This is the 14th session of the solo TTRPG
Village Witch, and this 1,613 word story was inspired by a prompt from Sarah Becca on my
January Final Friday Fics.
Epistolary Promises
Edwina's first visitor to the stilt house during her convalescence had been Edith Abreo, the older woman fully recovered from her son's assault, bearing the gift of a savory chicken and rice bake smothered in cheese. They ate portions together for the evening meal with thick slices of buttered bread and a cold cucumber salad. It was perhaps too hearty a meal for summertime, but Edwina found herself to be ravenous. As they ate, Edith kept up a running commentary on the gossip around the town.
Viola and Edouard had been out and about, gathering requests for magical assistance from residents to be performed by the Trinity, and at last count there were enough issues to keep the three witches busy well into the second year of their sentence.
Alain had been sentenced to six months in a reformatory camp. Edith admitted she was torn between grief at the mess of her son's life, relief that he'd be away from her for a while, and hope that the mandatory therapy would help him learn to control his terrible temper. She'd told the judge that he'd only be welcomed back in her home if the medi-Witches from the reformatory camp declared him no longer a physical threat to his own mother.
As they wrapped up dinner with a cup of iced tea Edwina asked a question she'd let slip her mind since coming to Murkwell.
"Edith, do you know of an Engel or Rowan living here in Murkwell, or working for the mining company?
"Eh, yes, they were a pair of miners who stayed for a season, about a year back. Nice boys, not as rowdy and randy as the usual bunch, but they didn't get on well with the Foreman. Marc LeBeau had a real problem giving them a couple’s bunk, and I guess the stress of having their supervisor disdain them so openly caused them to move-on fairly quickly. Why?" asked Edith.
"I've got a letter from Engel's sister I've been tasked with delivering, and I'd like to find them to pass on some family news," said Edwina, keeping the love letter a secret. Edith was a great source of information about the town, but Edwina knew anything she shared with Edith would make the rounds very quickly.
"Hmm, best ask the postmaster where their mail was forwarded, maybe it'll be on your way, or maybe you'll just have to post the letter and hope it reaches them." Edith nodded sagely, and then pulled a small leather wrapped flask from a pocket in her skirts and waggled it enticingly. "Does your healing allow for a little bit of fun in your tea?"
"Top me up Edith," Edwina offered her cup.
~~~
After her evening with Edith, Edwina devoted an afternoon to reviewing the last few village names on her list but felt apathetic about trying again. None of the names immediately drew her attention, and a pendulum session revealed that these villages were insignificant to her life path.
She wasn't upset to be leaving Murkwell precisely, but she felt weighed down by failure. Two villages, two seasons passed, and neither had accepted her as their village witch. Glancing again at the uninspired list of villages remaining, Edwina took ink, quill, and paper from her carry all and began drafting a message to the Arcane Order. It was a long shot, but perhaps villages other graduating witches had declined could be added to her list, to give her more promising options. She made sure to detail the pendulum session results, knowing the Order would be more deeply swayed by the magical results than Edwina's own intuition.
She then continued drafting letters. One was a long rambling tale of what had happened in Murkwell for her parents, loaded with reassurances that she was on the mend and would make a full recovery with rest. Another was a short note to her favorite instructor at the order, who had gifted her the Giant Black Pearl, simply asking for wisdom and guidance, and summarizing her failure to fit in at Llyne of Mossly Woods and how the trial sentencing of the Trinity had made her unnecessary in Murkwell.
By the time she completed her tasks late that afternoon her fingers were ink stained, but the letters were all ready.
~~~
It was another two days before Edwina felt well enough to meander down the boardwalk of Murkwell into the refurbished area occupied by Alpha Minerals Mining Company, and to the brightly painted sky blue and yellow building with the scrollwork sign of "Postmaster." Bells over the doorway jangled merrily as she stepped inside, out of the bright summer sunlight, and into the relatively cool and shaded interior of the post office. The smell of paper and ink filled the space, and Edwina gave a small smile, reminded of quiet times at the Arcane Order's Archives.
"Hello, hello!" Called a voice from behind an open doorway in the wall behind a long wooden counter. "I'll be right up there, just let me…oof. Ok. Up ya go there. Alright."
"Whew! Hello, how can I help ya?" A frazzled older man, shoving a tangle of greying curls back behind his ears, came through the doorway to stand just barely head and shoulders above the countertop.
"Good morning. I have some post. And perhaps a question?" Edwina approached the counter.
"Yeah, good. Set your letters or parcels here on the counter and I'll get your postage tallied. Do you need any help addressing them?" asked the postmaster.
"No, I believe they're all addressed appropriately." Edwina set the three letters on the polished surface of the counter and slid them across.
"Oh, nice. A customer who knows the system." The small man gave a genuinely pleased smile as he flipped through each envelope, and on a small sheet of scrap paper began to tally the postage for each destination.
"These'll be one and a quarter sovereigns, three hours of trade labor, or equivalent trade goods. How're you paying today?"
"I didn't know you'd take anything but money. They don't at the other post offices," Edwina was a bit stumped by the offer to pay in trade and plunked her coins on the counter.
"Oh sure, in these smaller villages and such. Wouldn't be any post coming or going if we only took coins. Lots of villagers want a letter sent, but they aren't going to if I'm taking what little money they've saved up for emergencies. We get on well with trades out here!" the postmaster enthused.
"Makes sense, I suppose." Edwina agreed.
"Anyways, you had mail and a question?"
"Yes! I was hoping you could tell me the forwarding village or city for some miners who were here last year."
"Why? I'm not going to just give away people’s addresses, miss." The postmaster's jovial expression started to turn stern.
"No, no, I don't mean anything sinister by this. I have a letter from one of the pair’s sister, that she wanted me to deliver if her brother still lived here in Murkwell, but it's clear I've missed them and they've moved on again. So, I'd like to find a new address for her letter." Edwina tried to explain the situation, and diffuse the sudden tension.
"Who's the letter for?"
"Engel from Llyne of Mossly Woods and his partner Rowan, it's from his sister Telsa."
The man reached under the counter and pulled out an enchanted folio, the runes along the book’s leather spine etched and filled with gold.
"If they've kept their address updated with the postal system, it should be in the master files," he stated and began thumbing through to the entries beginning with "E." He spent several long minutes comparing entries and flipping deeper in the book to the "R" section to cross reference.
"Yup, I've got a fresh address for an Engel and a Rowan, home city magically erased for both of them. That's a sad reality for same-same pairings sometimes. Do you want to give me the sister's letter to post?"
"Yes, please, and I’d like to know their new city, if you're feeling generous." Edwina slid Telsa's letter across the wooden counter.
The postmaster closed the book, hastily readdressed the envelope, and tucked it in the stack of Edwina's other letters.
"Free of charge on this letter. I've got a soft spot for family trying to reconnect," he cleared his throat, and stared far over Edwina's shoulder for a long moment, before purposefully making eye contact. "They've gone to Antiris Harbor, on the west coast."
"Thank you, Postmaster."
~~~
The lake was calm, and the drone of cicadas deafening in the muggy heat of summer's end as Edwina lazily swished her legs through the dark water, watching ripples move out across the mirrored surface. She contemplated the last month she'd spent recovering in Murkwell, and the gossip and correspondence she'd gathered. She tapped a crisp white envelope on her palm, the seal of the Arcane Order pressed into indigo wax on the back. They’d responded.
Taking a slow deep breath, she cracked the wax, and withdrew a single parchment card. Three names were written in elegant script across the front. Presumably these were the additional village prospects she'd requested. She flipped the card over, and in a different handwriting, one she recognized, was a short note.
Try Bellmare. It'll be a taste of home, but there's something there to call your own.
~Professor Adelaide Wright
There was guidance and wisdom, if she chose to heed her favorite instructor's words, and in the pit of her stomach, the excitement she'd been missing when considering any other village for her third attempt to find a home.
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