What else is there? [Lucca] {Finished}

[Harpsdesire]

Alicia sighed deeply as she saw the warren entrance through the trees. Finally. It hadn't been a long trip, exactly, but the strain of traveling in the open was beginning to wear at her. Sustained nervousness combined with the weight of the pack she carried and seemed to sap the usually vivacious leveret of her energy.

At least here in Avington the card population seemed smaller and more spread out, and there was far more cover than the broad fields of the highlands afforded. On the other hand, her golden mane was becoming tangled and full of leaves thanks to the grasping fingers of low-hanging branches. She was dirty and tired and deeply unhappy about it.

The rabbit was starting to achieve her goal-- she was becoming a trusted and indispensable servant to the Czar. Although this delighted her, Alicia had quickly discovered that being so useful had a distinct downside-- she was becoming a top choice for troublesome errands and the other uncomfortable or unpleasant jobs that some of the other leverets couldn't be counted upon to do. There was a letter to be carried to Heike of Avington's warren, and the weather was wet and overcast. Alicia was sent, to her chagrin. She-- who spent every spare moment in grooming her thick mane to perfection and developing social graces that could put many Does to shame, a mere courier! She sniffed, feeling rather sorry for herself. Still, duty was was duty, and never let it be said that she didn't follow orders.

So, here she was, a vain little creature with her snowy coat all smudged with loam and her mane in a bedraggled state from the thin rain that penetrated the leafy canopy. She would have to stop and do something about her appearance before she knocked on the warren door, both because she didn't want to be an embarrassment to her Jack, and because she didn't want another (potentially more handsome) Jack to see her in such a state.

The highlander was convinced that she would be a Doe some day, when the moment was right and she found a Jack that deserved her. She had not yet decided that the Czar was the one. Just in case he was, though, she was making every attempt to ingratiate herself with him, as well as his does. Just in case he wasn't, she was prepared to do her best to make a very good impression on Heike, if he should be around when the door was opened.

He probably wouldn't be, and she'd probably just hand the letter to a leveret and be on her way. Yet... Alicia thought there was a chance she'd see him, and she was a firm believer that it was better to be prepared for something that never happened than to miss a precious opportunity to get ahead.

After a brief and only moderately successful attempt to clean up, Alicia tapped on the heavy wooden door with a paw.

[Lucca]

"And for the love of the White Rabbit, don't forget to remove the tea leaves this time after it's done steeping!" The brusque, rather annoyed tone seemed somehow natural in the low, cultured voice as the white-and-blue-furred Doe pushed the kitchen door open.

In response, the smaller, greener Rabbit's ears lowered further. "Yes, Mum. I...I mean...ma'am." He turned his attention to the tea pot that had just began boiling, steam puffing out of it in white clouds. He reached out with a paw towards it, but bit back a cry as it burned him, and scarbled for a towel to clutch it by instead while his mother shook her head.

Here, her son was nearly grown, and soon he would need to be traded off. But if he couldn't even make tea properly, it was going to be a bit difficult! Just as the tea pot had been successfully moved to a spot on the counter, there was a firm knock on the door, and Seena paused, turning back towards the Leveret.

"Shelby!" she barked. "Get the door."

Shelby blanched, and spoke around the tea ball held in his mouth. "But, Mum, the tea!" At the look on her face, he quickly put the tea ball inside the cup and barely replaced the lid properly before he darted to the main door, his mother following at a distance. And he understood, then...this was to be a test, to see how good an impression he could make on someone who didn't know him. For they rarely received visitors at the Warren.

He pulled open the door, composing himself, and was vastly relieved to see the much shorter form of a Leveret as their company, instead of the much taller form of a Jack. He cleared his throat, offering a tentative smile, watching his mother out of the corner of his eye, and pitched his voice a bit higher, the way he'd been taught to disguise his gender.

"Hello, welcome to the Warren of Heike! Sorry about the wait, I was busy in the kitchen..." Oh. Apparently he hadn't been supposed to say that, judging from the way his mother was suddenly frowning. He stepped back, taking in the pretty, but bedraggled, form of the visitor. "P-please come in."

Seena stayed where she would be out of immediate sight of the door, but could see what was going on. Though as soon as the visitor stepped inside she would probably be able to see her, in which case the Doe would smile pleasantly.

[Harpsdesire]

Alicia nodded a greeting to the small green rabbit and entered, glad to be out of the rain. She accepted his offer, making some effort to leave the mud from her paws on a mat that was set by the door for that purpose. "Good afternoon." She said primly, with a carefully gracious tone, "I have a letter from Czar Vikenti for Heike of Avington."

The leveret who opened the door was still a child. He looked ordinary and rather androgynous, as well as timid. She smiled at the leveret, but not with much interest. Behind him was a Doe. A beautiful one, at that, with her lop ears adored with gold."Ma'am." She acknowledged Seena's presence with a dip of her head, perfectly submissive and demure.

To be honest, Alicia was always a little star-struck by Does. She only dreamed of being so beautiful, feminine and cultured. For all her beauty treatments and practice in front of the splinter of silvered glass that remained from some long-ago-broken mirror, she knew in her heart that she couldn't match the natural appeal of a real Doe. At least, not in this form. One day...

Alicia made every attempt to be graceful while she removed the satchel from her back and extracted a sealed envelope of gold-bordered stationery. She was quite relieved to see that no rain had leaked through the back's thick canvas to dampen the letter. That certainly would not have reflected well on her delivery skills if the information made it back to the Czar. She offered the letter to Shelby carefully.

[Lucca]

"Ah! Th-thank you," Shelby managed, voice mostly steady. He didn't like the fact he could feel Seena's eyes on him and knew she was judging him...it made something in him feel uncomfortably icy. He took the letter and hopped toward another room, placing the letter carefully into a bin near the entrance. Looking back, he explained, "Heike is busy at the moment, but I'll be sure to give him the Czar's letter."

Seena was still looking carefully at the visiting Leveret, and though the smile remained, her eyes were sharp. "If you would like, you could stay for a moment. I'm sure you've had a long journey, and it would be impolite not to allow you a brief time inside. At least until the storm blows over." She knew from the sounds outside that the rain had only gotten worse since the guest had come in. Seena, personally, loved being out in the rain, but she knew most Rabbits didn't care for it. And even if their guest was only a Leveret, Seena still wanted their Warren to have a good standard for hospitality. She'd give the girl a chance, and if she proved to a be a vapid, boring sort, well...she didn't have to stay long.

With a twitch of her head, Seena led the girl toward the study, pausing to give her son a significant look, as he had just come back from grabbing a few towels to help their visitor dry off (at least he had the sense to not bring the -good- linens. The towels were old, but very serviceable). "Shelby is going to fetch us some tea."

Shelby's eyes widened, remembering the tea he'd left steeping in the kitchen, and he nodded and quickly rushed off to tend to it and, apparently, bring some for their guest.

Seena, meanwhile, settled herself on a couch in what appeared to be a sitting room, and she turned back toward their guest with another disarming smile. "What are you called?" They'd start with that, and the conversation would hopefully get more interesting from there.

[Harpsdesire]

"I appreciate it." Alicia told Shelby, amiably. She wasn't entirely pleased to see the precious letter than she had carried all this way vanish into a bin, but she wasn't sure Shelby could really handle it if she said something. Jumpy little thing, wasn't he? He looked just about to collapse from nerves.

Besides, the Doe was watching her with rather appraising eyes, and it probably wouldn't be in Alicia's best interest to make a fuss. Still, when she spoke it wasn't a haughty dismissal, but an invitation. The rain was audibly pounding outside the door now, and Alicia had no desire to hurry back into the chilly weather. "Thank you for your hospitality, miss." The highlander accepted as graciously as she knew how, her manner rather formal for a leveret.

She followed Seena quietly, accepting the tea in cultured tones, "Tea would be lovely." Beyond that, she would wait to be spoken to. Alicia was no fool, and well acquainted with the capricious nature of Does. Away from home as she was, there was little to fear in the way of punishment, for to mistreat another Jack's leveret too severely would certainly strain relationships between the warrens. On the other hand, if she somehow offended Seena, that could also be cause for Heike to take up against the Czar, and probably result in personal disaster as well.

If she played her cards right, however, she might just have the chance to stay and chat with Heike's Does for the evening, and she always relished the company of Does and the chance to study their mannerisms, no matter how moody they were. "I'm called Alicia, miss. Who do I have the pleasure of addressing?"

She would play it safe for now, hiding her calculating intelligence and concealing her Doe-like bearing as much as possible. Alicia found it impossible to guess if Seena would be charmed or offended by the leveret's ambitions. Does were unpredictable creatures at best, and those cold blue eyes were unreadable as they waked to the study. While she felt out the situation, it would be safer by far to seem as an average leveret, servile and a little dull, no matter how it wounded her pride.

[Lucca]

Well, it was hard to tell how intelligent this...Alicia was, just from what she'd said so far. But she was obviously polite and well-mannered, which all Leverets should be when addressing their betters. Was it wrong, then, that Seena had half hoped for a glimpse of true personality? Perhaps in time, once the young thing settled in. "Seena," she said, with a slight quirk of her eyebrow at the direct question. She quickly moved on to other things, hoping Shelby didn't take too long with the tea. Someday he would be in a Warren where his masters were far less patient than she and Heike were.

"So, tell me, please, Alicia. Your Jack...the Czar...he lives in the Highlands, correct? That's quite a trip to make alone. The message must be quite important, and I will be sure that Heike sees it as soon as he has the time...ah, yes, just set it down there, Shelby." She shifted her gaze onto her son, watching closely as he set the tea tray on the table between the two other Rabbits.

Shelby had taken an extra minute (or several) to compose himself, and it showed. He kept his eyes politely downcast as he took the teapot and poured the tea into two cups, artfully decorated but not their highest quality. And, yes, he had remembered to take out the tea ball at the proper time. His paws didn't shake as he pushed a cup towards his mother and their guest, and neither did his voice when he addressed them.

"Would you like sugar or milk?" He was rewarded for his efforts by just the hint of a smile on his mother's face, just for him, before she smoothed it over and addressed him as was proper.

"Just one lump of sugar for me. This Orange Jasmine tea has enough natural flavor to not need a lot of additions, I find." Barely, the Doe was able to resist going on to babble about the tea, what it was made from and when and where, and to what lengths the Leverets had to go through to get it brought to the Warren. She didn't wish to lay all her cards on the table just yet and show just how bookish she really was. So, for now, she'd play the proper Doe until she knew if it was even worth it to be more herself.

[Harpsdesire]

Seena was a lovely name, quite as feminine as the Doe herself. Alicia eyes her with ill-concealed admiration. The warren itself was rather nicer that she had expected for such a new Jack, and it clearly had a good standard of service, for the tea had arrived before she was able to completely answer her hostess's questions.

"Yes, that's right, miss, Central Highlands. The trip was not... unduly taxing. Avington is a lovely area." She accepted the cup of tea pushed toward here with smile and a murmur of thanks to Shelby. Of course it wouldn't do for Seena to be overly grateful for a leveret just doing its duty, but it seemed strange and a little embarrassing that she should be served by her peer as if she was already a Doe.

"I'm not sure what the letter contains." She continued, honestly. "My understanding is that it is not of an urgent nature." Not that she hadn't been curious... but holding the envelope up to the light had not revealed the secrets written on the fine, thick stationery, and the wax seal prevented any more drastic attempts at snooping. Of course, she wouldn't admit to even the low-grade spy attempt she had made.

The leveret was even offering her milk and sugar for her tea! She felt somehow a little shamed by this (although she looked forward to the day when she would be waited on hand and foot, and accept such treatment as her due). Orange Jasmine, too! Alicia was far from an expert on tea, but she was aware enough to know that such a brew was considered rather too fine for leverets in her home warren, who were limited to ordinary black tea or the herbal infusions she usually favored.

Either Heike was a real class act, or Seena was hoping that the messenger would carry a favorable report back to the Czar. Maybe both! "I'll have mine the same, if you please."

Suddenly timid, she ventured to remark, "You are a most gracious hostess, miss. I've not had a tea so rare and delicate before." Alicia was pleased by the Doe's competence, by the cleanliness and restrained decor of the warren and the quality of service offered by the leveret. She took the half-grown leveret to be a pure seafoam green Selkie with a short fur mutation, and probably Seena's own child. It looked from what she had seen so far like the Jack and Does of this warren ran a very tight ship, and there was nothing Alicia was more enamored of than efficiency and beauty. Seena, and her warren, had both.

"Please pardon my saying so," She ventured, in her small feminine voice, "But you have a lovely home. I... admire a well-run warren." Perhaps the Doe would be offended by her speaking out of turn... if so, she was likely to be mollified by the compliments. As a general rule, Does were at least as vain as Alicia herself, although many of them were far less cunning.

[Lucca]

Shelby nodded and...gave Alicia a small, shy smile in return. She was...rather pretty, for a Leveret. Shelby knew he, himself, was ugly and plain, and not very likely to be desired for his looks. Hence why his mother made sure his work was above par enough that he could be traded away just on that. He was..still working on that, but it was mainly the reason (he was sure) that his mother was entertaining a mere Leveret in such a fashion.

He carefully pawed a sugar cube into each cup and then inclined his head to both the females, a little lower and more respectful for his mother, of course, as befit her higher Rank.

Seena took her tea without a word to Shelby. It was a little painful to not express the fact that she was proud of her own son, and how far he'd come in the past few months especially, but it simply wasn't done, especially in front of company. She could tell him in private later, where no one could judge her, though the very idea of having to stand on ceremony and follow all these rules, even in Heike's Warren, rankled.

"Avington is quite lovely," Seena agreed, "though I must say I miss the Lakes at times." She would allow herself that. She did NOT, however, miss her overbearing fool of a father Jack who'd traded her to a Lowlander. Eugh. As far as she was concerned, Fleur and Shelby were her and Heike's children, and not any part of that cad's. Even Shelby had never been told he wasn't a pure Selkie.

Seena did, indeed, smile at the compliment. "That's kind of you to say so. A well-run Warren is what we strive for around here." And, indeed, Seena had much reason to be proud of their home, for she took as active a role in running the Warren as Heike would let her, and helped him at every turn to keep things running efficiently. She noticed something, at that moment, in Alicia...a certain cunning behind the meekness. How very interesting. Perhaps there was more to her than first met the eye. And Alicia may find Seena smarter and more spirited than many other Does, as well.

"It is a bit hard to acquire, the tea I mean," Seena said, carefully watching Alicia over her cup as she took a sip. "But with so few in our Warren at the moment, it's better to make use of it. Did you know that most tea leaves will lose their potency after a while? Many Leverets don't, and they simply keep the teas around for years, thinking that since the tea is dry, it will be just as good a year from now as the day you bought it. This is not always the case, though it does depend on the sort of tea." Realizing she'd babbled a bit more than she'd intended to, the Doe took a moment to sip her tea, savoring the delicate flavor.

Shelby, instead of sitting around and doing nothing but listening to his mother go off about things no one cared about, offered, "If either of you should like something to nibble with your tea, there are some pastries in the kitchen, just made...yesterday, I think."

[Harpsdesire]

"Ah, you were born in Selkie Lakes?" Alicia inquired politely. It was a reasonable question-- Unlike the Cards, rabbits of all realms were widely distributed in the land by the custom of trades between Jacks. A pure Highlander herself, she had never even set paw in the land of her origin until traded to the Czar, and this was not at all uncommon among others she knew. Only Jacks had the freedom to choose where they wished to reside, or to travel.

She didn't know of the Elder Jack who must have fathered Seena, for it was rare that she had dealings with warrens outside of her own. Although a trip through the rain was rather uncomfortable, Alicia did appreciate the slight expansion of horizons that it afforded. Now that she was warm and dry (and being entertained in style by a Doe!), the whole matter seemed more like an adventure and less like a particularly undesirable chore.

She tasted her tea carefully. It was hot and delicious, delicately flavored as Seena had mentioned. She made a small sound of contentment and appreciation. "This is... just lovely! No wonder it's hard to come by." The leveret said, almost surprised that a tea could be so fragrant and flowery. In fact, she did know about the tendency of tea to go flavorless with age-- it was one of the many things her mother-doe had told her daughters in a fairly successful attempt to bring them up as the perfect ladies' maids. Each of the girls was attractive, prim, reasonably clever, dutiful and a bit vain... each of them now in the service of a different Jack.

Alicia rarely thought of her sisters, or the indulgent father who let their mother spend so much time on their training. Her dear mother was often on her mind at times like these, when she was able to consider the beauty of a doe close up. Seena was a beauty, but in Alicia's mind, none compared to her stunningly, radiantly lovely mother-doe.

Would it be wise to let Seena know that her words were no great revelation to Alicia? The highlander wasn't sure, but she wasn't about to let the Doe think her an absolute fool, either. "I have heard that." She answered, conversationally, "I believe it's the same way with dried herbs, as well. They can lose their potency even though they look the same year after year." This seemed like a safe topic to speak on, the sort of thing that was slightly rare for a leveret to know, but useful to one of that class. It would never do for a leveret to express an interest in history or philosophy, but cooking was just fine.

She took another sip of tea. When Shelby spoke, she remained quiet, waiting for Seena to accept or decline the offer first. She would follow the Doe's lead, as was only proper. It would hardly make a good impression for her to ask for pastries, even if she did rather want one. It had been a long run to the warren, after all.

[Lucca]

Seena glanced over at her son, and gave him a brief nod, careful, again, not to show the surge of pride. The boy was a piece of work for sure, and had some very unfortunate genetics, but he was finally starting to come into his own, something Seena was very grateful for. "Yes, go get them," she commanded, not harshly, but also obviously not phrased as a request. One did not ask one's own Leverets for something nicely. Or, at least, his future master probably wouldn't.

Shelby bowed. "I shall return shortly," he promised, and hopped swiftly from the room and back to the kitchen.

With that settled and food on the way (Seena was hungrier for conversation than food, but she was sure their guest would appreciate something) the Doe turned back to Alicia. At the answer, a flicker of something passed in her eyes -- curiosity, or perhaps surprise with a touch of respect -- before her expression went pleasantly neutral. But her smile was genuine as she relished further discussion on the subject. She was more than happy to meet a Leveret that wasn't hopelessly dull. (Not that all those here were, necessarily).

"Indeed. I am always cross with the Leverets who don't know how to tell if a seller is trying to pull a fast on one them by trying to pawn off very aged mint on some unsuspecting buyer." She shook her head, looking a bit sad at the thought. "And yes, I did grow up in the Selkie Lakes," she said, returning to the previous subject as well. She trusted that Alicia, who seemed sharper than she'd first gave off the impression of being, could follow a several-threaded conversation just fine. "It was a lovely region, though not, I suppose, if you have a heavy distaste for water."

Shelby took this moment to hop back into the room and set the tray of pastries on the table between the two, and then, with some hesitance, took one for himself and sat on the floor near Alicia. He did like hearing about his Mum's homeland, since he'd never been there, himself.