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[maellum]

(I typically play Maelle from Act I or Act II. For Act III, see tomorrowcomes.)

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[demainvient]

And you think you can do that better than an entire expedition of people twice your age?

[ He pulls back enough to give her a skeptical glance. ]

You're good with your sword, but not that good.

[maellum]

I can tell when you're about to do something Emma would have your head for.

[Her sixth sense. She's glad to see something other than upset on his face, though her smile is still slow and hesitant as if too much joy might make him change his mind.]

... she might have both our heads for this one.

[Gustave was the easy one to convince.]

[demainvient]

[ Gustave blows out a breath, shoulders lowering almost enough to be called a slump. ]

Let me handle Emma.

[ She'll hate it as much as he does, and she'll argue even more fervently than he had. He knows... he knows she was counting on having Maelle here when he was gone. The two of them still together, able to comfort one another. ]

[maellum]

She might get you to change your mind.

[A gentle warning. He breaks easily for Maelle, but his sister might be able to bring him back to his senses.]

[demainvient]

She'll try.

[ And he'd want to let her. But— ]

But I promise I won't.

[ He takes his promises to her seriously, he always has. She'd been let down so many times before; he couldn't be the one to let her down again. ]

[maellum]

[This is where she might ask him to pinky swear. However, she takes him at his word. He'll want to change his mind, but he won't.]

I've never fit in here. [Miserable, since she was born here. Just like everyone else.] I fit with you. Death comes for us all, and I... want to see what's out there before it comes for me. With you. That's not too bad, is it?

[It doesn't sound bad to her, given their circumstances. Either his expedition or her own, when she has a year left. Better it be with company she loves and loves her.]

[demainvient]

[ He can feel a headache coming on. Maybe Lucien and Catherine would be willing to meet up with him tonight at that café in the marketplace to share a bottle of wine. Or two. ]

Maelle, I'll make sure you come if you want to, I'll help you train, I'll convince Emma... but don't ask me to feel good about this yet.

Please.

[maellum]

Sorry.

[Maelle doesn't ever think he'll be overjoyed, but she hopes he can one day understand. She doesn't see this as a sad thing. It would be sad to be left here, without him. It would be sad to spend her years wondering how he died and how far he made it. It would be sad to have nightmares about him dying frightened and alone. At least this way--

Well, it could all go terribly, but Maelle finds comfort in the fact that they'll be together.]

[demainvient]

[ He exhales, not quite in a sigh, and lets go of her shoulders. ]

You know it's not like I wanted to say goodbye to you, either.

[maellum]

... I know.

[Her words are quiet, but no less sure. Of course she knows.]

Sometimes I think the orphans have it easy. [They're all orphans, aren't they? Just fortunate and less fortunate.] The younger ones, anyway. They don't remember losing their parents.

[She will.]

[demainvient]

Yeah. Sometimes I think you might be right.

[ But they all carry the never-ending grief and the fading hope of Lumière with them, no matter when they lose the ones they love.

Sometimes he wonders if he was right or wrong, not to try again for children, a family, after Sophie. Too late now. ]

But then I feel sorry, you know. For the parents who never got to know them.

[ He slides a glance over at her. ]

Like yours.

[maellum]

[Like yours. She knows it's coming before he says it, the inevitable way he can turn anything into a way to lift her up. She smiles, appreciating where his heart is. Her voice is lighter when she next speaks despite the words.]

I can't imagine spending your last few years with an accident that needs to be fed every few hours and doesn't sleep through the night. [To Gommage tired is a terrible fate. There's no way she was anything but a mistake--three years is nothing with a baby. They were gone before she could even form memories of their faces. Maybe for the best. They likely resented her making their lives more complicated.]

And who knows? If they had me any longer, we might not have crossed paths.

[She might not have been between families, and he and Emma may not have been open to taking in a child. Maelle knows she wouldn't be anything like the person she is today without them.]

[demainvient]

Oh, I don't know about that. Sometimes it feels like fate, you coming to stay with me and Emma.

[ He folds his arms across his chest and delivers a precision strike. ]

She'll miss you, you know. She'd have had you for a while longer after I left.

[maellum]

[Oh, that's not fair and he knows it. Maelle wraps her arms around herself as if she's hit with a chill, looking to Gustave with a frown.]

... your apprentices can warm my seat while I'm gone.

[Maelle knows she's not just a seat at the table. She and Emma may not be as close as her and Gustave, but she's encouraged Maelle to be herself. So, maybe she's the one to blame for this stubbornness.]

But... I'll miss her, too. She does a lot of good here.

[demainvient]

Yes, she does. She's holding this place together in a way most of us can't. Lumière needs her to help lead the way into the future.

[ He can see that it hit, even if it didn't have the full effect he'd hoped for. But Maelle loves Emma, he knows. This will be hard on all of them. ]

Look, I'll talk to Emma. But I think you owe it to her to have a conversation about this once she and I are done.

[maellum]

[For what little time Emma herself has left. Maelle keeps that remark to herself, shifting from one foot to the other in effort to shake the new layer of guilt. It doesn't work.]

Even if there's no changing my mind?

[demainvient]

Even then.

[ His voice is no longer raised and he's no longer animated with all his upset, but there's still a sternness to him now. ]

She deserves that much, Maelle.

[maellum]

[He's serious. More importantly, he's right. Maelle nods.]

She does. I will. Promise.

[Gustave can get her to do just about anything for the foreseeable future as long as it's not staying home. Maelle watches him in silence for a moment.]

Anything else?

[demainvient]

[ Anything else. Stay here, he wants to say. Please don't go.

But if anyone's going to have any chance of getting her to change her mind, he can't keep arguing it now. She'll only dig in her heels, mulish, and lift her chin in her stubborn way, and he'll be right back to the beginning of this argument. ]

You'd better start training with the rest of the team. I'll talk to Alan tomorrow.

[maellum]

[Obediently, she nods. No complaints there. No smile, either, even when she feels a swell of excitement in her chest. Yes. This is what she wanted. She never wanted to upset Gustave, but no matter how she imagined this going, she knew he'd end up hurt.]

I'll let you beat me in a duel, if you want.

[She tries to joke, but it falls flat.]

[demainvient]

Oh, there won't be any letting.

[ He can't quite joke with her yet: the words are there, but the easy humor is stilted and subdued.

He'll try, though. ]

I won't be pulling my punches anymore. You'll have to train like a real expeditioner.

[maellum]

You were pulling punches? The huffing and puffing is really convincing.

[He's an old man. One she'll stay with to the end, if she can help it. Parting is inevitable, but Maelle will spend every moment she can by his side. Besides getting out of this place, this island prison, that's her greatest desire.]

[demainvient]

[ He gives her a wry look — Maelle is faster and more precise than him and they both know it, but is she fast enough, is she precise enough — and feels like finding a rock to throw.

It wouldn't help. But it might help him, just a little. ]

We'll see if Lucien or Lune let you beat them so easily.

[maellum]

[As much as she loves to flaunt her skill, she worries. She worries about him. He's so talented with his blade, an excellent marksman, and his fabricated arm is more useful than his flesh and bone one would have ever been, but she hates the thought of him fighting for his life. Losing him here would be bad. Losing him in some strange, unfamiliar place... worse.].

I'll beat them. I'll beat everyone... and then I can tell Emma, see? I told you I'll keep Gustave safe.

[demainvient]

[ He folds his arms, then lifts his metal hand into the air with a shrug. ]

I'm pretty sure I'm the one who's supposed to keep you safe, not the other way around. Big brother, and all.