eachdraidh | Sixth Bull ( voice )

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Sixth Bull ( voice )

[It is again with a heavy heart that Lucrezia addresses the network, though this time she chooses to not be seen. No one knows of how close Lucrezia was with her brother here, and she would not betray his trust even if he is no longer here.]

I regret to inform, but I believe Valentino Masi, courier to don Lorenzo de Medici, has left. When I had awoken, he was one of the first I had tried to contact, but it has been weeks and nothing. He was a man of the Unseelie court, and while I am Seelie, if he leaves you with a debt or his word you may have mine in his place. If I may.

[She doesn't explain why or who she is to him, simply ending the transmission there. Again she is devoid of emotion and only clutches to the rosary made for Cardinal Cesare Borgia that he had given to her. Prays will do no good here though.]

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Truly? [She is shocked by this. Cesare could be hard, especially when he was younger as she knew him here, but unkind?]

He made me the wiser, though he did not trust easily.

He spoke crudely. Rudely. [ and in a more wounded tone, given the recent nature of her horrors: ] And threatened to see me married off to him -- a threat I thought a jape until...

His mind is steely. I imagine he serves your family's interest well. [ she lapses into decorum because the insult is too cold. too raw. ]

[She would argue that he could not be married off for he is the Church, but Valentino was not. Instead this is disheartening. A close friend of here dislikes the one person she loves the most.]

It is hard to hear, I must admit, though I know you would not lie. If I had known he was so cruel, I would have spoken to him for I think I am one of the few he would have listened to here. [Probably the only one.]

He was-- he will be a good man. [The Pope's right hand. She frowns again. She knows what he is capable of, of the kindness she is so used to, but to hear him as some sort of bully is disheartening.]

...Will he?

Yes. He will do great things for Rome, and all the Italian families will know his name. [Though most will despise it.]

What vaults a simple courier so high?

Our Church cares not of the name nor the name, but the man himself. [And Cesare will be Cardinal.]

Another question, then: what changes his heart away form the road and his horse?

[She smiles at that, almost sounding amused.] The vocation to God is not always... true, but even he cannot run from the pull of family. I know him as a kind man, and perhaps I am blinded for that, but I do know he has always been ambition. The life he leads is truly not one he wants, and yet, he is dutiful.

[Probably because his position is so powerful.]

I wish you could know him as I have. Even here.

I am convinced he found me stupid. I'm not certain I could have redeemed myself in those eyes.

He saw you as a girl then. [And she stiffens.] My family has thought much the same of me, frail and week, unknowing to the ways of the world.

[And yet, they have taught her it themselves, by the choices they have made for her.] All he saw was 'woman' and made his own assumptions.

Yet he did speak sweetly of you. And tried more than once pry at our ladies' gossip. I told him it wasn't his to know.

[That perks her up, knowing how much Cesare and her used to gossip.]

I am sure he wished to know dearly. He is a bit of a gossip himself, though none would know.

Is he? [ ... ] He pretended he knew nothing of its mode.

[ she feels foolish. lied to. tricked. even in his absence, valentino gets the best of her. ]

He would fool us all if he could. [It is his nature. Though where he was playful with Lucrezia it seems he was sly and cruel to Sansa.]

And he seemed so unaccustomed to being fooled in turn.

He is good at masking his weakness, but do not let him fool you on that. He is just a man, a boy here.

You know him so well--

[ a pause. not followed by more words. an abortive pause. ]

We talked oft here, and he swore himself to me. I had little use of the how itself while he was here, but he did come to visit.

[Of course she knows Cesare better back home. Her relationship to him here was not dissimilar though.]

He did seem uncommonly devoted. You were fortunate, I imagine, to have such loyalty in these lands. I'm sorry for what you're now without.

He did not believe me at first. As he knows me, I was but a young girl. But I know what is to come, and while that was never useful here-- [Family is everything.]

He was loyal indeed.

For your sake -- [ a deep breath ]-- I forgive him.

I thank you for it. Should he return, I would see him be kinder. I would not like to think his character bad. [And he is wrapped around her pinky.]

It was not...

It was not always bad.

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