Crazy Doesn't Run in the Family. Promise.
"Evening Eve
It stoops and bows
For the Empress
Divine, so fine
Full of magic
No one knows."

Eve raised a hand to her brow, a sad little shake of her head for the court that stood still for Adelle's little command performance. Her sister stood in the hall, hands on her plain white skirt and holding it out as if it were a grand ball gown. Adelle danced from side to side, singing to greet her sister. There were bits of flower stems caught in her tangled hair and a smudge of dirt across the shoulder that hung out of her loose fitting top.

The House of Cups had hosted the House Arcane as their guests for three months now and still they had not grown accustomed enough to Adelle's outbursts to simply ignore them. That's how it was in the House Arcane; people paid little notice to the poor, crazy girl.

Whether or not Adelle realized people were paying attention to her now, Eve couldn't tell. She was grateful that no one believed her rambling insanity, because more often than not it was true. Secrets fell from the High Priestess' lips, buried among gibberish. The title had been given to her in her youth, before she'd gone fully insane.

It was a terribly thing to watch someone you loved, or might have loved once, slowly fade into themselves and exist in a shell. Adelle's shell was sing-song, sprinkled with erratic dancing and wild hair, spontaneous poetry recitations in the hallway. She wasn't the bright and beautiful girl anymore, only the poor, mad little sister. Unfit for anything other than being left to wander in the fields to pick flowers and crack some more.

Eve managed to hush her, putting a cool hand on her shoulder and pushing her gently from the room. She was not so gentle when they were out of earshot, away from people. "Haven't I told you not to sing in the halls?" she growled, shoving her sister into a spare bedroom.

"Sing-song. All day long." Adelle shrugged. "Secrets made. Secrets kept. Can't catch up to me yet!"

"Fuck. My. Life. What I wouldn't do for a husband for you."

"Sing-song!" Adelle said excitedly, reacting to the rhyme in Eve's frustrated words. She clapped her hands happily, excited.

Eve clapped her hands for a moment, mocking her very sick sister. "Oh yay! Clap your hands and dance you stupid fool." She fumbled on her waist for a key. She'd gotten a set of master keys with a bit of bribery for the house mistress. "Sit," she commanded, pointing to the well dressed bed.

Adelle did as she was told for once, flopping onto the bed and looking at her sister with her head tilted. "Beware the handmaiden. She has eyes and ears." She whispered this as if it were some state secret.

"I'm not as dimwitted as you, my dear. Everyone in this house has eyes and ears." She moved to the door and sighed. "I'll come for you later." She locked the door behind her and was happy to forget Adelle for a little while, not having to witness anymore of her madness.