open post.

[higginbottom]

Esther has, well, only sort of gotten used to the Mansion and its ways. She's still frustrated by being stuck there - after all, she survived almost dying. Doesn't she deserve something better than a small room with a small window?

Still, she's thankful to be alive. One morning, when she opens her window and looks out over the Mansion grounds, the air comes in, shockingly cold, and Esther remembers - she's here, alive and awake and ready for anything. She breathes in and out, and sighs with a sort of strange contentment that probably won't last long, but hey. She'll take it.

She gets dressed, wearing slacks for once (she decided to try it out, as she is in fact, a very modern woman, thank you very much) and a pretty floral blouse. She makes her way downstairs, her saddle shoes tap-tap-tapping against the stairs.

"I feel very much in a good mood today," Esther announces, to no one in particular. "Is that strange? Should I be worried?"

Comments

[higginbottom]

"Yes! I wish people would just speak in plain English."

[higginbottom]

There's a pause before she answers.

"I--I was very sick, um, before I came here," she says quietly. "Not sick physically, but...psychologically. It feels like that's all of who I am. I don't want to feel that way."

[higginbottom]

"Oh, thank God," she says with a laugh. "I was worried you'd want to be my publisher and start bugging me about writing more quickly."

[higginbottom]

"Oh, no, no...it's not like that. I guess I was just expected to marry someone. It would be strange to end up a spinster."

[vineleaves]

He laughs. "Isn't the saying that good things take time, or something like that?"

[temnota]

Aleksander nodded thoughtfully. He knew some communities thought that way in Ravka. For nobles it was more about inheritance and property and for commoners it was often about survival and pulling resources together. The endless wars had done so much damage to everyone.

"I imagine many seek to find someone to marry but I never saw that happening for me," he confessed.

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"That would be ever so convenient, wouldn't it?"

[sagramore]

"Ah," softly. "I think I understand that, actually." He's physically sick too, of course, but the ways in which he's been closed down and self-protective before he came here do seek like a psychological sickness sometimes.

"If thou shouldst like to speak on it, now or ever, I won't mind."

[higginbottom]

"Well, you obviously haven't met a New York City publisher," she says, amused. "They would beg to differ on that saying."

[higginbottom]

"Truthfully, I sort of feel the same way, though part of me still wants to find love," Esther admits. "I just don't want to feel chained."

[higginbottom]

"Oh, would it be!"

She grins.

"You're funny. I like that."

[higginbottom]

"That's really nice of you. Maybe I'll take you up on the offer sometime," Esther replies, biting her lip a little. "I'm...I'm working through it, I think."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

It's safe to say this is one of the first time in Susan Pevensie's life when anyone has called her 'funny.' "Why, thank you," she says, taken aback.

[higginbottom]

Well, Susan, Esther finds you to be quite witty, so there.

"You shouldn't be surprised - you're smart and fun to talk to," she says. "And I always appreciate funny people."

[sagramore]

"When thou art ready. There's no hurry."

[vineleaves]

"Then it's a good thing we aren't in New York right now! You take as much time writing as you want, dear. Even if it takes a thousand years, I'll be here to read it when you're ready."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

Smart and fun to talk toare much easier for her to wrap her mind around. "Again, I thank you," she says, with a flash of a smile. "So, tell me about yourself, Esther. How's America in 1953? I visited once, you know. New York, in 1942."

[higginbottom]

"Thanks," she replies, attempting a small, tentative smile. "I'm getting better, I hope."

[higginbottom]

"You're really swell to say that, you know," Esther replies, clearly relieved. "I'll show you my writing when it's ready, then."

[higginbottom]

"It's boring and annoying, honestly," she says. "I was in New York for a time, too. I just wish there were more opportunities for women. I found it frustrating to try to be a writer there."

[sagramore]

"I think we all are."

[higginbottom]

"I think you might be right."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"Oh! Are you a writer, then?"

[higginbottom]

"I am," she says, a touch proud of herself. "I'm working on a novel."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"A novel! How perfectly exciting."