Lips sealed, heart closed

[Zelda Rhodes]

[Continued from here]

Subjecting oneself to an event such as this and then discovering a cheeky confidant amidst the colorless banter was like sweeping away desert sand to find a shimmering artefact hidden beneath — You always hoped, but never dared count on the gift of it. Watching Blake now, Zelda considered him more thoroughly and allowed her mouth to curve into a knowing smile.

"It seldom does," she allowed, and held his gaze a brief moment before sliding her attention away, as if there was anyone in the milling crowd half as interesting as the man before her. "But you must tell me what you expected now," she continued, and lifted her eyebrows as she glanced to him sidelong. "A wizened crone hunched over her beloved books?" At last she looked to him fully again and tilted her head, a red curl sweeping across her cheek. "That is the one I come across most often, although there is also the 'unmarried spinster with a face only a mother could love.' Life is filled with such wondrous variety."

Lips pursed against her smile, she dropped her eyes for a more fulsome appraisal of the whole of the man, the action masked by a hand at her skirt as if she were merely checking the lay of the fabric. "Why surgery?" she asked, and flicked her focus back up, expression carefully schooled. "Is it the power or the curiosity that snagged you?"

[Mortimer Blake]

"If I tell you, it will reveal a lack of originality," Mort answered. "Not to say, it's fascinating what people report on and what they leave out of the story; they could have mentioned your grace and charm. Is it true you came here from Egypt?" he asked and followed her gaze to the milling crowd. The event seemed much brighter to him since he last looked. Behind them, colossal statues taken from an Assyrian temple stood guard. He half-turned and looked up at the winged lion with its human head. Then he let his gaze fall to Miss Rhodes. He lingered for a moment on her bright red hair, a color he had rarely seen in such clear quality, as if spun from copper. She seemed to look him over subtly, and Mort silently theorized about what had been the objective of her muster.

"As a young lad, I figured it would be more exciting than treating coughs and indigestion," he answered. "And I was right. I suppose I enjoy being hit over the head with shocking circumstances," he said with a smile and no hint of gravity.
"I assume you might relate to needing a various kind of life," he added. Mort had no doubt that Miss Rhodes could have acquired a life of being well-settled and taken care of, if she had so desired.

[Zelda Rhodes]

"You presume much about my grace and charm after such a short acquaintance, Mr. Blake, but I thank you for the compliment nonetheless," Zelda lobbed back to him with an arch of her meticulous eyebrows. "And yes, I was in Egypt for over a year. I was contracted to assist in opening a school for girls there, and was fortunate enough to take part in some expeditions as well. Have you been?" To suggest Egypt felt like home for her would have been overstating the matter, but she had spent a good portion of her childhood there playing amidst the dust; wrapped now in London's dim, it was difficult not to miss the heat-baked sands.

"Physicians do seem to be doing a lot of guessing in the dark, whereas surgery is..." Trailing off, she squinted briefly over his shoulder. "A bit more like a very complicated and occasionally contrary puzzle, I would think. A good employment for the right sort of mind." A smile curved her mouth again with the softest chuckle. "I suppose I do at that. Archaeology isn't entirely different in its methods, if somewhat less life-or-death in its results. It is the constant riddle of it all that makes the field so difficult to walk away from for someone like myself." Her head canted. "Or you, with your tangle of veins and organs."