[OTA, Backdated to Thursday, Oct 25] No Nightingale Did Ever Chaunt

[butlebattler.livejournal.com]

(ooc: Please forgive me for losing track of time and my brain.)

The challenge was held in the Clubs Great Hall, tables set for an audience of maybe one hundred. She didn't expect more than that, and nor did Wendy Harnois. It was poetry, not combat, and it was a Thursday afternoon. A teacher each from the elementary school, middle school and high school had been invited to judge, and they sat in the front row with notepads and pens, awaiting the performances.



Karin came onto the makeshift stage first. She was dressed in dark purple, her hair pinned out of her face by a butterfly clip that Isaac had once given her for her birthday. She was, for once in her life, wearing makeup, which made her deep blue eyes seem brighter.

When she claimed the stage, the room settled into attentive silence. Her eyes scanned the crowd, and she allowed herself a smile at seeing all who were there before she took a slow breath in and spoke.

"The Solitary Reaper, by William Wordsworth."

And then her face transformed, from utter calm to bright and lively, as she launched into the first-person account of a Highland farmer reaping her crops and singing to herself in some foreign tongue. There was a respectful awe in her tone, as she echoed the poet's speculation on what a reaper in the fields might have to sing about, the rhyme scheme crisp and rhythmic. Perhaps it wasn't what some expected--the Club kitchen had a betting pool where "A Servant to Servants" had had great odds. But she nailed the piece, drawing loud applause.

And then she yielded the stage, with a respectful curtsy, to Wendy. Wendy was dressed in lavender, and beside Karin seemed pale and fragile. But there was attention paid as she drew breath for her own recitation.

"My November Guest by Robert Frost."

Her performance had a still, soft quality, as she described how Sorrow settles in as the world dies down for November. It was, in some ways, a concession. But there was no doubting that the poem was heartfelt.

And then, the judges mustered their numbers, tallying and counting, adding and comparing. It was the elementary school teacher, a Six of Hearts, who took the stage to announce the winner of the challenge: Wilhelmina Karina Sands-Alder, now Seven of Clubs. Wendy was the first to congratulate her, before slipping off the stage to join her daughter in the hall.

Comments

[lowtohigh.livejournal.com]

It's so incredibly wonderful to have intellectual, artistic challenges. They're not completely rare in the Clubs, but violent, bloody ones tend to stick so much more in the mind--particularly of the young.

So the Ace is really quite pleased, as well as quietly relieved, to be sitting in on this challenge, and not just because it means she'll be skipping her literature lessons for the day. Good to see the Clubs in this restive fashion. Good to see the strong rising through the quality of their minds rather than simply their arms.

The smile stays calmly present, if not overly bright, when Eileen makes her way to the new Seven's side to drop a polite curtsy. "Congratulations, Ms Karin. That was really quite stunning."

[butlebattler.livejournal.com]

"Many thanks, milady Ace." The curtsy is echoed, as Karin's smile grows at the sight of Eileen. "I'm glad you came to watch today."

It's a sign that there's someone who isn't mourning the loss of butler, a sign that maybe it will all be okay. Nice to have the Ace's approval, even if she is still young.

[lowtohigh.livejournal.com]

"I wouldn't have missed it. Honestly." Not just because it was, in some ways, one of the responsibilities she was more than capable of performing, and not just because it was good to encourage the artistic challenges.

All the Clubs knew Karin. Loved Karin dearly. Surely they were all here to celebrate her, much though they'd miss her familiar rap at the door for tea.

"You must be pleased with your performance, I hope."

[butlebattler.livejournal.com]

"Oh, I'm still wondering if I picked the right poem." She scratches the back of her head lightly. "But I think I delivered it properly."

She's willing to show her human side right now, what isn't the butler she was.

[lowtohigh.livejournal.com]

Which is a good place to start. Butlers tended to fall into the realm of the almost mythical. Challenges, movements, like this were a good reminder to everyone.

Every Card is, at the base, just a person. "Are all challenges like that? You've won or you've lost, but you can't help thinking of everything else that might have been?"

[butlebattler.livejournal.com]

"Oh, I don't know about all challenges. This is only, what, my fourth? I can hardly speak to some great 'all'. I know my first challenge looks ridiculous from here, though." She grins, fondly remembering how she made Three.

[lowtohigh.livejournal.com]

Four, of course, was still decidedly beating the Clubs' current Ace for challenges. Surely being a Seven won't take away the long-suffering patience that must have borne Karin along all her years as Five. "Why? What was your first?"

[butlebattler.livejournal.com]

"A mopping race." She chuckles. "Down the front hall, across toward the main conservatory, through the east wing and finishing at the back eastern stairwell."

[lowtohigh.livejournal.com]

"A mopping race." There's a properly childish sort of smile for that, her fingers lacing together behind her back. "That sounds like a lot more fun than most."

[butlebattler.livejournal.com]

"It was a lot of fun, and so not serious. But at the level of Twos and Threes among the servants, it doesn't have to be serious." She nods. "And Five, I took in a tea ceremony because Kelly Fiddler was retiring."

[lowtohigh.livejournal.com]

"And what makes it more or less serious?" What made mops different from poetry? From serving tea? From throwing knives or attacking with swords?

[butlebattler.livejournal.com]

"The fact that it was a challenge that ended in laughter and hugs, perhaps? Or maybe that no one was really invited but castle staff. I'm not sure--it wasn't a big deal, at that point." She'd thought about swords, about knives, but they were a hobby for her. To turn them into a challenge would have made them less fun. If that made sense.

[lowtohigh.livejournal.com]

It wouldn't to Eileen, not now. Will likely in a little more than two years. "And this one was? Because it was for Seven and so many people watched?"

[butlebattler.livejournal.com]

"This one was a very deliberate step taken. Two steps leap-frogged and the official resignation of a butler." She shrugs. "But it was also a formality, in a way."

[lowtohigh.livejournal.com]

"A formality?" Her fingers unlace, relace again. Clearly this will be a typically exhaustive chain of 'why's, despite the occasion, if Karin doesn't stop her.

[butlebattler.livejournal.com]

"Why do you think Wendy was the person I picked for this challenge?" Ah, but there's an important lesson to be taught here--not every challenge is the sort of affair no one is certain of the outcome to. Some are simply...formalities.

[lowtohigh.livejournal.com]

Good to learn it now, from a trusted Club, with two years left to go before it became a genuine concern. "Perhaps because you were fairly certain you could take the rank from her. Perhaps because you thought she couldn't competently fulfill her obligations to the Suit as Seven."

[butlebattler.livejournal.com]

She laughs, but not unkindly. "Oh, Eileen. Wendy's amazing at her job, and I know how much she adores poetry--her husband was an amateur poet in his time. Think about it a little harder."

[lowtohigh.livejournal.com]

"To... make a definitive point?" Too much time spent with Spades, clearly. Time to be re-grounded.

[butlebattler.livejournal.com]

"Her daughter just had a child. She couldn't, as a Seven, just drop everything and spend time helping her with the baby. As a Five, though, she can slip out a little earlier." She gives a light gesture, inviting Eileen to extrapolate consequences and causes and other thoughts relating to the situation.

[lowtohigh.livejournal.com]

There's the briefest sideways twitch of her lips. What a nice thought, after all--a grandmother taking time to assist with a grandchild. A mother, even, making time for a child.

"And... did you speak with her about this, when deciding? Did she ask for it to be this way?"

[butlebattler.livejournal.com]

"Not directly, not quite. We had a conversation where she hinted at letting one of the youngsters take her, about a month back, well before Argine retired. She knew what it meant when I challenged her."

She smiles, spreading her arms gently. "It's actually a fairly common practice with the oldest members of the Deck."

[lowtohigh.livejournal.com]

The inside of her cheek goes between her teeth thoughtfully, gnawing while she takes in the new information. It will require proper mulling over, likely over the space of a few days. But... like this challenge, it's a good thing. "That's... quite lovely, isn't it. In its own way."

[butlebattler.livejournal.com]

"I've wondered to myself, if your mother was awaiting a challenge from Tegan." It's speculatory, and probably not something she should, technically, be sharing with the Ace. But the though has been there, and now Eileen has the perspective to look at Argine's retirement through a different lens.

[lowtohigh.livejournal.com]

She's a big girl. Too grown up, really, to be entirely healthy, but there was nothing to be done for that.

"Perhaps. Thank goodness she's not still waiting." It would have been better with a new Queen in place, but at least the doctors were starting to speak with optimism about Argine's condition. "I oughtn't be keeping you like this, I suppose."