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Re: Guidebook: Chelsea

 

Postby Temperance » Mon Jan 07, 2013 2:43 am

Lady Alyth's house

 

The new home of the Dowager Countess of Alyth and her daughter was set in a lovely area of Chelsea. The drive up to the house was paved in a pale granite composite gravel, obviously fairly new in construction as it is almost completely free of holes or dips. On either side of the drive is a row of stately trees with branches just starting to spread wide over head as one nears the house. The drive becomes a circle in front of the steps leading to the front door, then loops back on itself. Off to the side of the house one can see the carriage house and the nearby stable. The front is also surrounded by a garden. Roses line the front of the house while ornamental trees provide shade and whimsy to the yard.

 

The house itself is a full three stories plus attic made of granite. It is up by the attic where the servants have their rooms but most rooms have a window to allow for cooling during hot summer months. On the first floor is the common area. Here you would find the Dining room, Library, North and South parlor, Music room and attached Orangery. The kitchen is also found down here along with the larder and steps down into the cellar. As close to the river as the house is, it sometimes gets a bit damp down in the cellar, so shelves were installed to help keep things up off the floor.

 

The second floor consists of the family rooms. The master bedroom and attached lady’s room share a walk in closet. Lady Alyth sleeps in the Master’s room. Down the hall is the nursery, where Nessia sleeps. More rooms have been set aside for the rest of the MacBain girls in case Cat sees to have them come down. Down at the end of the hall is the room set aside for Douglas, should he wish to stay with them.

 

Feeling just slightly better than warmed up cat vomit, Cat made her way down the stairs to the kitchen. Her hair was a rat's nest, her nose red and stuffy, and she still had a slight cough, but for the first time in a week, she could stand on her own two feet without wanting to tip over. A victory in her eyes, Cat thought as she put on a pot of water to boil for tea. Now, to find fixings for toast.

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She was gone!

 

Fear gripped Shona's heart when she went to check on Cat and found her bed empty. She had spent a lot of time with her eldest sister when she was ill, and looked in on her every morning as soon as she woke up. But now she wasn't there!

 

Leaving the room, she ran to the landing and down the stairs. Hearing activity in the kitchen, she ran in that direction, stopping in the doorway when she saw Cat preparing tea. Relief flooded through the young girl's soul and she was pleased that her sister felt well enough to get up.

 

“Are you sure you shouldn't still be in bed?” Shona asked. “I could have fixed tea and brought you breakfast.” She didn't possess Cat's culinary skills, nor did she have any interest in learning to cook, but she could have asked a servant to make something.

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Cat's head turned at the sound of the kitchen door opening and found herself staring down at her second youngest sister's frown. The frown, so similar to the one that could grace her own lips, instead caused her to smile, but just barely. Her little sister might be quiet, but she was also as stubborn as a mule. A very MacBain trait, as all four siblings were blessed (or cursed) with it. "If I had to look at those walls for one more minute, I'd have gone completely mad. I feel much better," she replied at Shona's questions. Plus, the idea of any of her sisters attempting to do anything in the kitchen beyond taste testing for her was both terrifying and hilarious.

 

As she waited for the water to boil, she slipped into the pantry and brought out a plate of scones that their cook had made the night prior. Cat believed they weren't nearly as good as her own, but then again, the Scot was never one for self-doubt. Placing the plate on the kitchen table, she sat down with a less than lady-like thump. There was only so much she could do, so soon out of bed. "You'd best sit and eat then get ready for church," she instructed as she pulled out a handkerchief and delicately dabbed at her red nose.

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To Shona's credit, she did know how to make tea, but it wasn't the best tea in the world. She let the leaves seep for too long and it turned out being a bit bitter. And, in truth, she had only tried it once and the poor result, plus the fact that Fiona had pretended to gag and Aileen had made a face, convinced her never to try again.

 

“I think I would feel the same way and I'm glad you're feeling better.” Her stomach rumbled when she saw the croissants and she sat down, her frown returning when her sister mentioned church. She dreaded any kind of outing that forced her to socialize and wished she could stay at home and read or embroider instead.

 

“You're going to church like that?” Fiona's sardonic voice proceeded her into the room and she walked over to her sister and studied her closely. “Forgive my honesty, Cat, but you look like hell.”

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Shona's remark on how she looked caused Cat to raise a brow. Yes, she knew right now she looked horrible. Her hair was a mess, her face showed reminders of the illness she was just getting over and she was still in comfortable clothes. "That is why the good Lord created cosmetics," she intoned in her most superior tone. "I may not look my absolute best at this moment, but there are tricks a lady can do to hide some flaws."

 

Taking the water off the boil, she poured it into a pretty tea pot with the MacBain crest on it. It was one of Cat's preferred blends. One of a blend with citrus notes over a black tea. She was just starting to be able to smell it. Yeah, she could breathe through her nose again!

 

Returning to the table, she poured out two cups of tea as she settled down, taking a scone for herself. "So yes, even though I look like hell, we are going to church." Cat turned to face Fiona, giving her a cool look. "Your honesty is appreciated, Fi."

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“Well, that's a first,” Fiona replied, more concerned about her sister than she pretended to be. She must still be ill not to take offense at a comment like the one she had just made, and she had actually been hoping to get a rise out of her. Shrugging, she retrieved a cup, sat down beside Shona, and poured herself some tea.

 

“Not even cosmetics can hide sniffling and coughing. But I perfectly understand that you want to get out of the house. I don't think I could have stayed in bed so long if I had been the one who fell ill.” Fiona was notoriously cranky, demanding, and annoying when she was sick ... and sometimes when she wasn't.

 

Before she could say anything else, Aileen came bounding down the stairs, her long auburn hair bouncing against her back. “Cat!” she exclaimed, reaching out to hug her sister but stopping when she saw the scone in her hands. “You're all better! Now we don't have to listen to Dougie anymore!” Her eyes widened. “He wouldn't even let me go to the ball!”

 

“You're too young for balls,” Fiona said, rolling her eyes.

 

“Am not!” Aileen put her hands on her hips and glared at her.

 

“Are too!”

 

“Am not!”

 

“Are too!”

 

Shona ignored them and bit into a croissant.

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If there were a contest in this family for worst patient, Fiona would win, though just by a hair. Aileen was a cuddler when ill; Shona normally slept through it, though she had been known to sleep walk as well. But Fiona...she was at death's door at the sign of a sniffle. The world was coming to an end. She needed everything at that precise moment, if not 10 minutes before she thought of it.

 

But before she could agree with her dramatic sister, the youngest burst into the kitchen. Handing Aileen the scone in her hand, Cat then reached out to give her littlest sister a hug. Then, she reached for another. Before she could respond, her siblings were once again acting like siblings. Putting her fingers between her lips, she let out a shrill whistle that she had learned from the stable hands while growing up and hiding from her parents. It had worked more than once at silencing a squabble. The sound hurt her head, but she opted not to show it, except for a wince. She had to be strong for the girls, which required faking not having a headache.

 

"You should always listen to Douglas, he is your elder," she informed Aileen. "And you are still too young for the balls." Cat knew what went on at balls. Though, through sheer dumb luck, she wasn't aware of what Fiona got up to at them. "But soon. Don't rush getting older. It isn't as fun as it looks like. Stay young for as long as you can." Having had to grow up well before her time, Cat knew what she was talking about.

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Aileen took the scone from her sister, and leaned into her hug, returning it with her free hand. She was so happy that Cat was better. Why did Fiona have to go and ruin everything with her stupid comment? She was not about to back down, certain that she was not too young to attend balls, but Cat's earsplitting whistle shut both girls up. Startled, Aileen dropped her croissant on the floor and Dragh, who had meandered into the kitchen, bounded over to it and downed it in one gulp. Dogs would eat almost anything. Cats were more finicky. Leanne had been sleeping on her bed when she had woken up. She was probably still there.

 

Shona flinched but Fiona just huffed and took a sip of tea. She didn't mind listening to Douglas; he had given her some good advice and she thought that she was his favorite sister, and not just because of what had happened between them. She smirked at Aileen when Cat agreed with her. “Told you so,” she said sarcastically.

 

Personally, she thought that her sister was wrong and that being grown up was much more fun than being a child, but she could tell Aileen that later. Another argument might send Cat back to bed and Fiona wanted to go to church. She didn't relish sitting through a boring sermon but she enjoyed the socializing afterward.

 

Aileen sat down and Shona poured her a cup of tea. “Why am I too young for balls but not for church or the sleigh race Dougie took us to yesterday?” she asked. It didn't make sense to her that she could go to some court events but not to others.

 

"You didn't miss anything," Shona's voice was quiet. "I wish I could have stayed home." With courtiers meandering all over the palace, it had been easy to slip away to the library, where she had remained for most of the evening. Nobody had disturbed her, and she didn't have to meet new people or dance with strange gentlemen. Unfortunately, she knew she wouldn't be that lucky all the time.

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Cat was seriously considering running back upstairs to her bed and hiding under her covers for one more day as her sisters snipped and sniped at each other. Sitting at this table, you'd never think they loved each other. The eldest MacBain girl knew better.

 

"Because church is for all ages. If I thought Nessie could sit through it without pitching a fit or requiring a changing, I'd bring her along too. And what's this about a sled race?" Doug might have talked to her about it, but she simply didn't remember being asked permission. Of course, he might have simply done it on his own, without discussing it with her. He sometimes forgot that even though he was the eldest, she was the one in charge in this house.

 

At Shona's words, she looked at her middle younger sister. She was always the quiet one, the one more interested in books and learning than boys and parties. But it was that quiet, calm way of hers that would likely land her a husband before Fiona. And wouldn't that cause a ruckus? "Tis our lot in life, loves. We're born of noble parents, and as such, are required to do things we don't want to do in the name of our nobility. Dressing up to do the pretty isn't what everyone enjoys, but it is our duty." Shona wasn't the only one who didn't always want to dress up and put on a fake front.

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Aileen sighed. “So I can go to all the boring things but not the fun ones.” She had a hard time sitting still on any occasion, and church was especially dull, except for the singing. Like the rest of her siblings, she had an excellent voice. The sermons, though, were difficult to sit through. Sometimes they seemed to last forever.

 

“There was a sleigh race yesterday,” Fiona explained. “Doug took the three of us. Lord Melville was there too. It was fun and we all behaved ourselves.* Wouldn't you have taken us if you had been well enough?” For some reason, she felt the need to come to defense of their brother.

 

Shona kept her head down, carefully cutting her croissant in half and smearing jam on it. She actually liked dressing up and she was beginning to find boys intriguing, which confused and embarrassed her. But she was afraid of having to speak to any of them, or even dance with them. Fiona had told her that she would enjoy balls one day, but she didn't believe her.

 

“You won't hear any arguments from me,” Fiona piped up. “Am I the only MacBain girl who actually loves to socialize? I'm in my element when there's lots of people around.” She had thought that Cat was fond of socializing too, but perhaps she had been wrong. If so, her eldest sister hid it well.

 

 

*Since Douglas has been gone for awhile and the sleigh race is just beginning, I can't say more about it than that they were there.

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  • 2 months later...

Cat likely would not have taken Aileen and would have let Shona decide if she wanted to go.  For the most part, Cat found it better not to try and force Fiona to do anything.  Too much like their father, she thought glumly.  The man was torturing her from the grave.

"The last thing these English men and women can handle is the full force of the MacBain family," she finally remarked.  "I'm certain you were all on your best behavior yesterday," she added, looking at each girl in turn.  Fiona, she doubted behaved.  It just wasn't in her.  Shona probably had a book stashed somewhere upon her person.  And Aileen had a tendency to wander.  Perhaps it was better that she was home in bed for this sledding event.  Her nerves could not have taken it.

The eyebrow went up at Fiona's pronouncement.  "Yes, we are all well aware of how you love a crowd," she snarked quietly.  "I neither love it or hate it.  It is simply a necessity due to our rank of birth.  Just like it is our duty to see to those who aren't as well placed as we."  With the weather being how it was, perhaps she should stop in at the hospital, make certain they had enough supplies.  And the Charity farm. 

As a change of subject, she threw out, "I'm considering having us stay in London after the Season ends.  Travel will be almost impossible this time of year in Scotland."  She looked around the table, waiting for reaction.

 

*Sorry for the wait.  I was going to wait until the sleigh thread is through, but thought it better to put something down.*

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The lack of an answer to her question led Fiona to believe that Cat would not have let them attend the sleigh race at all. She really had behaved herself, mainly because there were too many people about to do otherwise. Lobbing snowballs at a few handsome gentleman was the most improper thing she had done and none of them had seemed to mind. One of them had even thrown one back.

 

“We were,” Aileen insisted. “Even Fiona was good.”

 

Fiona folded her hands as if in prayer. “I was positively angelic. I'm surprised a halo didn't appear over my head.”

 

Her younger sisters snorted. Cat's next comment made her roll her eyes. “Be careful how you act this morning,” she warned in an equally sarcastic tone of voice, “or lightening may strike you when you enter the chapel.” Fiona was rather stunned that her eldest sister only tolerated the excitement of court. She had thought that Cat enjoyed it as much as she did. One didn't become a mistress of the King by hiding in corners, after all. Or maybe she wanted a quieter life now that the Queen was openly hostile to her husband's paramours.

 

“I would like to help you with your charity work,” Shona said in her quiet unobtrusive way. She sometimes felt guilty that she had so much when others had so little. Her gentle heart bled for the poor commoners she sometimes saw on the streets, dressed in little more than rags. “Maybe we could collect shoes for the children.” She had once seen a couple of  them running barefoot through the snow and had felt sad that they had nothing to keep their feet warm.

 

“I have some old shoes they can have that I have outgrown,” Aileen chimed in. “And some dresses too.” She was just entering her growth spurt and new clothes had to be made for her every few months.

 

All three girls gazed at their sister wide-eyed when she announced that they might stay in London during recess. “I think that's an excellent idea,” Fiona remarked, trying not too sound as enthusiastic as she truly was. Scotland was dull and there was nothing much to do there but twiddle your thumbs. Even off-season, London was bound to be more exciting than that.

 

Shona and Aileen both nodded. Shona loved their home in Scotland but London had a bookstore and she didn't relish traveling in the cold. Aileen didn't want to travel either. She was as bored during the long journey as Fiona was when they arrived.

 

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There was a very good chance Cat wouldn't have taken them all to the sleigh race.  She was over-protective of her younger siblings.  Hell, if given the chance, she'd probably be over-protective of Douglas.  That's just how she was made.  She was most happy seeing others happy.  And it wasn't that she hated the social requirements that she had to attend.  Perhaps the girls had forgotten or simply chose to ignore the fact that her position as King's mistress was primarily for their benefit.  She had come to England to see about releasing them from being wards of the Crown into her own hands.  She had found the easiest way, becoming the King's mistress.  It helped that she enjoyed spending time with Charles, though it was less and less frequent now. 

The eyebrow likely rose higher as Aileen defended Fiona.  Obviously they HAD all be well behaved, as Aileen was a bit of a tattle-tale.  Being the youngest and having mostly been raised by Cat, Aileen easily saw her more as a mother figure than a sibling.  The other two had spent time with Siobhan, unfortunately.  She opted not to interrupt their small snipes.  Only if things got physical did she really step in.  Court was not a place of nice people.  You had to learn to defend yourself.  Luckily, Shona was developing the skill of doing so verbally.  She didn't need to hide an arsenal of blades on her person.

"I think that would be wonderful," Cat replied to the offer of assistance at the hospital.  She would likely see about having Shona work with bandages and perhaps some of the less seriously wounded veterans.  She saw enough of the ravages of war by the number of Scottish veterans Cat ended up employing.  No one really needed as many footmen or stable hands as the Countess employed.

Her heart swelled as Aileen joined in to help as well.  Oh, they were growing up to be such fine women.  "I'm sure they'd appreciate shoes very much.  These English aren't used to the cold like us Highland lassies," she said, allowing the rolling purr of Scotland to permeate her voice.  "Perhaps we should have a donation drive."  Cat was always up for a good charity event.

Cat wasn't surprised that Fiona would prefer to stay in London, though she wondered if her sister would realize that most of the nobility would head back to their estates until the next Season.  Shona and Aileen were a bit more surprising, but she took this information under advisement.  "I'll have to think on it a bit more, but it is more likely now that you've all agreed it to be a good idea."  Of course, final say was Cat's.

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Fiona, who didn't believe in purely selfless motives, thought that Cat became the King's mistress because it came with some pretty splendid perks and that gaining custody of her sisters was only one of them. Hell, she'd do him, even if he was older than dirt. He was the King and she would be able to have everything she desired. Certain people would hate her, like the Queen, but she had never cared much what others thought of her. Yet Cat had gotten to him first, and all he wanted from Fiona was to see her married.

 

Shona and Aileen had been too young at the time to understand what Cat had done for them. Shona had a vague idea what her sister's relationship with the King entailed. Aileen, however, had no clue and secretly thought the King had cooties like everyone of the male persuasion. They were all grateful that she had rescued them. Living with an older sister and brother who loved them was far preferable to being pawned off on strangers who didn't.

 

“Can I start before the end of the season?” Shona asked eagerly. She had developed an interest in healing, and wished to learn more about treating wounds and illnesses. Volunteering at the hospital was a perfectly respectable way of learning more about about such things. She was also enthusiastic about the donation drive, nodding so that her bright curls bouncing around her shoulders when Cat suggested it.

 

“I think it's funny the way the English bundle up against the cold,” Fiona interjected. “They wouldn't survive a week in Scotland.” All the more reason to marry an old rich Englishman who would freeze to death on the estate she had inherited, leaving her a wealthy widow at a young age.

 

“I hope we can stay!” Aileen enthused. “Dragh and Leanne don't want to travel either. We'll still live in this house, won't we?”

 

“Will the palace be closed?” Shona asked. She could spend hours upon hours in the library. To her, it seemed to have every book in the world on its shelves.

 

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