A Tale of Two Ladies

The twelfth episode of Tremontaine.

## Synopsis

This episode alternates between flashbacks and the present.

Seventeen years ago, Diane Roehaven prepares to leave for the City to wed William. She is a spoiled and careless girl of sixteen, quick to blame her maid Louisa for anything that went wrong.

In the past. Louisa was beaten by either the housekeeper or the steward when she protested Diane's claims. She resented Diane and learned Diane's lessons on etiquette and being a proper member of noble society better than Diane did. She overheard Lady Earnestine Hemmynge commenting on how much she looks like Diane, but Diane herself seems unaware of this.

Despite the housekeeper's treatment of Louisa, she dreads the idea of Diane dismissing Louisa right before leaving for the City, as there isn't enough time to choose a new maid, and the two girls leave in a carriage. Louisa finds the journey trying, and thinks to herself that her bloodline is as good as Diane's and that she herself is far smarter than Diane.

A day or so out from the City, their carriage is attacked by the highwayman Rupert Hawke. He kills the two footmen and the coachman, and drags Diane out of the coach, knocking her out when she does not stop screaming. Louisa gets out under her own power.

Rupert takes Diane's jewelry. He and Lousia agree that Diane is a fool. Rupert says that most nobles are fools who have never worked, but believe they deserve everything. He says that this is unfair, and claims that it is why he takes what he wants.

Louisa asks if Rupert is going to kill her and Diane. He says that he does not kill "little girls" and knocks her out. He takes the horses and Diane's possessions.

Louisa awakens before Diane. She watches a crow in fascination until it starts to peck at the eyes of one of the dead footmen. She will dream about this crow for years afterwards, and her husband seems to see it in his madness.

Louisa discards a knitting needle she had concealed in the vain hope that it might make a good weapon and takes a dagger that probably belonged to the footman. Faced with the prospect of being responsible for delivering a complaining Diane to the City and living a miserable life as her servant and taking advantage of the situation, Louisa cuts Diane's throat, messily, under the watchful eye of the crow.

Louisa made her way to the City, wearing Diane's dress and claiming to be Diane. William took her part at once, despite her initial appearance and his mother's judgment that Louisa / Diane was "too countrified".

In the present day, Diane prepares to move William out of the City. She meets with Warwick, the steward of Highcombe House, He agrees to follow her instructions, believing that she wants William to recover as earnestly as he does.

Kaab goes to Riverside, planning to pick up a letter Tess has forged for her and then break off their affiar. However, faced with Tess's ultimatum that she do just that if she considers Tess just a forger or a "good-time girl", instead, Kaab offers to take Tess on a tour of one of her family's ships as a first step toward building their relationship. She also explains, in vague outline, about the problem with Rafe and Micah's theories (not what they are, just that they would be bad for her family), that Rafe is William's lover, that Kaab wants to convince Diane to stop William and Rafe, and the truth about Diane.

In Tremontaine House, William's madness continues, and he refuses to take the medicine Diane offers. She tells Duchamp to add it to chocolate and make sure William takes it, ignoring her feelings of regret.

Duchamp announces Ixkaab's arrival at Tremontaine House, and Diane agrees to see her. Kaab thwarts Diane's attempts at social manipulation and reveals that she killed Reynald, who was trying to kill her at the time, and that she knows Diane's secret. She shows Diane the forged letter.

The letter appears to Diane to be from Lord Nathaniel Hemmynge to the old Duke Tremontaine, describing the blue-eyed Diane and saying that she will have a locket to prove who she is. Kaab claims that the letter was with the jewelry that Rupert Hawke stole.

Kaab offers to keep Diane's secret in return for Diane silencing Rafe, William, Micah, and anyone else necessary, to keep the secret of navigation from the Xanamwiinik.

## Timeline

17 Years Ago: Diane is to leave for the City in a week. Louisa is to go with her. Diane is 16, Will 23.

A week later, the journey begins. The season changes as the girls travel from the North to the City over the first week.

About a week or so later, when they have been traveling almost a fortnight, Diane expects to arrive in the City, but the Spring rains have made her coach at least a day behind schedule. Rupert Hawke attacks, killing the two footmen and the coachman. He knocks out Diane and Louisa, and takes the horses and Diane's possessions, including the locket with her portrait.

Louisa wakes up before Diane does. She kills Dianeand goes to the City, forcing herself to walk through the front doors of Tremontaine House, not the servants' entrance, with Diane's bloody dress on her. She is accepted as Diane Roehaven, and she marries William.

Last Winter: Wickfield's wife was ill with fever, but recovered.

A couple of months ago: This is when Kaab says Ben visited Diane.

After last episode: Kaab returned to Tess with details on a forgery job. Tess accepted the job, but was not happy by Kaab's refusal to be more forthcoming. Vincent says that Tess has been in a bad mood for days, which probably means since last episode's fight. She's told Tess about her fight with Reynald -- that Reynald killed Ben and Kaab killed Reynald.

The Present: Diane tells Wickfield that William will be traveling to Highcombe at the end of the week. Duchamp has not found a replacement for Reynald. Diane is annoyed by the humidity.

Kaab goes to Riverside, planning to break matters off with Tess, but makes up with her instead. Tess calls it "the middle of the summer", although this might be an exaggeration.

Will's madness continues, and Diane tells Duchampe to make William take his medicine.

Kaab visits Diane and presents her forgery and her offer.

## Arc / Plot Points

Citlali was from a different family of traders than Kaab.

Vincent has a job across the river, i.e., not in Riverside.

Kaab has agreed to show Tess one of her family's ships and to build their relationship.

Kaab has told Tess as much as she feels she can, including Diane's secret and the outline of what her family needs from Diane.

Tess has known for some time that Kaab is a spy.

Diane has made plans to send William to Highcombe at the end of the week.

The steward of Highcombe House, Wickfield, wants the best for William and trusts Diane. He has promised to make sure that William takes his medicine and has absolutely no visitors.

William refuses to let Diane give him his medicine.

The real Diane Roehaven was killed by her maid, Louisa, after Rupert Hawke robbed her carriage and killed her men. She looked very like the real Diane, except for her eyes. Rupert apparently figured this out and explained it to Ben, giving his son the locket he had taken from Diane, showing her blue eyes. Louisa has grey eyes. Ben made the mistake of trying to blackmail Louisa / Diane, so Diane sent Reynald to kill him.

Kaab has learned this by speaking to Lady Hemmynge and breaking into House Tremontaine and finding the incriminating portrait in the locket. Why didn't Diane destroy it?

Kaab has told Tess, and presumably her family as well, about Diane's secret, and Tess has forged a letter from Lord Hemmynge to William's father, describing Diane as having blue eyes and a locket with a portrait proving her identity.

Kaab shows this letter to Diane after revealing that it was Kaab who killed Reynald, and offering the silence of the Balam family in return for Diane keeping the Xanamwiinik from learning how to navigate to the Kinwiinik lands.

Louisa was always fascinated by crows, and a crow watched her kill the real Diane. Diane / Louisa dreams about this crow, and both she and William seem to have seen it. William seems to have heard it telling him Louisa's story.

## Cultural and World Information

The old Duke Tremontaine, William's father, wanted someone of the appropriate bloodline to wed his son.

The Roehavens are an offshoot of the Tremontaines.

Diane Roehaven was named after Queen Diane, who united the North and South of the Land.

Louisa notes to herself that everyone in the North, including herself, has "the blood of the ancient kings in them". In other words, her bloodline is as good as Diane's, although no noble would agree.

William's mother thought Diane / Louisa too "countrified" to be "a proper duchess".

The Wickfield family men have been stewards to Tremontaine at Highcombe for generations.

Red Hearts is a card game considered suitable for young ladies. Diane / Louisa considers it a silly game and finds it hard to lose continuously to her mistress.

Louisa knits.

Tess was paid in meat for a job she did for a butcher, despite it being too hot for a beef stew.

Tess uses and gestures with her knife casually in ways that make Kaab nervous.

Tess is a Riversider, but even she assumed that the song about Rupert Hawke sparing daughters was "just a legend in song".

Also, Riversider or not, Tess considers Louisa murdering Diane to become Duchess Tremontaine "cold-blooded", while Kaab notes that people kill for far less.

People in Kaab's land would "kill to become a Balam if they could."