Isolde Rowntree/Supports

**Sudhana:** …Good evening.

**Isolde:** My lord.

**Sudhana:** I pray you’ve gotten settled in.

**Isolde:** I have, thank you.

**Sudhana:** …This must be hard for you. Leaving your home and family behind to come here.

**Isolde:** Aljana is a beautiful country, my lord.

**Sudhana:** Indeed…

**Isolde:** …I suppose… you want to…

**Sudhana:** !!! Wh-what are you doing? Keep that on!

**Isolde:** ?

**Sudhana:** …No. Not until we’re ready – not until you want to.

**Isolde:** My lord…

**Sudhana:** It’s alright, Lady Isolde.

**Isolde:** …Thank you…

*C support achieved.*

### **B:**

**Isolde:** Lord Sudhana!

**Sudhana:** Hm? Oh – what’s that you have there?

**Isolde:** I don’t know. I was in the sand gardens, and some of the children chased it out of the bushes and cornered it. It seemed scared, so I… Should I not have…?

**Sudhana:** No, it’s quite alright. It’s a sandstar fox, native to the deserts here. They’re quite common here. Have you never seen one before?

**Isolde:** No, never. It’s… it’s adorable… Why are its ears so big?

**Sudhana:** For hunting. Large ears help them locate insects and other small creatures underground. See the little spots on its haunches? That means it’s female.

**Isolde:** Ahh…

**Sudhana:** Look how she rubs up against your shoulder – she likes you. If you like her, you should keep her. They’re not hard to tame.

**Isolde:** Really? May I?

**Sudhana:** Of course. What will you name her?

**Isolde:** I don’t know. Hm… I’ll name her… Hana.

**Sudhana:** …Hana?

**Isolde:** Should I not?

**Sudhana:** Ha! You flatter me, Lady Isolde.

**Isolde:** Hehe… Thank you, my lord. Truly.

### **A:**

**Isolde:** You seem pleased today.

**Sudhana:** I am. Enjoying your new friend?

**Isolde:** Look how she sleeps in my lap, precious thing… Tell me, though. Why all the smiles?

**Sudhana:** You came to me when you found her… It made me happy. That you would come to ask me, I mean.

**Isolde:** …I believe I owe you an apology, Lord Sudhana.

**Sudhana:** Whatever for…? What brings this on?

**Isolde:** I have treated you poorly. I-

**Sudhana:** There’s no need to-

**Isolde:** Hush! Please, allow me to speak my mind.

**Sudhana:** …

**Isolde:** I judged you prematurely. I decided that I hated you before I even knew you, and that was wrong of me. So… I am truly sorry. If you’re willing, I’d like to start over. To try again.

**Sudhana:** …There’s no need to apologize. I am guilty of the doing the same. I don’t love you, Lady Isolde.

**Isolde:** …

**Sudhana:** But I think I could. I think we could, if we tried, and I want to try.

**Isolde:** We’re going to be together forever, aren’t we?

**Sudhana:** God Vega willing.

**Isolde:** Then we should try, so we can spend the rest of our lives with someone we love. Starting today?

**Sudhana:** Yes! Starting today.

*A support achieved.*

### **S:**

**Isolde:** Sudhana?

**Sudhana:** It’s me.

**Isolde:** It’s late; come to bed.

**Sudhana:** …

**Isolde:** Long day?

**Sudhana:** You could say that. I, um… My father… isn’t as well as he used to be. He thinks that I ought to take the throne, and rule as regent king until Lyra comes of age.

**Isolde:** Do you want to?

**Sudhana:** Well… yes, but… I fear it will only make it harder to surrender the throne to Lyra, when the time comes. He’s still so young… He cares nothing for the throne, or for our people.

**Isolde:** But he will have you beside him.

**Sudhana:** He will always have me beside him. …What am I saying? I will defer to my father’s judgment. For the time being, there’s no point in worrying.

**Isolde:** Is there anything I can do to help? …Relieve stress, maybe…?

**Sudhana:** …Isolde?

**Isolde:** If you’re ready…

*S support achieved.*

## Merek Seymour

### **C:**

**Merek:** Good evening, Sister. I hope I’m not interrupting your practice.

**Isolde:** No, not at all. What can I help you with?

**Merek:** Your technique with the sword is artful. I was hoping that, perhaps, you could teach me a little of it.

**Isolde:** Me? Teach *you?* Merek, I’m not sure if even Mikael would be able to beat you in a fight, much less I. You have little to learn from me.

**Merek:** Little though it may be, there’s certainly something. Elegance, for one. Your poise makes it hard to read your next moves.

**Isolde:** I’m no master. I wouldn’t know how to even begin teaching you.

**Merek:** You don’t have to do anything. If you’d just allow me to observe, then I’m sure I could pick up on a little of it.

**Isolde:** If you think it would help, then gladly.

**Merek:** Thank you.

*C support achieved.*

### **B:**

**Merek:** She always keeps her weight shifted back… Upright, defensive posture, right up until she goes in to strike…

**Isolde:** Ever hard at work, I see.

**Merek:** Always. It’s not easy, though. The sword has never been my strongest suite… I don’t know how you do it.

**Isolde:** My mother encouraged me to pursue swordplay from a young age. She wove elaborate tales of how I would slay kings and rule as the supreme monarch. A rather horrible thing to say considering that the king is my father, don’t you think?

**Merek:** Indeed…

**Isolde:** …Is something the matter, Brother?

**Merek:** No, no. I was merely praying that you’ll never see times so unfortunate that you must wield the sword.

**Isolde:** And I pray that you’ll have no need to either.

**Merek:** You’re a gentler soul than I, Sister. I’ve never killed before, but I don’t think I should mind doing so, providing it was for a true cause.

**Isolde:** Oh? And what kind of a cause would that be?

**Merek:** One… bigger than myself. One that would matter in the grand scheme of history. One that would change the world as we know it.

**Isolde:** Hm…

*B support achieved.*

### **A:**

**Isolde:** Do you have a moment, Brother?

**Merek:** For you? Of course.

**Isolde:** I wanted to apologize. When we last spoke, I mentioned my mother, and you grew so quiet… I didn’t intend to bring her up. I was thoughtlessly insensitive.

**Merek:** Why would… Isolde, you’ve never wronged me. Never. I can’t even begin to imagine why you would think you owe me an apology when the opposite is true.

**Isolde:** She tried to kill you. And she tried to kill Claire, and she tried to kill Leto, and she *did* kill s-so many-

**Merek:** Well, yes, but that was her, not you. Why would you have to apologize?

**Isolde:** I- I was complacent. I never tried to stop her. Marcella did, you know. Her mother was the same as mine, and when Marcella found out, she begged and pleaded until the killing stopped. And I? I caught a glimpse of her sin and all I did was turn my face away. I was a coward.

**Merek:** You were a child. And if your mother’s actions condemn you, then my hands are bloody as well. Or do you forget that your mother is dead because of my family?

**Isolde:** I don’t blame Lady Seymour for what she did. She was only protecting her children, and I would have done the same in her place. But… I will admit, I’ve oft thought of it.

**Merek:** Her heart broke over you. She would’ve rather died than cause innocent children to lose their mother. She had intended to take you and Eli in and raise you alongside Claire and me, like her own children… But word got out that Lady Rowntree’s death was her doing, and she knew you wouldn’t allow it.

**Isolde:** I wouldn’t have understood. I was blind to my mother's faults.

**Merek:** …

**Isolde:** …Eli hates her. He was just a baby when she died, so he never knew how she doted on him, her son who came too late… And so he is ashamed to be her child. He hates her, like I ought to, and yet I still love her. Isn’t that awful?

**Merek:** No daughter can be faulted for loving her mother. If it weren’t for Claire and me, she would still be with you… I thought you hated us for it. I still think that, sometimes.

**Isolde:** Merek-

**Merek:** *Damn,* I don’t know why I told you that. I’m not asking you to prove me wrong. In fact, I’d rather not know the answer.

**Isolde:** I shall give it to you regardless. I did blame you, for a while, when I didn’t know what I felt or what to do with it. But as I came to know you both, I came to a curious conclusion. The truth is… I fear I would rather have the two of you than her.

**Merek:** You don’t have to say all this…

**Isolde:** But it’s true, and I want you to know. You have become very precious to me.

**Merek:** And you’re dear to me as well, Sister. I… I’m so sorry…

**Isolde:** Hm? You have naught to apologize for.

**Merek:** But I do. Ah, how the gods know I do…

*A support achieved.*