When she received the letter, she asked
Menna Atrahasis if she might lunch. She was given permission, if only after finishing her morning's embroidery. She worked with determined haste, stitching the last golden threads across another cuff-sleeve. She hid different words than yesterday's within the vine-like reliefs, a proclamation of
QUESTION WHO COMMANDS YOU woven so delicately within the embroidery that nothing else but a looking glass or a diligent eye could untangle the words.
She read the missive once, twice, and a third time. The seamstress wrote in haste during her resting hour, taking no lunch except a fist of stale bread. The wind threatened the corners of her own parchment as she held it flat with her gloved palm.
She wrote two letters. She slid them both beneath door of Noura's room. This time there was no cheese.
Noura,
I am very glad that you have him even as a husk of what he was, I am very glad, but I cannot abide him, he ageravates me, I see his face and only see memories that don't matter anymore, it was like I mighten has well of never had them at all, All he does is talk and talk and I despise it, it makes me sick with dread and anger and Jernoah, I sometimes wish all he would do is SHUT UP so I could pratend the memories are there, or maybe I could dance too,
I say prayers and they are not answered, everything is silent
I must stay away from Cherny for his best because what if they see him as false, what if they believe he collutes with his sister, we cannot risk it, I miss waiting for him after school, You are busy with dancing and ficksing Elliot, and it is a fine cause but it demands all, The Marshall was my friend but now she is a lump of cosmettic and powder and dresses, she is shallow and there is nothing there, I say the worst things to her, I weafe so many lies and untruthes and disseptions I don't know where they start and she was supposed to MAKE EVERYTHING RIGHT,
There is Catch but he is frightened and feels forgotten and sometimes he is a ball of fire I cannot put out, Cherny once had words like magic but I do not always say the right things to him, I love him with all of me but we are like oil and water as they say sometimes, even he is QUIET and CLEVER and I am a dumb ogre, a stupid hatchet that cuts and cuts and cuts at things that won't ever break
I have no school, I miss my mathematics, I don't sleep barely at all, and when Myrken Wood becomes a shining pile of beauty what if everybody who has somebody else forgets, in Jernoah they told me I cannot go back and so here I am and there is someone for everyone and we do what we must,
but what if everyone likes it, what if you are sneaking and inside it all and one day you think This Is Not So Bad and I'll Take Elliot This Way Over No Way, or what if Cherny must squire always, or he is sent away, or what if
I hate this, what is the point of unyielding principles if everyone is behind a wall I cannot climb, I almost did what Jiaseppy asked, I almost did even though he told me he meant to kill ME
what if I do something wrong, what if I do a drastic and stupid thing, what if I hurt somebody like I wanted to do to Elliot, I could have broken his jaw or snapped his neck I swear I could have, but you should never shirk your lessons, you see, because there can be no hints, none
I still have your feather you gave me, but it is only as good as friends for so long, until my chest hurts and I realize all I'm good at is seams, be safe and don't get lost
yours,
gloria
The other letter was addressed to
PEK'ORET. It was best to keep the two communications separate; it was best to be secretive, even to this end.
Pek'oret (It),
This is not a game, there are no winning sides, you cannot risk Noura and make her untrustworthy to Elliot by getting impatient, nor can you give her to him, she is not your toy,
Niall knows where I am, she is fortunate to be alive, but she has done nothing, NOTHING,
but if you make the promise to not give Noura up, to always protect my friend, I will go to the spearwielder
I will do whatever you want,
I will learn how to make the mind-meddler bleed if I need to