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Epilogues

Sero, Sextus - Decimus 1668

The benandanti never did acquire his target, after all.

Sero did leave Monfalcone after the destruction of Angela's ghost; it was clearly too dangerous to stay. His next Ember Day vision on Sextus 15 sent him on his way to Montaigne, and gave him a much clearer idea of who he was hunting - Gabrielle Blanchard Donati.

What he found in Montaigne gave him pause. Countess Odessa Blanchard was quite busy with her machinations in Charouse and left the governance of her lands to her brother-in-law, Lord Francois Blanchard (Gabrielle's father). Francois took the opportunity to surreptiously revive some of the family's older rites and rituals, hoping to accumulate enough occult power to overthrow his sister-in-law. A not-inconsiderable influence in this revival was Mateo Bianco, who had been on the grounds since early Sextus.

The benandanti don't usually question their visions, but Sero had to. He couldn't directly observe Gabrielle, out of fear of being recognized, but the intelligence he gathered throughout Julius suggested that she was a Vaticine - possibly a deluded or heretical Vaticine dabbling in arcane arts, but still a follower of the Prophets. Why on Terra should he target her when there were two men actively leading Black Masses on the Blanchard estate?

But what was he going to do? The men and women the benandanti hunted were usually themselves fugitives or at least criminals, not Montaigne lords with their own troop of guards. As he slowly learned the language and established himself as a peddlar within Blanchard's lands, he began to get the feeling that there was a common resentment growing here. The countess's pagan rituals were generally thought to be Abyssal, and (as the summer went on) the lord was now getting in on the act, probably damning everyone here to the Abyss - of course, they were excommunicated anyway because of the sorcerous Empeurer, so...

It took him over a week to learn that Mateo Bianco left Montaigne in early Septimus, and Sero cursed his luck on that. Because things were almost ready... In late Septimus, as word was getting out that riots in Charouse had overthrown l'Empeurer, the villagers of Blanchard's lands massed to attack the castle. It was entirely unexpected (Lord Francois being one of the more typical sorts of Montaigne lord) and fairly successful. The peasants did of course suffer losses against the belatedly mustered guards, but the lord and both of his sons were executed. The countess was not there - not that they'd expected her to be - and neither was Gabrielle.

Sero left Montaigne shortly after that. His autumnal Ember vision had been somewhat hazy, which he took to be a sign that he was acting correctly. Perhaps he was not meant to kill Gabrielle Donati, but rather following her led to this unexpected clot of Bianco. Without another vision to clarify his next actions til Decimus, Sero decided to head back to Vodacce. He expected Mateo Bianco had returned home, and perhaps so had Gabrielle Donati. Either way, he expected his next mission to play out there, so he might as well return.

Ellen Locke, Septimus - Decimus 1668

The Avalon are a sturdy, stubborn people, and the Locke family title is more of an honorific than a reality - recall that Alfred Locke was an apothecary. If Ellen was naive about politics, she wasn't all that sheltered about the realities of travel and "the common people." Between her good sense, her determination, and the hand cannon she kept in her purse, Ellen was all right getting to San Cristobal.

It's a different San Cristobal than she remembered from just a few years ago. La Sciencia was subdued, and Inquisitors loitered about the grounds openly. She was able to locate some of her old favorite professors fairly easily, and each told her in no uncertain terms that, while they were very happy to see her, no one was going to sponsor her antitoxin work. Working with poisons - even to cure them - would certainly draw the Inquisition's paranoid attention.

She lived off of the money Salvador had given her for a few weeks before someone finally found a small position for her. Even the Inquisition could not argue against science being applied to the war effort, and several chemists were collaborating to improve black powder. Ellen had solid laboratory skills and they could use her as an assistant. She took a room with two other single female students, content for the moment. She surely did not intend to spend the rest of her days like this, but she needed time to sort things out and investigate her options.

She didn't get much time before everything in San Cristobal went topsy-turvy: the Montaigne were retreating, Don Andres del Aldana was wrongly arrested as El Vago, Cardinal Verdugo was sent away and the power of the Inquisition was suddenly broken. It suddenly looked like there might be real opportunities at La Sciencia after all... until Ellen spotted four clearly Breggan men asking questions of a student in the main square. When the student pointed towards the Chemistry Building, Ellen had a feeling that maybe returning to her old haunts hadn't been such a good idea.

Tigran Mondavi

Tigran and Odessa Blanchard: Tigran's alchemical theories are all body-based. His experience as a seducer and as a torturer has led him to believe that the needs of the body can always prevail over the mind. Control of the body, therefore, is the ultimate goal. He has worked toward that for many years, and his incredible physical conditioning, his health, and his long life can all be attributed to that. (The brutal murder of young women is just a hobby, really - no dark occult rituals at all.)

He met Odessa Blanchard some years ago. The Self-Controlled countess, of course, believes the precise opposite of Tigran - if you can control someone's thoughts and desires, they will willingly command their own bodies to do what you want. Neither would admit that the other might be at least somewhat correct, and they passed the evening in challenging debate. There were definitely sparks, and if they'd gone to bed together just for pleasure's sake, things would have probably gone much better. Instead, each was still determined to prove his or her point.

When Odessa point-blank refused to beg Tigran to continue what he was doing, he determined that he would make her beg for him to stop instead. That was similarly unsuccessful.

Odessa has never, and probably will never, admit to anyone what happened. So long as she can pretend indifference about the encounter, they are at a draw. Privately, she wouldn't mind seeing Tigran disembowled and left out for the ravens. It still rankles Tigran that he didn't outright win, and he wouldn't mind a rematch where he could bring some of his less subtle skills to bear, but he doesn't hate her nearly as much as she hates him.

In the present: Tigran felt himself fairly well-revenged upon Don Salvador once he seduced Anna. Still, he doesn't like the cocky upstart and his association with Countess Odessa lends itself to... possibilities.

Tigran would be most likely to show back up after the war is over and the internal jockeying for position starts. Antonio (if he is still alive) will want to govern Vestini lands. There is a substantial Daughters network there, thanks to Prince Vestini's patronage, and Nemise du Arrent Mondavi would much prefer that she be moved there if Prince Mondavi intends to rule out of Agitazione. (There's not much call for a governor in Profeta Chiesa if there's a king a few days south.) Barone Oreste would protest that the governor of conquered territory could hardly be a woman, and present himself for the position. Gallisus may insist Nemise join him on the island, especially if she is with child; Nemise might lobby for the Viscount to be appointed, then, instead of young Oreste.

Two brothers in competition, the crafty Don Antonio and his ambitious, disowed half-brother (who's dallying with a Montaigne expatriate)? If Tigran can't stir that pot to cause trouble, he's not really trying.

Renato Vasari

The Rose and Cross Knight spent two months "in hiding" before a chance encounter with a fellow Knight. He was quite confused that word of his "infamy" had not yet reached her ears. Some delicate investigation later, he found the "dead of cholera" story in circulation.

If nothing else, Renato learned that it can often be simpler to ask, "How can this problem be solved?" rather than, "How can I solve this problem?"

By then, Caligari Island had sunk and the war was on. The Rose and Cross had plenty to do and Renato went on to swash some buckles. He thinks fondly of the sweet Lady Donati, but doesn't expect to ever see her again - Don Antonio will assuredly be upset with him for "abandoning" her, and Don Antonio knows about Renato's membership in the Order. It's really best to not regain his attention.

(Dramatically speaking, Renato will reappear only if needed. It would be genre-appropriate, for example, for him to be on a mission - possibly against Don Antonio - and be in the right place at the right time to assist Lady Donati if she were to need it.)

Minor NPCs from Montaigne

Lady Manon Fauchon, an acquaintance of Salvador's, was a spy from La Motte working with and for a local Charouse lord (Roland Mathis). Manon, unfortunately, was not an especially good spy, and certainly not good enough to go toe-to-toe with Odessa Blanchard. Her major accomplishment, before fleeing polite society shortly after the Feast of the Sun, was to convince the countess's illegitimate nephew to come with her.

The nephew was the same young man who took part in the Boltan ritual on Quartus 30. He, raised a commoner all his life, gravitated toward Roland Mathis's talk of liberty, equality, and a common brotherhood for all. (Although born a nobleman, Mathis was a closet freethinker and agreed with the revolutionary sentiments floating around Charouse - indeed, he'd authored some of the pamphlets.) He later found himself in the right place at the right time to stand up for a wronged man, and served as the spark that ignited the Revolution. Having inherited a good deal of his father's charisma, he was quickly pulled into the inner ranks of the Revolutionary government.

But the summer always ends, and the Summer King must die to give way to the Winter King. His ties to Roland Mathis (who was also eventually executed as the moderates became seen as traitors) doomed him to execution on the first snowy day of 1669.

Citizeness Manon would survive and go on to join with a pair of ex-Musketeers and some other heroes to work against the excesses of the Revolution. One of the ex-Musketeers was Riva Gatreau, who was employed by Cardinal Durkheim as a guard when Salvador met her.

Gabrielle Donati

Gabrielle has had a very bad year. Going into 1669, she has few loyalties, fewer resources, and an excellent reason - her daughter - to fight for a better and more secure life.

Gabrielle never fully bought into Father Angelo's "holy priest" facade, but seeing him - working with her aunt Odessa! - to torture and break even a man as vile as Mateo Bianco shook her. Like her aunt, she had thought that she had a good read on the Donati brothers. Now, she thought herself lucky to be away from Vodacce.

Odessa encouraged her to keep Mateo weak by bleeding him for her alchemy, even if it mean compromising her ideals there. He was dangerous; perhaps not so much to Gabrielle, whose own will was quite strong, but to her father. Gabrielle wasn't sure what to make of that advice. The countess and her father did not get along - what was the motive here? Should she take the advice or do the opposite?

In the end, it didn't matter. Mateo, eager to get into her good graces, rapidly (but not too quickly to be believed) came to "see the light of Theus" and cooperated in her work. He tried, repeatedly, to seduce her, but she only felt pity for him. His efforts made her uncomfortable, though, and she had to wonder what his goals really were.

Her father and brothers of course knew that they had a guest in the castle. They seemed to also get along well with Mateo, eventually taking him for walks and other excursions to break up the monotony of his captivity. Indeed, aside from the locks on his door, he soon hardly appeared to be a captive at all.

Gabrielle primarily divided her time between her daughter ("Charlotte," now, rather than Carlotta) and her research, finally perfecting an Unbound cordial. Her focus, and a portion of denial, kept her from noticing what her father and Mateo were truly up to: resurrecting the Blanchard/Bianco relationship and with it, the families' dark ties to Legion. Later, she'd have to ask herself if her aunt knew that this, and the eventual backlash, would happen...

Odessa clearly did not expect Antonio Donati to request Mateo's release, especially as the request went over her head and straight to her brother-in-law. (Although Antonio sent his letter in Julius, he did so with instructions that it not be delivered until after Septimus 1. He never really intended the Donati/St-Laurent alliance to last much past that.) Mateo was no longer really being confined, and had been happy to be lord Francois Blanchard's chief dark priest, but the opportunity to acquire Beatrice Caligari was too great to be missed. Perhaps Lorenzo Island would rise again after all! He spun out that story for lord Francois, who then readily agreed to let him go.

Troubled and torn, Gabrielle finally decided to warn Angelo that Mateo was gone. Mateo held no grudge against her, so far as she could tell; best not to antagonize Angelo, either. She was surprised when her aunt - wounded? - made an appearance on Septimus 6. Odessa told Gabrielle it would be best to be leaving Montaigne soon, for Charlotte's safety, but not to go to the Donati. Viscount Salvador would probably see to her. Gabrielle was naturally suspicious. Odessa outlined some of what had happened, but it still seemed unlikely. The countess enjoined her niece to keep her eyes and ears open and, after disavowing any knowledge of Mateo's release, offered to carry Gabrielle's letter to Vodacce that same day. Gabrielle sent another by post, just in case this was a tactic to "lose" the letter.

With no Unbound to work with, Gabrielle did indeed spend more time looking and listening, and noted to her horror that her father had turned to dark rites and the people in the countryside were agitated. She tried to raise the topic with her brothers, only to find that they, too, were involved with the Legion-worship. It was, they felt, the only way to take control of the family lands - their patrimony - back from Countess Odessa. They kindly reassured her that they'd leave her to her Vaticine rites, just as long as she didn't interfere with their own.

When her aunt reappeared in late Septimus, Gabrielle was packed and ready to go. It was the right decision - by the end of the month, peasants had stormed the castle and killed her father and both brothers as they were holding a Black Mass.

Monfalcone has changed quite a lot. Bernardo seems like a new man, joly Lucia is now quiet and nervous, Salvador is showing far too much of her aunt's influence, and Donna Anna is even more reclusive. Everyone else is gone: Don Antonio and Gianina to Caligari lands, and Angelo and Cristoforo to go looking for Beatrice Caligari. The Masacci are stepping in to replace the Donati in whatever civic roles they can, but it's clear that Don Antonio is hoping to go on to far better things than a minor lord in Monfalcone.

Should Gabrielle throw her hat in with Antonio, whose star is clearly rising? Or with her aunt's faction? She still is uncertain why Odessa chose to remove her from Montaigne while leaving the others... why not let the whole family die out? And did Odessa try to arrange lord Blanchard's descent into darkness? Of course on the other hand, Antonio killed her husband Tomasso and, apparently, engineered the greatest disaster in six hundred years.

Perhaps the deciding factor would be Don Salvador. He did, after all, open his home to her and her daughter. He had always been charming and kind. (Although, after Angelo, she had to question appearances.) She had to admit that, as... unorthodox as his staff were, they were treated better than most of the servants in Montaigne. It certainly didn't hurt that he was young, witty and handsome. Really, if somehow her aunt's influence could just be removed... or replaced...

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