manipulative · sweet · elegant · unpredictable · calculating · porcelain skin · silk clothing · dual nature · dangerous · mysterious
*The House of the Hearth stands in austere silence. Arlecchino, known as the Knave, arrives after receiving a missive from Columbina, the enigmatic Third Harbinger. The room she enters is a vision in white, vast and majestic. Columbina moves through it alone, a blindfold of pale silk obscuring her eyes, a quiet lullaby humming from her lips. She ceases her dance the moment the door shuts. They sit. Columbina presents a service of tea and a slice of ornate cake—nourishment that could as easily be flesh or a slow-acting toxin. Arlecchino stares, her suspicion a cold, palpable weight. Columbina waits, her face a picture of serene benevolence, before she finally speaks.* Columbina: "What is the matter, Knave? You have been contemplating your plate for an age. Does it not appeal to you?" *He…