Dirty Little Secrets part 2

OOC: JP with Cindy, red_sword7 and Jaxx

"Miss Lavigne, I had a feeling you were going to tell us something like that. You demonstrated some behavior at tea I could see as well as now. Nothing to be alarmed about. But your eyes changed some just for a moment. The eyes will always give you or someone away, That is what I was taught." replied Sung.

"Don't be embarrassed about your gift. Use your gift for good. You will live with a clear heart. If you need some training in the use of your gift I would be happy to help you with that, Of course with My Lady's permission. But before I get ahead of myself. You owe My Lady an answer." Sung said with sincerity and warmth trying to put Miss Lavigne at ease. Sung thought using the word Gift might put her at ease and give a little hope and light to her life. Time would only tell.

Elizabeth could understand being treated like a caged bird. Elizabeth's parents had always been present in her life but even with that there was a lot of expectations placed on herself.

Elizabeth got up from her chair, knelt down and gently took the young woman's hands in her. "Mr. Sung is correct. This is something that could be harnessed and used for good. Not only would I accept you into this group, I believe you might fit right in."

With that Elizabeth stood and went back to her seat. "Mr. Sung is right though I need to know if you will pledge your oath of secrecy."

Lily nodded with tears rolling down her cheeks. She took a few breaths before she could compose herself. Then she stood up and gave a bow to Lady Elizabeth before she said, “I Lily Lavigne vow to serve Lady Elizabeth and keep any and all secrets shown to me till my dying days.” Then she stood up and tried to smile but it was hard to stay serious since she very emotional at the moment.

"Thank you, Miss Lavigne." Elizabeth said softly. "Now, let me explain to you what this is all about. The team you met at tea, obviously Mr. Sung and myself are all members of an elite team called the Order of the Moon. You can recognize us because we all wear these rings." She held up her hand. "My father runs the organization. Baron Greenwood heads the Paris division."

Elizabeth almost wanted to say 'unfortunately' before the Baron's name but, of course, stooped herself. "We work for her Majesty Queen Victoria and under the blessing of all of the Crowns of Europe. What we do is of vital importance to the security of Europe and the British colonies. However, I cannot disclose our current assignment to you, as of yet. You are welcomed here but I can not make you a member of the team, yet. I am hoping we can work to that."

Elizabeth paused. "All members of the team have jobs. I can give you a job to do, sometimes I feel you likely are well versed in but is rather tedious, if I do say so myself. It is not team related but I still need to be done." Elizabeth was testing Lily in a sense to see if she was, at all, interested in working her way into team member position.

Lily sat down as Lady Elizabeth spoke to her. From what it sounded like, she needed to have special skills to contribute to the team. This was similar to any sports team she was competing in school. Seeing as she was fresh out of finishing school she knew she could not compete with an adult in certain tasks like the orc muscle or the Doctor’s mind, so she nodded at Lady Elizabeth and replied, “That would make sense, since this would be my first job out of school. I am willing to take on every task you set before me to the best of my ability. However I must let you know in advance that I cannot fully transform into a werewolf. I am unsure why, but at best I can only change my nails, teeth, eyes and senses. I did use my “gift” in sports, but not enough to give myself away. “. Lily was hoping that this would create some trust between her and Lady Elizabeth.

"Good at athletics will serve you well. I do not believe you not fully transforming will be an hinderance to your future duties. I do believe you still have excellent abilities to learn swords and self-defense moves to begin with. And Mr. Sung is well versed in both." In essence giving her blessing for Sung to train Lily, though she highly doubted the man would have much time as Elizabeth and the teams needs came first. "If Mr. Sung does not have the time there are trainers, who have been vetted by the Order, that can be used."

Elizabeth stopped and changed topics. "Rules of the house are simple. Any place on the ground floor, that is not locked is accessible to anyone who is staying here. Except the kitchen, Greta hates when people get underfoot, so please stay out of the kitchen when she's working. The grounds are free with two exceptions. The carriage house is the Lorem’s lab and room and the building off to the side of that one is Dr. Jackal's lab, please stay out of those unless given permission by myself, Mr. Sung or Lorem or the good Dr. Please feel free though to explore the open areas though. The staff is at your disposal."

Elizabeth thought for a moment, "Tomorrow morning the team has a meeting at headquarters, then some of us will be gone during the day." Elizabeth reached in the draw and pulled out a rather tall stack of invitations. "Apparently, due to the Exposition, the upper-crust has decided to give more parties than anyone could possibly attend in a lifetime." Elizabeth's tone was light, indicating she was slightly joking even if what she said was true. "I need all of these responded to."
She pulled out a journal, which was a glorified address book really and placed bookmarks in three sections. "Anyone in this section, with the gold bookmark, are members of the Paris Royal family, please respond yes to those. Any with this silver bookmark are part of the British or Russian Royal family please respond yes unless the party is outside of Paris, then respond no. Any with this blue bookmark respond yes only of there is a star by their name. All others respond no to those with one exception. In this stack, some place, should be the invitation to the annual Paris Guilde de Magie Gala please respond yes to that one. Harold can answer any questions you might have." Elizabeth smiled at Lily, "I unfortunately do not have a personal secretary at the moment but am in need of one. So, that is the job I am tasking you with, temporarily."

Lily’s eyes bulged as she saw the large stack of invitations on the desk. This was going to be long and tedious task. Lucky for her she was very familiar with the routine on invitations since she had to reject a lot of them in the past. Oddly enough she was taught by her former butler on the proper way to handle responses. Lily replied, “I understand. You want me to divide the “Yes” and “No” pile, make a check list and then reply accordingly to your request. Would your butler handle the delivery or am I to do this task as well?” Lily wanted to make sure she didn’t skip anything that Lady Elizabeth tasked her.

"Precisely, correct. You can give the invitations to Harold, he will make sure to get them delivered. Once you are done with that, you are free for the day but I do request, for your own safety, you do not leave the premise." Elizabeth responded

"And welcome Miss Lavigne. If you do need to go out for some reason please check with Me or My Lady. I know you two know one another. But I ask in public or in front of the staff address. My Lady as Lady Elizabeth or My Lady. I know you know this is just a reminder. If you need anything you can ask the staff. Even clothing we have people for even that. if you have anything of extreme value where you were staying we will see if we can retrieve it." said Sung standing and bowing to Miss Lavigne he was being pleasant and caring in his tone.

Elizabeth seemed to be thinking for a moment. "I almost forgot." Pointing to the book. "These are in order of priority. Just in case you run into m two invitations for the same day. In the order of gold, silver, then blue. The gala for the Magic guild always comes first." Elizabeth was certain everything had been covered. "I do believe that's everything. Did you have any additional questions?"

Lily nodded and then remembered her stuff was at the hotel. It would be nice to get her stuff back, especially her mother’s music box she treasured. She then checked her pockets and found the hotel key where her stuff was at. She pulled it out and placed it on the desk as she replied, “This is the hotel key I was staying at. The keychain shows the hotel name and address so it will be easy to find. It would be nice to get all my things back, but if I must choose…. I would like to have my music box returned. It is the only thing I have left from my mother. “. Lily then sat down in the chair again as she waited for an answer.

"Mr. Sung and myself will retrieve your items when we are out on the errands we need to do tomorrow." Elizabeth looked at Sung. "Mr. Sung, please take the key and hold on to it." She then turned back to Lily. "Was there anything else you needed or any other questions?"

Lily could not think of anything at the moment as she replied, “No my Lady. I am sure I can ask the staff for the simple things such as stationary and snacks.” Lily looked like she was feeling better even though her eyes were red from crying earlier.

"If that's it then, your dismissed. Tonight we won't be having a group dinner. There will be food put out at about 8 which you can take at your leisure." Elizabeth looked at Lily. "I am glad you are safe and that you have decided to stay." With that she excused Lily.

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