So Far, and No Father

[caper_est]

Up to the outskirts of the lord's estate now, with first meeting imminent.  Kate suddenly understands her long-dead and much-adored father in a new way, and I her.  Elegant Elder Sister is beginning to really gel as a character here - she already had her own agenda; now she sees something that truly encourages her to believe what she would like to, instead of what she was brought up to.  That was going to have to happen to make the climax work anyhow; but now I see it starts in little Clover Clough, not at the high castle with the Important People.  Add that to the person Flashy Elder Brother runs up against here (I'd been wondering how I was going to set that up, or if I sensibly could), and this turns out to be far more a pivotal chapter than the transition one it began as.  Even if I have to cut a lot from it, here's one of those places where hazy plot-logic really starts congealing into a true shape.

750 words: a manor, a memory, a merchant's take on lords not sung about.