| Logs |
2001-04-01
| Starfall |
| Realms |
Retired
| Reality Fault |
General Info
 |
Truth... or Dare?
The Captain's Cabin on the Saucy Mare
The cabin is a marvel
of clever usage of too little space. The comfortable bunk is set into the
wall, with a sea chest beneath, while the small, enclosed lamp swings
slowly overhead with the sway of the ship. A small rollup desk/table
faces into the room, and there's the added luxury of a fairly large
porthole.
It's slightly before the siblings are due to be present for Don Carlos' questioning under truth potion. Alex and Carroll are getting presentable, while Horatio, who is not going, is happily involved in some experimentation... with Jessie's aid. Being generally nice folks to their brother, Alex and Carroll are not asking! -although they do grin at each other a bit...
Alex wanders into Carroll's room, part of her clothing in hand and Pablito fussing at her to hold still so he can button her up. She grins at the little rabbit kit, obligingly stopping, and asks over Pablo's head, "So, Carya... I'm thinking of taking the silver listening pin along with us, to possibly return if he tries getting self-righteous. Is that okay with you?"
Carroll is sitting on a chair, holding a hand mirror in one hand and brushing his fur out with the other. He looks up, then smiles, "I think that might be fairly interesting, yes. Make sure to wrap it up well so it's nicely muffled, if someone's still listening to it."
Alex nods, looking pleased, "Got it! Excellent... so, I have two questions to ask him too. One I intend to ask. The other..." She pauses, looking a little uncomfortable, then continues slowly, "The other... I don't know if I have the right to ask. It's... kinda general. D'you think I should bounce it off the queen first?"
Carroll looks up at his sister, still brushing, and asks, "What are they?"
Alex says, "The direct one is just that I want to know if he knew anything about the bandit attack on Horatio and I..." She frowns, "-and if he was, I'm gonna smack that disgusting little cad, queen or no queen!" She takes a breath, then continues... "The second question... well, I was thinking about how truth potions work. They make you tell the truth, yes? They're literal... and if you don't know the right question to ask, well then, the person doesn't have to answer incriminatingly -- because you didn't ask. So I was trying to think of the most literal way to ask, and here's the question I came up with..." She takes another breath, carefully framing the question before speaking... "What is the one thing you most want us to not find out about?" Then Alex looks alertly at her brother, ears tilted forward, "What do you think? Would it be unfair of me to ask him that while he can't lie?"
Carroll hmms and ponders, changing hands with his brush, smoothing his fur out to a perfect sheen. He finally answers, "It might not be a bad idea, and it might not work. He might have some completely unrelated guilty secret. People have the strangest things in the back of their minds." He looks over at his sister and suggests, "Perhaps you should suggest it to the Queen. Her staff may know the right way to phrase that question so that it gives the most useful and pertinent information, rather than, 'I like cheese!' or something pointless."
Alex nods, listening intently... then laughs suddenly at Carroll's cheese comment! She grins, nodding again, "Okay, I'll suggest it, and leave it up to her."
Carroll finishes brushing his ears, head, and torso, and turns to work on his tail, commenting, "The truth potion does not always reveal what you expect."
Alex grins, realizing Pablo's gotten her all buttoned up and is gently tugging on her sleeve to go back to her room so the rest of her court outfit can be put on, "Okay, okay, I'm coming, Pablito!" She beams at her brother, "Be ready in a bit!" and trots hastily out after the small rabbit kit.
Queen Arianna is once again waiting in the Blue Room -- it seems to be her favorite for small meetings. Ludmilla and Morgana are present again, as is Thorn. Matthew ushers Carroll and Alex in, and closes the door behind them.
Dunbarton Palace -- Blue Room
The Blue Room is aptly
named. A dark blue wool carpet matches the draperies at the windows,
while the furniture is a lighter blue, almost turquoise. The walls are
covered with tapestries depicting underwater scenes. The cloth-covered
walls and floor give the room a hushed ambience.
Queen Arianna smiles. "Welcome, my friends. Don Carlos should be here momentarily."
Carroll smiles and murrs, "Good morning, your Majesty," and bows slightly to the Queen. He also greets the others correctly, smiling cheerfully. Alex flanks her brother, her head high and proud -- they are, after all, half of those amazing St. Genevieve siblings! She grins cheerfully, her bow perfectly shadowing her captain brother's. At the Queen's announcement Carroll smiles a foxish smile, eyes glittering.
The fox you're looking at, Carroll Waynewright St. Genevieve,
seems completely at ease in the uniform that denotes him Captain of a
ship. His vest, a rich scarlet velvet trimmed in gold and embroidered
with the family crest, covers a yellow under-tunic. He wears a pair
of rust-colored breeches, which reveal through their dags and slashes
soft yellow hose. Completing the outfit is a feathered, rust velvet,
rolled hat, which he wears with style and casual elegance. His russet
fur seems to glow with life, the white under his muzzle and the flash
at the end of his full tail standing out against the red-brown of his
jacket and breeches, which blend well with his own fur. He wears a pin
at his breast, of sparkling gold and a few tiny diamonds, the pentacle
and sword both the family's crest and note of his station. Gold cufflinks
and watch-chain gleam subtly from his sleeves and vest, while his rapier
hangs at his side.
Thorn is fiddling with some medical-looking materials spread out on the desk, but looks up and nods as the foxes enter. "Good day, Captain, Sir Alex." She looks curiously at the door. "Will your brother be joining us?"
Carroll smiles as he replies, "Unfortunately he is detained today, Mistress Thorn, and will not be able to join us."
Alex smiles at Thorn, then glances at the queen, "Your majesty, if you will permit me, I have a question to ask Don Carlos? ...and... one to suggest, but I don't know if you'll want it or no?"
You see an emerald-eyed young vixen with fiery scarlet fur,
proud carriage, and a quietly thoughtful demeanor. She wears, with calm
assurance, high leather boots and dagged rust-colored breeches gathered
at the knee. There are hints of soft yellow hosen showing through the
multiple decorative dags and slashes, and an antique gold under-tunic
glows similarly from within the wide, full sleeves of her gold-buttoned
and -embroidered, dashingly scarlet, rich velvet vest. About her neck
depends the gold crescent and tree medallion, on a green-and-green
ribbon, which signifies she is a Knight and Royal Companion of the
Queen of Maidstone. She wears her full feathered, rust velvet, rolled
hat at an angle to free her two proudly worn golden earrings, and her
obviously-used, practical heavy rapier depends from the same sturdy
leather belt she's tucked her gloves into.
Arianna looks curious. "What questions are those?"
Alex explains her questions and reasoning, then looks curiously at the queen, "So... what do you think?"
The queen nods at the first question. "I was planning to ask him that one myself." The second elicits a shrug. "I doubt that he'll answer it, myself. You can try it if you'd like."
Carroll suggests, "I expect that is a question he'll choose not to answer, yes. Perhaps best just to skip it."
Alex hms, remembering that truth potions don't compel one to answer. She shakes her head, "No, not worth the bother, I think. I may ask if he's being a jerk, just to make him uncomfortable... but that's about it." She adds quietly, "Interesting that he's not had the Society's anti-truth potion... that in itself says something to his benefit, I think."
Morgana chuckles at that. "They never actually realize it, Sir Alex. The potion doesn't compel truth based on knowledge you don't have."
Alex grins wryly at the mouse, "So cynical, baroness... you're saying they can't ever learn?"
Carroll asks, "Do we know that?" He looks at Mistress Thorn and gestures to her collection of implements, adding, "I presumed you were going to test that this was truly the case. Is this so?"
Thorn points at the paraphernalia spread on the table. "That's what we intend to find out."
Alex looks curiously at the small mouse, "Who never actually realizes what, baroness?" She ohs at the doe, "I'm sorry... I thought you'd already tested, and had the equipment here because he hadn't had it."
Carroll nods and says, "A pity Horatio couldn't make it. I'm sure he'd be interested to see how this is done."
Thorn shakes her head. "This is the material to test it safely. We'll know soon..." She looks up as a knock is heard from the door.
A page, this one a young otter, enters and bows. "Don Carlos is here, your majesty." The queen nods. "Show him in, please." The youngster bows the coyote in a few minutes later. Carroll smiles and nods quietly to the coyote, polite but silent, to let the Queen speak. Alex doesn't smile... just studies the coyote with coldly distant eyes, at polite parade rest next to her captain.
Don Carlos smiles and bows. "Your majesty, milord and miladies." He straightens up again as the queen acknowledges the greeting. "Ambassador, thank you for coming. Mistress Thorn will administer the potion after she's checked you for bad reactions." The coyote flickers an ear at that comment, but his expression is otherwise controlled. "You have had problems weeth allergies?"
The doe smiles in a rather bleak way. "You could say that." She has the ambassador sit down and roll up a sleeve.
Alex snorts, muttering under her breath, "Terminal trouble, even..."
Carroll suggests calmly, "It is not common; however it is so much better to check ahead of time and be sure, is it not?"
Thorn putters about with her solution bottles, swabbing from first one and then another onto the coyote's wrist. After the third such contact has been completed with no major reaction from the coyote, she nods and pronounces herself satisfied. "He seems to be clean, your majesty." She hands Carlos a potion bottle then. "If you would drink this, Don Carlos?" The coyote complies, grimacing at the taste but otherwise showing no ill effects.
Thorn doesn't look completely at ease until Carlos has drunk the potion. After a few minutes, she nods again. "That should be enough time, your majesty." Carroll watches this, and also watches his sister, wondering how she'll react to different outcomes. Alex watches in silent, grim interest... almost predatory-seeming. She'd love to have a good excuse to challenge this annoying man to a duel! Her tail is unwittingly switching back and forth, in slow, precise snaps. Her ears flatten slightly at Thorn's comment, and she stares with dislike at the coyote.
The queen begins, then. "Don Carlos. Would you be so kind as to tell us about the kidnapping of Sir Alex?" The coyote looks a bit puzzled under the influence of the potion. "I know only what you have told me, your mazhesty. That she was kidnapped and that those ransom demands were sent to you. I knew nothing of it before that time."
Arianna continues. "And your embassy had nothing to do with it, either?" Carroll listens quietly, and apparently calmly. He is studying Carlos and his sister both, following reactions.
Carlos starts to shake his head, and stops. "Your mazhesty... thees I truly do not know. I had notheeng to do with eet, nor deed I receive any orders that would point to thees theeng. But there are messages to my chief of security that I do not see."
Alex hmfs softly under her breath, folding her arms, but doesn't interrupt. Arianna nods to herself. "Ambassador... I know that you have instructions to arrange for the dynastic marriage between myself and Prince Iago. Do you truly wish to succeed in this mission you have been assigned?" Carroll looks as if he was about to ask something, and stops cold at the question. He puts a hand to his mouth and assiduously rubs his nose, as if he were stifling a sneeze -- or perhaps a smile. Alex blinks... then grins mischievously at the question. She wonders if 'truly succeeding' equates with 'get your kids back' to the coyote.
Don Carlos looks quite pained. "May the Powers Above forgeeve me, your mazhesty, but yes..." Arianna twitches her ears. "Oh? Why is that?" The coyote continues. "Eet may be the only way that I see my cheeldren again, your mazhesty... and eet may be that you might be able to beat the Prince at hees own game. Certainly he weell not expect you to be so forceful. He ees not used to eendependence from females."
Alex watches quietly... then snorts softly under her breath again. She's too polite (to the queen, not the coyote) to mutter that the lack of experience with independent females seems to extend to the prince's ambassador also... Then again, Alex thinks to herself, I'm getting the strong impression this princely jerk isn't used to independent anything! Carroll frowns a little for just a moment, but clears the expression from his face very quickly. He's obviously unhappy and telling the truth, thinks Carroll, and my feelings about the Queen have no place in this discussion. He asks the Queen, quietly, "May I ask a question, your Majesty?"
The queen nods to Carroll, but holds up her finger as she asks one more question first herself. "Would you recommend the marriage to me if you were one of my advisors?" Carroll nods to the Queen, waiting his turn and trying not to think about it. One of Alex's ears flicks up in interest... good question, that!
Don Carlos shakes his head. "I could geeve you reasons for doing eet, your mazhesty, but een the end... no."
Arianna nods. "Thank you, Ambassador. Captain?"
Alex smiles a touch grimly, nodding quietly to herself. Unsurprising. She wonders why Don Carlos didn't just take his family and leave Costa Yermo while he could... he's got no lands or people that depend on him, that she knows of. Carroll says, "You say that you would hope the Queen would be able to 'beat the prince at his own game.' What game is this? And is there any other way to achieve this goal?"
Don Carlos nods. "I am not een the Preence's counsels, of course, but I believe that he weeshes to use the eendustry of the League to strengthen our army, and perhaps our navy as well. He ees obsessed with conquering Hamasura, but I suspect that eef he succeeded he would not be satisfied. He would expect you to agree weeth hees plans like a proper and dutiful wife, your mazhesty. I do not theenk you would oblige heem."
Alex's ears flatten again in irritation... then slowly come back up slightly at an errant thought. This is Don Carlos realizing that women here aren't "proper and dutiful"? Interesting... maybe Morgana's wrong, and even a Costa Yerman man can learn decent, civilized behavior! Carroll prompts patiently, "And do you see any other way to prevent this?"
The coyote looks puzzled. "To prevent what?"
Carroll explains, "If the Prince has these sort of goals -- and this is not a difficult thing to assume, even without what you have said, from his other activities -- you obviously see the Queen refusing him support as one way to prevent him from doing this. Do you see any other ways?"
Carlos looks enlightened. "Of course. By not marrying heem at all. He weell try to conquer even weethout League asseestance eef he must, I suspect, but he would not succeed. I fear that even thees would be better than the alternateeve, milord. Eef he were to die... there ees no clear heir. Hees younger brother died in a hunting accident some years ago, and he has no cheeldren. The Kingdom would most likely collapse eento ceeveel war."
Carroll hrms and falls silent, looking quite dubious. He keeps his thoughts to himself though. Alex rolls her eyes... this place is better off being left to stew in its own juices. What a waste of time... it doesn't appear to have a single redeeming feature. Even the dying king is already disregarded. Morgana frowns at that. "No heir? What about Princess Maria Isabella?"
Alex mutters quietly at the baroness' question, "They get what they deserve if they can't see her."
Carlos looks honestly surprised. "A woman on the throne? That would be..." He trails off. "That would be deeferent, at least. She would..." He turns to look at Alex, and sweeps his gaze over the others. "Miladies. Eef you could get her out of Costa Yermo and train her to be a leader... she ees the only other offspring of Diego. She could be a rallying point and someone to agree on."
Alex looks frankly disinterested, "Why on earth would we want to do that?" Carroll is still looking dubiously at the coyote, and thinking many of his own thoughts.
The coyote nods, looking more enthusiastic as he considers the idea. "Eet would be better for everyone, Sir Alex. Weeth an alternative to Iago besides civil war, he could be overthrown. The old nobility ees being oppressed by his Inquisitors, the tax burden on the campesinos is already driving many into brigandry or flight, the merchant class is restless... and Iago is widely considered to be mad. He has no heirs because they have all met weeth accidents. His seester has not, because he does not conseeder her an heir..."
Carroll says, "Yes, that's fairly clear." He adds a little dismissively, "Good luck finding someone to actually go and do it."
Alex folds her arms, and bluntly points out, "So you want the queen of Maidstone, her female bodyguard, and her female advisor to decide to, in effect, kidnap some strange woman and use her to clean up the mess that your own nobility put into place and backed up. Completely aside from how so much femaleness will probably be seen -- and doubtless mocked -- by the rigid-minded Costa Yermo nobility, you've yet to say why this will be better for anyone except Costa Yermo. You want the League to clean up your messes... why should they?" Carroll looks at his sister and clears his throat. When she glances at him, he shakes his head 'no' just a little bit. Alex nods quietly, and goes back to silently studying the coyote, arms still folded.
Don Carlos looks a bit affronted. "We can feex our own problems, eef we can find someone that we can agree on to be our new ruler. Iago ees not a good one, and hees Inquisitors are notheeng but bullies and cowards. Ambitious younger sons have always joined the army -- these Inquisitors are the ones who were afraid to do so. Weethout Iago, and weeth a legitimate heir, theengs would be much easier. Our people benefit, the Hamasurans benefit, and you benefit. Much easier to trade with a kingdom not in the midst of turmoil, si?" The coyote subsides. "But we need her to be free of hees control first... and to make sure she can be an inspiration. For you are right... eet ees not een our traditions."
Alex remains politely silent... but still looks dubiously uninterested. Carroll says, "So kidnap a Royal with the intent of staging a coup on the hope that it's something she's capable of and interested in, while risking a war with an enraged current monarch who is quite possibly mad? It sounds farfetched and risky to me. I currently don't believe that the possible promise of better trade or less piracy would make it worth the risk or expense. I would have to be convinced." Alex nods a tad grimly.
Don Carlos frowns. "True. But you could have gotten to see her easily enough. Pity..." The coyote shrugs. "Ah, well. Perhaps I can suggest it to someone else."
Alex leans to whisper softly to Carroll, "D'you think I can ask my question now?"
Carroll nods to his sister, "Now would be good."
Alex nods in return, then turns to look at Don Carlos, still somewhat irritated looking and with her arms still folded. "I have a question. What did you know about the bandit attack on Horatio and myself? You sure turned up just in the nick of time... and you left pretty darned quick later too!"
Don Carlos has to think for a moment. "Bandit attack? Oh! The footpads! Si, senyorita. One of my men reported overhearing them plotting, so I followed along as quickly as I could. I did not stay afterwards since I did not wish to risk being seen with you at that time. His Highness' Inquisitors are ever suspicious. Now that you are associated with the Queen it becomes part of my duties, and so less dangerous."
Alex blinks, looking a bit surprised -- that was unexpected! Curiously she asks, "Why would that have been dangerous? And do you have any idea who hired the footpads?"
Don Carlos frowns. "It is always dangerous to be seen to have loyalties outside of Costa Yermo. The Inquisitors do not approve. As for the footpads... I understood that they were simply trying to find a rich victim. If there was something deeper to it, my armsman did not overhear it."
Alex echoes puzzledly, "...'loyalties'? What do you mean?" She adds confusedly, "How is stopping street thugs a question of loyalty?"
Carroll suggests, "Stopping street thugs probably isn't a question of loyalty. Spending hours afterwards with unknown foreigners might be."
Alex notes dryly, "But... everyone here is a foreigner... to him, surely?" Carroll only nods.
The coyote sighs. "Indeed, it should not be, Sir Alexandra. But your brother has the right of it. I am not in the espionage service, and so the Inquisitors would not be pleased that I had local friends... people that I could trust that they had no ability to control. They are petty and vicious creatures."
Carroll frowns slightly, but says nothing. Alex flicks an amused ear at her brother... then turns her gaze to Don Carlos, the amusement slipping away like water. "Hm. I see... not in the espionage service." Her voice gets very dry and she has a somewhat sardonic demeanor as she steps forward, striding towards the coyote, "Then you won't mind if I return something to you that you must've just... dropped, I'm sure, since you're not in the espionage service...?"
Carlos blinks, somewhat puzzled before he realizes what Alex is talking about. He actually manages to blush then, his ears going a bit pink. "Ah. That. I am not in the espionage service, but that does not mean that I am not occasionally given... requests."
Alex takes the coyote's paw, turning it palm up, and slaps the needle down in it... although she does not deliberately drive it into his palm. She drops his hand, then growls very quietly to him, "If I ever find that you've put garbage like this on one of our people again... I'm going to stick it back in you." She glares at him, ears pinned back in anger, then adds, "Don't ever do that again to us!" She whirls and marches back to stand next to her brother, her ears still pinned in anger, then snaps, "Are there any other 'requests' you'd like to 'fess up to?"
The coyote sighs, his ears flat in shame. "I did not wish to then, or ever, Sir Alexandra. But I had instructions I could not disregard. Perhaps next time I must do such a thing, I can simply hand it to you?"
Carroll grins wryly and looks to his sister, to see how she answers this. Alex folds her arms, still glaring at the coyote, "Will you be handing it to everyone else as well, or do only we get the benefit of your... munificence?!" She snarls in sudden fury, "And keep your filthy paws OFF my crew, you rat!!" She realizes that was a bit much as Carroll shifts next to her, and deliberately tries to settle her rising hackles, muttering, "...sorry..."
Carroll says, "We consider our crew our responsibility, and an affront to them is an affront to us, which we must answer," to the coyote, and then nods to his sister. Alex feels obscurely better, and when everyone's looking at Don Carlos again she leans slightly against Carroll. Carroll carefully puts a hand on Alex's back, rubbing a little and supporting her weight. Alex smiles faintly sideways up at her brother, and her ears come back up. Then she returns her gaze to the coyote, no longer smiling.
Don Carlos looks taken aback at Alex's vehemence, while a suspiciously amused-sounding snort comes from Ludmilla's direction. "Sir Alexandra... I am sorry to have offended you." A faint grin crosses his lips. "I assure you, however, that the young lady was quite capable of defending her own honor." He continues. "I will not make that mistake again, in any event."
Alex jerks slightly, as if she just barely stopped herself from marching over and slapping the coyote... she just stares at him for a long moment, then says in disgust, "This is just a game for you, isn't it... you don't see at all how insulting you are."
Carroll begins to smile at Carlos' first statement, but it fades at the second. He puts a hand on Alex' shoulder and murmurs something quietly to her.
Don Carlos sighs. "It is not a game, Sir Alexandra. It is a part I play to keep myself and my children safe. A year ago, no, I would not have seen that I was being insulting. I know now that it is seen that way by Killimarans, and I see why, but it is safer for me to continue to act that way. I am sincerely sorry to offend you."
Alex nods quietly to Carroll, then thinks a moment. Finally she says to Don Carlos, "Would you have grabbed at a man like that?" She folds her arms firmly... she is not going to let this guy get her goat, and she is not going to pitch a dagger at him, tempting though the thought is!
The coyote snorts. "Of course not. I would have found some other way to distract him while I planted that silly trinket on him."
Alex nods, her voice cool, "Ah, I see... so it's okay to treat a woman like a pet... but not a man?"
Carroll says, "I believe we have become somewhat distracted."
Alex glances up at Carroll, "Probably. I'm not sure he's going to see the qualitative difference between not doing something because he knows the locals don't like it... and not doing something because it's just wrong to treat someone so." She looks down her slender muzzle at the coyote, "Never mind."
Don Carlos just looks puzzled by the pet analogy. "I'm not sure I understand you."
Carroll says, "I believe Alex is suggesting you treated our crew member like an animal rather than a person, and that that is demonstrated by your usual treatment of women." He adds, "I don't know how much of this is habit and how much is covering to protect yourself from the suspicions of the Inquisitors, but either way it's reprehensible."
Alex nods firmly and disdainfully, then points out with equal disdain, "I see you dodged the question about whether or not you had more 'requests' you wanted to admit to... and the question concerning whether you'd be doing more or not!"
Carroll says a couple of words to his sister, quietly, "Enough, Alex."
The coyote starts defending his homeland, "But women are not the same as men; why should we treat them the same? They are not... as..." He looks around the room again. "Or perhaps they are. I must think on this, Sir Alexandra."
Carroll smiles and says, "As the only other male in the room, yes, I'd advise you to think on that, sir."
Alex's ears flatten back in real anger, and her hackles fluff out hugely... but she just clenches her fists and nods at Carroll's whisper to her. Through gritted teeth she says to the queen, "I can't think of a single darned thing to ask him any more, your majesty... that'd be publicly acceptable. So I guess I'm through with him."
Don Carlos nods to Carroll. "Old habits die hard, milord. Even when you are having your nose rubbed in it. And no, Sir Alexandra, I do not wish to admit to any other bits of espionage. I have had no such instructions in regard to Her Majesty's government here, and none but that one in regards to you. Otherwise, I shall remain silent."
Alex isn't even looking at the coyote any more, she's so angry. The queen nods to Alex then. "How much longer until the potion wears off, Guildmistress?" The doe shrugs. "It's never certain, your majesty. Somewhere between a half-hour and two hours. I should probably give him the antidote to make sure all traces are gone when he returns to the embassy."
Carroll can't help but hide a laugh, "Yes, it would be terrible if he had to tell the truth to his own government." He adds, "I don't envy you a bit, Don Carlos." Alex turns her small nose up disdainfully... she's not interested in this disgusting coyote at all. She folds her arms again and studies some other portion of the room.
Don Carlos holds up a hand. "Before you do, Guildmistress..." He turns to Alex. "Do you wish to challenge me, Sir Alexandra? I will waive my diplomatic immunity if this is your desire."
Alex turns her head slowly to stare down her nose at the coyote for a long moment. Finally she says clearly, "No. It would be far more vengeful of me to just stand back... your current course of action will harm you far more than I ever could." She sniffs slightly in disdain, and turns her gaze away again. Carroll looks at his sister, and smiles a little bit, trying not to appear too proud of her actions, and really good word choice.
Don Carlos sighs and turns back to Thorn. "Whenever you are ready, then." She hands him a small bottle, which he drinks. "Thank you." He turns back to Arianna. "By your leave, your mazhesty." She nods, and he bows and departs.
Carroll says, "He appears to be a tool of his prince." He shakes his head and adds, "The poor fool."