Tomboys and Troublemakers pt 3

[wilphe]

Wighard looks at the last unread item

The envelope

I'll bet this is what appeared in this file after the priests prepared it

It doesn't bear the secret marks of the main bundle, just Wighard's name in simple, but immaculate handwriting

Something doesn't add up in my slow mind Wighard it sounds as if the High Matriarch has had quite a change of heart to go from defending this Cecelia to asking for her murder.

Maybe she has not, I have heard that Shallyans are discouraged from thinking too deeply on who best to help, not because that's a distraction from helping people - though that is the official reason - but because then they might start thinking that the best way to alleviate suffering would be to fix things about society. Like maybe have a few less Lord Lohenain's in the world.

Officially, these people are flirting with heresy

Unofficially, they never seem to lose their connection to the Goddess.

But the Church of Shallya can't acknowledge them, because it wouldn't be allowed to exist if it did. I believe that is what Handmaiden Quenay was threatening.

To them Cecilia d'Orgremont is no longer a priestess, she is an agitator


He breathes out slowly

Let's see what this last envelope says

He breaks it open and reads, he can almost swear that it is re-writing itself as he opens it. In response to what he just said? In any case it is in the same neat cursive as his name


Do not judge the Matriarch too harshly Magister

She has the good of the cult to think about

As long they stick to treating symptoms of injustice and not the causes they can work and do good

Many people would suffer more if they were to be supressed.

If an innocent woman has to die, well what is being a Shallyan about if not about sacrifice for the good of others?

She may even have asked you because you would have doubts, there are plenty of thugs and assassins without scruple she could call on if she really wanted to find them.

In any case it is the Handmaiden Quenay who has decided she needs to die

I cannot say if she speaks for the Damsels as a whole, but I understand she is a cousin to Lord Lohenain

I can use someone like Cecilia d'Orgremont, but she will not be safe until she leaves Bretonnia

You could perhaps kill Handmaiden Quenay but even if she is acting without sanction the Damsels are unlikely to welcome the death of one of their own.

So I would like you to get her out, anywhere but Anguille. Your friend The Lord Reissner would be good, but I leave it to your discretion

This will clear your debt to me and more

The letter is signed with a simple "V" that flows into an owl