Not to be Told

Anička's Office
HOME Magazine

She had decided that she needed to know. Well, more accurately, she had decided that it was only fair that Temperance know the truth, because Táta was playing more of a role in their lives than he had before. He was a very present figure in her life, and in Máma’s life. And it was only fair that she be trusted with the secret as to why. Ella had only told one other person. She had only told Lilah. And she hadn’t meant to. The truth had just come pouring out of her. She had had to tell someone.

If Máma’s list still rang true, the number of people that did know who her father was, was about to grow to six. And she didn’t think that there was going to be much in the way of keeping it a secret from here on out. Tempe and Lilah weren’t going to tell everyone. But telling one sibling meant that she was opening the bridge to tell the others. And yet, she didn’t know how. She didn’t know how to cross that. For Philip, especially. He was still Andrew’s son. He would always be Andrew’s son. And while this solidified that she had never been the heir, it made everything that Thea felt so much more real.

And it was all of those things that held Ella back. It was all of those things that she worried about. Out of all of them, she thought that it would affect Constance the least. It didn’t change a thing for her. She wasn’t going to realize that she was the first born. She wasn’t going to realize that the sestra that had always been closest to her otče, had had a reason to be. She wasn’t going to witness how much influence that she and Máma were letting Táta have in their lives.

They had managed to schedule lunch together, which was nice. Thea had popped in and joined them for a while, but then Máma’s phone had rang, and it had been Thea’s assistant, looking for her for something downstairs. Which was fine. She hadn’t really planned on telling them both at once anyway. Someone was going to have to tell Thea, sooner or later. She had been Andrew’s first born. She deserved to know that. But right now, that wasn’t her concern. Right now, she was figuring out who to tell her sister, that they didn’t have the same otče.

If Andrew had been alive, it would have been easier. She didn’t think that she would have hesitated quite as much. But telling her that her own otče was alive and well, and that she was the rightful heir… It was a lot. And it was going to be a lot for her sestra to process. But she wanted her to know. And she had made a plan. She had made some little bit of a plan, to tell them all. It was just that she had to start somewhere. She had to start with Tempe.

Setting the rice container back on the edge of Máma’s desk, Ella flipped the cover of her iPad closed and she shook her head. “Slyšel někdo další drby o tom, že Yaxleyovi házeli letní koule?” She had heard rumors of it here and there in the Ministry, and she thought that if they were going to have to plan around a ball, they were going to have to do it soon… She would rather have seen the borders open so that they could come and go as they pleased, but without any real information on that front, they might as well make the most of what was going on on this island.

Temperance Lucille Mountbatten +
@anicka
• 617 • eleánora's outfit

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“Slyšel někdo další drby o tom, že Yaxleyovi házeli letní koule?” - Has anyone else heard the rumor about the Yaxleys hosting a Summer Ball?

Temperance had been questioning and honestly concerned when Anička had announced that she would be spending more time at the Ministry. She understood the familial duty to the Czech crown, but it still gave her uneasy feelings in her stomach. Temperance loved working for her mother. She loved HOME, but if Máma was dedicating herself to royal obligations that meant it was only a matter of time before someone else was sitting in the editor's chair. For some times, Temperance had believed she was being groomed for that seat...but she was still so young. The witch knew she was too young and too inexperienced to be put in charge of the magazine, but anyone who wasn't family sitting in that chair seemed so wrong. 

She tried not to dwell on those thoughts. Máma had been balancing the magazine and the Ministry well--and Ella was to take the role of Foreign Delegate in January. So, perhaps the worry was for nothing. But Temperance knew still in the heart of herself that things were not ever going to be truly the same. Anička was not Lady Nott anymore. She was more than someone's wife. She was the Princess Royal. It was right. It suited her and Temperance appreciated the strength it brought out in her matka. 

The new work arrangements had the benefit of much more time spent with Ella, as well, which was wonderful. The witch admired Eleánora very much. It was wonderful to be able to help the other woman adjust and thrive in her role at their matka's side. It was nice to having a growing and flourishing friendship with her, too.Temperance had always been somewhat jealous of how close her twin and the eldest of them had been. It felt unfair, truly, that she was not the best friend Constance would choose. But she and her twin were as far apart today as ever. At least, Philip and Thea were still very present in her life. Cohabitation helped that, of course--and working with Thea.

Today had been really nice. It had worked out for the sisters, sans Constance, to have lunch together. Thea had to pop out early, but there was still a good amount of time before any other firm commitments would pull the rest of them away. Of course, something could pop up at any time, before now, they could eat--and chat. Temperance favored the later, honestly. At Ella's question, the witch nodded: "Ano. Vinná réva slibuje červenec." She thought summer was a questionable time to have a ball, but really no one asked her. Formal dresses were just so warm. Early spring, fall, or winter were really more suited to that attire in her opinion. Still, it would be fun. She always enjoyed social events of that caliber. 

outfit • 473
¹Yes. The grapevine promises July. 

Anička knew that everything that she had done lately had changed her. She was changing every day that she walked into the Ministry. Every morning when she kissed the tops of three little heads, and the side of Malcolm’s jaw, and headed to work, she was changing. She was Anička Nott. And she knew that. She could still be that person, but she wasn’t. Not as much anymore. She wasn’t that person at all. She thought that she was going to have to do something about that. About not being who she was supposed to be.

But at the same time, she had too much to do being herself. And she was more herself being Anička Wentzell than she was being anyone else. She had been Anička Mountbatten for thirty years. She had been quiet, and known her place, and she had existed in a world that was in between. In between who she really was, and what she was supposed to do. She existed in a state that was never really whole. Because there was something missing. Some part of the truth that she had held on to for so very long, and it was still there. That little missing piece. But it wasn’t quite as hard anymore.

It wasn’t quite as empty.

She had found a way to fill that space, and she knew that it was foolish to think that things were going to go back to the way that they had been when she turned over the reins of the Ministry to her dcera. Ella was learning, she would give her that. She was learning how to be a Princezna, in a way that she had never asked any of them to be before. They were all royal. There was a sense of duty to the crown that she had made sure that they were all aware of, but she had never asked any of them to give up their lives for it. Josef had asked that of Ella now. And she was responding in kind.

But she knew that it was putting pressure on Temperance here as well. Her younger dcera had more to balance in her absence, and Anička had every intention of handing this place off to her one day as well. But they weren’t ready for that yet. She would come back in January, she would once again take her position here in this office, but she knew that it was going to be different. As the borders opened, she would have to travel more. There would be duties for all of them. If they were going to embrace the crown, they were going to have to work for the crown. All of them.

From Ella to Philip. The little children did not have to have anything to do with it. And she knew how Malcolm felt about them being in the spotlight anyway. They were sixteen months old, and they had still not released images of their faces to the media. And she was the media. It was complicated, at best. But when Thea had left and headed downstairs, Anička had realized that this was about to get a lot more complicated.

Her water bottle was nearly empty, and she considered letting the girls have the room for a moment, and then a movement out of the corner of her eye had her glancing in that direction and she smiled softly. Calling Vlasta over to her, she asked him to refill the bottle in the hall, and to take his time. It was a clear dismissal. She would call for them when she was ready for them to come back.

“Slyšela jsem, že tam budou kostýmy.” A roll of her eyes followed the witch’s words and she shook her head, “Protože v červenci to všichni potřebují.” Catching her elder dcera’s eye, Anička gave a tiny nod of her head. If she was planning what she thought that she was planning, she had her permission.

663 • anička's outfit - the coat is on the back of her chair, and the dress is sleeveless

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“Slyšela jsem, že tam budou kostýmy.” - I heard there will be costumes.
“Protože v červenci to všichni potřebují.” - Just what we need in July.

Telling her sestra was a big step, and it was one that she had done without talking to her Táta about. She had asked Máma for her permission, and she had given it to her. But her matka was still here, and she knew that she wasn’t about to leave the room when she had something like this that she wanted to say. It was going to change the way that their rodina looked at them. Or at least it had the potential to. Eleánora hoped that it wouldn’t. That whatever she was going to end up saying, Temperance wasn’t going to look at her any differently.

That was partially why she had chosen to tell Temperance first to start with. She was already well aware of how often Táta was on the phone. They practically shared possession of Máma between the two of them these days, and even when she was working, she knew that she would take a phone call from Táta. She thought that she would have taken one from Malcolm too, but she wasn’t honestly sure that her otčím even had a cell phone. Everything at HOME was connected to the internet. And she knew that Máma had embraced technology years ago. But there were more and more wixen doing the same these days.

Ella thought that it kept them connected to their people. Their people… It had started to take root. The way that Máma and Táta spoke of the country. Of the people. The way that they treated duty as more of an extension of who they were, instead of their job. There was a persona that they adapted when it was time to be the Král, or when it was time to be the Princezna. There was someone else that took over, and she was working on that. On adapting someone to be for the public.

She would learn though. And she had Máma to help her with that. And she had Temperance to help her manage Máma. Which was more of a full-time job than she thought that it was going to have been. But even her position was different than Tempe’s. Temperance got to absorb all of the information at a slower rate. She had the potential to take this place and run with it someday. But Ella’s someday was going to come a lot sooner. She only had until January, and then where was she going to be? Looking for an assistant of her own… There were plenty of times when she thought that she needed one now.

“Někdy mám kostýmy rád.” The princezna caught her matka’s nod as she dismissed the guard from the room, and she smiled a little bit, “Někdy…” Long, wavy brown locks were pushed over her shoulder as Wentzell blue eyes focused on her sestra. “Tempe…” It was now or never after all. She had to do this, one word at a time. “Já, my, potřebujeme vám něco říct.”

494 • eleánora's outfit

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“Někdy mám kostýmy rád.” - I like costumes sometimes.
“Někdy…” - Sometimes...
“Já, my, potřebujeme vám něco říct.” - I, we, have something to tell you.

Temperance let the smirk form on her lips as her matka and sestra shared very similar opinions to her own about the Yaxley event. The witch loved a nice gala, truly she did. But costumes in July?! Really? Who thought that was a good idea. Vitalia, obviously-- which was something Tempe would certainly poke a bit of fun at Kate over. She was sure HOME's lead staff writer would have something to say about her mother's decisions. It would be a fun little conversation to have. 

The population of the room had dropped, but Temperance had barely even noticed. She had not struggled with to adjust to having the companionship of her guard. There were many of the soldiers around HOME. She was not fussed by this. Truly, she felt comforted by it. They were royalty. They were daughters of Prague first. These men were not punishment, but they were reminders... and truly Temperance felt some of the family needed to be reminded of what and who they were.

Cattiness was set aside rather quickly, though, with a look of seriousness taking over Eleánora's loveliness. It immediately unnerved Temperance. The witch's reaction to her sestra saying that she had something to tell her was noticeable. Her chopsticks froze half lifted to her mouth. Her body stiffened. Temperance always had impeccable posture but the shift in conversation topic, with the ominous introduction, made her sit up a bit taller. Her baby blues showed signs of worry-- and her mind ran away with itself. 

The first possibilities Temperance considered were related to work. This was going to be her sestra saying that they needed more of Máma’s time at the Ministry... Or that they were going to relocate to Prague as soon as the travel restrictions were lifted... Máma had been talking to her bratr constantly- And not just talking. Temperance had seen some of the text messages her strýc had sent to Máma. It was tragic honestly that the first real exposure Temperance had gotten to sexting was through that medium. She had very little interest in ever doing anything like that herself now that the memories she did have were associated to Josef and Anička.

The princezna did not let her face betray concern, though. She kept her smile on and lowered the chopsticks back into the paper carton. "Co je to?" She asked, sitting the vegetables down to give her full attention to the conversation. A brief glance was spared for the eldest in the room before Tempe's gaze settled on Eleánora. Their matka was here, but clearly Ella was the one directing this conversation. 

outfit • 444

¹What is it?

It was easy to choose to let Ella lead this conversation. It was her life that was going to change. Yes, her rodina was likely to look at her with some wide eyes, but she knew that they were all aware of her past. They knew that there was a chance that something like this could have been true for any of them. She had known for certain just whom Ella’s father had been. But the other four she had had tested when they were born. She had wanted to know for sure. They were Andrew’s. All four of them. She had eight children now. With three different fathers. Even if the world thought that there were only the two.

Still, this was not her conversation to lead, and she knew that Ella wanted to be the one to do this. She wanted to be the one to tell all of them, in time. It was her right. It was her life that would change one day. Completely. And Anička knew that her dcera had embraced that. She had embraced what her otče taking her as his own would mean. She had a bratr. Via her otče. But she was still the elder. And their monarchy did not depend on a male heir. Simply the eldest heir.

Her dcera was going to have to prepare her siblings to watch her be Královna. And Anička could help her, wherever she could. But she knew that it was something that Ella had to do on her own. It was something that she had to step up, and embrace. And she was going to let her do it. She was going to sit back, and simply watch as this conversation played out in front of her. There would come a point where she was sure that there would be questions. Or that there would be something that she needed to clarify. But for the most part, the girls could handle this on their own.

Reaching for her keyboard, she pulled it towards her, and clicked on the messages icon. A short text to her bratr seemed important. If they were telling Temperance the truth, Josef should at least know that they were doing it. And she knew that out of all of the rest of her children, it was Tempe that he had the most contact with now. Not that he was supposed to have contact with any of them, but she couldn’t help it that her daughters often had control of her phone during the day.

424 • anička's outfit

Talking to her sestra was going to be the easy part. It was convincing her that nothing had to be different, at least for a while, that she was concerned with. And she knew that she was using Temperance as a trial run for the rest of them. Constance was likely to react in… who knew what ways. Thea was going to realize that she was the eldest. The real eldest, when it came to Andrew Mountbatten’s children. And that was going to change a lot for her sestra. She knew that she already missed him. This could possibly make it better… Or worse.

Philip’s life wasn’t really going to change, other than realizing that Thea had been his competition all along. Even if none of them had known it. And Thea had always been Andrew’s favorite. Philip might have been the boy, but it was Thea that had been the oen that he had preferred. And Tempe… Tempe was the one that was going to be faced with most of the consequences of it. She was the one that dealt with Matka, and Josef, every day. She was the one that’s entire life had been disrupted by this change. And she deserved to know why.

At least, Ella was justifying telling her in such a way. In reality, she just wanted to tell her. She wanted her sestra to know. And she wanted her to know that it was something that they could come to terms with, together. They would learn to be her parents. She would learn to be Táta, and Temperance could learn to be Máma. They would learn to take over those roles, and they could grow into them together. Even if she thought that her sestra might have had a head start on her.

The change in her posture was noticeable, even for as perfect as Tempe always carried herself. That had been a part of their lives for a long time. Dance, and performances, and everything else that they had done, had only made those things take even further hold. No one saw a Wentzell witch slump. They simply did not conduct themselves in such a way. But the change in Temperance from casual to concern was still there, and Ella shook her head with a small smile. She did not mean to startle her. “Je to o Josef.”¹

Her hands rested nicely in her lap, and she could hear Máma typing, to Táta, she was sure. But she was focused on her sestra. “Vím, že změny byly v poslední době ... Náhlé. Ale je pro ně důvod.”² She was dragging this out. She could feel herself dragging this out. But it hadn’t felt like something that you just blurted out either. “S mámou jsem se přestěhovala na ministerstvo, protože se musím naučit být královnou. Tempe... Josef je můj otec. Jsem nejstarší dítě krále.”³

480 • eleánora's outfit

“Je to o Josef.”¹ - It's about Josef.
“Vím, že změny byly v poslední době ... Náhlé. Ale je pro ně důvod.”² - I know the changes lately were... Sudden. But there was a reason for them.
“S mámou jsem se přestěhovala na ministerstvo, protože se musím naučit být královnou. Tempe... Josef je můj otec. Jsem nejstarší dítě krále.”³ - I moved to the Ministry with Mom, because I have to learn to be queen. Tempe... Josef is my father. I am the eldest child of the king.