"I was 'sposed to get socks," he said. "Knittered socks. Aye? And then you were 'sposed to not come back to me. Are ya daft?" A squinted eye, the folds of his skin fettered with little dry bits of rock-powder.
"Merely impassioned for the sake of Myrken," she said. "Doing my duty as a citizen of both this place, and my distant home. Establishing peace. You see?"
"With invisible knittered socks," he said.
"Yes." She held out another letter, one that very day dictated to the professor of Jernoan literature, who had blundered himself into a stupor of rum and pipesmoke, trying to rid his library of her tarsweat stink. "We will iron out the matter of the socks, but if you may please deliver this to the Meetinghouse, I would find myself placed further in your debt."
"Yer lucky I hate breaking rocks, girl," he said, then snatched it from her hands and marched off, a freelance courier. "Yer lucky I don't break that little seamstress face."
"It has been broken before," she said.
The letter was scrawled with a drunken MARSHALL across it in bold, multiply-scraped letters, and stamped with a bloated wax seal.
To be delivered with Great Haste to the Marshall of Myrken, at the Behest of The Fine Master Regent Glenn Burnie, for whom the Writer of this Missive has a Great Respect and a Desire to Please in her Acts of Patriotic Support --
Dear Marshall:
It has come to my Attention through the Words of the Previously-Mentioned Regent that New Appointment must require significant Celebration, and that Formalities may be considerably inhibited by the overabundance of Informalities, among which is numbered A Current and Distinct Lack of Proper Uniform.
I am a Seamstress of Great Prowess, and while I am not necessarily a Tailor or Dressmaker by Trade, I have found my way about the Foibles of garment-making for some Time, though my Expertise lies specifically within Hems, and Embroidery, Trims and Trains, and Elaborate Schemes of the Threaded Sort. It is with Humility and my Greatest Sincere Respect for your Strength that I wish to expend extend my Abilities as your personal Garment-Maker. Regent Burnie made me aware that you would be in Need of a Crisp New Uniform, and Without Any Pay save for the Costs of the Materials In Question, I would gladly be in your Service. Also, it is my Hope that this Task inspires the tootledge Tutelage of my Dear Friend Master C-----, who is currently Ill with Flinthead at the Hospital, and is very able with a Bodkin.
Through the sail Sale of Small Bags and Smoke-Leaf Pouches, I have obtained enough Capital to establish a Closet of Various Resplendent Fabrics, any or all of which I would be glad to utilize if only for the Replacement Price. I wish to meet with you at your Earliest Convenience so that we may discuss Preferred Patterns, Styles of Design, the Current Trends in Jernoan (and Myrken) Fashion, and Suggested Modes of Garment-Borne Intimidation so that your Enemies and Foes will think Twice of you due first to your Blade, and secondly to your Clothes. A Marshall must seep Danger and Authority, after all, if not for Good Citizens, then surely for Bad Ones.
Correspondence may be directed to the Broken Dagger, where I will patiently await your Response, and sharpen my Shears and Needles Accordingly.
The Previous Sentence should be struck from Record for its Ill and Violent Appearance -- and This Part of the Letter should be struck as well.
Sincerely, Your Loyal Subject and a Fair and Good-Natured Foreigner expatriated across a Sea for the Sake of Myrken's Growth,
Signed,
Gloria (Glour'eya) Wynsee, Noble Ignoble, Seamstress, Sempstress, Embroideress, and Lover of Good Poetry