without recourse

[luminous_regnant]

Bella doesn't even know that Elspeth had plans to visit Downside until after she finds that Jane is offline, that wishing doesn't fix it. Elspeth is a grownup; Edward does not monitor her every minute of every day, does not report all her comings and goings to her mother.

It's Addy who tells her, uncharacteristically grave, after Bella makes the announcement that Aurum will be isolated until Elspeth finds a door. Elspeth rescheduled an appointment with Addy to go offworld.

And now Elspeth is not going to find them a door, because Elspeth is gone, might well stay gone till Jane is fixed, because time is only synced up due to Jane. And Bella cannot fix Jane. Elspeth might find a door after fifty years have gone by in Aurum.

Bella makes the revised announcement by brainphone to everyone except Jake.

Jake she tells in person. Jake she clutches by the shoulders while he sobs and shakes. Jake she offers to put to sleep so Elspeth will not come home to find him having done something regrettable. Because she will, eventually, come home. Jake she tucks into bed like she's his mother and sends into dreamless nothing so he doesn't have to suffer however long his imprint will be vanished where he cannot follow.

And then she goes to Edward and, because she is a vampire, she does not cry, but she does sob.

Comments

[temporal_affairs]

"Probably not."

[manofmyword]

Snuggle time? The Joker thinks it is snuggle time.

[temporal_affairs]

It is always snuggle time!

[manofmyword]

That is true. That is extremely true.

The Joker also suspects that it may soon be minting time.

[temporal_affairs]

Might it? How interesting.

[manofmyword]

Yes. Yes, that.

[temporal_affairs]

After about a week and a half, there is a knock on their door while they are supplying Kerron with breakfast.

[manofmyword]

The Joker beckons to the door, which opens.

[temporal_affairs]

It's Rosalie. "Bella wanted to ask me to pick up coins this week," says Rosalie. "You can check with her if you don't want to hand over big ones to random people, but I don't really recommend it."

Little Henry is close at her heels, his hand in his mother's.

[manofmyword]

The Joker shrugs. He pulls a plain red drawstring bag out of thin air, full of his last two weeks' worth of coins and made to release them only to Golden, and hands it over to Rosalie.

"She doing okay?" he asks.

[temporal_affairs]

"Not great," says Rosalie. She takes the bag, lifts up Henry and sets him on her hip. "She's competent as ever, but she's taking more personal time by a factor of about twenty, delegating more, brainstorming less. She knows Elspeth's alive, so it's not as bad as I've heard she was when she thought Edward was dead."

[manofmyword]

"Sorry to hear it," he says. "Best I can probably do for her is stay out of her way, so—" he shrugs; gestures to the bag of coins.

[temporal_affairs]

"Yeah, she's basically only talking to her favorite handful of people," sighs Rosalie. "I'll probably be by again in a week or two."

[manofmyword]

"Fine by me."

[temporal_affairs]

Rosalie waves, and lets herself out, taking coins and child with her.

[manofmyword]

The Joker hugs his sweetheart and sighs.

[temporal_affairs]

His sweetheart hugs back.

[colorshapes]

"If I got lost in another world would you be grumpy like Her Majesty?"

[manofmyword]

"I'm not the grumpy type," he says, ruffling his munchkin's hair. "I'd be sad, though."

[temporal_affairs]

"So would I," says Nathan.

[colorshapes]

"Well," says Kerron, "I guess I better not get lost."

[manofmyword]

"Better not," the Joker agrees. "But don't worry too much about me if you do, okay? Your mummy's a patient kind of guy."

[temporal_affairs]

"And we told you about how one of me got stuck where the princess is now for a hundred years," Nathan adds, "and I was fine, because I knew you'd be fine. Wherever you are, you concentrate on being fine."

[colorshapes]

"Okay!" says Kerron, tracing colorshapes with his eyes and then nodding.

[manofmyword]

The Joker scoops up Kerron and hugs him.

"Atta munchkin," he says.