Juliette/Emily | streets | afternoon
Emily found the festival to be not quite what she expected it to be. Five years absence and she returns to this. Well, it might have been what she remembered it being had their Sage not lost her bloody mind. Still, it wasn't all bad and despite the looks that mages got, people seemed to forget their apprehensiveness in favor of a bit of joviality. Emily made her rounds, enjoying what the festival had to offer until she came to the young Coulombe girl. She'd heard that she passed her exam and advanced from squire to monk.
She approached the girl and smiled, "I am in need of wishing you congratulations, Lady Coulombe. I am sorry I did not provide it sooner." Emily smiled sweetly and hoped that she would not be received poorly, given the current state of affairs.
Fortunately, even had she been wary of mages, Juliette was too polite to say anything unbecoming to a fellow lady -- and even more fortunately, the Countess’ opinions combined with Pyr’s distress over the unjust accusations levied against his sister had settled deep. She thus smiled quite pleasantly when she realized who had approached her, though the congratulations took her aback just a bit -- was this about Alys’ marriage? The reclaiming of the Coulombe family estate? Or…
Oh, yes.
Her smile grew just a little as she said, “Thank you so much for your kind words. There is no apology required, of course.” She paused a moment before venturing, “I have not seen you in some time -- I hope you are well?” She had heard about Lady Miliona mostly from Ridley these recent days, and much like her friend, Juliette tended to approve of the unorthodox engagement if for no other reason than that it bucked convention.
"Perhaps you might not feel it needed, but I did, but thank you for being so kind in forgiving me," Emily said and then gave her excuse, "Well, during the plague I was instructed to say indoors by my lovely Cormac. And then, I suppose time escaped me before—" she paused, "—well, before we all got the scare of our lives. How goes the change? Is your training everything you thought it to be?" Less about her, more about Juliette.
She knew a fair amount of what the Fighters Guild went through to become as efficient as they were, but having never experienced herself (not that she ever would want to), she didn't know all the details. She wasn't looking for specifics, but just for Juliette to feel comfortable enough to speak to her, despite it being quite some time since they last spoke.
“It is difficult, but rewarding,” Juliette said. Fortunately, she was fell accustomed to noble small talk which touched on her training -- she knew that no one really cared about her strength training regimen or which skills she was studying. She could answer in a pleasantly short and vague way, then allow the conversation to go on.
She thought it better not to mention the former Sage at all. Lady Miliona was a mage and no doubt sensitive to the topic, and she did not wish to cause distress.
Instead, she chose a much less challenging subject, saying, “I hope that both your family and your betrothed find themselves well. Are you enjoying the festival?”
"Rewarding how?" Emily asked. She was all too familiar with the niceties of polite conversation, but Emily wasn't one for just polite conversation. She asked questions to get others talking and for them to share. Casual noble dialogue was a bit of nodding, some compliments, and they moved on to other things and people. But Juliette was asking after her own family, and Emily went along.
"They are well," Emily said, "My parents came for a bit, but my father had business to attend to and my mother went to the church." While her parents were religious, supposedly, Emily did not share those beliefs, neither in reality or in her persona. She always told people she wanted to help for the sake of helping others, and no need for salvation or any spiritual reward required.
She added, "And Cormac is well. I believe he is expanding his clinic, which is good, because people of his skill are uncommon, and he'll be able to help more people now."