![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
In Which Life Returns to Normal
Dec. 1st, 2015 03:06 pmAfter so many months bound at Milliways, Mary almost doesn't notice when her door home unexpectedly reappears one day.
(Almost.)
What began as an inconvenience eventually became a relaxing, if strange, holiday from the realities of home, but once she's sees the door, Mary knows it is her duty to return.
Anna welcomes Mary back as if she had only returned from a normal morning walk, judiciously choosing not to comment on Mary's change of outfit and shoddily styled hair.
(Even months at Milliways couldn't give Mary the skills to style her own her hair well. Some days she resorted to braiding it, like a much younger woman, but couldn't quite bring herself to wear it down.)
Mary spends the afternoon not hiding, but reacclimating herself to much more lavish surroundings, until it is time to dress for dinner.
~*~
Mrs. Crawley hasn't visited since Matthew left to take up his commission in the Army. Mary doesn't miss her company, specifically, but she can feel the hole Cousin Isobel's absence leaves in their Downton social circle, not the least because there's no one left to take up Sybil's side of things against Granny and Papa in dinner conversation. That role could fall to Mary, but she usually opts to make digs against Edith rather than taking any political stand.
Matthew writes, but not very often, and only to Papa. He reads the letters aloud to his daughters at breakfast. Those days, Mary's morning ride lasts longer than usual.
~*~
Mary is more conscious of Matthew's absence at Downton than she was at Milliways, but it's becoming an old ache. What she's surprised to realize is that she misses the friendships she had begun to build while she was away.
Anna, as always, is Mary's sounding board at home. She listens patiently, doesn't judge harshly, and gives advice that is both frank and kind. Mary shares stories about the many new people she's met: the foreign queen, the elf woman with the strange tattoos, the foul-mouthed American police woman, the faerie squire—even the unruly mob in unusual matching suits.
Anna begins to teach Mary to dress her own hair, and when Sybil finds out—she catches Mary practicing one day—she insists on learning, too. They hold practice sessions in Mary's room and can't resist the urge to use their meetings to share gossip along with hairdressing instructions. To Mary's surprise she find herself having fun.
~*~
If she were a different person, Mary might throw herself into work, but of course there isn't any work to do. (There are charity functions to attend in support of the war effort, but those are simply social obligations.) Instead, she decides to continue her musical study.
Edith finds Mary in the music room one day, practicing a tricky passage of Chopin.
"Mary?" she asks. "You're the last person I expected to find here."
Mary scowls at her. "I took the same lessons you did."
She doesn't really want to fight about this. It's not worth it. But with Edith, the worst always slips out.
She keeps practicing anyway, ignoring Edith's disbelief at her skill after so many years of neglect. One of these days she'll find herself at the end of the universe again, and she needs to be ready for Ysalwen's first lesson.
(Almost.)
What began as an inconvenience eventually became a relaxing, if strange, holiday from the realities of home, but once she's sees the door, Mary knows it is her duty to return.
Anna welcomes Mary back as if she had only returned from a normal morning walk, judiciously choosing not to comment on Mary's change of outfit and shoddily styled hair.
(Even months at Milliways couldn't give Mary the skills to style her own her hair well. Some days she resorted to braiding it, like a much younger woman, but couldn't quite bring herself to wear it down.)
Mary spends the afternoon not hiding, but reacclimating herself to much more lavish surroundings, until it is time to dress for dinner.
~*~
Mrs. Crawley hasn't visited since Matthew left to take up his commission in the Army. Mary doesn't miss her company, specifically, but she can feel the hole Cousin Isobel's absence leaves in their Downton social circle, not the least because there's no one left to take up Sybil's side of things against Granny and Papa in dinner conversation. That role could fall to Mary, but she usually opts to make digs against Edith rather than taking any political stand.
Matthew writes, but not very often, and only to Papa. He reads the letters aloud to his daughters at breakfast. Those days, Mary's morning ride lasts longer than usual.
~*~
Mary is more conscious of Matthew's absence at Downton than she was at Milliways, but it's becoming an old ache. What she's surprised to realize is that she misses the friendships she had begun to build while she was away.
Anna, as always, is Mary's sounding board at home. She listens patiently, doesn't judge harshly, and gives advice that is both frank and kind. Mary shares stories about the many new people she's met: the foreign queen, the elf woman with the strange tattoos, the foul-mouthed American police woman, the faerie squire—even the unruly mob in unusual matching suits.
Anna begins to teach Mary to dress her own hair, and when Sybil finds out—she catches Mary practicing one day—she insists on learning, too. They hold practice sessions in Mary's room and can't resist the urge to use their meetings to share gossip along with hairdressing instructions. To Mary's surprise she find herself having fun.
~*~
If she were a different person, Mary might throw herself into work, but of course there isn't any work to do. (There are charity functions to attend in support of the war effort, but those are simply social obligations.) Instead, she decides to continue her musical study.
Edith finds Mary in the music room one day, practicing a tricky passage of Chopin.
"Mary?" she asks. "You're the last person I expected to find here."
Mary scowls at her. "I took the same lessons you did."
She doesn't really want to fight about this. It's not worth it. But with Edith, the worst always slips out.
She keeps practicing anyway, ignoring Edith's disbelief at her skill after so many years of neglect. One of these days she'll find herself at the end of the universe again, and she needs to be ready for Ysalwen's first lesson.
