For the young Count...

[Carnath-Emory]

... there arrived this message days ago, delivered to the door of his present accomodations. It was a very simple thing, folded over twice and bearing no seal at all; within, the reader discovered brief words penned by a hasty hand.


[INDENT]Coran

Tell me that you had no hand in that sickness.
You must speak the words, so that I can believe them

Ariane

[/INDENT]

[Kylerryth]

Perhaps she will not be surprised by the haste of his reply; she knew of Traveling, after all, had grudgingly used it on more than one occasion. It was not the young Count himself that delivered the letter, but a black-coated fellow (oh, that telling uniform!) whose pinched face she would not recognize.

His reply was similar to hers in appearance: a simply folded scrap of parchment.

Ariane, it began.

I was not there. I swear it. When I heard what happened, it broke my heart ... but there is nothing I can do. I think -- I hope -- you will understand.

[indent]- C.[/indent]