry present. though her smile is steady and her manner never falters, she seems to have aged years in the space of a few days—and it is immediately apparent why. ]

My son, His Eminence, Cardinal Cesare Borgia, and my daughter, the Lady Lucrezia Borgia have returned to Rome.

[ they had played it too safe too long. let any snakes in the grass reveal themselves now. vanozza could trample one underfoot. ]

I wish to extend my most heartfelt thanks to those who showed my children kindness while they were here. A mother could ask for little more.

As well, if you came to an agreement with my children that would go unfulfilled due to the abrupt nature of their departure, I give my word I will honor it to the best of my ability.

[ she takes her time to breathe and look down at the simple wooden horse in her lap. her fingers run over its finely carved head. she smiles, a mother's smile, loving and warm and tinged with loss. ]

Tomorrow is the Feast of the Epiphany. When a star, brighter than any other, shone in the sky to announce the birth of Jesus Christ, and three wise kings followed the star to Bethlehem, bearing gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

When my children were young, they would polish their shoes and leave them out in preparation for the Three Magi to arrive and leave them their presents. My youngest, Gioffre, would insist upon leaving out water for their camels, as well, and his brother Juan would laugh and tell him they needed grass too and so they would collect it together. [ she laughs quietly at the memory. her hand splays over the horse. ]

I would ask a gift of a kindly Magi here: I require an escort into our frozen world. A walk tomorrow would suit me well.

[ no one will say they saw vanozza cattaneo grieve. ]

Comments

[deadlybanker]

With the transporter, time means nothing here.

These matters might well be in his past but they are still in my future.

[matre]

And they will await in your future still when you return.

[deadlybanker]

[How frustrating! He set his teeth in an effort to control his temper.]

If he is here I will find him signora. Make no mistake about that.

[matre]

[ oh, are we dropping the pleasantries now? excellent. ]

What would I mistake? Your intentions toward my children's father?

[deadlybanker]

[It's only possible to hide behind false smiles for so long. ]

Your children's father is a cruel man, kind to you and your children maybe, but his desire for power is dangerous. Even you must see that?

[matre]

[ see it? she lives it every day. in rodrigo's skeletal appearance, in the darkness in her son's eyes, in the hate that twists lucrezia. she was forced to hide within her own home when an assassin was sent to end her, her daughter and her grandson—all for their ties to rodrigo.

vanozza knows the kind of man with whom she fell in love. and love him still she does beyond good sense. else she would have packed one bag with only her necessities, left the silks and gold and silver in the palazzo rodrigo gifted to her, and returned to her husband on the hills of spain.

so many of the great families despise them—despise what they see of themselves in those they delight to call spanish bastards. they cannot tolerate having been beaten at their own game.

when vanozza speaks, it is quietly, every word measured. this, after all, is there for everyone to see. let him show his anger; vanozza shows her dignity. ]

I see a cruel man. But it is not Rodrigo. Speak no further. Leave me to my loss. Or would you push the dagger in further tonight?

[ would he murder a lonely woman too? already she sleeps with a dagger under her pillow. perhaps she needs to invest in a dog. ]

[deadlybanker]

[Cruelty is planning murders to destabilize benevolent governments, to take the power away from the people, and force peaceful nations into bloody wars where hundreds would die.

Cruelty... Oh if he knew! If he truly knew the depths Rodrigo Borgia would sink to!

Cruelty was sending a man and his children, one an ill child no more than thirteen, to hang for crimes they hadn't committed. Having that same man's wife assaulted when she protested their unlawful arrest. Their homes and lives, everything they knew destroyed in one moment.

If he had any notion these things would happen to himself and his family, that this if the future he would live when he returned to Firenze, he would not now be able to pull back the anger and find in himself the where withal to end this conversation on a more civil note.]

I am truly sorry for your loss. I did mean the words when I spoke them. There is no greater loss than a parent torn away from their children.

[His blade was for Rodrigo, not her, not her children. There was only one target.

Though... she might pick up a tail now and then on her walks. Following her would be the surest way to find Borgia.]