Alyssana turned to regard the couple that joined her conversation. She gave the man a thin smile for the compliment, one that turned sincere at the mention of his name. [i]Lockheart,[/i] that was a name she recognized. “Lady Alyssana Grey, and likewise charmed. If what I’ve heard of you is accurate, it’s a shame I couldn’t convince my brother Christopher to come tonight. I think you would have gotten on well -- he’s the craftsman responsible for these.” She touched her mask and ruffled the feathers of her wings slightly.

“I’m not sure what you have heard, but I hope it was all good,” Chester responded. Elizabeth barely paid attention to the response, she was already eyeballing the visible mechanisms, her mind already working on how the visible worked with what might be hidden within the wings. Unfortunately it seemed that most of the gears were tucked away out of sight.

“Oh yes. What’s the phrase you two have, ‘We outlast those who endure’?  I’ve heard you do good work.”  Alyssana paused at the sound of yet another guest heading in their direction, and turned to face the woman with a raised eyebrow hidden by her mask.

Elodie had to get out of the room. She had to get out of the city. There was no possible space in the world sufficient enough to put between her and . . . Bird. It had to be Bird, and her dirt-farmer of a suitor. A woman stood in her way, her back to Elodie. Wings jutted from her back, wrought from cruel bronze. Elodie had to resist the urge to shorten her trip to the door by a fraction of a second by reaching out and crumpling them in her hands. “Terribly sorry,” she muttered, sidestepping them. “I thought I smelled something off, and thought it best to get some fresh air.”

“Ah, Miss Elodie, I hadn’t noticed you before,” Elizabeth said, she lied of course, telling the noble that she had been overlooked was about one of the best insults she could say without outright insulting her, and they were in public amongst polite company, decorum required otherwise… How long Elizabeth’s decorum would last was another question entirely, however, “I assure you it does smell better over here. Have you met Lady Alyssana Grey?”

“Dame Elodie. I haven’t the honour,” Elodie said, dropping into a low curtsy before the stranger. “Lady Alyssana, I presume? A pleasure it is to make your acquaintance. Are you a friend of Captain Kingsford’s, or did you receive an invitation from the honourable Commander himself?” The formalities, the endless formalities. She knew well enough how important they were. Manners, after all, were what separated the higher-ups from the lower-downs. Yet, in the presence of nobility, Elodie felt trapped. She couldn’t well insult Bird to her face, like they used to in Madame Geraldine’s. They were ladies now, or whatever those two were, and they had to act it.

“I suppose you could say that Captain Kingsford and I are acquainted, yes,” Alyssana replied.

“Yes, we’ve just become acquainted as well,” Chester said, his voice like warm velvet, “We were admiring the workmanship on her mask and wings. You said your brother had made them for you? Beautiful work, absolutely. Wouldn’t you agree, Miss Elodie?”

“I was curious,” Elizabeth continued, not giving the rival a chance to respond to Chester’s prompt, “They must be quite heavy, you’ve certainly must have built up the core strength to support them, you move with such grace, Lady Alyssana. I was curious as to just how heavy they were? As you might know from what you’ve heard of us, we specialize in designing mechanism, and also in alloys. I suspect that if we were given access to their design that we might be able to find a way to lighten them in one way or another- Not to diminish your brother’s work. I’m just... [i]that[/i] confident in our own work.”

There was a fresh tension in the air between the two other women, and Alyssana didn’t miss it.  She wondered briefly how they knew each other.  “Lighter than you’d expect from their appearance.  I wouldn’t mind arranging a time to let you two look at them -- perhaps when my brother can answer questions you might have.  Although he has less interest in wings these days.”  She turned her attention to Elodie.  “Do you have an interest in machinery as well, Dame Elodie?”

“Machines were never to my taste,” Elodie said. “Steam and smoke are not conducive to the healthy growing of crops, where work is still done the way nature intended.” She kept her hands behind her back, where she could safely squeeze them into fists. Bird was never the mannerly sort. She had little respect for proper conduct, and ideas as simple as remaining silent while her betters spoke have managed to sail over her head. “I was rarely a student of Professor Caraworth’s, and we were never on the best of terms, I’m sorry to say.”

“She was a better engineer than she was a teacher,” Alyssana commented.  She’d learned far more from Chris and her Polytech classes than she’d ever managed to pick up from Professor Caraworth.  “No offense to her, of course.  But she lacked a certain rapport with her students.”

“Professor Caraworth was one of my favorites, actually,” Elizabeth responded curtly, “Craftsmanship is in my blood of course, being a member of the Bird family, so perhaps I had a knack for it, but as she once said to a certain member of our class, ‘You can’t teach those who don’t wish to learn.’ She always was so sweet, to not say you couldn’t teach those who you couldn’t be taught.” Elizabeth glanced quickly at her former classmate. Chester quickly patted her arm, their arms still interlinked, as to remind her to behave. Elizabeth didn’t seem phased by her husband’s gentle attempts to keep her decorum.

“I do not believe that man came from the loins of ape to bang shiny rocks together in the dirt,” Elodie snapped. This was bad, this was very bad. She had already made a fatal mistake the moment she opened her mouth. There was still a chance to fix the situation, to apologize and beg forgiveness. Elodie, however, was beyond asking for forgiveness. She needed on some primal level to smash this upstart back into the ground. Her hand was poised to leap out from her side and strike somebody, anybody across the face in what would inevitably be a killing blow.

“Well I suppose you could stick to tradition, never take part in the advances of science, nor the benefits they provide.”  Alyssana spoke mildly, but there was a sharp glitter in the grey eyes behind her mask.  There was more she could have said -- did the woman like to think the earth at the center of the universe, perhaps?  Would Elodie care to discard animal husbandry, sanitation improvements, even the wheel?  But she restrained herself -- better not antagonize a team member too much before they’d even found out why they’d been summoned.

“Oh no,” Elizabeth started, “She’s [i]much[/i] too rich to do any [i]actual[/i] work herself, or at least her parents were. Tell me, what do you do to deserve your title and [i]assumed[/i] wealth? Because for some reason my Husband and I are looked down on for being successful in our business endeavors and for being excellent in our crafts.”

Chester knew it was too late, all he could do at this point was try to keep everyone calm. “Please, let’s all keep this civil now, no need to widen the gap between us, dear. Whatever the cause is that has brought us all together here, we [i]are[/i] on the same side. Let us forgive these tense words and move on, if not in conversation, then physically. Please.” Chester gestured to his wife, hoping to appeal to her common sense and divert the conversation from turning to a physical contest.

“If you’ll excuse me, I have recalled my intention to get some fresh air,” Elodie said. If she stayed in this room for a single second longer, her blood would boil out of her pores. She quitted herself from the little group, boots tapping against the wooden flooring. When she reached the door, she grasped at the handle like it were a plank off a sinking ship and flung the door open, stepping through and slamming it behind her. Splinters erupted from where door struck frame, and her fingers left permanent marks on the now-mangled handles.

Standing outside, in the grass of the front lawn, calmed her and allowed her to think. Bird always brought out the worst in her. She ought apologize, to Lady Alyssana and more importantly the Supreme Commander. It was low of her, to have spoken in anger . . . like Bird would have done. Stupid, stupid Elodie, thinking she could handle herself. She rested her head on the scraggly tree growing out like fingers from the dirt, feeling a hundred years old.

“Hmph!” Was Elizabeth’s response as the Dame excused herself, she turned her head away and crossed her arms in front of herself, refusing to look the direction of her former classmates travel.  Alyssana watched the woman leave, noting the damage to the door, and considering the strength required for such a feat.

“My apologies, Lady Alyssana,” Chester said in the moments after the door was slammed, “That escalated quickly and was no conversation that should have happened in a public place, let alone in front of strangers nore people of such high regard. As I am sure you have surmised, my wife and the Dame have a tense history with one another. A history that apparently is not in the past but in the now, as it were.”

Chester turned to his wife, “Please, go and fix the door’s workings, this was [i]at least[/i] partially your fault.”

“Actually, I’d like to request you leave it until later,” Alyssana interjected.  “I think a damaged frame will provide a probable explanation for when the door doesn’t open, and it will keep unwanted additions from joining the conversation I’m sure the captain means to have before too much longer.”

“Yes, of course, if that’s what you want,” Elizabeth responded, unlinking her arm from her husband’s, she turned towards her Husband and said quietly to him, “Let the rich pay for the damages, anyway.”

Chester turned to Lady Alyssana, “We would understand if you chose to take your leave, but I hope we can still look forward to our previously mentioned plans to meet with your brother, Chris was it?”

“Yes, that’s right.  I see no reason to deny him the company of those with shared interests.  Here, my card.”  Alyssana produced the stiff rectangle of crisp paper from some unseen pocket and held it out.  “I’ll send a note once I’ve checked his schedule.”

“Ah, excellent,” Chester said with visual relief on his face, he took the card and produced one of his own, offering it to the professor, “We will look forward to that note then.”

“If you’ll excuse us, however, I think I might like some refreshment to wash the taste of our interactions with Miss Elodie from my mouth,“ Elizabeth said with a polite tone that was empty in her words. With a curtsy, she took her Husband by the arm and lead him away from the conversation leaving the winged lady to her own devices.

((collaboration between [@bloonewb], [@Mr Rage], and myself))