all our heroes lack conviction / RUTH

[Lara Archer]

Lara stood towards the side of the Entrance Hall, out of the way of the huge milling crowd of parents and children ecstatically greeting each other, her hands folded in front of her and her eyes patiently scanning the sea of faces, trying to pick out her mother. She had received the letter stating that Ruth would be coming, but was unsure if Samuel would also be attending. If he was, Lara would naturally show no particular reaction to his presence, but the day would definitely take a downhill turn. She found the man utterly absurd and, although she wasn't stupid enough not to appreciate how much better he had made their lives, she rather wished he would just stay out of the way so she could pretend he didn't exist.

Regardless, Lara in her own peculiar way was looking forward to seeing her mother. She missed her dreadfully while away at school, and had been excited at the prospect of seeing her during the termtime, even if it was for this "parents' day", which doubtless would require interaction with various professors and other children, an activity not high on Lara's list of favourites.

Despite the apprehension and excitement Lara was feeling, her face was as still as ever, her body upright and graceful and seemingly unaffected by whatever was going on around her. A young child, obviously somebody's sibling, shot by so close to her she could have been knocked down, but she steadied herself with the bare minimum of movement and continued her search as though nothing at all had happened. Finally, after what seemed like an age, Lara spotted her mother's familiar dark hair in the crowd, and without a change in expression stepped forward to move towards her and attract her attention.

Arriving in front of Ruth, fortunately a little outside of the milling crowd, Lara turned her face up and waited for her mother's reaction. She'd accept a hug from her happily - one of only three people in the world she would take a hug from - and might even return it. For now, though, she said nothing. She didn't really see that there was anything to be said. They were here, they both knew what was happening, there was no point to elaborating any further on that.

[Ruth Parker]

Over the years, Ruth had cultivated a knack for moving through crowds. A certain, slightly imperious, way of looking at people, combined with a posture straight out of an etiquette handbook for young ladies of the nineteenth century meant that people moved instinctively out of her way, and so she passed through the throng of people relatively easily, seeking out her daughter. She was just about to reluctantly ask someone if they'd seen her, when she caught sight of Lara. Unbidden, a smile appeared on her generally passively beautiful face. Though she might not ever express it 'properly', she missed her children dreadfully when they weren't around. It was, perhaps, she ruminated as she drew closer to Lara, the curse of all mothers to remember their babies as precisely that. A little stiffly, but elegantly, she hugged her daughter.

"Lara," she greeted. She was alone, having elected not to invite Samuel, who in turn was too polite to presume his attendance was wanted. She liked his company on the whole, as dull as that sounded, but knew - how could she not know, what with Will- no, today was not the day - that her youngest two did not, to put it mildly. She glanced around the Entrance Hall, full of enthusiastic mothers and proud fathers kissing their children's foreheads, and producing handkerchiefs and the like, and then back at Lara. Their relationship could never be like that.

"Is there anybody or anywhere you particularly want me to see whilst I'm here?" she asked, stepping a little further away from the general melee.