A letter south

My love,

Do not be surprised or alarmed if you receive this letter in an unusual fashion. The messenger entrusted with it has been instructed to take exacting pains to ensure it doesn't fall into the wrong hands.

The weather in Mormount is lovely this time of year. The air ranges from a balmy 'can't feel your damn fingers' at noontime to a brisk 'freeze your ale solid' when the sun sets. I've long since grown accustomed to the chill of the north. What I have found more difficult to adjust to is the lack of your embrace to warm me when those bitter nights fall.

It is only natural I suppose that winter's descent has served to stir my yearning for you. I see the blue of your eyes in the dark ice crystals that overhang the battlements after a storm, your pale skin in the snow-covered hilltops - and echoes of your face in the features of your sons. They are your very image, my darling, each having inherited their fair share of your brilliance. You have raised them well. Their constant prescence serves as one more reminder of the ache your abscence brings.

The day I departed, I know you questioned. You must have wondered how as bold a statement could have left my lips when we have been a part of each other's lives for but a scant fraction of them. Even if you question still, my own heart leaves little room for doubt, for I can scarcely stand to imagine that life without your prescence in it. Please understand that I did not wish to leave you; were these ordinary circumstances, I'd have easily turned down promotion to remain at your side.

These are not ordinary circumstances. This war is no mere battle of egos, or a simple struggle for power. It is a fight for the future of our entire civilization, those rare moments that come only once in a dozen generations for the people to decide what manner of society they want to live in. I have been granted the opportunity to fight for a society where justice is the rule rather than the exception - and one where perhaps, one day, love like ours may be given a chance to thrive rather than be doomed to end in seperation or violent death. I have faith in William and what he is trying to do; it has been a very long time since I've had faith in much of anything.

I have heard how bad things have gotten in the capitol, and sick with worry that you are being made to work alongside that madman Beltayne. You know as well as I do that eventually he will ask you to do things you find unconscionable - and will kill you if you refuse. Perhaps even if you don't, eventually. I beg of you one last time to leave this place. Please, come north to me; serve the revolution at my side, bear witness to the making of history with your sons and the woman who loves you.

The man who bore this letter will find a way to allow you escape if you so choose; he is as good at getting out of places he isn't supposed to as he is at getting into them. If not, I will respect your decision with heavy heart and wait for the day we may be reunited, and he will remain your contact with the wider resistance and our forces.

I'm sorry, Maud. For whatever doubt you may have seen in me and whatever pain it may have caused you. For the stumbling prose of a hopeless romantic raised on too many old ballads struggling for the proper words. I have uprooted much to take part in this war - my men, my family, every possession I own worth naming, but there is one thing I have left behind. My heart remains with you, love, wherever you may be - and from there it does not wander.

-Your Knight,

Marie

Please burn after reading.



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"Ha! Damn luv, fink ye moight be overdoin' it a little?"

"Bolton.. I don't care if it's some sort of meaningless collouialism wherever you're from, but don't ever call me love. And stop looking over my bloody shoulder. God, it figures you grow a bigger mouth whenever you know you're temporary indispensable. Just remember the 'temporarily', hmm?"

"Point taken. I'll git the damned thing souf, git 'er norf if she wants. Then the real work starts. You'll 'ear from us every once in a bit, if we see or do sumfin partic'larly interestin'. Just don't ferget our agreement."

"Believe me, I'm not about to forget my best opportunity to be rid of you for good. Godspeed, don't die. If anything happens make sure-"

"Destroy it, I know. Don't worry, I don't need that lot knowin' I'm onna yers any more 'n you do. See ye when it's ovah.. luv."