“How many times must I tell you that I do not dance?” Will grumbled from his seat next to Louisa. Mere feet away a small band played a melodic tune and couples swayed past them in time with the music.
“Everyone dances,” Louisa retorted, trying her best to get even the smallest of smiles out of her unwilling companion.
“I don’t,” Will replied curtly, staring straight ahead. “But he will.”
Louisa turned and immediately broke into a smile when she saw Ren standing before her. She took his hand and almost swore she heard Will let out a sigh of relief as she and Ren joined the other dancers.
“You think I tease him too much, don’t you?” Louisa asked Ren as they moved in time with the music. She’d started to change her thoughts about her and Becca’s guard after Ren told her about how the man had been instrumental in their escape from their old life in the South. He grinned at her comment.
“Maybe just a bit… though I think it might do him some good,” he finally replied.
“You can hear the music much better when you’re inside the building,” Louisa commented, referencing the first time they’d danced together, which had been in the alley behind the building months ago. Ren sighed, sadly.
“I doubt there will be much music soon,” he said quietly. Louisa stared up at him, confused.
“Why?”
The music suddenly wasn’t music— it was the sounds of trucks, of men shouting, of gunfire. Louisa turned around to see what was happening and suddenly everything went dark.
Louisa bolted straight up in bed, disoriented. It took her a moment to come to her senses. The bed beneath her was plush, the linens soft. The silky curtains had been pulled closed in front of the tall windows. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she found her reflection staring back at her from the ornate mirror that was positioned above her vanity.
This was her room in the north. She was back in her bed. Becca slept soundly next door, Howard across the hall. They had all been rescued.
It had all been a dream.
Louisa sank back into her bed, burying herself in the blankets as she tried to sleep once again. She subconsciously ran her fingers across the scar on the palm of her hand, so faint often wondered if she was just imagining it was there.
Rebecca had fallen asleep early and, even though she knew she shouldn’t, Louisa had slipped out the window and made her way as quietly as possible through the empty streets towards the town center. In the meeting hall the lights were shining and she could hear the sounds of laughter. She slipped around the side of the building, stopping near enough to the window in order to better hear the music being played inside but remained unseen. She leaned against the cool brick wall, closing her eyes as the music played and sinking onto the small bench alongside the building.
“What are you doing?”
Louisa’s eyes shot open to reveal Ren Conway smiling at her. She was immediately filled with a sense of relief as nearly any other person discovering her would have meant trouble.
“I wanted to hear the music,” Lou confessed. Ren’s smile remained, but he was silent. “Did William send you out to find me?” Louisa continued, crossing her arms across her chest. “Has he become even more cross that I’ve sneaked away? Is that even possible?”
“I don’t think he knows so you’re safe,” Ren moved to sit on the bench beside her. “And I’m no snitch.”
“I love to go dancing back home,” Louisa told him, watching the swirl a couple passing by the window. “My brother and...” Louisa paused. “And others worry, of course, so I don’t get to go often, but I think its such fun. I suppose I just wanted to see how you all go about it here.”
“We could go inside,” Ren offered, gesturing towards the door. Louisa gave him a sad smile.
“You know I can’t do that,” she replied. Ren was silent. “But thank you for asking.”
“Well, if not, then... would you like to dance?” Ren stood up, holding out his hand to her.
“Out here?” Louisa asked, laughing slightly at the absurdity of it all.
“There’s music, isn’t there?” Ren asked. Louisa paused. He was right. She placed her hand in his, standing up.
“Ren, like the bird, knows how to dance. Don’t be offended, but I’m a bit surprised,” Louisa commented as she placed a hand on his shoulder. He shrugged a bit.
“We do have a bit of fun, now and then, around these parts. You can’t imagine I just sit around reading medical books all the time, do you?” he replied with a bit of a laugh, placing his hand on Louisa’s waist and moving in time as the band started up one again.
“I quite like this song,” Louisa commented as the pair began to sway back and forth to the music. She thought about the last time she’d danced, at Xavier’s holiday party. It was the last night she’d truly been happy. “It makes you feel... warm. Comfortable. Cozy. Content and at home.”
She realized the image in her head was not of being at home back in the north, but instead curled up with a book in the one tiny chair she and her sister had been provided in the rooms they’d occupied since their arrival in the south.
“That’s not home,” Louisa thought to herself, but still the image persisted.
"Do you dance to music like this back home?” Ren inquired. Louisa shook her head.
“No its all... big bands with horns and drums and... Its all very showy, like its trying to prove something... the music, I mean.I may be attributing too much emotion to it all,” she let out a nervous laugh, suddenly feeling foolish.
“I don’t think you are,” Ren reassured her. “I think I understand exactly what you mean by it all.”
The song ended and the pair stopped moving. Louisa looked up at her dance partner.
“You’re so nice to me, Ren… nicer than anyone else. And I know you don’t have to be,” Louisa informed him quietly. “Thank you.”
Ren looked as if he were about to speak, but was suddenly interrupted.
“Well, this looks fun,” William said dully from the end of the alley. Ren immediately dropped his hands to his side and stepped away from Louisa, who frowned slightly at William’s arrival.
“I knew you’d be cross I’d sneaked away,” Louisa sighed. Perhaps it was because of Ren being there but it seemed like William dared to smile.
“All will be forgiven if you come back so your sister will calm herself. She’s been in a state since she woke up and you were gone,” William replied. He paused momentarily. “Say goodnight to the pretty lady, Ren.”
“Enough of that, Will…” Ren mumbled, shoving his hands into his pocket. “Should be getting back to the infirmary, anyway. Goodnight, Miss Louisa,” he gave her a bit of a nod before turning on his heels and heading down the alley. Louisa made a bit of a show of dragging her feet as she went to join William.
“Is she terribly cross?” Louisa asked William as they walked down the empty streets. William glanced sideways at her before speaking.
“More with me than anyone,” he answered, speaking more to her in that one sentence than ever before when it had just been the pair of them. Louisa couldn’t help but grin.
“And are you quite cross that you have to take care of us instead of going dancing with all your friends?” Louisa continued in her questioning. William’s brow immediately furrowed.
All of this thoughts were consumed by it. Over and over, he retraced the past looking for the signs (the signs that must have been there!) that would have proved his life with Beatrice to be nothing more than a lie.
He was aimlessly pacing the halls of the great library. He come to try to find a distraction, but he couldn’t find a single volume that interested him. Instead, he found himself walking amongst the shelves -- scarcely bothering to stop to read a title.
He stopped, suddenly, roused back to the present moment by the sight of Louisa Prior. What were his own sufferings compared to her’s? She must worry every moment for the safety of her brother. Her brother who was a true and loyal man; her brother who was most likely in the hands of the southerners because of information his own wife had given them.
He moved to approach her, but he found that he didn’t have the words.
At moments like these, he wished he was more like Xavier. His friend always knew what to say, when Victor did not. He wished to be comforting, but he also didn’t want to bring up the subject of her brother (perhaps it would grieve her to speak of it?).
He cleared his throat. “It’s ... it’s rather cold outside today, isn’t it?”
So since the Priors and Victor are basically Vardon’s family ++ Victor and Howard is Victor’s bff, I’m sure Victor and Louisa see a lot of each other!!!!! Also, I feel like the Priors are kind of like family to Victor, too, atp???? I don’t think he’s as close to them as Xavier is, but I still feel like he loves them a lot and probably considers Louisa and Rebecca to the closest thing to sisters he’s ever had?????
Anyway, he tends to be kind of serious and ~boring~ but he feels deeply (even if he comes off a little cold, most days). That being said, I’m sure he’s known Louisa for a long, long time, by now, and she’s probably seen the warmer side of him (and knows he cares even if he rarely, if ever, says it). I can also see her as being someone who can often get him to smile and drags him away from work to have fun??? (or, at the very least, is able to get him to smile/laugh which is nOT an easy feat haha)
tbh ren doesn’t really agree with the decision that virginia made to bring louisa and rebecca south as prisoners. he knows why she did it, and he understands, but at the end of the day, louisa and rebecca are innocents in all of this and he believes that they should be able to go free.
he’s happy, at present, that they are being kindly treated and I think he probably went out of his way to make sure that they were as comfortable as people in their situation could be???? i feel like it ended up being a lot harder w/ rebecca than louisa tho haha and he’s not been able to get her to say much (if anything) to him, haha. but he’s happy that he’s at least been able to have some friendly chats with louisa and show her around the hospital and what he does there and teach her things!!!! he doesn’t think that she’ll come to see things their way, but he does hope that she might see that they aren’t all bad, here, and that they are trying to do good!!!!
anyway, i think he’ll probably end up developing some stronger feelings for her down the road when they know each other better (which will especially be fun b/c that moment when ur cousin is thinking about potentially having to kill the girl you like *thumbs up emoji*) but for now, I think he’s content to be her friend and I feel like she makes his day a little brighter whenever she comes to see him :)
Louisa and Lina are friends!!!!! I feel like they’ve probably known each other most of their lives since they’ve both been in the city for most of it ++ while the Hartwrights weren’t as close to Vardon as the Priors, they were definitely in the same social circles. Anyway, idk that they are super close but I think that Lina has always enjoyed her company!!
