[ It does not come into her words and her face - but how this makes her ache. Not just for the kind words he gives her, though they are enough to make her smile. A bright smile that belongs to a younger woman, a different woman. One that doesn't have quite so many scars, that gives the plate easily over to him with a soft and pleasant laugh.
But it is the old woman that aches for the younger. She does not belong to this place, she knows that not just because of how she is treated, but because she already knew what had claimed her. Where she owed her whole self too. A place that had gardens like this. Jhansi had been constructed with wildness in mind. A fortress to house elephants and lions. Open stretches of gardens that framed the central mahal and all of its five stories. A soaked fullness that England could never match, not like this place did at present. Down to the training of guards, for a fort was a fort, after all.
Even if the smell of salt and sea air keeps her free of wading too deeply into memories. Keeps her grounded in the present. That, there never had been in the desert. ]
Thank you.
[ With her hands-free, she smoothes back her veil to reveal her face completely. Pausing only briefly at the edge of the blanket he had set out to take off the soft leather shoes she'd purchased in her first days. Bare, mostly, though there is not much left of the henna that had stained her skin before this. Faded deep brown lines on her already brown skin. The red dots that were painted onto the top of her feet and matched the ones on her palms now only just visible.
Settling if nothing else, to admire the flowers, for that alone, it was worth it. Different to lowtown, the rest of this mighty fortress, and even again from Hightown, and for that - she thinks she might adore it. ]
no subject
But it is the old woman that aches for the younger. She does not belong to this place, she knows that not just because of how she is treated, but because she already knew what had claimed her. Where she owed her whole self too. A place that had gardens like this. Jhansi had been constructed with wildness in mind. A fortress to house elephants and lions. Open stretches of gardens that framed the central mahal and all of its five stories. A soaked fullness that England could never match, not like this place did at present. Down to the training of guards, for a fort was a fort, after all.
Even if the smell of salt and sea air keeps her free of wading too deeply into memories. Keeps her grounded in the present. That, there never had been in the desert. ]
Thank you.
[ With her hands-free, she smoothes back her veil to reveal her face completely. Pausing only briefly at the edge of the blanket he had set out to take off the soft leather shoes she'd purchased in her first days. Bare, mostly, though there is not much left of the henna that had stained her skin before this. Faded deep brown lines on her already brown skin. The red dots that were painted onto the top of her feet and matched the ones on her palms now only just visible.
Settling if nothing else, to admire the flowers, for that alone, it was worth it. Different to lowtown, the rest of this mighty fortress, and even again from Hightown, and for that - she thinks she might adore it. ]
Do you keep this place to yourself?