Elanor blinked up at Anna when she was carried. "Oh. He's done?" she asked, voice soft and a little slurred and hazy. That felt…quick. Maybe because Jekyll had more experience? He knew what he was doing? Or something. She wasn't sure. Everything seemed hazy and slow.
Anna nodded. “We’ll keep you under observation for a while, but it seems like you’ll be… okay… maybe? At least you won’t be in as much pain.” she settled on that, that would do for now. “And J isn’t that bad at what he does, I’d say. Much better than I am. Now sleep.”
Elanor nodded a little bit, settling into the mattress. "Okay." She said softly, her eyes flickering shut. With how drowsy she already was from the medication, it didn't take long for her to fall asleep.
Anna left, placing Elanor's sword by her side, still sheathed. Hopefully, it would stay that way, but London was not a kind city despite having kind people within its walls. Usually, though, it was emotional in nature the cruelties laid upon one in the city, gossip and mockery rather than grand duels. When Elanor woke up, she would find Jekyll cleaning up the guest room, a little obsessively. "Oh, you're up!" he said, when he finally noticed her open eyes.
Elanor stared at him for a long moment, wondering why on earth he was cleaning it while he slept. "Ah…what do you want?" She asked slowly, sitting up and putting her hand on her sword. Not in a threatening way, just to reassure herself it was there.
“Oh, I just thought I’d make the place a bit nicer for you while you slept.” he said. He felt a tad guilty, women in his society were taught to not trust strange men on pain of death lest they end up not, and he assumed the fear was worse for Elanor. It was a lesson he’d been taught a long time ago, before he’d become a man… anyways. Elanor needed some cheering up, maybe that would make her more comfortable. “You seem a tad more perked up. How do you feel about something to eat?”
Elanor nodded faintly, rubbing her eyes with a hand. "Mm. Yeah. Uhm. Something to eat would be great." She was still wary of Jekyll, but the fact that Anna trusted him was, at least, a good sign. She hoped, anyways. If it wasn't…then she didn't know what would happen.
Jekyll smiled, clapping, and a servant brought in some soup. "Thank you, Poole. I trust Elanor can eat by herself." he said, taking the soup from the man, Poole apparently, and serving it up to Elanor. "Here, eat up. It's chicken, I hope you can tolerate that."
Elanor took the bowl, carefully balancing it in her hands. "I believe I can. Thank you, doctor Jekyll." she said, blowing on the soup a little bit to cool it down.
"Please, call me Henry. It's my name after all." he said, debating on whether or not to make a joke about how he chose it himself. He decided not, Elanor wasn't ready for that yet. "Well, eat up. I'm sure I've bothered you enough, call me if you need me."
Elanor nodded slightly. "Alright. Thank you, Henry." she replied, giving him another quick, faint smile, and then getting to work on eating her soup.
Henry left the room, sighing as he closed the door. "Well, Henry, you've just gotten yourself into something bad. Now deal with it." he said. He walked along the hallways, greeting his servants kindly. He'd always told them to hide themselves when Anna came around, he didn't want to give her the wrong impression. Anna knew, though.
Elanor ate the soup quietly, closing her eyes for just a moment as she did. It was nice to get some food into her system; it would help her to recover her strength.
Henry was wallowing again. Was something so wrong, so evil about him, that Elanor was so scared? Was it because of the man he chose to be, reflected in the woman he was? Whatever it was, he was wrong, broken. How could women be men who loved women and men and everything outside and inbetween? How could Henry be perfect? Well, he had a dinner party tonight. Might as well shape up.
It wasn't precisely Henry's fault that El had been a little frightened; as far as she knew, he was a man and had been forever, and any woman would have been disconcerted to find a strange man in her bedroom.
Henry went to get dressed for the evening, and when one of his servants started going on about the menu for the evening, he forgot all about his worries. He had to keep a straight face, but it was getting harder in his old age. He got dressed in a nicer suit, and then went down to Elanor to invite her to the dinner party, if she wished. “Elanor, I’m having a dinner party tonight, if you’d like to introduce yourself there. It will be rather dry, but if you’re feeling well enough…”
She looked up at him, raising her eyebrows faintly. "I…who is coming?" the question was rather useless; she did not know anyone else in this city other than Anna, but she still wanted to know. She highly doubted anyone would recognize her, but still. She wanted to know.
"A few old friends, a few older enemies. And my lawyer." he paused at those last three words, looking into the distance. Utterson was more than a lawyer to him, Jekyll could handle his own affairs and represent himself in court of need be but Utterson… meant a lot to him, boring and sinless, but certainly no saint, as he was. He inclined to Cain's heresy, he let his brother go to the devil in his own way, Utterson had always said. Suddenly, he realized he'd been too quiet. "Well, that's about all. Really, it's an event for them to bitch, bitch, bitch. Just complain about the world, and about me, and my reputation." he shrugged. He let them, of course. And he never let them have the slightest confirmation of any rumor, any bad word said against him.
She cocked her head faintly, eyebrows gathering together. "I…don't quite understand what that all means." she replied slowly. Why would he be inviting enemies? Why would guests be complaining about their host? That seemed quite rude. Maybe it was an English thing? But that did not seem right, either.
"Just… if you don't want to attend, then feel free to rest in here. There's a bell by the bed to ring in case you need the assistance of one of my servants." he said. "I understand you Danish don't quite understand our British customs." he nodded to Elanor, and turned to leave.
She nodded faintly. "I could attend for a short time, perhaps?" she suggested. "And then leave. I do have a wound, after all." her mouth quirked faintly. As if a stab wound was enough to absolutely destroy her.
"Well, better to make your debut into polite society now rather than later." he shrugged, stopping and turning around. "And do not be sarcastic with your doctor, it isn't good for your heath."
She raised her eyebrows faintly. "I was not sarcastic; I have a wound, even if it has been stitched up." She replied, unsure if he had said something wrong. English was not something that she was completely confident in. She was fluent, but still missed nuances sometimes.
"Oh, I read that wrong then. Sorry." Jekyll said. He had a hard time picking up tone properly, and when Elanor used certain tones of voice, he always took it as sarcasm. It was how a previous Danish friend had spoken, and Henry just made the assumption that that was the standard for the accent. "Well, that was rather embarrassing."
She blinked at him, a faint laugh tugging from her mouth. "It is fine." she said, straightening up a little bit. "My thanks for all of your help, doctor Jekyll."
He stiffened up, looking and feeling awkward in equal measure. He never knew what Anna's guests were about, and while Elanor seemed harmless, that was never a guarantee. So he quickly exited the room with a nod, using the stock excuse that he had too much work to do to stay long.
She nodded a little, watching him leave and then stretching a little bit. A dinner party would be…interesting. Maybe she would get news of home, somehow? Surely the disappearance of a princess would be a major thing? Although it was quite possible that it would get buried, she doubted Horatio would do so. No, he would want to find her.
Jekyll set up the party, not doing much to clean the place up as it was already impeccable. He let the servants lay out the food for the evening, then sent them home. People began to arrive, lords and ladies and the like and even a few doctors and lawyers. He greeted them, then went to check on Elanor and introduce her as soon as she was ready.
Elanor made her way out of the bed, taking a moment to blink away any lingering dizziness. She was still in a bit of pain, but it wasn't anything she couldn't handle right now. She sighed faintly, running her hands through her hair and then working to braid it.
