The Club Kathedral’s aesthetic strayed vastly from the presentation of the LeBlanc household in physical appearance but the spirit of both was the same. 

As a journalist once noted: it’s what made the once-niche LeBlancs feel authentic. 

The main difference between the status of clutter. A juke joint like Ginny’s didn’t pride itself on clutter but her home where she lived with her mom, a godmother, an uncle, four other siblings, and cousins in the form of triplets very much did. 

It signified life happening in the home. Home being this reddish-brown three-story townhome nestled between two other homes with a lighter brown hue. 

The sounds of the streets were filled with regular people going about their day meshed with the shouting of pickets rallying against the new emperor. Hoopties driving along rickety roads and the smell of food being cooked out in the open by a litany of vendors. 

As I approached the LeBlancs’ front door and rang their buzzer, the only thought that came to me at that moment was that this felt like a home away from home. 

“Who’s there?” A voice called out, I recognized it to be Ginny’s mother, Eugenie.

“It’s me, ma’am. Faye?” The nervousness in my voice was clear. “I came to check on Ginny.” 

The sound of the locks being fiddled eased my tension as the door slowly opened to reveal a woman in her 50s with coily, red hair tied up in an unkempt updo. The signs of stress were very much present. No telling how much has been on Eugenie’s plate since she and Yvette took up taking care of the club in Ginny’s stead. 

“Faye~. You had me nervous there. Them damn shutterbugs been lurking around lately, getting on my last nerve.” 

She was definitely talking about the reporters wanting to interview anyone in close proximity to Elvira. It’s the main reason Ginny was urged by all of us to grieve within the safety of her home, surrounded by family after losing someone she considered a loved one. 

Eugenie pointed at me sternly. “You weren’t followed here were you?” 

I shook my head. “No ma’am. Can I see Ginny?” 

She sighed and nodded, moving aside to let me in. “Your driver not coming?” 

I looked back at her and then at him standing in front of the car. “Can he?” 

“Sure, Lucio made a lot today and the faster we can get rid of it, the better.” She waved Bilal over and the giant of a man looked caught off guard for a moment before waltzing into the house. “Besides, people see this giant standing by a nice looking black motor, they’ll know someone important is here.” She joked. 

As expected, the LeBlanc house was its usual mess, with the sounds of the triplets loudly playing what sounded to be something similar to wizards and monsters. Bygones of an age of heroes. The trio ran past me, shouting their own variations of ‘hello’ before disappearing down the hall. The sounds of their footsteps then being followed by the sound of something breaking. 

“BE CAREFUL!” Eugenie shouts with a casual tone. She turns back to me. “You can go to her room, her door’s probably still unlocked from when I went in.” She looks to Bilal. “You can head to the kitchen, feel free to make yourself a plate.” 

He and I went our temporary separate ways. Ginny’s room was on the third floor, she shared that floor with her siblings while her cousins got the second floor with their father. Meanwhile, Eugenie and Yvette share the first floor. 

The third floor was in its own state of disarray but looked less like the work of children and more like the work of young adults that had a lot going on and couldn’t be concerned with cleaning. It didn’t bother me as much as it would bother others. I came up to Ginny’s room, a brown door with scattered painted flowers and hearts and Ginny’s name written in cursive on its center. 

I gently tapped against the wooden door. “Ginny?” 

No answer. 

“Ginny, it’s me…Faye?” 

There was a moment of silence before Ginny responded, her voice muffled. “Hi Faye.” She sounded completely defeated. 

Despite that, I could still hear the distinct dialect common for folks from Lyona. It was the same as the rest of her family's, though Ginny’s was, for lack of a better term, “ironed out” from years of mingling with the likes of Elvira and I. 

“Can I come in?” I asked softly. 

There was another silence before I heard the knob turn and the door was cracked open. I gently pushed my way in spotting Ginny crawling back into bed covered in bulky red and pink blankets, even though the weather definitely did not call for it. 

I looked over to a rocking chair covered in a mountain of clothes, I felt that she wouldn’t mind so I moved them onto the floor, taking a seat. Ginny didn’t say anything to me, so I knew I had to initiate the conversation as her back was turned away from me. 

“How are you holding up, Ginny?” 

“....’m fine.” 

“Why are you lying?” 

“I’m just tired, Faye.” 

…….

“You wanted something?” 

“I wanted to check on you. Have you been eating?” 

“....Yeah…” 

“That’s good. Evie wouldn’t want you to-” 

“You went to see that witch woman, didn’tcha?” 

I was caught off guard. Of course, I had thrown out the idea of seeing the witch to Ginny under the impression that she would be interested in coming along but she shot it down with such anger. Saying that nothing good could come with associating with someone like that during a time like this. Especially, under the scrutiny that everyone who saw Elvira in a good light now suffered.  

“N-” 

“And don’t lie to me, Faye.” 

“....yes.” 

She let out a heavy sigh. “Faye…” 

I cut her off before she could continue. “Ginny, I don’t know why you’re so against this. This woman could be a charlatan for all we know.” 

The speed that Ginny turned around indicated her fury well enough. I prepped myself as she finally sat up in bed. “It don’t matter if she’s real or not, Faye! One accusation. ONE ACCUSATION. That’s all ANYONE needs in this country. She’ll be hunted for the claims. You’ll be hunted for associating with her. My family and your family will be hunted for not stopping you even if they didn’t know. Do you know the difference between what your family can do about that and what mine can do?” 

“Gi--”

“Nothing! The answer is nothing! They’ll ruin my family’s lives and we’ll be either chased out or arrested. They take any and every opportunity to see people like me reduced to nothing.” 

“I would protect you and your family, Ginny. You know that. I’d do anything to protect you.” 

“If that was the case…then you never would’ve went to that…” She fumbled her words but she clearly wanted to call the witch something harsh but stopped herself, taking a deep breath and letting out an audible exhale. 

Her brown amber eyes looked up at me with a sternness that had me shifting in my seat. People regarded Ginny as “dumb” or even “barbaric” because she and the other Lyona refugees didn’t understand the customs of the Regina Empire, especially the monotonous customs of the elite. 

She tends to not decorate her words and says what she means and it throws people off. It frightens them because they don’t know how to battle it in a way that affects her because when they do their normal way, it goes over her head. 

And normally, they would use that as a victory but her lack of embarrassment thins the laughter. She’s an enigma for a lot of people who think they’re her betters. 

“I’m not gon hold it against you,” She started. “We all tryin' to grieve in our ways but have you once gone and offered comfort to Evie’s family?” 

The question stung. 

“Have you talked to Miss Edith? Have you talked to Cotton or Sweet or ANYONE?” The volume in her voice rose at the last bit. 

My shame kept me quiet and she softly scoffed. 

“You didn’t. That tunnel vision of yours…is truly something else. Evie got locked up and you ain’t care ‘bout no one else…not even her own family.” 

Yeah, that is messed up. I feel dumb just thinking about it. A single letter, a phone call, or even a messenger bird would have sufficed. But…what would I have said? 

“There’s nothing I could’ve said that would’ve comforted them. After I promised them I’d get Evie out of there? I’m expected to face them?” I tried to plead my case as my eyes looked up at Ginny’s stern expression. 

This part of me really didn’t want to admit it but I wanted to just get her to see my vision. However, there was a guilt that it felt like I was trying to manipulate her and I hated that but she needed to know that I was doing this for everyone. 

“I… we all need a redo. I didn’t do enough to protect her. I didn’t do enough to keep our group together. I became…passive. And that’s not how my mother raised me.” 

Ginny sighed. “Tell me…what could you have possibly done?” 

“They went low and I wanted to go lower but Evie begged me not to. She didn’t have faith that I could get her out of there so she didn’t even want me to try.” 

“She knew you would’ve done something stupid. She knew that a bunch of risks with no reward wouldn’t have been worth it. She fully knew your destructive streak and didn’t even entertain it because she knew it wouldn’t end well…she was smart like that.” 

This time, it was my turn to scoff. “Yeah…smart. Keeping your head down is code for smart now is it?” 

“It is if you ain't got no other choice.” 

“Then let me make another choice, Ginny!” 

“You already went to see her! Why’re you even here?! You suddenly need my permission?! You need my blessing AFTER the fact? Oh, how considerate of you, Faye.” 

“I wanted to check on you.” 

“No, you wanted to ease your conscience cause I told you that this was a bad idea. I say I’m fine to get you to drop it but you wanna press on so let’s talk about how you just want me to change my mind so you can go on this GRAND delusion of what’s gon happen.” 

……

Silence. 

“Come on.” She urged with a crossing of her arms. 

More silence. 

I let out a heavy sigh before speaking. “I just want things…to go back to how it used to be. I want us to be happy again.” 

The air in the room shifted as the tension slowly spilled away. 

“Faye…we can be happy again. Mourning ain’t forever.” 

“You don’t get it, I CAN’T move on, Ginny.” 

“No one’s asking you to move on now. It takes time.” 

“I’m talking EVER. I will NEVER be able to move on.” 

“No one ever really moves on from losing something or someone close to them, Faye. You just learn to deal with the loss better as time goes on. You think you’re the only person who thinks that if they had just done something different, things would’ve stayed the same? Almost everybody alive right now has gone through a great change and is still mourning it wondering if they could’ve kept their normal lives if things played out differently.”

She approached me and gently placed her hands on my arms, physically reassuring me. 

“That’s the beauty of mourning. We all go through it…meaning we all can help each other. And if we stick together, we can get through this.” 

I could keep this argument going. Try and make her see MY reason and her trying to make me see hers. That was the norm when it came to me with anyone really. A fault that I have no shame in admitting. Or…I could just…give in. 

Not to really give in to her but to make her feel better. 

I looked deep into her brown eyes in silence for a moment before nodding. “Ok.” 

She seemed to be caught off guard before a soft smile appeared on her face. “Really?” 

I nodded again. “Maybe you’re right. I…haven’t really been trying to mourn. I’ve just been avoiding everything. Maybe I’ll start by going to see Duchess Edith tomorrow…or Cotton.” 

“Cotton might be easier to get a hold of. And you don’t gotta do it alone, I’ll be there with you. Everyone will.” 

I gave a smile. I don’t know if she knew if it was forced or not but it seemed to be enough. 

“I should go. My mom is gonna be worried sick if I don’t show up soon.” 

“Is Bolin still back in the Republic?” Ginny asked with a tilt of her head. 

“Yeah. I don’t think my mom or dad told him about Elvira, he’s gonna be crushed when he hears about it.” 

“Well then…maybe y’all could hold off until y’all are a bit more on your feet…mentally.” 

“Yeah. I’ll see you later, Ginny. Get some rest.” 

“Later Faye.” 

I left her alone in the room, taking a moment to compose myself before heading back downstairs to see Eugenie trying to stuff more food onto Bilal’s plate despite the man trying his best to turn her down with some help from Yvette, Ginny’s godmother. I let out a soft chuckle at the sight. 

“Miss Eugenie, we’ll be taking our leave now.” 

Bilal looked over to me with a look of relief. 

“Oh, are you? How was your talk with Ginny, you think she’ll come out of her room soon?” 

I gave her a nod. “I think I made her feel a little bit better.” 

She sighed. “Well…every little bit of copper can help. Have a safe drive, alright?”  

“Yes, ma’am.” 

Bilal swiftly moved past me in order to open the front door for me. 

“Thank you.” 

“Are we heading home, ma’am?” 

“Yup. Mother will be worried.” 

My only hope is that this spell will work because frankly. 

I don’t want to mourn anyone.

The drive home was uneventful. Outside of the gates of the estate were paparazzi just hoping to be the lucky journalist that gets a page-turning scoop on the recent events but they were promptly ignored as the gates were opened and quickly sealed shut. 

Bilal pulled the car up to the front of the manor before letting me out of the car. The place was quiet. Lacking in Bolin’s energetic antics. 

“Have a good night, Bilal.” 

“You too, madam.” 

I entered through the doors. Many of the lights were still off, indicating that there had not been much movement throughout the house. I didn’t even see many of the servants walking about. 

“Hello?!” I called out, my voice echoing throughout the darkly colored halls. 

After a few moments, the pitter-patter of someone’s feet came from the top of the stairs. A maid, a young pink-haired girl named Rita. 

“Madam Zhao!” She shouted nervously. “You’re back!” 

“Yes…” I responded with a slow and confused drawl. “I was always going to come back.”

“Well…we all just thought that…” She quickly came down the curved staircase to stand in front of me. “you would be staying at Miss Ginnette’s for the night. It seems we were…mistaken.” 

I stared the girl down, causing her to shake.“What’s wrong?” 

“Nothing! Everything is ok. It’s just that…” She fumbled her words. “Would you like us to prepare your bath, madam?” She bowed but it was clearly a way for her to get out of looking me in my eyes. 

I gently took her chin into her hand, lifting her head and forcing her to look into my orange eyes. “Rita…what.is.wrong?” 

“Um…he…”

“He who?” 

“Ah~there you are, Faye. I was wondering when you would return.” 

That voice…that grating, pompous voice of Solomon Conwyn…my cousin. 

The bane of my existence here under my mother’s roof.