Highwater and Glass

The Passage of Crows, Chapter 1 - Eloise

Eloise had never expected to find a friend at all in Iron Fen. From autumn to winter, while she waited to be paired with a new knight to train beneath, the letters she received from Oran Highwater nourished her need for friendly human interaction. As she read notes about his studies, adventures, and humorous anecdotes, a space was carved out in her heart for the young mage.

Her love for Oran was not romantic, she discovered, though it wasn't without the potential to become so. She was simply so grateful to have a person to confide in, to care for, and to care for her in return. Romance was the least of her concerns in their communication. A letter from Oran would arrive weekly, strapped to the leg of a carrier pigeon or raven, which would rap on her chamber window with a percussive insistence. She would then take the bird inside and treat it to seed and greens from the garden. She kept the letters stacked on her desk in a neat pile, as if it were altogether a precious object.

Thus, it was especially devastating when the correspondence abruptly stopped.

When she hadn't heard from Oran by mid winter, no rapping from the pigeons and ravens she had grown accustomed to, she took matters into her own hands, stealing away to the Blue Keep rookery in the dead of night and strapping a message to a Highwater-bound pigeon. Still, the bird never returned. She asked around the castle for information regarding the Archmage and his apprentices, but either no one knew, or no one would tell her their whereabouts.

Eloise was left with no answers as to why her only friend had decided to cease communication with her. All she could do was wonder if she was somehow boring or offensive, or if the mage had died in a tragic accident.

It wasn't until her birthday in late winter that Eloise received any form of correspondence. Yet, the letter delivered via the Port Shorishal courier was not from Oran Highwater. It was from her sister, Deiadara, shipped across the ocean from Hedgemont. The paper held the aroma of distant desert sands. It was one of three letters Deiadara had sent to her since Eloise had departed for Iron Fen. The last one had been nearly four years prior.

Eloise accepted the letter from the courier and retreated to her bed to read it right away.

"Dear sister, Eloise," it read. "Father asked that I write you this letter. Forgive me for having trouble finding the words. Do you recall when we were little and we used to talk about our future weddings? Never in any of these scenarios did I imagine you anywhere but at the affair. Then father sent you away. We've grown into women far from each other. Sometimes I wonder what sort of woman you've become. I've thought merrily on the fantasy of greeting you on your triumphant return to your proper home. But deep down, I've always known it was just that: a fantasy.

I'm to be wed to Titus Lörens, heir to the Camorra Clan. It's a lovely region with rivers and forests far east from Hedgemont. And Titus, bless him, is quite sweet and good to me. So now, it seems both of the Glass sisters will be far away from home. As tradition holds, I will become a Lörens. I may never return to the lands of Hedgemont again. You're so far away as it is. By the time you're reading this, I may already be wed and gone. I pray I'll see your face again one day. If the gods are kind, we will. Take care of my sister, know that I love you always, Deiadara."

Tears welled in Eloise's eyes. It was not a letter she ever anticipated and she felt foolish suddenly that she had never considered the possibility of Deiadara being wed in her absence. Really, what had she expected? She scolded herself. Deidara was nineteen. Did she think her sister would never be married? Did she think her father and the king of Iron Fen would have a ship take her to and from the event? She held the title of lady, sure, but she was hardly considered of enough importance to secure a carriage if she requested one.