Chapter Text
When Marcello had gone to bespeak the party a gas balloon with a traveller's carriage slung beneath it – for he did not trust any of the party except the Marquess to reliably perform this feat, being mere tourists all, and the Marquess he would not currently suffer to undertake any task even as tiring as negotiation with a semi-sapient AI juice bar – Aubrey turned to Clorinda and said, “I had no real expectation, when last I was here, at this port, of ever seeing dear old Europa again.”
His voice was low, confidingly so, as Clorinda had heard it first on their wedding night, though with surely less genuine need in this case, for the vast open space under the great reinforced glass dome of the Solstice Point spaceport lounge allowed for little listening the other side of doors, or behind columns, as there were none. But perhaps now that the crisis was passed, he did not wish to remind Lord Raxdell of just how little hope his childhood friend had had. The exceedingly raw rough rasp in his voice, that might lessen, the doctors said, but would most likely never subside entire after the experimental procedure he'd undergone, was likely reminder enough.
It was a different matter with Clorinda, who'd never been the younger, unpopular, frightened child the boy Aubrey had sought to protect. Clorinda had no doubt at all that her safety was very much a priority with him, but she had been invited into his life to, when you came to the heart of the matter, protect him, and Marcello, and their compatriots. That made for a footing entirely their own.
True, every friendship, every love, was its own world – could not be compared one to the other, weighed in a scale. Each had its own firmament, bound itself into a shape with its own gravity. Though, if Clorinda considered on it, in a way she had often been called upon to be the protector, to make herself a place of refuge – indeed it was rare that the other part had come to her, for all she'd often found herself obliged to enact the quaking willow, or the clinging vine, for the sake of some gentleman's vision of the world – she had rarely been called upon to be a shield, active in the defense.
She remembered what her darling had said to her, that day in the parlor, that while surely very few would be beguiled by being told they were weak, it might be a great relief to have one that offered to share the burden, that may be heavy. Or, in the case as it stood between her darlings and her, two who offered. Three was a steady number! She had found the inwardness of Mrs Ferraby's words, the truth of them, embodied in Mrs Ferraby and Mr Ferraby, and sure, she dared to think she took a little of their burden too.
It was remarkable how she might find that inwardness again, and have it be a new inwardness, and yet the same truth.
Clorinda reached out, and let her hand rest on her dear husband's. For he was dear to her, most extremely, though there was nothing that could be called carnal about their relations, and Clorinda would not describe her sentiments toward as romantic in nature (or rather, she would not describe them so if she described them to herself, or to Aubrey, or to Marcello, who had a very legitimate interest in the true nature of the matter). But indeed, she did not at all feel herself dwindle into a wife with him, and she was grateful for it, and grateful, too, that he would share this moment and his feelings with her.
True, it was perhaps not more trust than he had already shown her – directly from the occasion of their first meeting, and his proposal – but it was a kind of trust he did not have to show her in her position as business partner and co-conspirator. It was the trust a person showed a friend, and while Clorinda had many good friends, she did not come to have them by failing to cherish them and their confidences.
“I look forward to seeing more of Europa,” Clorinda said. “Gracious! To think I've barely gazed on a smidgen of the surface, and all the famous sights are under the world glacier! But sure, she did look pretty, turning against the night like a velvety jewel – quite the most beautiful pearl in Jupiter's crown, though perhaps I am biased. I believe I feel fondly of her because you speak so fondly of her.”
The Marquess smiled at her, and turned his hand so that hers fell into his fingers, and squeezed. And sure, he had more strength today than he had last week. May he grow stronger, Clorinda thought, and gently squeezed back.