I Will Find You

* ~ 10 ~ *

Year 1773

Gideon's POV

I'm walking back to the Lodge and the count, who sent me to buy some oranges. I hate oranges, I can't stand their fruity smell that fills your nose and stays there for the next ten minutes. 

Suddenly I'm about to fall to the ground, but I manage to place my leg on the paving before my knees hit the gravel . The oranges fly from the brown paper bag where the kind old lady put them. For a moment I think I could just let them lay and get rotten on the wet and cold ground, but force myself to pick them up eventually. As I'm picking up the third one, my eyes travel to a little object on the ground, a button sized one. I take the thing from the ground instead of the orange, and give it a closer look. It's a pin, like the ones you put into your jean jacket or your backpack. The background is black and it says "the world is never what you expect", just like the one that Gwendolyn uses. I decide to put it in my pocket, and pick the rest of the oranges.

As I open the heavy but beautifully engraved door (that has lasted very well to our own time. I wonder if someone has put some protection-liquid into it to make it last longer), I almost hit the count, so near he stands behind it.

"Did you bring what I asked?"

"Yes, my count, all of the five oranges you asked for", I say and hand him the paper bag that is now on crinkles because it fell down.

"Very well, very well", the count says and looks inside the bag. Thank God he doesn't say anything about the muddy oranges inside.

"Can I go upstairs or do you have something else for today?", I ask hoping that the count decides to have a day off with the tasty, fresh citrus fruits.

"No, do you think your only job is to get oranges for me? We're going to a conference of the Lodge in about an hour", the count says.

"And why are we going there?", I ask.

"You need to know how the Lodge makes its decisions", the count says, already walking to another room. I run after him:

"But I already know how the conferences work. There will be no new information."

"The standards have changed a lot from these days", the count laughs. One question stills remains in my head:

"How do you know that?"

The count freezes for a moment, almost for so little time that you miss it. Looks like he has revealed some information he didn't want to tell me.

"Let's just say that I have my own ways. But enough of talking, your clothes for the conference are waiting in your room, so chop chop", the count kind of swings his hand two times, telling me to go. I turn around and head to the stairs. The wooden steps creak in every step, and the handle that goes up with them is lacquered. The halls are full of paintings of the deceased leaders of the Lodge. Nowadays the walls are empty instead of the paint layer that has been there from the beginning of 2006.

'My room' is a little room with a bed, a closet and a working table and chair. The clothes the count mentioned are on the chair. I walk to take them and put them on. As I'm done, I look myself from the mirror inside the closet door. The jacket is green with golden buttons, the shirt is a normal white one, and the pants are more like cream colored. The shoes have little heels under my feet, what a nightmare.

The count hasn't come to the room where I left. The old-looking clock on the wall shows 14.55. I decide to wait for the count and have a look on the Lodge's diary that is on the table. I sit on the oak-chair and start reading the notes from random days. Suddenly my eyes stuck in one short text:

20th of October 1756

At the time of 16.20 a young lady who said her name to be miss Purpleplum came to the Lodge, claiming that she had a meeting with a person upstairs. I didn't know the truthful side of her story, but she was really sure about the meeting so I let her go to upstairs.

"What are you doing?", a voice behind me scares me so bad that the chair falls down as I stand up. The count has appeared to the room again with his dust bunny -walking skills.

"Nothing", I say as I lift the chair back on it's place. I recognize it's a really heavy chair. "When did you came?"

"Well, let's say that I've been looking you for a couple of moments. But now we are almost late, so we have to hurry." Without waiting for my answer the count turns on his heels and starts walking to another direction. I hurry to reach him.
We walk the stairs up in silence when I notice a movement of fabric couple floors up. It's from a red dress and it's coming down. I almost guess who it is before the head comes behind a pillar that supports the heavy rock stairs. How can she be here?

"Oh!", Gwendolyn says when she sees us coming. "I must be lost, it's really hard with all these stairs."

What is running through her mind? She knows the count has plans about killing her, it's idiotic to appear in front of him like this!

"Well, you'll get used to it when you visit here more often", the count says, giving Gwendolyn a light smile. He doesn't show any signs of knowing her. "May I ask, why are you here? And what is your name? You know, the Lodge doesn't have the honor of meeting women here everyday."

I try to sign Gwendolyn to leave the moment as fast as possible, but she just looks at me unaware.

"Umm... I'm miss..."

The count looks at him questioningly with raised eyebrows.

"Purpleplum."

Well, now I know at least who came here on 20th of  October 1756.

***

Heyy :3

Here's a thought: if the count had recognized Gwen and killed her, she wouldn't have elapsed back to her own time, wouldn't she (just how I remember it being in the books)? And because she was killed in 1773, she wouldn't have been born at all? But how could she have managed to elapse to 1773 if she was already dead?

Anyways, don't forget to elapse daily,

See you!