Enter the wilds with care my love and speak the things you see, let new names take and root and thrive and grow.
My dear Natalie,
You are dead and gone and I’m glad of that after what we did to each other, but you are still my sister, so I may as well keep writing you letters even though I will never send them and you have no grave to bury them. Perhaps I will read this to the grove where I buried what bits of your heart I could find.
A plague spread through the town preying on the weak and infirm. Willow told the circle that if we sacrificed one of our own to her, she would save the rest of the sick ones, but that didn’t become needful. We managed to get together enough herbs that Lunette and Doctor Alphonse were able to save everyone. I have been spending time with the children as they recover from their illnesses. I’ve been telling them stories and doing little puppet shows with Penelope who has captured all of their hearts. We have been singing songs altogether and doing small crafts with scraps of cloth left over from Tiphananie and Delphine’s needlework. I’ve had a few of the more restless children rolling bandages for the hospital. They have nearly finished a whole crate!
The orphanage is coming along well and I am so grateful to Granny Jo for including me in this project. I find myself longing for a babe of my own, but that will never happen, and I believe that’s for the best, Especially after the loss of my dear little Glycine. It would be much harder to spend my nights in a tavern singing songs with handsome men.
Kierlou taught me so many new things. Not just new songs, but how to bind someone with clever words and encourage them to continue talking long after they think it might be wiser to stop. I wish Papa had taught me these things, but of course, all I got from him was my fiery personality, green eyes, and a tendency to let lust rule my heart when I drink. If it made him happy though, will anyone but Gorse be angered if I sleep with a man thrice my age? I’ve still so much to learn from my elders. May the grove preserve me so that I too may one day become wise.
I certainly do not possess that wisdom now though. I went to investigate one of the strange laboratories with Jaquet and Gerald, though they were of little help. It was all about forces, and it seems I have enough force of personality to have won the day and the treasure, though not without pain. Inside there was this strange blackened armor, and I swear the influence of the being within made me cockier than my usual self, but I tried it on. The most curious sensation of dominion and lust for power came over me though I was able to resist the urge to keep it on forever. But these pieces must not be joined, I believe it would spell ruin for us all, and told the townsfolk as much.
Anyway, This letter is more than long enough already, and I have chores to do for Granny.
May you continue your quiet rest, Colibri
