6 January 2023

Felt like working on Adeline. I realized I couldn’t remember exactly where I was trying to go with the scene with the jeweler, so I picked another section of the story to work on.

I actually don’t know a lot of the circumstances of what’s going on around this scene. I know the basics; Kenna Magleby, the other protagonist, is part of a squad of law enforcement-type peeps. Adeline has been arrested for helping her father (unwillingly, but they don’t know that yet, per se) in his illegal kidnap and slave trade; Kenna was one of their victims during that time, though she eventually escaped. Needless to say, There’s some history there, and Magleby’s being affected, though I need to do more research to understand how better.

Adeline watched the members of the squad that had arrested her. There was a tension in the air between them; was there something else going on?

Privately, she was afraid it was somehow her fault. She remembered the blonde one in red. Magleby, they called her? She’d been with her brother the last time Adeline had seen her, and Magleby seemed to be at the center of it all, along with the younger man in blue.

Eventually, one of them, a shorter woman with ruffled brown hair, came over and watched Adeline for a while. When she finally spoke, she asked, “You must have really done a number on her for her to be this spooked by you. What the heck did you do?”

As best as she could with the manacles, Adeline signed, “I don’t know.”

The woman–Rayner?--seemed surprised by that. “You don’t know?”

Adeline shifted to give herself more slack with the chains. “Father took care of most of that. And I think the worst usually happened after they got sold. I don’t actually know what she’s been through.” She looked away, her expression clouded with guilt. *”I… didn’t want to know.”

There was another pause, then Rayner asked, “Your father. Was he the one who did this to you?” She tapped against the side of her cheek.

Adeline nodded. When Rayner didn’t reply right away eventually Adeline added, “Not long after he found us, I tried to warn someone to leave.”

Rayner nodded, as if that was the answer she’d been expecting. She glanced over at Magleby and cursed under her breath. “This ain’t gonna be pretty.”

“Why? WHht’s going on?”

Rayner stood up. “Let’s just say there’s a lot of hurt mixed up in all this, and suddenly it’s got nowhere to go. Here’s hoping she gets her head on straight before she does something she regrets.”