For the Sins of Quiescence...

[ShadowRose]

... There is a time when the courtesy of promptness must be extended; a time where every second counted as if the last breath of a soul hinged on the very essence of the expected and timely response.

And that time had run out for Christianna Wayerly.

Christianna had been a small child of merely fourteen summers. Brilliant blue eyes set within a pale, innocent face blessed of youth and framed by contrasting raven-hued strands. Ah yes, even in death, Christianna's visage cried with the pure innocence and beauty of a child too young and naive to know that little girls shouldn't talk to strangers. She should have known.

Christianna hung lifelessly from a large oak just outside the Meeting House, neck impaled with a long, metal shaft.. an object that had been forced through her throat and into the trunk of the tree. The child's eyes no longer glittered with a zest for life, having been replaced with the drowning horror of scenes too despicable to share. Ringlets that had once bounced with every care-free step now clung like that of a funeral shroud around her face, marking her passage into a realm of which mortals dare not speak. Within her delicate hand--a hand that should have held a childhood toy or a bundle of wild flowers for a loving mother--rested a parchment.. another letter, bound in ice-clad fingers of death.. of lost innocence.

Addressed to Councilman Helstone, it read:

Dear Coriolanus Helstone, Esq.- Councilman of Myrken Wood:

I still await your correspondence, my dear Councilman. I do apologize if the urgency of the matter of our alliance was not made clear. Perhaps my gift to you, resembling that of the two little girls you hold so fervently captive--my daughters--will entice you to write a bit faster. Sleep well this night in knowing that Christianna did not suffer, but know too that her death could have been averted and that it is your hands that are covered in her blood. I await your letter in earnest.

Respectfully yours,

Magdelaena Valteri

[channe]

A messenger finds the addressee in his office at the Meetinghouse, trying to balance the many old, ill-kept ledger-books in advance of paying the debt that Myrken Wood is finding itself under.

After hearing the messenger's words and reading the letter, the man -- who looks a little green -- sits down immediately and pens a response, which is tied to the same metal pole Christianna had once occupied. It dangles there, and the eyes that watch should surely see and pick it up, yes?

Miss Valteri,

Greetings.

If you were at any point attentive to my speech last week like you said you were in your last missive, you would have known that this Council is not and will never be responsive to violence. We do not ally with the drow, who are murderers; in fact, we do not ally with murderers at all. I thought we were clear on this to all Myrkenlanders.

The only person in this world who has any responsibility for the death of young Christianna Wayerly is you.

I had planned to bring your request to the Council at our next meeting, which is passing soon; if you watch, as you say you do, you should have known that I cannot possibly make such a decision as an alliance alone, per the binding law of this land, and that preparations for the drow attack are all-consuming.

Rest assured that your concerns will be brought to attention. However, since you have shown yourselves to have blood on your minds -- the blood of OUR citizens, in fact -- the result may been far different than that you would have recieved if you had allowed Miss Wayerly to live.

I remain cordially yours,

Coriolanus Helstone
Councilor of Administrative Sanctions, Myrken Wood

Helstone spends most of the day feeling rather ill.

"...Magadalaena," a small barmaid had whispered into his ear, a few nights ago...

[ShadowRose]

Dearest Coriolanus Helstone,

Ah, the noble Council does not respond to violence... My dear sir; that was your first mistake. What can mere humans and their allies do to a race that has existed for thousands of years? And in the case of the dark elves.. more than several generations past even your children. How many, Coriolanus Helstone? How many enemies will you gain because of your lack of action? How many of your citizens--that you so dutifully protect--will die because of your foolishness? Meet, then, with your precious Council, dear sir; but know now that your plans should not solely be centered on just the Drow.. but the Children of Cain as well; we, the vampires..

If you want an alliance, Coriolanus Helstone, it will be you who will plead to us.

Respectfully yours,

Magdelaena Valteri