She sits near the fire at a table, where she absently puts together a jigsaw puzzle she owned as she listens. Glancing up, she sees Black Death watching her, and she smiles. Hearing a pause in the talking, she picks up a random piece of the puzzle.

"I for one sometimes think of love as a puzzle. For aren't beings everywhere still trying to solve the mystery and learn love's secrets?" she says, showing the piece of the puzzle she's holding. "Perhaps we are each a piece of the puzzle."

She eyes the piece thoughtfully, turning it over in her hands. "Lady Mayfair, you spoke of true love. But what is the definition of true love? Is it wonderful? Is it constant? Is it never boring? Is it perfect? Yet again, wouldn't constant perfection become boring, and become a contradiction in terms?" she turns, holding the puzzle piece in one hand as she plucks a dictionary from a nearby bookshelf. Quickly flipping through the pages, she reads, "True. Genuine, loyal, faithful." *turning pages* "Love. A warm liking or affection; sexual passion." She puts the book back on the shelf, and smiles at the others in the library. "But what does that really tell us? Nothing. Nothing useful in spotting love, anyway."

She examines an edge of the puzzle piece in her hand, "Lets just say that this is a being, wandering through the world *motioning to the pile of pieces on the table* for it's one true match. *rubbing a finger along side the concave opening* Someone to fill it's void." she picked up another piece, "And perhaps it finds someone that looks like it will." she holds the two pieces separate but near each other, and it looks like they will fit together. But then she tried to link them and they don't fit. "But now it knows that the one it picked out doesn't fit perfectly. *she forces the pieces together and they fit haphazardly* Will it stay with it's chosen, trying to form a life fighting against the friction until one of them breaks? Or will it give this one up *separates the pieces* and go searching through the pile again?" tosses the extra piece onto the pile.

"Lets say this little one decided to look further for it's true mate *picks up another random piece. She fits them together.* They seem to fit perfectly *she holds them up for the room to see, and it's obvious they aren't meant to be, for the original piece is dark blue and black, whereas the new piece is bright green and yellow* But alas, even though they might work together, there will always be differences of opinion to create friction *un-attaches the yellow piece and tosses it into the pile* Once again the little piece goes in search of it's true love. *motioning at the hundreds of pieces that are scattered on the table* But how many other pieces will it try before it gives up hope for it's match? Ten? A hundred? a thousand? More?"

She grins, twirling the piece in her hand. "What if this piece is merely mortal? If, in looking for it's match, it bends and gets weak and disintegrates before it finds true love? That could happen, but what kind of story would that be? So let's say instead that this little piece is immortal, granting it all the time it needs to search through the entire pile. Bit what if it's true mate is not in the pile? What it is has gotten lost?" she bends down and plucks another piece from the floor where it had fallen from the table. She fits it together and it's the match.

"True love. At last. But, in the course of it's mate's journeys *she separated the pieces* it is consumed by the flames of destruction and dies?" She tosses the second piece into the fireplace, where it burns and turns to ash. "Then what? Will this little piece *she holds the original piece up* be forced to wander the earth after the death of it's loved one, alone forever?"

She turns the piece over in her hands. "You know, this piece is actually quite remarkable. It has more than just one side. It has four! Which leads me to my next question..." she looks up and surveys the faces of the people in the room, "Does one being have only one true love? Can it have two? This little piece seems to have four perfect matches. Can you have five 'true' loves? Is there even a limit? Perchance this little piece, after searching for centuries on end, finds another of its perfect matches and does not lose this one? Will it's other two 'perfect matches' have three more perfect matches of their own to chose from?" she tosses all of the remaining puzzle pieces back into the box, but finds a new piece and lifts it up. It is perfectly square, with no openings or any way to link it to another. "And what if one piece has no perfect match? Is that even possible? *putting the puzzle away* Who decides if you even get a true love, much less how many and what they are like? So you see," she says as she puts the puzzle away, "How many questions one little puzzle piece can evoke?"

The puzzle is put away and she walks over to the fire, gazing into the flames while absently stroking the pewter pendant that hung around her neck. "In answer to one of your questions, Lady, I have never been in love, so I cannot share how it felt to me. There was a man...I was young and thought it might have been love, but I knew in my heart that he wasn't my true match, though we might have made a living together if we tried..." Memories flooded her mind, memories of warm, passion-filled nights, of hair so pale blond it was almost white, of the little smile he always wore whenever they finished eachother's sentences and thoughts, of light blue eyes that were so deep a girl could drown in them... "And try we did, but it wasn't meant to be. One day the friction became to great and drove us apart..." She shook her head and blinked back the tears that always threatened to fall every time she remembered the day she left, the torn feelings and shredded dignities, the angry hate-filled words they exchanged that burned like acid... "But it just wasn't meant to be."

Getting a firm grip on her emotions, she looked back at Lady Suzzane. "You also asked what might be signs of true love. I agree with Divinity, that the three little words are only as meaningful as the value the individuals place on it. I myself would not wish to hear the words unless he was absolutely sure, beyond any shadow of a doubt, and by then, I might not need to hear the words anyway. His actions would show me his feelings."

She smiled, "What I think my true love would be like, if I had one, is that he would ache for a love that burns like fire and moonlight, as I ache.... that he'd be the impossible combination, like a mix of snow and flame... that, whatever tomorrow brings, he'd be there with open arms and open eyes...that he'd be beautiful in my eyes, if not in anyone else's...that he would not be turned away by my stranger side, yet not be bored when I wish to play by the rules...and that he may not be everything I want, for how do I truly know exactly what I want? But he is devoted to me, as I would be to him, with mind, body, and soul."

She all of a sudden realizes how long she's been talking, and decided to end it there, sinking back into her chair and sipping some wine, and waits to hear someone else's view on the matter.

~end~