Time flies when you're undead. The day had come around again, the day I found you in that godforsaken forest.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡttboBcgRpq
Your first steps? Ridiculous. Your arms flailed, your face twisted with determination. And you came, of course, straight toward me. Right into my cloak, as if I were some kind of fortress of safety, where you collapsed with a giggle. I looked down at you, unmoved.
"Congratulations, Nora. You're now marginally less useless."17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1M3fMLW6Pi
You didn't understand what it meant, of course, but you laughed anyway, squealed with pride.
I granted you a little more freedom when you started waddling like a drunken crow on polished black marble. It seemed pedagogically sound.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzAcCKGa0HU
You ought to stumble, fall, learn.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡps4TnEtNhg
Resilience is not acquired through the study of old scrolls but earned through painful experience. In bruises. In tears.
I let you explore even the gloomiest corners of my home without interference. You needed to meet fear. Not out of negligence, but because fear is an excellent teacher. And those who listen to it tend to live longer.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOzCiowMhYQ
I underestimated your curiosity. A mistake, admittedly. You were unusually interested in everything sharp, dangerous, or burning. I should have known.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0flQ5FAfN3
I was distracted for only seconds, turned my back to read a scroll on early childhood adrenal release in the kidneys. Fascinating, truly.
Then came the scream.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡui10WbfQz5
Piercing. Raw. Animalistic. It tore through the stone walls like an alarm bell I never installed.
I was at your side before my mind caught up.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAUaBZBbHE7
You were standing at the hearth, your tiny hand pressed to your chest, your eyes wide with pain, like a creature discovering suffering for the very first time.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvx3AMJBqsj
A burn bloomed across your palm.
I yanked you into my arms. Not gently, but with purpose. Ice water. Grellborn's healing salve, which he had given me "just in case." As if he knew, the moldy seer.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7So4VbMomG
Of course he had known. Probably saw it in a vision while smoking that blasted herb pipe.
I growled through my teeth, "You foolish, impulsive little creature..." as I tended to your wound. But my voice trembled. Not with fear.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaq9e1WAf77
With something deeper. You sobbed. And pressed your forehead to my chest. You reminded me of a freshly hatched chick imprinting on the first creature it sees, whether mother, murderer, or monster. Utterly stupid, but instinctive.
Then I wrapped you in my cloak, as always. I held you until the pain faded and you slept.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡztNoz54YfV
That night I didn't read. I just watched you.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVPhYwpd13U
Still. Breathing. Warm.
A gust of wind crept through the old walls and shook me from my trance. Outside, a dreadful rainstorm raged, as if God Himself were trying to unleash another flood upon the Earth, albeit without thunder.
I stood, carefully pulled away.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXa6ZhUGHif
Then came the knock. Three times. Not loud. Not pleading. Old.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTYiv1tXVsE
I knew who it was before the sound even faded within the manor. The door didn't open immediately. This house had its rituals. First the outer seal, then the inner latch, then the murmur. A protection known to only a few.
When I finally opened it, there stood Grellborn, wrapped in his moss-flecked cloak, gripping his staff the way he always did. He looked smaller than usual.
"Godbless", the old man muttered under his beard, "you open faster than I age. That says something."17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ95FDvqMdC1
I looked at him without expression. Then stepped aside. Wordless. As always.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM8MCH4jQdY
Grellborn limped in, shook the rain from his cloak.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwwkBa3Cz1z
I did wonder, what in the world brought the old man out here in the rain? I waited. Grell didn't speak right away. Instead, he placed one hand on one of my intricately carved dressers, as though he needed to gather strength first.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy6kqzuxS8q
Or courage. Likely both.
Then he pulled a crumpled, yellowed piece of paper from his cloak, still sealed with wax.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdb9zWekPI6
No address. No seal insignia. Just a faint rose scent, barely perceptible, but present like the first whisper of spring. I knew that scent. It conjured a sequence of memories I thought long archived. And then burned to dust. Out of principle.
"I..." Grellborn's voice faltered, "...wanted to clean up, you know. One reaches an age where one wants to make peace with oneself."17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4a5qnTGeip
He held the letter up. Not as an offer, but as a confession.17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIRekKbRlMQ
"I forgot about this thing... I don't even know why. Maybe fear. Maybe stupidity. Maybe... I just wasn't ready for you to read it."17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPjvLirPzK8
A flicker of regret in his eyes: "But now. Now you should know."
I didn't take the letter immediately. I stared at it like one stares at a rose that once pricked them and never wanted to touch it again.
"Isadora," I finally said, a touch too quietly for my liking. Not a question. Not surprise. A fact. Grellborn nodded slowly, guiltily.
Eventually, I took the letter. My hands trembled slightly and I hated my body for this all-too-human betrayal.
"Thank you." I should have said. Of course I didn't.
17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgM64tiieCN
