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Dearest Charlotte,
Fret not, for I have arrived! Indeed, I made my entrance at Versailles a week hence but my days have thusfar been so filled that I have barely found time to collect my own thoughts, let alone commit them to paper! However, I vow here to correspond with you more frequently as I know you care for my letters so - though, truth be known, I am a far finer reader of wise words than the originator of said verses myself.
No matter. How is Papa? I was vexed to have to leave him not yet fully well, but I know it was his wish. Do we know the nature of his malady yet? Has the rosacea cleared? Did the mercury help at all? I have many questions, but I hope all are in the affirmative and he is healing fast. Send my love to all - I miss you dreadfully already. When can you come to court?
Versailles is as magnificent as I remember - I cannot believe it has been five (yes!) years since I ventured here last. I feel now I come not as a boy, but as a man, and intend to conduct myself as such. In the palace itself, improvements seem imminent everywhere. The private apartments are in something of an uproar of renovation and hence I am still residing away from court itself.
As an aside in parenthesis, Monsieur Clemenceau asked for mention to you and Papa and wishes well - although the gratitude is from I to him. A finer tutor in the ways of courtly life I could not have asked for, as he seems to easily read in other that which many men find imperceptible. A great advantage as you can imagine. Alas, I digress!
I feel I am still finding my feet - hence this letter is rather muddled and somewhat immature - but Versailles life suits me greatly. I am content, for now, to watch, listen and learn from those around me. Life here seems a complex dance, and I would do well to commit each and every step to blind memory before I even attempt it.
Please do not be vexed by my absence. I will write as often as I can, but know that you are always in my heart and I love you tenderly.
WL
Dear Diary,
its incredible to believe what strange events happened to me lately. For some wonderful reason, which i even don't dare to confident you, i think i finally found happiness in our beloved Duchy...
Since a few days i feel the urge to settle down, to end my days of wandering. Like i came to the end of my journey, and began to start another one, one i never ever dreamed that would happen. Like i am stepping into the great unknown... And... yes dear diary, this may seems strange, but i am HAPPY to take this step forward...
Well, lets stick to the bare facts, after all, i still am a scientist.
I exchanged my beloved haystack for a real home. Yes dear diary, don't be surprised, i rented a cottage at Touraine, at the lovely Loire Valley. It is a simple building, but i fell in love with it some time ago, when i came along on one of my long walks through the lovely Duchy. It was a farmer who rented it before me i guess. What has happened to him and his family? Have they emigrated to the New Colonies oversea? Did they die from the plague? Even the Duke himself could not solve this mystery. The former renters left without leaving a note. But they left their animals, so it looks like they fled in a hurry. When i first came in, a family of pigs had taken the cottage for their home. The cows where grazing at the backyard, and the once so beautiful garden had turned into a wilderness. It took me some days to clean it all up. Then i started to move in. I got some nice furniture from a merchant who imports them from the far city of Nantes. I still haven't unpacked all my crates though, so the house looks a bit of a mess... But for the first time in many years, i feel at home. Its nice to sleep in a real bed again, not with your head in the hay like i used to do for years. A soldier like myself doesn't needs much comfort, but my joints are hurting more and more each morning, so it looks that the years are finally catching in on me.
I soon hope to open my private practice there. Seeing patients at the monthly fair is ok, but i definitely need more income. I wonder if the town of Aquitaine has a smithy who can make me a sign to hang outside. The bare truth is, i have no money to rent a cabinet at the Academy i'm afraid. After all i am but only a simple Barber - Surgeon, with a lot of battlefront experience yes, but i am not an academic like dear colleague Adamski...
Last days, when i wake up in the morning, i hear the sounds of the forest behind my new home. The birds whistling their songs to celebrate the new spring. The flowers who are awakening after a long and hard winter. The trees who are blossoming. Long my soul hasn't seen such things of beauty. I am afraid I have seen too many men die in battle, i have seen too many foul wounds who would not heal. I still dream of captain Evans, who was like a brother to me, dying in my very arms. I remember his laughter, the beers we drank together at the taverns behind the battlefront, the girls we were chasing together (but never had any luck....). I remember his strength in command, leading us all into battle... one time to many.... Dear John, dear brother, i will never forget you.
But... all this seems like a far away and distant nightmare to me now. Its strange to find your pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. It feels... I have no words to describe this... like a warm and fuzzy feeling inside me... Some feeling i have never experienced before... and never will ever after...
Dear diary? I think i am in love...
P.
Saturday March the 20th was held the second meeting of the Fencing Group in Languedoc. Theoretically dedicated to beginners or unexperienced players,we had the unexpected -but most welcomed- pleasure to enjoy the company of full-fledged fencers of Royal Courts: Her Imperial Highness , Kaiserin der Romer, Lady Maria Selina Vayandar, Lady Valeria Ruby of Este, ArchDuchess of Austria, Lord Drake Geraln and Lord Myron Byron...It was not a tournament, only a training, though the competition among fencers was as intense as friendly. At the same time, we were honored by the more peaceful attendance of Her Grace the Duchesse de Rochefort, Baronesse de Coeur Maria Louisa Muircastle, Lady Sophia Trefusis, Miss Brimm, and Lady Candace Ducatillon d'Acadie ( among others whom I may not have seen , being busy at fencing, and avoiding my brand new outfit to be torn by my opponents' blades).Another competition took place in the attendance, about gowns, mainly, and it was as much fun as the fencing part!
Two hours of fencing in open air, and chatting thusly, was as pleasant as good for our health !
I recovered, and here I am now, eastwardly crossing the Alps at night, knee-deep in snow, wrapped up in my long coat, freezing...
Some gentlefolk in the Duch de Coeur, and Lord Byron, Count of Loredan have offered me friendship...and I accepted, however hesitantly. For the first time in years, I have friends. I had forgotten what a warm feeling it is.I may go back to them, when my quest is over...If I survive, that is.
For them and for Dr Panacek, who have shown their understanding, I will tell my story.
My father is an Officer in the English Army.He upgraded, step by step, thanks to his sole merits at war, fom Ensign to Lieutenant, Captain, Major, Colonel then General, and was subsequently appointed Lieutenant-General of one of our Dominions.
He was a grand man, physically as well as in his behavior.
He was a good husband too, and a perfect father, though he was not always with us being off to the battlegrounds all too often.When he would come back home to our Cornwall Mansion,he would take great care of his family, and give all his attention to his children's education, especially mine, as I was the first born.
In great detail he would tell us of his victories, of the grandeur of England, he would instill into me how to behave like a man in all circumstances, advise me in my readings, then discuss them.He would laugh with us all by the fireplace, in the waning hours of the day.
He would take me hunting foxes,teach me how to improve my fencing, and I would accompany him for long rides in the countryside.
Ahh- how i recall those blissful days, when we wandered on horseback in the hills' greenery, or along the rocky shores, with the wind in our hair!
I was in my late teens, then, and he was my Idol.
He was on a short list, on the desk of King George III,to be appointed Lieutenant-General of our Army in India, such a great honor and responsibility.He planned to organize a social gathering in our Mansion, and invited many Courtiers of London, to support his claim to this honor.
It was a beautiful summer day, our garden was in bloom, and how flattering it was to see so many Ladies and Gentlemen, in their resplendent attire, coming and going between the trees and flowers, listening to the music of our village band, and chatting enthusiastically! By the end of day, as the sun slowly set, gloriously painting our garden hues of red, I stood by my Mother, and looked at my father in the distance, encircled by Government Dignitaries, discussing his future.
Suddenly, a man removed himself from the crowd, and adressed my father rudely. I was facing the sunset, and therefore could not see clearly his face.He insulted my begetter, calling him a butcher and an assassin, a stain on England's repute and honor.
My father was so surprised at first, but soon showed signs of a terrible anger I was not accustomed to witnessing.I heard him say "You! YOU!" ( as if he knew this man) " You will have to pay for what you said and did!", and he unsheathed his sword.The Stranger and my father set themselves to "en garde" position, as the people around them stepped back.
My Papa was a tall and powerful man, but had become somewhat portly as the years had passed.The Stranger was moving faster than he, and the first assaults by my father did not reach his opponent.
The unknown man then attacked for the first time, and a swift move of his sword tore off the military medals worn on my father's chest. In a second move, he wrapped his blade around my Dad's, and with a rapid twist of the wrist, disarmed him: his epee fell on the ground.
The Stranger pointed his weapon at my father's throat, and all attendants dropped their jaws and uttered a "Aaah!" of despair. "Take it back", the man said.
My heart was aching to see my Papa so humiliated.
All the following assaults by my father, driven by an obvious rage, were in vain. Finally, the Stranger tried a very powerful attack towards my Papa's heart , which was parried in part, but the sword was only deflected and penetrated deeply into my father's groin.
I saw him falling down, as a flow of blood tainted his pants.The man was standing above him, moving his blade to adjust a final and lethal blow.My mother and I shouted with all the power of our lungs a piercing" No-oo!"
The man seemed to hesitate for a short while -which seemed an eternity- and then dropped his sword, ran at full speed, jumped on a horse, and disappeared from view, amid a tumult of cries and shouts.
My Papa was brought into his bedroom, and the Family Physician, who happened to be in attendance, administrated first aid.The celebration was over, and the guests dispersed, many of them not even bidding farewell, nor asking news about my father's health.
It was, for my father and our family, the beginning of the end.He suffered a severe injury, from which he never recovered completely.He spent most of his time laying in his bed, his mood changed: he became a gloomy, despondent man.
At the Court of King George, he fell into disgrace:he was not granted the Army leadership in India.All our friends and neighbors seemed suddenly to have major reasons to decline our invitations to our Mansion, or to our London house.
Papa lost his patience, he was irritated all the time.My mother, who was all sweetness,tried to soothe and help him, but he rejected her, and their children as well.He was not anymore the man i had idolized.
My mother's heart was broken, and she fell ill. Less than one year later, she died of grief.
My carefree days of youth were over. I was entering manhood the hard way.An irrepressible wave of hate submerged my soul, taking it hostage. We sold our London house, and I requested my aunt to keep the Mansion, and take care of my father, brothers and sisters.One dull grey autumn morning, i left this once happy and now distressed home, and began my search for the Stranger.
I knew it would be a very lenghty and difficult quest.I had no clues. I did not know the man's name, I had not seen his face. All I had was the memory of an observation: a somehow peculiar hold on his sword, and something in his fencing manner...
I knew I would have to knock at hundreds of doors, cover thousands of miles, ask millions of questions. I knew I would be a homeless man of solitude, and a foreigner everywhere.There was no place left for friends nor love in my life, contrary to all youg men of my age. I knew I would have much to abide, sleeping in haystacks and getting burnt by the summer sun, hiding in barns, freezing to near death in winter, obliged to beg for food, to drink water crouching in brooks like an animal, being stoned and chased out of villages, - and i knew i was risking my life.
I knew all this, but my hate had the upper hand. I HAD TO DO IT! It was the only meaning my life could have now,so that my father could be revenged, so that he could be proud of his son, and perhaps become again the same man he once was.
And now I go, forever onwards, crossing the Alps at night in an easterly direction, wrapped up in my long coat and knee-deep in snow,freezing... Wolves are howling in the near distance, but they don't threaten me: they sense I am a wolf among the wolves.
Dear Diary,
What a week it has been.... First of all... i am alive... I can hardly believe it. Destiny can be cruel, guess my time hasn't come yet.
It seemed my wounds where merely superficial. It was just the shock that kept me trembling all week. My infirmire told me several times i was behaving strange. I assured her i was alright, but she would not believe me.
Well... that was the strangest fight i was ever into. So many great friends came along to support. The Gypsies where roaring angry at the Masked Chevalier. Even the Duke and the Duchesses their selves where present. I never felt that honored in my entire life.
From the first round on i was aware this Chevalier Mystre was a Master Swordsman. He could have killed me easily. But i felt that he was just teasing me, merely testing out my skills. After the second round he surely made up his mind. I'm sure he had already found out i had nothing to do with his past. His attention weakened and i even could score some points...
He left me to live another day. And... He saved my honor and my proud. Indeed he controlled the situation completely but made it so i didn't made a complete fool out of myself. Whatever the others may say or think... deep inside he his is a very noble man in my opinion. In other circumstances we even could have become friends.
After the fight we had a little party at the Tavern. I was euphoric... For the first time in ages i actually felt the warmth of the sun on my skin again... I smelled the sweet delicate perfume of roses... I felt.... ALIVE !!!!
Rumors have reached me, this mysterious masked man is hiding deep in the Duchy woods. Hunters have seen a strange person running away. Bloodstains where found on a tree bark... I feel for him. When we where fighting i felt his loneliness, his bitterness. Hatred, focused on one man he is willing to find... and kill. I am certain if he ever finds his opponent, his death is inevitable...
I wished i could help him, heal the wounds in his mind, listen to his story and give him advise to temper his feelings.
I hope some day he comes to me for help. I wanna thank him for sparing me...
I am sentenced to live... but i feel... he is sentenced for life...
P.
Waiting for the Chevalier Mystre....
The moment of truth...
The Duché de Coeur is delighted to announce it's Egg Decorating Contest. Open to all courtiers of the Royal Courts, prizes will be given in both RP$ & L$. Two hundred RPS Influence Points will also be awarded to every contestant.
Congratulations!! (April 25, 2010):
1st Place: Fellice Babii - Search for Persephone
2nd Place: Harleywan Haggwood - Duchy Egged
3rd Place: Pekel Panacek - Dance Macabre; Candace Ducatillon - Duche Easter Egg; Trasgo Beaumont - The Souvenir
It was a pleasure to see the thought and creativity that went into all of the entries. Thanks to everyone that participated!!
Norma now enjoys frequently gazing in her own trumeau. Seems that Seamus didn't have room for his trophy in the cottage. Photo by Seamus Gabardini.
"One always accepts presents with a smile, " she said as she began to open the wrap. As the mirror came into view and she realized what it was, she began to cry. "But, how can this be?" she said with tears of joy. "
MariaLouisa Muircastle assembles the winning pieces of the Queen's Trumeau. Photo by SkyeRyder Varriale
"It is so your turn ... get in here". Photo by Seamus Gabardini.
For those adventurers that haven't quite finished yet, the clues & mirror pieces are still in the Duch and twenty RPS Influence points will be given for each piece collected. Contact TatianaDokuchic Varriale for more information.
I am hiding in the woods now...taking some rest and healing my wounds with bandages of green moss.
Sitting beneath a tree, i hear the birds tweeting above, and a squirrel in front of me is wondering what this stranger is doing here...
The duel with Dr Panacek has been so tough.Oh not because of my opponent! He was valiant and fronted me with courage, but he is so unexperienced! No...being used as i am to fence, person to person, without attendants, as i did with Count Byron of Loredan, Ambassador of Venice, i was surprised this time: when i arrived near the Languedoc piste, it was like entering a cage full of lions!
Nearly everybody from the Duchy of Coeur was there, all came to support their friend: from Duke and Duchesses to peasants, bakers, bourgeois, sailors, the ladies and gentlemen, and even a friar...
Not to mention the Gipsies! Ah the Gipsies and their magical weapons! They attacked me before the duel, arguing i had been unfair to their friend. I believe they were unfair to me, but it was not the place and time for discussing opinions! Anyhow, they wounded me badly and I lost a lot of blood: i felt so weak...but i had to come back and fight.
I had lost part of my strength, and would the Doctor have been more experienced, he should have won:but the matter was not about losing or winning, the duel was meant to find the truth about Pekel Panacek.
During this single combat (if I may say so) I felt -almost physically- the hatred of some, and the adversity of all: I am used to that. For two years, i have been hardening my heart, it's like a rock, now. Only...I heard the friar praying for Panacek 's survival, and more surprisingly to me, nearly praying that my soul coud find peace someday. Made me wonder what I resented more: Hate or Pity?
Anyway, i felt relieved I did not have to kill my opponent of the day. All these people are such a tightly-knit and friendly community! I envied them.
I briefly thought to myself that maybe i could live a peaceful and happy life like theirs, someday, somewhere...I quickly dismissed this idea, I cannot allow myself any weakness of will, I have a mission to fulfill. But somehow i felt a need to let these people understand better what my life has been, and have them knowing my story: I will think this thing over, if i have enough time.
Yet my search has to be pursued, in the Duchy of Coeur or elsewhere. Soon, i will have to move to another hiding place, as i sense some men are on the prowl, after me, and I can hear their hounds barking, in the distance...
Dear Diary,
I woke up with a slight headache I think Marias ale is too strong after all
What a weekend it was. I attended the Duchy Fair again. And such strange events took place
Saturday we had the finale of the Quest for the Queens Trumeau. When I arrived the team of Maria and Seamus just found the final part. A well earned victory indeed. They worked very hard for it and I am glad they made the end. We had a great celebration and I was happy to be there. It looks like I finally found a place I can call my home.
Yesterday the fortune teller readed the cards for me. Its creepy how some pieces fell on their place. Can it be true? After all I am a man of science, lets stick to the bare facts But still some sense of imminent danger came over me.
Certainly after an unknown man, wearing a mask, came at the fair and started to insult me. He called himself Le Chevalier Mystre. He challenged me for a duel to find out if I am the man he was looking for I can not imagine I ever made enemies. But like all men in battle, I faced horrors too cruel to describe Could he be someone who wants revenge? Does my past comes back to haunt me?
I still have those vivid dreams. Every night captain Evans dies in my arms again Again and again. I loved him as a brother God knows I tried to save him, but his wounds were too massive. I never felt so helpless and little in my entire life.
Well, today at the En Garde Fencing piste behind the Tavern at 01.00 pm, it finally will be decided for me. I was wondered how much support I got. The Gipsy family was extremely kind. One of their leaders even offered me his help. He is going to be my second They are a proud people indeed. Whatever the result will be, I am already in their debt.
I didnt dare to tell my infirmire. She would be too worried. I arranged that a close friend of mine will give her an amount of money when I pass away, so she will have a good life when Im gone. Thats the least I could do for her.
Well I am not afraid to die. Whatever the outcome, its Gods will. Friar Wasar will certainly agree on that. Maybe today I will find long lasting peace.
P.