Time flies when you're undead. The day had come around again, the day I found you in that godforsaken forest.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcsaYWv7jqU
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."14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ48meYUvGXk
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.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRZMfjbKeyX
You ought to stumble, fall, learn.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZmdFdl4abS
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.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡunvZBFyFOL
I underestimated your curiosity. A mistake, admittedly. You were unusually interested in everything sharp, dangerous, or burning. I should have known.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC5r0J6E43M
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.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4xF6k81nok
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.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7kr9acUiRB
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.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNdF06yIyEz
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.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6RLaAMzveH
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.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtenkNzKRjd
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.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw1Q4gU0s8P
That night I didn't read. I just watched you.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKYFmG1EkLI
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.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGcodKZNaOe
Then came the knock. Three times. Not loud. Not pleading. Old.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG7uRTXmKzG
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."14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgI3Gecb1bt
I looked at him without expression. Then stepped aside. Wordless. As always.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCKKnDd6oCq
Grellborn limped in, shook the rain from his cloak.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlCTZNdR5DA
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.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpub16WR5OV
Or courage. Likely both.
Then he pulled a crumpled, yellowed piece of paper from his cloak, still sealed with wax.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGOoUoU3Lib
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."14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwnemL8AQnQ
He held the letter up. Not as an offer, but as a confession.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiP0lRsiLUM
"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."14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgsJdnX1oAD
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.
14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3iU07Wvksx
