A Letter from Audrey

Some time ago, A Wanderer In the Shadowed Land challenged us to write letters from literary characters, our own or otherwise, to get to know them better.  I thought I'd write a letter from one of the primary characters of the book I'm meticulously working on now.  She's a rather quiet person and even I don't know much about her so this was the perfect opportunity to get to know her better.  After writing the letter, I asked myself, Did I succeed?  Do I know her?  Well, I don't know.  This careful character is still pretty guarded.  But I'm finally figuring out what her relationship to Eva Locknob is, which is terribly important for later.

Dear Eva, If this letter comes to you under a name you do not know, it is because I changed my name at Brindleby to prevent anyone from tracking me here.  I am now in a little town called Wassying, which seems to be completely ignorant of magic altogether.  They think magic is either a myth or the complicated and outdated origin of the superstition to which they are so devoted.  I knew it would be safe place for me to hide, but I do terribly miss a society that believes as I do.

I have found evidence that there once was a vibrant magic community here.  There is a stone circle just outside of the old section of town, an area which long ago burned to the ground.  I was amazed to find that, instead of being abandoned, it was often used as a social meeting place.  I have been to several dances there.  --  I know it will not surprise you to hear that I have a suitor already, although it well distresses me.  The Wassy, which is what the people of Wassying call themselves, call us "swain", a word which I have not heard since Weatherby more than fifteen years ago.  Cedric Price is a handsome gentleman, and his manners exceed those of all else in Wassying.  The manners of Wassying are so very loud and comfortable that the whole place seems to be one family.  It is so different from what I am used to, but however superiorly gentlemanly Mr. Price  --

may be, I cannot make up my mind to be in love with him.  He left town on Tuesday, but first he asked me to take his mother's ring as a symbol of our pledge to one another.  Will I shock you if I admit that I did not take it?  I could not look at him and take his ring.  I am not aware of pledging anything and, I declare, he has never shown any interesting beyond a moderate respect.  Neither of us believe in superstition and he finds me sound of mind, he has said, although we disagree on matters of petitions, which he has resolved by saying in so many words that women do not have a full knowledge of such matters.  Leith still haunts my nightmares from time to time, and now more that ever, I with I was back at your inn.  I cannot seem to disspell him from my mind, although he has driven me even to open up my mother's books again.

Eva, it has been too long since Cedric left Wassying for Sidd.  I pray that you have seen him for I sent him to you.  But I have heard nothing.  No one else in town has either.  I do worry about him because, no matter how uncertain about marriage I may be, I still care for him very much, and he is so very foolish and young of mind.  He could not comprehend Octavius' full power, since he does not believe in magic, and he has no talent in negotiating.  The trip to Sidd from Wassying is, at most, fourteen days.  To have been gone a full two months and some is worrying, and I am not the only one who is concerned.  His best friend Ted is perhaps almost more concerned that I am.  he knows Cedric's naive nature far better than I and, he has confided to me, blames himself for letting Cedric go alone.  --  I have decided to come after him, and perhaps it would be wise for me to see Octavius.  i send this ahead of me, but do --

-- not bother to write in answer.  I am leaving as soon as may be.  Please expect me.  I have missed you very much and I hope you are well.  -- With all my love, Audrey

Unfortunately, the letter is blurry so I added captions.

I'd like to write letters for my other characters, so stay tuned!

 

"Guess that concludes negotiations."  I just love

these guys, don't you?  They possess everything

you wish everyone had: loyalty, bravery, simplicity,

oh, and awesome clothes!

 

~Meggy