You are cordially invited to...(Lyra)

[Julian Faust]

Twice now Julian had forgotten to give Lyra the present he promised her. Of course the first time he had been carried away with drink, and the second he had been carried away by awkwardness. He was nothing if not determined however to mend the rift between him and Lyra. They had slept together, he confessed that he loved her but couldn't be with her, and both their hearts had suffered for it.

How did one go about repairing that?

They said that time heals all wounds, but Julian didn't want to wait. He wanted things the way they were now, he couldn't stand the awkwardness.

With that thought in mind he sent her present and an invitation to her apartment.

The present stood out, a large portrait of Lyra looking regal and beautiful. But Julian had also captured her softness, and a mischievous expression in her eyes, it was easy to see that whoever the artist had been, they had captured Lyra intimately.

The invitation was to the Southerland's Ball in two days.

[Lyra Newbury]

Lyra came home from work to find a large flat package wrapped in brown paper resting against her sofa. An envelope was tied to the package with string. "Mimsy?" Lyra called with no answer from the house elf. Puzzled, Lyra plucked the envelope from the package and opened it, hoping for a clue as to what this was and who had sent it. But the envelope did not contain a card. Instead there was an invitation to a ball. Lyra smiled, assuming this was one of the perks of her new position at Enchanted. She would have to discuss outfits with Samantha, so that they did not dress too similarly. It had been quite some time she attended a formal party and Lyra welcomed the opportunity. The last time she recalled attending anything so regal she had gone with Julian. But this was many months ago, before their awkwardness. Before she was able to admit her feelings.

She looked inside the envelope, as if she must have missed something. Invitations did not generally come attached to large packages, and she couldn't imagine what Enchanted might be sending her that would fit the shape beneath the brown wrapping in front of her. She tore at the corner of the paper until she could pull a large strip of paper off, revealing a gorgeous portrait of Lyra herself. Lyra sank to her knees, instantly recognizing the styling. They were the same loving brush strokes she'd seen on Belle's portrait. 

Julian had painted her. 

Mimsy appeared with a bottle of wine.

Lyra cried.

[Samantha Montgomery]

Samantha had sent Lyra an owl explaining that she would be by later that evening to go over some things for Enchanted. Honestly how she juggled school, the magazine, a social life, and the other various businesses she dabbled in was quite brilliant on her part. Bringing Lyra on board at the magazine was also brilliant and freed up quite a bit of Sam's time.

She knocked on the door and waited for Mimsy to let her in.

[Lyra Newbury]

Mimsy opened the door and led Samantha inside. Instead of taking Samantha to the living room, Mimsy guided her into Lyra's bedroom, sighed sadly, then shook her head as she turned and left the girls alone.

Lyra sat on her bed, a pillow folded against her chest with her arms wrapped tightly around it as if the pillow would soon hug her back. An opened but untouched bottle of wine sat on the bedside table. Julian's painting hung on the wall near the door where Samantha now stood. It was gorgeous.

Her face gave away that she had been crying earlier, but she'd since stopped. Lyra turned her attention away from the painting to Samantha. She waited for Sam to speak first.

[Samantha Montgomery]

Samantha's brow creased in confusion, she even frowned flawlessly, but she was indeed confused once again as Mimsy led her to the bedroom.

If the house elf's behavior wasn't odd her friend's appearance was again startling. Lyra wasn't as disheveled as before, but there was an aura of brokenness around her. Sam looked at her and then over her shoulder to what Lyra was looking at and gasped.

She understood immediately, and her blood boiled. The stupid lout! If it wasn't such a beautiful piece Sam might have hexed it to a thousand pieces.

"Oh Lyra." she sighed coming to the bed.

[Lyra Newbury]

"He's so talented," she said with a heavy sigh. She looked back to the painting. Mimsy suggested hanging at the back of the broom closet, but Lyra insisted it go in her room so she could see it each morning when she awoke. Mimsy muttered things about "stupid, stupid man" and conceded to hanging the picture where her mistress instructed.

"He loves me." Her voice was full of sadness and hope. Julian did love her. But not enough.

[Samantha Montgomery]

Samantha was having very unkind thoughts about the man who "loved" Lyra. In fact Mimsy's colorful curses about the man echoed Sam's thoughts completely.

"He's alright." Sam shrugged, then carefully avoided rolling her eyes when Lyra said that Julian loved her.

"He's a fool. If he let you slip through his fingers, he's a damned fool. We've been over this."

[Lyra Newbury]

Lyra sighed, but more for Sam's sake than hers. "I know," she answered, tearing her eyes from the painting and focusing back on Samantha.

"Do you know about the Southerland Ball? I've got an invitation..." She pulled the envelope out from under the pillow she was hugging and passed it to Sam.

[Samantha Montgomery]

"I did." she said narrowing her eyes on the invitation, then back at the painting. That bastard. He breaks her heart, then shoves her out into society as if he were discarding her. Nevermind that Sam was trying to get Lyra out into society herself.

"We'll have to have the designers make something truly unique. Southerland's ball is quite the affair." she said with faux excitement trying to inspire her friend.

[Lyra Newbury]

Lyra watches Sam's eyes move from the invitation to the painting. Sam makes a small face, but Lyra notices. She jumped to defend Julian. "He wants me to find someone else. Because he loves me, but he can't love me." She knows it sounds as though it doesn't make sense, but Sam knows Julian and so she will also know that Julian is broken. He is doing the best he can.

The comment about designer dresses works to cheer Lyra up a bit. Her posture straightens and she looks Samantha in the eye. "We don't have much time," she said, taking the invitation back from Sam and looking at the date. "Two days," she says aloud to herself.

[Samantha Montgomery]

"Plenty of time." Sam insisted with a wave of her hand. She refused to comment on Julian, or Lyra's defense of the man. Lyra was still in the thick of it, the pain was too recent, too deep to move on from easily. Sam wouldn't press her friend, not yet anyway.

"We can have a few sketches drawn up tonight, and a fitting in the morning, then final alterations tomorrow evening. Saturday we'll go to Enchanted's spa and have the works done, slip into the gowns and be off."

[Lyra Newbury]

Lyra was realizing just how useful her position at Enchanted was. She never remembered such service with her parents. The Newburys were well to do, but Lyra had never had a personal masseur, or been able to get her hair done at a salon regularly. She wondered briefly if these things hadn't happened because she was young, or because they hadn't been able to afford it. This may have had something to do with their disappoint in her not finding a suitable caller. Had they been expecting her to save the family's finances with a marriage?

She pushed the thoughts aside and focused on her friend. "That sounds wonderful. I really like the new designer that sent over his portfolio. Oh, what was his name, M something..." Realizing that she had brought some of her work home with her, she called for Mimsy. 

"Bring me my work bag. It should be near the sofa." 

When the elf appeared moments later with a large, black bag Lyra took it and pulled out a leather bound portfolio. She flipped it open to show Samantha the newest couture dresses she had approved. "Moschino," she said happily. "Isn't he fabulous?"

[Samantha Montgomery]

Samantha was glad for the subject change, and glad further that Lyra could be distracted by work. Soon however Sam was also distracted by the portfolio Lyra had showed her, "I haven't seen these yet." she remarked, Sam made the final decisions most of everything she ended up seeing had already been screened through her "talented" underlings. Again she sent a word of thanks upward that Lyra had accepted the position. Not that she considered Lyra an underling, but since Lyra had joined the company Sam had less difficulty in the final editing process.

"This one's remarkable." she said pointing to a chic green dress that would look stunning on either girl.

[Lyra Newbury]

"I was going to drop them off with you tomorrow," she explained. "One of the interns thought they were supposed to be for the following month, but look at these necklines. They're clearly more of a summer design than a fall, don't you think? I thought we should bump them up to next month's issue."

"That'd look amazing on you," she agreed.

[Samantha Montgomery]

"Or you." she nudged her friend, "And yes, bump them up Carrington will be disappointed, but these designs are clearly better." Samantha agreed.

"I'm going to send the designer an owl. Hopefully he'll be free tonight to go over designs, and if he's not, well...I imagine he'll change his plans." she laughed. Yes, it was good to be Queen.