Post by Liessel on Mar 14, 2024 10:58:04 GMT -5
"I'll be leaving now." Adeline Webber said to Liessel once the tea was completed and a break in the rain became evident. "Thank you for the invitation."
"Thank you for coming, Adeline" Liessel said, turning toward Adeline with a little nod, "I wasn't sure that you would, but I am glad that you did."
"Why?" she asked, not bothering to mask her surprise. "We are not close nor am I a friend of Father McKellen's."
"No," There came a small nod from the girl whose hair very closely matched that of the Flynns, "we are not close, and I am aware of how you feel about me -- I have not forgotten. The 'why' is because I would still like to try for that friendship that I did poor service to, despite all of that."
All that remained of the nest of nervous energy that had kept her so wound tightly earlier that afternoon, and throughout the tea, was a tired sense that some fraction of it still existed within her, like a ghost haunting her bones.
"But why?" Adeline asked.
"What do you mean? Why?" Liessel smiled, and shook her head, sending a small motion toward where Adeline was standing, "Do you not know who you are? Can you not see it when you see yourself in a mirror? You are Adeline Webber. You are beautiful, and brave. Your strength is different than mine, but shines just as brightly. You work so hard to be fearless -- to be able to shout at the wind in the middle of a storm. And I want to know you because I find that exceptional."
She shook her head but there was no accompanying smile. "None of this makes sense."
Liessel blinked, her own smile wavering as she asked, "What doesn't make sense? Do I need to be more clear?" Because that was a thing that could happen often with Adeline, she knew. Answers she thought were straight forward turned out not to be so.
"Liessel," Her brows were furrowed. "I cannot move through life the way that you do, pretending that the past events have no effect on how they shape and mold my future. And that's just one of the reasons why I cannot see why we would be friends. We have nothing in common beyond mutual friends and that's not enough for me."
"I am not pretending that it didn't happen," Liessel answered, "It happened. I am very aware of that. But that is not the only side that I've seen of you. You were there for me in The Garden, both when you taught me to shout, and you were there after -- things -- happened with Mister McDowell. I haven't forgotten that those happened either. Who cares if we don't have that much in common right now? I don't. How much do you think I had in common with the Flynns and Aurelia when we first met? Or Mister Schoen? My life had been vastly different than the ones that they led. There was nothing similar at all between us except for the fact that we were all alive and occupying this life together."
“I care.” She replied. “And the fact that you don’t is another reason why I do not see this working out. As you pointed out, I keep my circle small for a reason. I’m not interested in having to tiptoe and hedge my thoughts and opinions because I do not know what turn of phrase may send you off to Aurelia or Avery so that they can fight in your place while you smile as though nothing has happened. I’m not interested in unresolved conflicts with someone who I am supposed to consider a friend.”
" 'Smile as though nothing happened'?" Liessel felt herself frown, "You still think that I did it on purpose, that I went to Aurelia the first chance that I got and cried to her to make myself look the victim? That was one time, Adeline. Once. And it happened while I was already in a state of distress. But you know what, I didn't tell them about Kilkare. I didn't tell them about this. Because out of everything you threw at me that night, you were right about this one thing: I do need to learn how to handle things like this on my own. "
"At least twice." Adeline reminded her. "Do not forget Avery, his brother, and Mister McDowell all swooping in to defend your honor multiple times at the Garden. On purpose or accidental doesn't matter. I don't trust that it won't happen again." She took a breath. "And Kilkare is one of the many things that remain unresolved between us."
" 'Unresolved'?" Her frown deepened, "What are you talking about? We talked about Kilkare while we were still at The Garden! That you couldn't -- wouldn't -- take my apology is not on me. Just as what happened with Avery, Felix, and Mister McDowell! They saw what was happening to me. They knew how it was tearing me apart inside -- and not just tearing me apart, but changing who I was! They also saw that I was powerless to stop it, and they knew I was struggling with it. I had no control over it Adeline, just as the Surveyors had no control over what Giessler had done to them, but that didn't matter to you because you needed to have your opinion on the matter heard! You don't want something like that to happen again? Stop. Think about what you are saying, why you are saying it, and what you are truly trying to express! That is how you avoid such things in the future, and doing so doesn't mean shaving off your words or intentions and how you feel. Doing so only acknowledges that you are not the only person in this world who is suffering."
The moment Liessel's voice might have started to raise, Adeline's eyes widened. With almost a panic, she glanced around the room to see if any of the other occupants in the house heard. At the same time, she began looking for her wet coat - wherever that blasted mechanical machine had put it.
"The point is that it keeps happening." She replied when it became evident her coat was not in this room. "With the Flynns. With Dumitru. With anyone who revolves around your circle. You become offended by something that I've said. You become hurt by something that I've done. And they, not you, are the first ones to lead the charge in your defense. That may be something you can so easily amend but I cannot."
"That, also," Liessel said, having just watched panic rise within the eyes of Adeline Webber, "is not on me. I cannot control how they react to the words you sling, but know that they had only been doing so because I was living under strict rules. A Sister says no words to her own defense. Because words to her own defense would not be needed were she to be doing everything that she should be. They knew that rule from early on. I forced myself to live by that rule, by all of the rules, because I had to live with the thought that one day I would have to subject myself to them again, and the thought of growing past them and then having to chop off pieces of myself to make that life fit again was too painful. But I will not be returning to those rules. Some of them I will keep, because there is value to them and what they have taught me. Others, like this one, will no longer be relied upon. But the fact remains, Miss Webber, that you need to learn to temper your tongue if you want things to get better between you and everyone else."
Adeline barked a laugh. "And you believe things are not better between myself and the others? You are the only one I have issue with. As of late the only time there has been contention with the others, it is because of your involvement."
She took in a quick breath. "Where are my things?"
"My involvement? Are you sure it's that and not because of the way you handle things in your microscopic view of the world, and others within it? Because I have tried to be nothing but kind to you, Adeline. I have forgiven every rotten thing you've thrown my way, and I have moved past it in order to be standing in this room with you right here, and right now trying to get you to listen to what I am saying. But you can't. You won't let yourself, because everyone in this world is against you -- including me. You need to let yourself be the victim so that you can feel righteous and vindicated in how you fight off everything that makes you feel small. Take responsibility for your own actions, Adeline, own up to the way you approach others -- to the way you approach me. That is what causes the contention with the others. The fact that you need to push against something that you view as weaker just to make yourself stand a little taller, to make yourself feel justified and righteous in the face of everything this world throws at you. But you aren't standing, not at all. You are a wounded creature, thrashing about and snapping at every kind hand that turns your way because you do not believe in the kindness of others. You do not trust others to be kind. Well, here I am, Adeline. Kindness personified, and there is no way you cannot see it and I think that scares you."
That was when Liessel took a breath of her own and gave a call back over her shoulder, "Cog, please bring Miss Webber her things. She's got a long walk home."
"Miss Wick-" She paused. "Miss Eprhale. This is your home and your event. And while I disagree with everything that you have said, there is no point in speaking them. You will assume it is me losing my temper instead of hearing my words for what they are. Just as you did at the church. Just as you do every time we have these conversations. Nothing that you have done is kind - " Biting back the rest of her words with an almost painful hiss, Adeline shook her head.
"I am done. I am done trying. I wish no longer to try a friendship with you. Your entire statement alone has shown just how much of a lost cause it is."
Cog was coming up behind with Adeline's coat and other effects. He passed Liessel and offered them easily while Liessel stood there studying Adeline. "I heard every word that you said, I listened. Just as I've heard every word that you've muttered my way since we've met. Which is why you are standing here in this room right now talking with me. That said, I think it is you that cannot hear and will not listen. I will not say that you have not been kind, because you have. But I think it is a rare moment for you when it comes because you are so used to fighting the world. You are so used to speaking without taking the time to consider your own message because all that matters is getting the words out first. Be the quickest, be the loudest, be the strongest. You think it works for you because that is how you've gotten to where you are today. But you are wrong. You do not need to live that way."
"You have no authority or right to tell me why or how I should live my life and it is incredibly insulting that you feel as though you can. I have tried to be a friend to you, Miss Eprhale.
"I went to your world without a thought because you needed help and I wanted to be among those that did. I followed you into the woods at the Garden because I could see how quickly you were about to crumble. I held you as you sobbed when they brought your father in. Time and time again I have revealed personal moments of my life, things that I do not so willingly tell others, and you have given nothing in return. This has been one sided from the start.
"You seem to act as though superficial polite conversation is what lays the foundations of friendship. You think that by saying you forgive my transgressions and by extending an invitation to an event at your home, one that left me feeling terribly out of place and uncomfortable, are the foundations of friendship. It is not. It is societal politeness at best and there is a difference. It is not a friendship nor the makings of one."
"That you take things as superficial is not my doing. That you feel that I've given you nothing in return is also not my doing. I told you about my world at the Garden! We had barely known each other for more than a handful of hours! I told you about things, in that short period of time, that it took me weeks -- months to share with others. Including my name! I let you see me shattered in my own anger and misery out there in the forest! I let you come with to Harroway because I wanted you there! I could have said no. I could have demanded that you not be with us. But I didn't. Just as with today: I invited you because I wanted you here. If these things aren't good enough for you, Adeline, then I don't know what is!"
"This was not a kindness to ask me to come here." Adeline replied. "To meet someone close to you that I do not know after the way you so easily dismissed our last conversation. That does not feel kind to me. And within the span of this one conversation, you have insulted me with one hand while asking to be my friend in another. It is a kind of whiplash that will not allow myself to endure."
"Dismissed?" Liessel balked and shook her head, "--Hardly. Yours was not the only hard conversation I had floating around in my head that night, Miss Webber. I needed time to sort through what I was hearing from you, and the thoughts I had floating around in my head. I took that time. I dismissed nothing. As for Father McKellen, I invited you to meet him because he means something to me, just as you mean something to me, just as the others mean something to me. They didn't know him either before today, that was the whole point of this! But if it was unkind, if it wasn't good enough. What would have been? Tell me. What do you want from me that I have not given?"
“Honesty would be a fine place to start.” Adeline said. “First you say that my strength is exceptional and that I am brave. Then, within minutes you say that my strength is not strength at all and that I am a wounded creature that snaps at anyone because I do not believe in kindness. Which opinion is the truth, Miss Erphale?”
"You are exceptional and brave." Liessel snapped, "And you are strong, but your strength is different than mine. -- I said that, too, and pretty clearly. And you are like a wounded animal that strikes out. It is in the way you talk when you are angry -- what was the analogy you used with me? The bad beneath the good?"
"That is exactly the whiplash that I am talking about. The one that you cannot seem to understand or even emphasize with." She shook her head.
"Well wishes and kind words in one hand, judgments and insults in the other. I have spent my entire life around people like that. I did not make room for them in my life and I certainly will not start now."
"You miss one thing in that," Adeline was told, "I do not point these things out with judgement in mind. I do it with acceptance in my heart. I recognize it, and I welcome it because this is who you are."
"So it was with acceptance and welcoming when you threw an ultimatum at my feet at the Garden?" Adeline countered.
"I was the messenger, Adeline, not the cause. I came representing the others who had faced off with your anger all day long and had had enough of that fighting. They were tired, and they were wrung out from trying to make things work with you. The idea for that ultimatum came from Cyrus and was formed to fit the day because none of us wanted to give up on you but they were close. Really close. Did I argue for it? Yes, I did. But I did it as a means to keep the peace between everyone who was tired of trying to find ground with you, and yourself who was tired of trying to find ground with everyone else," Liessel's frown was deep as she spoke, "But the message, ultimately, wasn't mine."
"I find it very interesting that each situation you can cast someone else to blame. You blame Aurelia. You blame the Flynns and McDowell. Now you blame Cyrus." Adeline's eyes narrowed.
"Is there anything that you take responsibility for or is our entire downfall simply because of everyone else; myself included?"
"I give you honesty, the very thing you asked me for, and you call me a liar? I think it is time for you to go, Miss Webber." Liessel's voice had fallen low, edged, as she watched Adeline.
"It was their decision back at the Garden; you were only the messenger. It was Aurelia's choice. It was Avery. It was Cyrus." Adeline barked a laugh as she pulled on her damp coat. "I've seen enough of your honesty. I wonder if your friends know how easily you're willing to throw them into the line of fire to free yourself from blame."
While Adeline shrugged into her coat, Liessel slipped past her. Her hand fell onto the knob of the front door, and she swung it wide open while stepping back to give Adeline a clear path out, "Get the hell out of my house."
"Kindness personified indeed." Adeline said with a measured look as though she finally knew the weight of what made Liessel. "Good day, Miss Wickham."
Her lips wanted to stay shut barred against any more of her breath spared for Adeline Webber. She couldn't get herself to commit to those words, too, those well wishes that dripped like some poison that only wished it was half as sweet as it sounded coming from Adeline. What she could bring herself to, with a stiff nod, was "Have a pleasant walk."
"I'll be waiting for the Flynns or Dumitru to visit on your behalf." Adeline said. "I wonder if they will call themselves a messenger as you've done today."
To that Liessel said nothing. The door was open, and she was waiting.
Adeline almost expected Liessel to cross her arms and tap her feet as if she were an unwanted delivery waiting to be returned. With her coat on, Adeline took her leave into the rain.
"Thank you for coming, Adeline" Liessel said, turning toward Adeline with a little nod, "I wasn't sure that you would, but I am glad that you did."
"Why?" she asked, not bothering to mask her surprise. "We are not close nor am I a friend of Father McKellen's."
"No," There came a small nod from the girl whose hair very closely matched that of the Flynns, "we are not close, and I am aware of how you feel about me -- I have not forgotten. The 'why' is because I would still like to try for that friendship that I did poor service to, despite all of that."
All that remained of the nest of nervous energy that had kept her so wound tightly earlier that afternoon, and throughout the tea, was a tired sense that some fraction of it still existed within her, like a ghost haunting her bones.
"But why?" Adeline asked.
"What do you mean? Why?" Liessel smiled, and shook her head, sending a small motion toward where Adeline was standing, "Do you not know who you are? Can you not see it when you see yourself in a mirror? You are Adeline Webber. You are beautiful, and brave. Your strength is different than mine, but shines just as brightly. You work so hard to be fearless -- to be able to shout at the wind in the middle of a storm. And I want to know you because I find that exceptional."
She shook her head but there was no accompanying smile. "None of this makes sense."
Liessel blinked, her own smile wavering as she asked, "What doesn't make sense? Do I need to be more clear?" Because that was a thing that could happen often with Adeline, she knew. Answers she thought were straight forward turned out not to be so.
"Liessel," Her brows were furrowed. "I cannot move through life the way that you do, pretending that the past events have no effect on how they shape and mold my future. And that's just one of the reasons why I cannot see why we would be friends. We have nothing in common beyond mutual friends and that's not enough for me."
"I am not pretending that it didn't happen," Liessel answered, "It happened. I am very aware of that. But that is not the only side that I've seen of you. You were there for me in The Garden, both when you taught me to shout, and you were there after -- things -- happened with Mister McDowell. I haven't forgotten that those happened either. Who cares if we don't have that much in common right now? I don't. How much do you think I had in common with the Flynns and Aurelia when we first met? Or Mister Schoen? My life had been vastly different than the ones that they led. There was nothing similar at all between us except for the fact that we were all alive and occupying this life together."
“I care.” She replied. “And the fact that you don’t is another reason why I do not see this working out. As you pointed out, I keep my circle small for a reason. I’m not interested in having to tiptoe and hedge my thoughts and opinions because I do not know what turn of phrase may send you off to Aurelia or Avery so that they can fight in your place while you smile as though nothing has happened. I’m not interested in unresolved conflicts with someone who I am supposed to consider a friend.”
" 'Smile as though nothing happened'?" Liessel felt herself frown, "You still think that I did it on purpose, that I went to Aurelia the first chance that I got and cried to her to make myself look the victim? That was one time, Adeline. Once. And it happened while I was already in a state of distress. But you know what, I didn't tell them about Kilkare. I didn't tell them about this. Because out of everything you threw at me that night, you were right about this one thing: I do need to learn how to handle things like this on my own. "
"At least twice." Adeline reminded her. "Do not forget Avery, his brother, and Mister McDowell all swooping in to defend your honor multiple times at the Garden. On purpose or accidental doesn't matter. I don't trust that it won't happen again." She took a breath. "And Kilkare is one of the many things that remain unresolved between us."
" 'Unresolved'?" Her frown deepened, "What are you talking about? We talked about Kilkare while we were still at The Garden! That you couldn't -- wouldn't -- take my apology is not on me. Just as what happened with Avery, Felix, and Mister McDowell! They saw what was happening to me. They knew how it was tearing me apart inside -- and not just tearing me apart, but changing who I was! They also saw that I was powerless to stop it, and they knew I was struggling with it. I had no control over it Adeline, just as the Surveyors had no control over what Giessler had done to them, but that didn't matter to you because you needed to have your opinion on the matter heard! You don't want something like that to happen again? Stop. Think about what you are saying, why you are saying it, and what you are truly trying to express! That is how you avoid such things in the future, and doing so doesn't mean shaving off your words or intentions and how you feel. Doing so only acknowledges that you are not the only person in this world who is suffering."
The moment Liessel's voice might have started to raise, Adeline's eyes widened. With almost a panic, she glanced around the room to see if any of the other occupants in the house heard. At the same time, she began looking for her wet coat - wherever that blasted mechanical machine had put it.
"The point is that it keeps happening." She replied when it became evident her coat was not in this room. "With the Flynns. With Dumitru. With anyone who revolves around your circle. You become offended by something that I've said. You become hurt by something that I've done. And they, not you, are the first ones to lead the charge in your defense. That may be something you can so easily amend but I cannot."
"That, also," Liessel said, having just watched panic rise within the eyes of Adeline Webber, "is not on me. I cannot control how they react to the words you sling, but know that they had only been doing so because I was living under strict rules. A Sister says no words to her own defense. Because words to her own defense would not be needed were she to be doing everything that she should be. They knew that rule from early on. I forced myself to live by that rule, by all of the rules, because I had to live with the thought that one day I would have to subject myself to them again, and the thought of growing past them and then having to chop off pieces of myself to make that life fit again was too painful. But I will not be returning to those rules. Some of them I will keep, because there is value to them and what they have taught me. Others, like this one, will no longer be relied upon. But the fact remains, Miss Webber, that you need to learn to temper your tongue if you want things to get better between you and everyone else."
Adeline barked a laugh. "And you believe things are not better between myself and the others? You are the only one I have issue with. As of late the only time there has been contention with the others, it is because of your involvement."
She took in a quick breath. "Where are my things?"
"My involvement? Are you sure it's that and not because of the way you handle things in your microscopic view of the world, and others within it? Because I have tried to be nothing but kind to you, Adeline. I have forgiven every rotten thing you've thrown my way, and I have moved past it in order to be standing in this room with you right here, and right now trying to get you to listen to what I am saying. But you can't. You won't let yourself, because everyone in this world is against you -- including me. You need to let yourself be the victim so that you can feel righteous and vindicated in how you fight off everything that makes you feel small. Take responsibility for your own actions, Adeline, own up to the way you approach others -- to the way you approach me. That is what causes the contention with the others. The fact that you need to push against something that you view as weaker just to make yourself stand a little taller, to make yourself feel justified and righteous in the face of everything this world throws at you. But you aren't standing, not at all. You are a wounded creature, thrashing about and snapping at every kind hand that turns your way because you do not believe in the kindness of others. You do not trust others to be kind. Well, here I am, Adeline. Kindness personified, and there is no way you cannot see it and I think that scares you."
That was when Liessel took a breath of her own and gave a call back over her shoulder, "Cog, please bring Miss Webber her things. She's got a long walk home."
"Miss Wick-" She paused. "Miss Eprhale. This is your home and your event. And while I disagree with everything that you have said, there is no point in speaking them. You will assume it is me losing my temper instead of hearing my words for what they are. Just as you did at the church. Just as you do every time we have these conversations. Nothing that you have done is kind - " Biting back the rest of her words with an almost painful hiss, Adeline shook her head.
"I am done. I am done trying. I wish no longer to try a friendship with you. Your entire statement alone has shown just how much of a lost cause it is."
Cog was coming up behind with Adeline's coat and other effects. He passed Liessel and offered them easily while Liessel stood there studying Adeline. "I heard every word that you said, I listened. Just as I've heard every word that you've muttered my way since we've met. Which is why you are standing here in this room right now talking with me. That said, I think it is you that cannot hear and will not listen. I will not say that you have not been kind, because you have. But I think it is a rare moment for you when it comes because you are so used to fighting the world. You are so used to speaking without taking the time to consider your own message because all that matters is getting the words out first. Be the quickest, be the loudest, be the strongest. You think it works for you because that is how you've gotten to where you are today. But you are wrong. You do not need to live that way."
"You have no authority or right to tell me why or how I should live my life and it is incredibly insulting that you feel as though you can. I have tried to be a friend to you, Miss Eprhale.
"I went to your world without a thought because you needed help and I wanted to be among those that did. I followed you into the woods at the Garden because I could see how quickly you were about to crumble. I held you as you sobbed when they brought your father in. Time and time again I have revealed personal moments of my life, things that I do not so willingly tell others, and you have given nothing in return. This has been one sided from the start.
"You seem to act as though superficial polite conversation is what lays the foundations of friendship. You think that by saying you forgive my transgressions and by extending an invitation to an event at your home, one that left me feeling terribly out of place and uncomfortable, are the foundations of friendship. It is not. It is societal politeness at best and there is a difference. It is not a friendship nor the makings of one."
"That you take things as superficial is not my doing. That you feel that I've given you nothing in return is also not my doing. I told you about my world at the Garden! We had barely known each other for more than a handful of hours! I told you about things, in that short period of time, that it took me weeks -- months to share with others. Including my name! I let you see me shattered in my own anger and misery out there in the forest! I let you come with to Harroway because I wanted you there! I could have said no. I could have demanded that you not be with us. But I didn't. Just as with today: I invited you because I wanted you here. If these things aren't good enough for you, Adeline, then I don't know what is!"
"This was not a kindness to ask me to come here." Adeline replied. "To meet someone close to you that I do not know after the way you so easily dismissed our last conversation. That does not feel kind to me. And within the span of this one conversation, you have insulted me with one hand while asking to be my friend in another. It is a kind of whiplash that will not allow myself to endure."
"Dismissed?" Liessel balked and shook her head, "--Hardly. Yours was not the only hard conversation I had floating around in my head that night, Miss Webber. I needed time to sort through what I was hearing from you, and the thoughts I had floating around in my head. I took that time. I dismissed nothing. As for Father McKellen, I invited you to meet him because he means something to me, just as you mean something to me, just as the others mean something to me. They didn't know him either before today, that was the whole point of this! But if it was unkind, if it wasn't good enough. What would have been? Tell me. What do you want from me that I have not given?"
“Honesty would be a fine place to start.” Adeline said. “First you say that my strength is exceptional and that I am brave. Then, within minutes you say that my strength is not strength at all and that I am a wounded creature that snaps at anyone because I do not believe in kindness. Which opinion is the truth, Miss Erphale?”
"You are exceptional and brave." Liessel snapped, "And you are strong, but your strength is different than mine. -- I said that, too, and pretty clearly. And you are like a wounded animal that strikes out. It is in the way you talk when you are angry -- what was the analogy you used with me? The bad beneath the good?"
"That is exactly the whiplash that I am talking about. The one that you cannot seem to understand or even emphasize with." She shook her head.
"Well wishes and kind words in one hand, judgments and insults in the other. I have spent my entire life around people like that. I did not make room for them in my life and I certainly will not start now."
"You miss one thing in that," Adeline was told, "I do not point these things out with judgement in mind. I do it with acceptance in my heart. I recognize it, and I welcome it because this is who you are."
"So it was with acceptance and welcoming when you threw an ultimatum at my feet at the Garden?" Adeline countered.
"I was the messenger, Adeline, not the cause. I came representing the others who had faced off with your anger all day long and had had enough of that fighting. They were tired, and they were wrung out from trying to make things work with you. The idea for that ultimatum came from Cyrus and was formed to fit the day because none of us wanted to give up on you but they were close. Really close. Did I argue for it? Yes, I did. But I did it as a means to keep the peace between everyone who was tired of trying to find ground with you, and yourself who was tired of trying to find ground with everyone else," Liessel's frown was deep as she spoke, "But the message, ultimately, wasn't mine."
"I find it very interesting that each situation you can cast someone else to blame. You blame Aurelia. You blame the Flynns and McDowell. Now you blame Cyrus." Adeline's eyes narrowed.
"Is there anything that you take responsibility for or is our entire downfall simply because of everyone else; myself included?"
"I give you honesty, the very thing you asked me for, and you call me a liar? I think it is time for you to go, Miss Webber." Liessel's voice had fallen low, edged, as she watched Adeline.
"It was their decision back at the Garden; you were only the messenger. It was Aurelia's choice. It was Avery. It was Cyrus." Adeline barked a laugh as she pulled on her damp coat. "I've seen enough of your honesty. I wonder if your friends know how easily you're willing to throw them into the line of fire to free yourself from blame."
While Adeline shrugged into her coat, Liessel slipped past her. Her hand fell onto the knob of the front door, and she swung it wide open while stepping back to give Adeline a clear path out, "Get the hell out of my house."
"Kindness personified indeed." Adeline said with a measured look as though she finally knew the weight of what made Liessel. "Good day, Miss Wickham."
Her lips wanted to stay shut barred against any more of her breath spared for Adeline Webber. She couldn't get herself to commit to those words, too, those well wishes that dripped like some poison that only wished it was half as sweet as it sounded coming from Adeline. What she could bring herself to, with a stiff nod, was "Have a pleasant walk."
"I'll be waiting for the Flynns or Dumitru to visit on your behalf." Adeline said. "I wonder if they will call themselves a messenger as you've done today."
To that Liessel said nothing. The door was open, and she was waiting.
Adeline almost expected Liessel to cross her arms and tap her feet as if she were an unwanted delivery waiting to be returned. With her coat on, Adeline took her leave into the rain.