Is the Law of Our Side?: Part Seven

Content warning: Click here for content warnings (potential spoilers)

A/N: If you haven't read Part Six recently, I strongly suggest skimming it before continuing.

“There’s something in his soul o'er which his melancholy sits on brood.”

November 23rd

As she alighted from her sleigh, Anne bowed her head and pulled her hood close. The sun had been shining all day, making false promises of heat. It had done little to improve the roads and nothing for the sharp nip in the air. Her first step into the Summerdreams’ foyer was a moment of utter bliss, and she went directly to the hearth for more. Anne luxuriated in the warmth for several moments before she remembered the servant standing by to take her outer garb. 

No sooner had she turned back to the glorious fire than did Oberon Summerdream himself appear out of thin air. “Are you thoroughly thawed, Anne?”

She returned his friendly greeting with a smile. A brief exchange of pleasantries couldn't hurt anything, surely. “Nearly so, but my goodness! I can’t recall ever being so bothered by cold when I used to take the children out. I fear my advanced age is rearing its head.”

“Hardly. You are forgetting that no cloth is half so warm as family.”

“Quite right.” A wistful mood swept her features, just barely elevating the corners of her small mouth. “It was a tradition in Lambton to take sleigh rides in the winter, but snow was rare enough that only people with more money than sense bought their own. The rest of us rented ours from a particularly enterprising widow, who made a tidy profit off of every snowfall. Fitzwilliam and Georgiana didn’t know what to think when I bought a very fine one for ourselves for our first winter here.” 

“The one Puck sank in your pond?”

“The very same.” 

Oberon chuckled. “Will you forgive me for admitting that to be my favorite of all the times Puck ruined a means of transport?”

“Gladly. That sleigh was a small price to pay to discover that my son was not incapable of mischief.” 

“Pardon me for saying so, but I do believe your boy was merely the accomplice to mine.” Oberon’s dark eyes shined with pride. 

Is the Law of Our Side?: Part Two

"Admit me chorus to this history"

November 10th

"Court will reconvene in one hour." 

After a tedious first half of the day, the observers in the balcony were anxious for relief. Cherry Albion stood before the magistrate's echo stopped, already adjusting her tiara. It was a stunning piece she felt well worth the trouble of actually wearing on her head. "Father?"

Glorious to This Night

"The sight of lovers feedeth those in love."

June 25th

"Who is my special boy? Who is my special boy?" 

"Gran-mo!" Little Frederick waved his arms and grinned. "Gran-mo!"

Ophelia cuddled her grandson and patted his back. Frederick's small vocabulary had never yet stopped him from talking. Much like his father had, he chattered on happily, often answering any question with the name of the person asking it. The main exception was her husband, whom Frederick had decided was also 'Gran-mo'. "Almost, my precious." Just as she considered her stepson as her own, she loved Frederick as much as she would her daughters' children.

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.