Tragedy

[Demeter]

Aurelie nodded and followed him outside. She leaned against a post in the fence and looked at him. Something about him changed - she could see that. She wasn't sure if she liked it - but she wasn't the one that was going to have to live with it, she was the "other woman", the one that was only good for a romp in the bed. She mentally flinched at her own harsh accuastion against her character.

"Yes?" she asked softly.

[Sky]

Staring at Aurelie for a long moment, Demetrius then began, "Last time we spoke, things didn't go as I hoped they would, so I thought that we could try again after we both had some time to think. For the past couple of weeks, Mena and I've been doing just that and I want and she wanted me to be in Léa's life." Echoing his wife's words in the wagon, Demetrius said, "Léa didn't ask to be born, but she's here and she deserves to have both a mother and a father like any other child. I had that. Mena had that. She was close to her father and as much as she hated what we did to her, she hated the idea of depriving an innocent child of a parent even more. And so we came here together to try to work things out between all of us . . ." Demetrius lapsed into silence before he said quietly, his emotions carefully controlled, "Unfortunately, there was an accident today. Our wagon rolled off a bridge and into the river and . . . I brought Mena here and Wysteria tried to save her, but she couldn't. Mena died."

[Demeter]

Aurelie was silent. "I'm sorry for your loss," she said softly, not saying any more. She'd let him do the talking and see exactly what *he* wanted to do.

[Sky]

Giving her a curt nod, Demetrius then said, "Rowen tells me that you plan to stay in Linphea; is that true? If it is, I will not lie; it does make things more complicated than they already are because I just don't know how I'm going to manage to get enough spare time to travel both here and to Bequia, Mena's home realm, to see my sons." Wearily rubbing his eyes, he continued, "Now that their mother is gone, I know that they're going to need me more than ever. And I wish that the solution to my lack of time would be to just give up my job, but I need it. If you're going to allow me to help support you and Léa, I'm going to need the money it provides me with."

[Demeter]

Aurelie bit her lower lip as she thought. "I might have to. The queen will not let me back - at least, not until her anger fades. She was not too happy to learn about Léa and the events concerning how she came to be. I have no idea what her reasoning is but it seems that she doesn't believe she can trust me and she claims that she can not have me as her lady in waiting if she can not trust me."

[Sky]

Standing with his hands shoved in his pockets, Demetrius replied passively, "The queen has certain ideas about how things should be in life - one of them being that a child should only be born in wedlock. Those are her beliefs and while she doesn't have the right to treat you as if you are a leper, she does have the right to terminate your employment if she finds your situation not in accordance with the things she wishes to affiliate herself with."

[Demeter]

Aurelie said nothing, her face a mask of sheer calm. "Nor can she stand the fact that one of her ladies wasn't pure either. I'm half Linphean, half another realm, much like the prince's beloved. If she can't handle that princess, then she can't handle anyone who's blood is quote unquote tainted."

[Sky]

Not liking where this conversation was headed, Demetrius sighed as he said, wishing that they wouldn't end up in a fight about the queen's policies, "Most of the servants in the palace are far from 'pure.' Honestly, when it comes to your blood or my blood, Her Ladyship probably won't even give it a moment's thought because it doesn't matter since there is no possibility of us ever rising above our positions in the palace. That is, there's no chance that someday we'll ever become related to her - unlike that girl Sky's currently messing around with. So there's a big difference between your blood and Christine's blood." Shaking his head, Demetrius lightly leaned against the fence and said, "But can we not talk about this anymore? That isn't the reason why I came and since I'll most likely have to leave in a few hours, we really need to stop stalling and seriously talk about Léa and the role you want me to play in her life."

[Demeter]

"Very well," Aurelie said calmly. "What role do *you* wish to play? I will not force you to do anything. It is not my place to force you to do anything." She had a feeling she'd end up agreeing to anything he said - if only to give her daughter some normality.

[Sky]

With a faint smile, Demetrius said quietly, "Perhaps the reason why we're having so much trouble working this out is because there is no way to just sit down and write out a list of things I want to be for Léa - perhaps we just have to figure things out as we go along. But I will say this much, I do wish for Léa to grow up seeing me as her father and not just some strange man who comes around every once in a while to give her mother some money. And I do want her to feel a connection to me."

[Demeter]

"All right," she said softly. "I'm going to assume that you will not be here for the christening tomorrow," she continued. "So, who do you want to stand in your place as the male influence? I was going to suggest having my half-brother stand in but that's up to you.."

[Sky]

Demetrius nodded as he answered simply, "Rowen is an old friend of mine and a good man. He is just the person I would have chosen myself."

[Demeter]

"Okay, with that taken care of, what do we do after that?" she asked. "Do you want me to send you letters to tell when she's started to walk, etc or do you want to be there? And if so, how do we do that?"

[Sky]

"Letters would be nice," Demetrius replied, his steady gaze not once leaving hers. "Of course, I would like to be there to witness the things that you mentioned and so when you write to me about them, I will try to get some time off work to come for a visit. That's the best I can promise, though. That I will try."

[Demeter]

Aurelie nodded before her expression turned to one of sorrow. "It's all my fault, and I wouldn't be surprised if you hated me. If I hadn't left Eraklyon, then you wouldn't have come here. And if you hadn't come here, your wife would still be alive. It's all my fault." A fragile wall cracked and she wept.