[quote=@webboysurf]
[Color=04cf3a]"A woman of means needs a duelist... certainly Theus would demand I put the needs of others before my own..."[/color] Piero's sly smile betrayed his real motives as he spun on his heels and re-entered the crowd. He knew, given his limited standing and pittiable assets, that a strong connection would serve him best in the long run.

So, he was off to DiVacce manor... just as soon as he freshened up his appearance.
[/quote]

[Color=YellowGreen]“Mi scusi, Signora,”[/color] said a large craggy-faced man in a servant's attire, his voice like a bag of gravel, [Color=YellowGreen]“Sta arriving un ospite.”[/color]

[Color=Violet]“Grazie, Lucco. Portamelo e lo valuterò.”[/color]

[Color=YellowGreen]“Sì, signora.”[/color]

DiVacce Manor sat atop a wide, round-topped hill roughly a quarter-mile south of the main town of Free Sail, far enough away to keep the rabble from wandering onto the premises without ample warning, but still within the protection of the old Castillian star-fort that watched over Pact Harbor. Like many of the permanent buildings in the town, the Manor was Castillian in style, formerly the villa of one of the town's officials before its occupiers abandoned their claim to the island and its inhabitants. It was two stories and asymmetrical, with its windows and doors forming narrow arches, red roof shingles that contrasted sharply against the painstakingly maintained whitewash of the walls, a wraparound balcony on the second floor, and a round three-story tower that made up the house's front-right corner.

While the house itself was Castillian in architecture, the garden surrounding it was unmistakably Medician in design and sensibility. A mixture of vibrant flowers, exotic trees, marble statues of heroic men and beautiful women, babbling fountains and shimmering pools, all meticulously arranged in geometric patterns that aligned at perfect angles with the house, it was barely a modest lawn compared to the sprawling landscapes of the Old Country, but nonetheless an expression of the Medician belief that order arises from chaos.

Indeed, the intricate and maze-like nature of a Medician noble's garden was often compared to a spider's web...with all of the connotations associated with it.

Sitting in her garden, thoughtfully reading from a tiny black leather-bound book and only occasionally looking up to make corrections for the gardeners as they worked, was a delicate-looking young woman with fair skin and dark hair tied back in a tight braid adorned with violet ribbons. Despite the heat of the midday, she wore a high-collared black dress with violet trim, the only sign of discomfort from wearing such dark clothing in the hot climate being a small fan with which she occasionally took a break from reading to cool herself.

All around the garden and the house, a veritable swarm of servants busied themselves. Gardeners tended the flowers and hedges with large gleaming shears. Roofers carefully walked along the manor house's upper levels, replacing worn or damaged shingles. A pair of masons carefully re-worked one of the stone sculptures, working with hammers, chisels, and mortar. A young man with ropes and climbing gear scuttled on the outer walls of the house to clean the windows. A pair of young girls played on the grass with a set of shining lawn darts. An elderly man carefully laid out the pieces of an ornate tea set on a small table in the garden.

As the craggy-faced servant led the newcomer into the garden, he spoke in heavily-accented Albian, the island's common tongue. [Color=YellowGreen]“...must speak only when spoken to. Unless Signora DiVacce instructs you otherwise, you are to refer to her only as ‘Signora.’ You are not to stand unless she is standing, nor sit unless she is sitting. You will not-”[/color]

[Color=Violet]“[i]Va bene,[/i] Lucco,”[/color] the young woman said, [Color=Violet]“I am not interested in hiring this man for his etiquette.”[/color]

The servant bowed and stepped away. The woman in black then approached the stranger and gave a formal curtsy.

[Color=Violet]“Buongiorno, Signor Ladrocelli,”[/color] she greeted him, catching the guest off-guard by mentioning him by name before he introduced himself. [Color=Violet]“I am Donna Eladora DiVacce. Forgive my forwardness, but I would like to get directly to the business at hand.”[/color]

She gestured at the lush garden, the stately manor house, and the busy servants tending to their work.

[Color=Violet]“There are three people here with weapons,”[/color] she explained, [color=Violet] “and you now have thirty seconds to find them all before one of them tries to kill me.”[/color]