Code for Beck

Marie stared at the note resting in her lacy, gloved hand for the thousandth time as the carriage trundled its way out of the lights and busy streets of Paris and into the quiet countryside as the sun fell heavily and quickly toward the black horizon where it would drop out of view leaving the world to the blackness of the night for a time. It was almost gone from the sky now - coming ever closer to that dark line of earth beneath which all was black looking even though it actually wasn't.

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The inside of the coach in which she was riding was surprisingly nice, and it even included tiny candles along the sides which lighted the interior in the darkness. On the outside, it was merely a simple black coach, but on the inside it was luxurious. There were the usual two seats but they were covered in plush cushions that were gold covered in black embroidered and velvet designs. There were pillows of black with gold embroidery thread - the exact reverse of the seats and throw pillows of white lace with gold and black ribbon and braiding around the edges. The whole inside plush interior of the coach was made of soft, black velour as well and wood paneling. It had been a while since she'd ridden in such high style and was extremely curious about why this carriage had been sent for her and about the note in her lap.

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Its contents made little sense.. she'd been asked to meet a friend of her family's, Captain Victor D'Anthès at... the location the King's Court would soon be moving for summer to discuss something important? She felt bewildered as she looked at the note. For once, why and where was the court going to move. She knew that Victor had been appointed as the new riding master to King Henri - but that didn't exactly explain why an acquaintance wanted her to meet him - and - as if that wasn't mysterious enough - the note had come with clothing in a box in exactly her size. How strange! Victor's mother was a friend of hers of course. They'd grown up together... and she'd known Victor since the day he was Christened.. but they weren't such particularly close friends that she didn't find it odd that he'd sent her a note in fine calligraphy on vellum asking her to meet him at a new court to.. discuss something? Or why? It was so horribly confusing and, at first, she'd considered not going at all, just simply throwing the note away and forgetting about it - but something deep down wouldn't let her do that, and she didn't know why.

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So, dutifully, that night she had begun the routine of getting dressed up. She had taken a milk bath - a secret she used to keep her skin looking young and wrinkle free - and then gone into a proper bath with the hottest water she could procure and sat in it for the longest time full of rose petals and delicious scents which she let soak into her skin and gave herself a good hair washing as well before styling it up elegantly in the new fashion - parted down the center with curls on either side pinned back to her head and a jeweled comb holding it all together in the back. Once she'd finished her hair, she allowed her maid to help her change from her dressing robe into her chemise, corset, and such. Over all of this slipped the dress which had been in the box. It was a gorgeous pale powder blue color which set off her gingery red hair nicely. The dress itself was a nice empire waist with a very long skirt, and a narrow waist and an a-line skirt which puffed out just slightly around the ankles. The sleeves were short with a square cut neck. Over the top part of the dress there was a soft, filmy gauze material into which had been embroidered patterns. This material overlay continued down the skirt of the dress with a split down the center of the skirt - though it was so light in color it didn't change the color of the dress. Once dressed, she slipped onto some blue cloth slippers with a demi heel embroidered with white roses on them and a pair of wrist length lace gloves. To accent the outfit, she used earrings with a simple wire drop at the bottom of which there was a pearl followed by a tear-drop shaped aquamarine. In her hair, she studded a few hairpins which were stubbed with aquamarine in the end. Around her neck, a strand of small pearls made up the chain portion of a necklace which had a single teardropped shape aquamarine pendant. Simple, yet pleasing to the eye. The color in her cheeks was definitely heightened now - but at least she had been ready to go in time to meet the carriage which the note had said would come for her.

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And finally the carriage was pulling to a drop in front of a sight which both shocked and amazed her - the lit and glowing gates of Chateau du Varsailles. Lights blazed from inside at each of the windows and all along the gates which swung open to admit the carriage in which she was riding. However, it did not, as she'd expected, pull up to the front of the palace but, instead, followed a path towards the grounds and along one of the paths in the gathering darkness - the sky now an inky blue color. It was several more minutes before the carriage ground to a halt. The footman opened the door of the carriage and handed her down onto the walkway into what Marie was almost sure must be a wonderland. She was in what the footman told her was The Grove of the Three Fountains. This landscaped area held a fountain on each of three levels with slopping Elizabethan grass steps between each of the layers and a natural cascade waterfall. The fountains seemed to somehow glow with lights which floated on the water - a reality which seemed impossible but yet was before her very eyes. The bushes glittered with the light a hundred thousand fireflies blinking on and off on and off in the warmth of a beautiful May evening with the splashing and trickling of the water in the background - nature's harp. In a convenient location, safely tucked away in the reclusive spot near the grotto, there was a white gauze room of sorts - a tent on three sides with the fourth rolled up and tied with white silk ribbon. Inside this little room was what looked to be a large day-bed type mattress with a little rolled pillow on each end and several pillows against a coffee table which it rested against to make a dining surface. The mattress was blue and white with a rich pink-red blanket drawn across it and tassels of gold at the corners. On the back of the table sat an explosion of pink and white roses in a dish and a candelabra and what seemed a hundred white tapers providing light. Also on that table was an array of silver dishes, covered with lids. Beneath those lids one could find the greatest delicacies of a nine course meal fully awaiting them. Under the first plate oysters on the half shell with wine, under the second fresh baked baguette and bisque, under the third salmon and caviar with crackers, the fourth fresh coq au riesling (little did she know, Henri had heard that in Alsace it was meant to be Riesling rather than Vin) and whipped potatoes - Truffade, green beans, and truffles over fried eggs - the very best way to get the flavor. The fifth held mixed vegetable salad with iceberg lettuce and raspberry viniagrette dressing. The sixth fruit crepes and petit fours, the seventh chocolate covered strawberries and champagne. The eighth held an amuse of cheese, fruit and nuts and last, but certainly not least, creme brulee and tea.

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Marie stared at the scene before her in absolute shock. "What.. on earth.." She breathed, slowly turning around on the path between the grotto and the little bed with the meal on the table beside it. When she looked again, the carriage was gone and she was totally alone... She shook her head in disbelief as she turned another full circle trying to take it all in and sort it out in her mind. What could possibly be going on here....