What is Needed But Unexpected

leave the past

The rest of the evening passed uneventful, with dinner being tense as Anne avoided even so much as looking in her cousin's direction. Even when Katherine tried to apologize, Anne had seemed to just brush her off or all out ignored her.

So after dinner, Anna decided to confront the second queen about it, after all she didn't like seeing the younger girl who had been her friend for so long seem so heartbroken.

"Don't you think you're being a bit too harsh? I mean, yeah she hurt you but she feels terrible and don't you think she's being punished enough?"  Anna began, earning a sigh from Anne who glanced toward the living room where Katherine was currently curled up beside Catherine Parr.

"You honestly think I enjoy seeing my cousin upset? to know my inability to even acknowledge what she is saying to me is the reason she is so down? Everytime I look at her right now I see Thomas Howard." Anne half hissed before sighing and turning her attention back toward the cup of chamomile tea.

"I'm not ignoring her because I'm mad at her, Anna. she really didn't mean to hurt me, I know that. It's just…Being called a bitch by her reminded me too much of my own family accusing me of being a witch back then."

Anna understood then why Anne had been behaving so oddly. Why she had ignored Katherine at dinner, despite the girls nearly tearful apologies. "She kind of looks up to you, you know? You're the one who makes her laugh when she's down and you're the one who knows exactly how to calm her down when she has one of her panic attacks. Honestly, you not talking to her probably is worse than the fact that Jane grounded her." 

Anne are a brow at the more athletic queen at that.

"Jane? I would have assumed Aragon had since Kat's was curled up with Jane earlier while Jane was knitting." 

Anna shrugged.

"I'm just surprised that Jane didn't melt when she saw Kitty crying. Heaven knows the girl practically has Jane wrapped around her finger at this point."

     .     .           . .            .                 ...... _______★______

Anne sighed as she sat outside in the garden, back resting at the side of the house as the large, scrawny form of Falk lay across her legs, half dozing as she petted him idly. She wanted to talk to Katherine, wanted to reassure her that their relationship wasn't destroyed just because of one angry outburst.

Katherine hadn't lied on her.

Katherine hadn't sentenced her to die. Hell, Katherine insisted that Anna catch any spiders and release them outside instead of squishing them like a sane person.

Yet she couldn't bring herself to face the younger girl without seeing the cold, calculating gaze of the Duke of Norfolk. The disgusted whispers seemed to echo in her ears as the accusations were read out.

It made her sick to think what her daughter—The one thing that made her happy—must have been taught about her.

Elizabeth must have despised her. The royal whore who had bewitched the king to make him fall in love with her. Even her father had seemed to forget that he was the one who had pushed for her to return the king's affections.

It had cost him the loss of two children, both to die on the scaffold. 

"Anne?" 

Glancing up she saw Jane standing awkwardly nearby, dressed in her pajamas.

"Oh hey Jane. What's up?" 

She replied, eyes tracing over the stars as she tried to focus on anything but her emotions.

"I….I think we need to talk about ...What happened back then, between us." Jane began, earning a scoff from Anne.

"No, we don't. You weren't the one who swung the sword or ordered my execution. Did you do some shitty things? Yeah, but we all did. I just want to put everything behind us and try to actually be happy in this life."

Jane nodded and moved closer taking a seat beside Anne at that.

"Is this the same talk you gave Cathy?" She asked, earning a hint of a smirk.

"Pretty much. How's Kat?" 

Anne answered, earning a sigh.

"She feels terrible. I understand why it's hard for you to face her right now, but at least try tomorrow... she's been hurt so much in the past that she's terrified of the idea of messing up so badly that people will stop loving her." 

Anne nodded at Jane's response.

"Yeah, Aragon always said her more ...bratty behavior  stemmed from something like that and like I told Anna, I am not angry with her it's just…." 

Anne trailed off, feeling Jane put a hand on her shoulder.

"She sort of reminds you of Thomas?" 

Jane guessed and Anne nodded.

"She's not like him but...After her outburst today all I could hear was him calling me a witch. I know she didn't mean to hurt me... She's too sweet to honestly do something like that without being provoked but….it...it made me remember shit and I...I can't stop thinking about what Elizabeth must have thought of me."

     .     .           . .            .                 ...... _______★______

"I swear one of these days you're going to do that and a demon is going to come flying out." Maria commented as she stood back, watching as two figures set up a strange contraption, earning a snort from Bessie.

"At least a demon can be killed with holy water, imagine if a fucking Dinosaur comes from that thing." This earned laughter from the ladies in waiting.

"Oh pipe down, we've done this three times before. We're not summoning anything we aren't aiming to!"

Joan chose that moment to roll her eyes.

"How much you wanna bet they summon the actual loch ness monster this time 'round?"