Still Life by Edward Drobinski - HTML preview

Still Life

Page 236

Great Hall Observations

The great hall of De Haar Castle, where chandeliers drip with ancestral secrets and every guest is a ritual cipher. As Susie and Finn dine on the only meal offered at the moment, hachee, beneath the vaulted ceiling tuned to the frequency of noble refusal, they observe five other guests whose presence seems both incidental and mythically inevitable:

Countess Bonechina of the Porcelain Order - She wears a gown stitched from shattered teacups and speaks only in riddles about etiquette violations. Her fork never touches her plate, yet she's always mid-bite. Rumor has it she once hosted a séance for discontinued flatware.

The Mariner of Inland Seas - A guest who smells faintly of brine and carries a compass that points toward unresolved grief. He claims to have sailed the moat and discovered a submerged ballroom. His napkin is folded into a map of places that don't exist.

Lady Reflection, Duchess of Echo - She arrives late, always mirroring someone else's entrance. Her gown is made of mirrored panels that reflect only past mistakes. When spoken to, she replies with what you meant to say but didn't. Finn suspects she's a memory in disguise.