February 2nd, 1895 - Whitby & Co. Printers

It was finally her day off and Sage had spent the morning with Maggie reading and painting and playing. She was astounded by what her daughter already knew and it made her grateful for the job her adoptive parents had done for the first four years of her life. It was a strange sort of feeling, not wanting to let someone down who had been raising her child, but she felt like she owed Mr. & Mrs. Tully for everything they'd done in her absence.

The new routine of her life was starting to settle. Sage was more used to sleeping in split shifts, her overnights now the norm. It wasn't ideal, but there wasn't much she could do about it until Maggie was a little older and more independent, not to mention more comfortable in her new living situation. Her mistakes were already a huge imposition on her family and friends; she was trying to mitigate the disruption to their lives as much as humanly possible. If she thought she could do it and it wouldn't give her away, she would have tried to find a small flat of her own, but it was impossible on her salary. Not to mention there would be none of that plausible deniability they'd been hoping would work their favor as to who Maggie might belong to if Sage took sole responsibility for her.

In moments of weakness, she thought about reaching out to Locke. He would help, she knew it, no matter how angry he was about the whole thing. She'd seen him do it for his other children, Sage just hated to be a burden for anyone. She also worried that it would upset the balance they'd found here and so she was resolute in the decision, even if she sometimes wondered.

None of that was at the forefront of her mind right now though. Maggie had gone down for a nap and Sage, though she'd enjoyed herself this morning, was ready for a little break. She'd had every intention of maybe lying down herself, she knew the circles under her eyes were deep and noticeable, but nobody had said anything. However after Maggie has finally drifted off, Sage had looked at her desk and seen the letter from the Tullys sitting there. She hadn't been brave enough to read it yet, but enough time had passed that she ought to. There were too many people around today, but she knew Tess was out, so Sage slipped downstairs, intent on using her sister's office to have some privacy, but as soon as she went downstairs she nearly ran right into Declan and the letter fluttered form her hands to the floor. "Sorry," she sighed as she bent to retrieve the fallen parchment.

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Declan Buchanan

  

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Declan didn't care for February. Neither he nor Kenna knew enough magic to keep their house as warm as they'd like, and the snow in the slums was always dirty. He often entered the printshop before the sun rose and left it before it set. Most of the romance books he read were set in the summer, during the Season, so even his escapism was tinged with an element of frustration.

But the printer was running and he had just finished carefully resorting one of the letter trays with letters they'd used from an earlier job. He had a block to carve. It would maybe be a good day. He needed a new knife for carving, and was on his way into Tess' office to fish around for one, when he nearly collided with Sage.

"S'alright," he said, taking a half-step back. He didn't move to pick up her paper, because she was already bent for it — and because papers were often private. "Everything all right up there?"

By everything, he meant Maggie.

  

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set by Bee

"Hmm?" Sage had been lost in her thoughts at his question for a moment before catching up. She clutched the letter tight to her chest, still terrified to read it. "Oh, yes, she's sleeping." She realized what Declan was asking her belatedly. "She's been good for at least an hour-and a-half-nap, lately." Maybe it was all of the upheaval; Sage hadn't spent this much time around a little one in a while, but this had been their routine since she'd joined them and it was good for everybody.

Running one hand over her face and along the braid hanging loosely over her shoulder, Sage stepped back to let Declan pass. "Sorry, didn't mean to be in the way." Sage's usefulness in the printshop only extended to the administrative side. She could handle that easily, but left the more physical and artistic things to Tess and the boys and she didn't want to be a distraction or a bother any more than she already was.

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