Is the Law of Our Side?: Part Eight

"To suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take arms?"

November 23rd

“I don’t feel good…”

“No, don’t fall behind, Hermia. Come along, quickly.”

“Where are Father and Tybalt? And Nurse? Why aren’t they here?”

“Don’t worry, sweetheart, I will find them all. Now, be a good girl and take my hand. It’s only a little further.”

"What if the bad people coming looking for us?"

"If it isn't safe to stay here, then you two must go to the manor house as quickly as you can."

"But how do I know if we should stay or go? We didn't practice that, Mother, and I feel so strange..."

"You'll feel better soon, I promise. Just be brave until I come back."

"We have to go, right now."

"Tybalt? You're all... your hair! And w-why do you have that axe?"

"I want Father and Mother to come!"

"Shh! We have to leave now, before someone finds us. Come on."

Is the Law of Our Side?: Part Five

"I trust I may not trust thee."

November 17th

Surveying her courtroom, Lady Iden spotted a flock of fools.

The blustering debut of winter had been battering the roads, and sunlight grew more scarce by the day. Since yesterday morning, the conditions had been more forgiving - a slight warmth, roads that were not icy or even completely sodden - but they did not long promise to be. The sky-watchers predicted another storm would blow in after dusk. It was one thing to make the trek if one had a seat upon the floor, if present to give direct support. But to come only to watch? Lady Iden could not fathom such a thirst for drama, much less obeying it at one's own peril. There would be other, safer occasions to gawk at the Capulets.

Is the Law of Our Side?: Part One

"What perils past, what crosses to ensue"

November 10th

The first sovereign Duke of Verona had granted oversight of the law to those families who had most honorably upheld it before and during the Veronese Revolution. He had believed that the most dangerous corruption in a magistrate was the desire to keep a position that could be lost to the ever-changing whims of the powerful. A hereditary judiciary nullified that danger. It gave the law a sense of permanence, of timelessness. As his legal system had long outlasted his dynasty, the Duke's reasoning had been proven sound to the Veronese.

Ladies of Esteem: Part Two

"Put thyself into the trick of singularity."

September 16th 

Juliette approached the great hall with her head held high. Inside her, trepidation sparked and ate away at her confidence, one crumb at a time. Beyond the doors, the war council awaited her arrival. It was comprised of good, trustworthy people: her husband, her siblings and their spouses, her aunt and uncle Gale. These were people she loved. Their opinions and good counsel, offered in earnest, proved that they loved her as well. She didn't want any of them to be disappointed; after this meeting, some could be.

The Gray-Eyed Morn

"We mean to build... and when we see the figure of the house, then must we rate the cost of the erection."

July 28th

Knock. 

Juliette ignored the interruption, and a brief stoke of her hand ensured her husband did as well. Who knew how many quiet mornings were left to her? Her birthday, and the trouble that came with it, was only three days away. And she was not so full of recent indulgences that she cared to forgo one, either. After Will's birth, she had struggled with the idea of intimacy. She had felt a failure when her newborn son's appetite outstripped her body's capability, and her expectations for regaining her figure had grown to cover up that wound. Frank words from a few mothers in her life - her sister, her Aunt Eleanor, her mother-in-law - had recently given her courage to overlook perceived imperfections and try.

Heaven and Yourself Had Part

March 6th

"Sire and child and happy mother who all in one, one pleasing note do sing."

"I told you, it's a girl!"

"An' I told you it's a boy! Looks just like him!"

Puck threw up his hands, disturbing his currently precarious sense of balance. "What does that have t'do with anything, idiot?"

"A daughter would have my sister's eyes. They always do!" Tybalt slurred. "That one's a boy."

My Man’s as True as Steel

"Admired Miranda!"

February 1st

One look at the street on which the Palamon brothel stood sank Puck's heart. If Hermia had seen where her beloved cousin had been going all these months, she would have lost her mind. It was hardly the worst place to be found in the Old City, but it was dark and lined with nooky buildings and alleys in which people could be easily lost. For all Puck knew, every building could have been filled by honest people. His gut told him otherwise, and his mind told him to keep walking.

The inside of the brothel was a relief: it was calm and relatively clean. Puck had aimed for the common supper hour, that the place might be as empty as possible. There was only one other person in the room. The young woman behind the counter had a gimlet eye turned on him. Self-conscious, he smoothed out his coat.

"Can I help you?"

Is Your Man Secret?

"And one man in his time plays many parts."

January 21, 1520

"Shouldn't you be looking after that husband of yours?"

Younger Than She

"For what is wedlock forced but a hell?"

February 19th

As the sun set on her eldest's birthday, Goneril had retreated into her study. Children's birthdays were even worse than her own for reminding her of her age. Miranda was twenty-two, which meant Goneril was forty-four. She would be married twenty-five years come May. Twenty-five years was more than half of her life; in turn, that meant she had spent more of her life married to Albany than not. For all of that, she hadn't even the consolation of a married heiress; Miranda was as stubborn and childish at twenty-two as she had been at sixteen.

That, unlike age, was something Goneril could change.

You Do Protest

"They breathe truth that breathe their words in pain."

December 27th

The purging was progressing well, or so Georgiana had been told. While her mother and Juliette were always at the bedside, Georgiana was anywhere else, constantly in search of a few minutes of quiet. Capulet Manor had grown into the largest house in the duchy over the generations, but it felt impossibly cramped to her. Arguments popped up almost hourly. The house guards were on patrol in the corridors at all hours, the Ducal Guards were coming in and out frequently to consult with the family. Occasionally, some peace was to be found in the chapel, but her last visit had nearly dumped Georgiana into a womanly discussion between Lady Capulet and her sister. She was grateful to have bumped into Hermia during her retreat. 

An Old Accustomed Feast: Part Two

"What revels are in hand?"

December 25th

In the calm before the party, the great hall at Capulet Manor was little more than a grand extension of the family's well-worn sitting room. Miranda was entertaining Ariel with unusual patience. Juliette and Fitzwilliam were off to one side, deep in conversation. At the center of attention, as always, were Hermia and Puck's twins, Eleanor and Lysander.

To Sort Such Needful Ornaments

"But small to greater matters must give way."

Disclaimer: All opinions are the characters' and not mine. I love all of my CC!

October 19th

Mistress Starveling was overseeing the evacuation of her dominion: the seamstress' workroom at Capulet Manor. She was a fastidious but nervous woman. Lady Juliette had asked for use of the room to debate styles of gown with her friends in secrecy, and the seamstress was fretting over the works-in-progress and the general condition of the wardrobe.  Almost every piece was to go out, even the lowliest scrap of fabric. Likewise were to go the many needles and bobbins and other tools of the craft. What couldn't be carried out would be pushed aside and carefully stacked.

"I hear there are ten gowns so far," one of the needlewomen whispered to another. "Ten, can you imagine, when anything she wears on one day is better than any of our church best?"

Bitter Conduct: Part Two

"But wonder on, till truth make all things plain"

July 6th

Past midnight, Capulet Manor was wide awake and full of people. When it was announced as certain that Hermia would be giving birth, Juliette dispatched urgent notes to the family. Goneril and Regan had arrived with children and brother in tow, respectively. The children were sent to keep their own company, and Kent went with them, preferring his nieces and nephew to his father. Their husbands were not present; Albany was at home, asleep and ignorant, and Cornwall was still taking every bit of business that kept him out of Regan's reach. Consort, despite his daughters' protests, planted himself among them to wait out the birth. After four children and seven grandchildren, nothing he heard was likely to shock him.

Bitter Conduct: Part I

"Two such opposèd kings... in man as well as herbs: grace and rude will."

July 5th

A long July day was winding down. The week had been unseasonably warm, driving everyone indoors for relief from the sun. Consort Capulet remained in his bed most of the day. After recurrent fits, including the first, unfortunate episode on a staircase that had endangered his life, he was slowly convalescing. Hermia and her cousin, Miranda, fled to the front room where the family sat on summer evenings. The cousins still spent a good amount of time together. With Puck slaving in his mother's shadows most days, Hermia was as in need of company as ever. Miranda, in disgrace with her mother for disloyalty, was perfectly happy to provide it at all hours.

A Stolen Marriage Day

"Now join your hands, and with your hands your hearts."

April 12, 1518

Hampton Square was empty. It was well past the normal hour of business for the attorneys and other professionals who were the main tenants of the buildings on the square. The shops that sat below the offices were also closed. These shops and offices, as well as the square's proximity to the great building where the Council met, drew large crowds during daylight hours. It was odd to see such a bustling place so dead, Puck thought.

Access to Breathe Such Vows

"Sweet mercy is nobility's true badge."

April 12th

Hermia was not happy with the thought of how big and round her stomach would soon be.

Here Come the Capulets

June 1515 (Three Years Earlier)

"Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown"

Contessa Capulet, mother and matriarch, was admired by many in Verona. She was known as a fair and strong woman, one whom one did not need to question or wish to cross. When provoked, she acted decisively, but rarely in anger. She did not hesitate to be forgiving or harsh when it was the right course, whether in her home or the Council Chambers. The wisdom that came with age had seen her through the dark and turbulent period following her daughter's murder, and many blessed her for doing so without plunging the country into war. The loss naturally made her value peace and family more than she previous had, but she remained sharp and vigorous. Everyone, including Contessa herself, expected her to live to a ripe old age.