A Battle Unseen

[Doc]

Home of Princess Regent Nicolette Ananto-Collins
March 17, 5:30pm

"Carrie, please eat your dinner," said Nicolette. "We need to be ready for when the Chancellor visits."

Carolina poked at her pasta and tuna with her fork. "Aunt Nicki. When can I go back to school? I miss my friends... I'm tired of staying here at your house."

Nicolette looked out the window and breathed through her nose. As she thought, her eyes welled up with tears. As she blinked, her tears rolled down her face. She has taken to not putting any makeup on--she spends a lot of her time crying these days, and her makeup would be ruined soon after applying it. She was still very much in mourning, for her family, certainly, but... if she was being honest with herself, also for her and her husband's loss. She hadn't ever wanted to be a mother. Carolina was a good girl, but Nicolette had spent far too much of her time living this carefree, party girl, smoke and surf all day lifestyle, while she and Andrew would go out and close every bar down in Luxon every night... She was the definition of a socialite: Famous for being famous. Her glory days were behind her--Her Triple Crown is a distant memory and now she couldn't even qualify for one of the qualifying contests... She was out of shape and she would be considered a complete hippy burnout if she wasn't the sister of the Emperor.

And now. All that is gone and she suddenly has to be responsible for this sweet little girl who was probably in as much pain and grief as she was. How could she possibly do all the things she needed to do to raise this kid right while also having this massive job? It was so overwhelming, and in this moment, she allowed herself to envy her brother. For just five seconds.

"Aunt Nicki?" asked Carolina, snapping her out of her thoughts. Nicolette looked over and saw that her niece hadn't touched her supper. "Carrie, I told you, you have to finish your food. Ericka is going to be here any minute and she's gonna think I'm such... such a... a flake... god...."

Carolina watched her aunt, and suddenly Nicolette was so overwhelmed with self doubt and self pity. "Aunt Nicki... It's ok... I'm not hungry really..." she paused, completely unused to seeing her "fun aunt" as an emotional wreck, "... but I'll eat, ok?" She loaded pasta onto her fork and started eating the food, which was completely tasteless: Her aunt had forgotten to put any sauce or seasoning on the pasta, and maybe the Tuna was supposed to provide the flavor... But Carolina had never eaten so much tuna in her life as she had since she moved in with her aunt. Carolina mixed the peas and carrots in with the Pasta, thinking that would make it taste like something...

Nicolette looked up and saw her niece trying to measure her bites so she didn't eat too big a mouthful. "What, Carrie? Is it not good?"

Carrie looked up and put a smile on her face, "Y-yeah its good. I like the t-tuna..." But Nicolette could hear the kind lie in her voice. A new wave of tears came to her eyes and she turned her face away once more so that her niece wouldn't see her crying. Just then, the chime at the front door sounded, and Nicolette knew that the Chancellor, who had travelled from Kaliburg, was here.

As Nicolette wiped her face, again, and turned toward Carolina. "It's alright sweetie, you don't have to finish it. If you're hungry later, I can fix you a sandwich. But we need to go and greet the Chancellor now, ok?" Carolina stood silently, but thankfully she didn't have to eat this food anymore. Her aunt was a vegetarian, and did not know how to cook: Carolina was old enough to know that, but she was also old enough to know that she shouldn't say anything about it because it would hurt her aunt's feelings.

The two walked into the sitting room of the house that overlooked the Luxon Bay. A huge picture window that faced the sea was opened for the first time in the season as today was unseasonably warm, and Nicolette thought the fresh air would do the two some good. Nicolette opened the door, and the elegant and serious Lady Ericka Donahue stepped in the door way. Lady Donahue was always dressed so formally and professionally. She made Nicolette's clothes look shabby and cheap.

"Your Highness," she said, with a short proforma Bow, and then looked at Carolina, and she smiled and bowed lower, "Your Imperial Majesty, good evening." Carolina saw her, smiled and bowed as well, and Nicolette tapped her shoulder. Carolina looked up, and saw her aunt flick her head to the side, as if to say, no, not you. She then said "Thank you for coming, Lady Donahue. I appreciate you making the trip all the way down here."

"We could go to Kaliburg to see you sometime," said Carolina. "That might be fun, right Aunt Nicki?"

The Chancellor raised her head and looked the little empress in the eye and said "Your Imperial Majesty, I'd like that, maybe sometime." She then stood fully up and looked at Nicolette, and said "Sometime soon, Highness." Nicolette heard almost a warning in her expression, but she knew the Empress would have to return to the Capital at some point. Which meant that she too would have to go, to their house, to where her brother and sister in law and her nephews had lived.

"I just need a little more time, Lady Chancellor, just a little more time." she said as she tried to convince herself that she would ever be ready to move to Kaliburg. The Chancellor shot her a sharp look that clearly said "Don't take too much time." But she smiled gently then and looked back to the little girl. "Your Imperial Majesty, Your aunt and I need to do some things. Would you like to stay with us and listen?"

She wanted to go watch tv, really, but was curious about why the Chancellor had come all the way down to Luxon. The Chancellor was the most powerful, most intimidating and yet most intriguing woman that Carolina ever knew, even more than her own mother, and she had always seen her from afar, but had always been too scared to go up to her and talk with her. She had always been something of a hero to Carolina, and here she was not, asking Carolina if she wanted to stay and listen in on what must be some important business. It made Carolina feel valued and mature. Of course, the tv would be there when she was done.

"Madame Chancellor, I would like to stay and listen."

"Of course Your Imperial Majesty, but I also want you to know that it is ok to call me Ericka if you like. You don't have to."

Carolina decided to try it out. "Ericka..." no, it didn't feel right... "Maybe Madame," she said. The Chancellor nodded and Nicolette smiled, and showed the Chancellor and her niece into the living room. Once seated she went to the bar and poured herself a tumbler with black spiced rum in it, and then asked the Chancellor if she would like something to drink. The Chancellor looked up and saw her at the bar. Her face hardened in a moment and she said, "Tea, if you have any." Nicolette felt the judgement in her voice, and she starred at her own glass, then dumped it in the sink, and turned on the water boiler. It was clear by the Chancellor's request that this was not at all a social call: The tea signified that this was an informal audience.

In a minute, Nicolette brought the tea service to the coffee table. She mimicked the memory of her own mother serving tea, first to The Chancellor, who was the guest, and then to her Niece, who tried to refuse it, but the Chancellor reminded her that this was what people did when they worked together, and then, for herself. Nicolette suddenly realized she didn't have any opium to put in the tea--she remembered that her mother habitually spiked the tea at all informal audiences, but she had never acquired the taste for opium tea, and had never offered anyone any opium during the two months of her regency so far. She apologized to the Chancellor for not having opium.

Chancellor Donahue smiled, stood, and asked Carolina if she would excuse her and her aunt. "Sure," Carolina said, and sipped her tea: it was too hot just now, so Carolina blew on it to cool it. But she did smell the bergamot and was almost eager to try again too soon. Meanwhile Nicolette and Ericka walked into the hallway. Nicolette expected to be lectured by the Chancellor.

"Your Highness. are you ok?" she whispered.

"Yeah, I'm fine.... I'm yeah... I'm ok."

"Is your husband here?"

"No, he's not here right now. He's getting the planting in Suldanor ready to go with the Growers Syndicate and will be out of town until Saturday."

"Your Highness, I was speaking with your mother this week, and she and I are a little worried about you..." Nicolette rolled her eyes, and tears appeared again. Here it comes.

"You know something Ericka..."

"Listen, Your Highness," the Chancellor said in a calm voice. "You are clearly struggling here, and you are suffering. I could tell it the moment I walked in here. Have you laid your house cleaners off?"

"I don't..." she buried her face in her hands. "I don't want house cleaners... I'm just a little behind on the chores, alright? I can't even hardly get out of bed in the morning, I am so just overwhelmed and so sad all the time..."

"My Lady, I'm supposed to be here to help you, to give you guidance and to tell you what I see," said the Chancellor. "You are depressed, and you need help. A lot has been forced upon you in a very short time. Your mother has asked me, besides what we actually have to do here, to come here and ask you to come to Kaliburg. Put Carolina back in school. She needs to see her friends too and get back to her life as much as possible. It will give you a break. Come live at Cliff House and Lady Mary and I can come visit you as much as possible, until you can heal up a little. Your nation needs you healthy, your husband needs you healthy and your niece really needs you healthy."

Nicolette looked at her, tears rolling down her face, and hugged her tightly, sobbing into her hair. The Chancellor was unprepared for this, and she wasn't sure whether it was actually legal for the Princess Regent to hug the Chancellor, but she decided to roll with it, and returned the hug, a very simple act of compassion. After a few moments, Nicolette said, "I'm so sorry for messing up your hair and getting snot in it and everything. I'm not ok. I need help."

The Chancellor smiled. "I'm glad you finally said it. I could tell for a long time. Come with me back to Kaliburg. Help your niece get back to living, and you come and get healthy too." Nicolette nodded. "Shall we go tell Her Imperial Majesty together?" asked the Chancellor. Nicolette nodded again and followed the Chancellor back into the living room.

"Your Imperial Majesty?" the Chancellor said to the bored 12 year old sitting back on the couch, having long since finished her tea.

"Are we going back to Kaliburg now?" she asked.

The Chancellor looked back over at the Princess Regent, and waited. "Yes, Carrie. We are. Can you run upstairs and pack up a suitcase? We'll come back and get the rest of our stuff later, ok?" A bright smile flashed across the little girl's face, a real one this time. She popped up and run upstairs.

"I'll help you pack some stuff too," said the Chancellor. "We can do our work on the train." Nicolette nodded her head.