Catarina's First Report

You receive two letters.  One is in Catarina's hand, though the print is tiny and cramped.  The other is a note that Count Dignus Harrans added.

Harrans' note says:  "These letters were delivered by a serving man to our docks.  Catarina Corresanti, he said, gave them to him and said they must be delivered directly to you.  However the Count [Corresanti] informs me that Catarina refuses to come home to Corresanti and that he suspects she may have been corrupted.  I advise you to mistrust her words."

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Catarina's Letter:

Dearest.  I can send one sheet only.  Forgive my shortness, but there is much you must know.

Your letter caused great outcry and shock.  At the next council Harrans demanded Pontifex Phinias be tested.  Molossus begged this be done, to assuage fears.  But the King refused them.  The city remains calm, though I have heard rumors of unrest amongst the countryfolk.

Benobles, Pelasgus, Recondus, Signarum, Ignis and Nimborus recalled their counsellors for consultation.  [map of Rostilla]

Your neighbors betray you, except Invictus.  Both Sandapilla and Rite have asked that their sons be placed as wardens over Surrexus until Martialis may rule.  Both say they will send no further aid to Invictus, and I fear Count Durus may not hold without help.

Your enemies I know of:  Galens, Sandapilla, Rite, Ossorius, Tillaford, Sodaliford, Aperte, Saltus, and Solistraford.  General Satianus Corresanti supports the king loyally.  New rumor:  Count Ossorius has found evidence of the villainy of the Order and brings a paladin to the capitol for trial.  [map of Rostilla]

The King has offered a bounty for your family:  15 bars of gold for you, 7 for any of your male relatives.  (He made no exception for your brother Titus, despite his status.)  He says the Surrexus women are not to be harmed, perhaps to assuage Martialis.  Sodaliford has placed a large bounty -- 6 bars of gold -- on the head of Sir Valens, who killed Tillaford's men.

Rumors of border raids between Ossorius and Pelasgus, who accuses them of uncleanliness and harboring necromancers.  The king sends a mediator.  The king has demanded that your grandfather, Count Molossus, appear in the capitol and offer formal apology to the House of Tillaford for the "murder" of its men, and to the Crown for affronts against these royal agents.

I work for your Aunt Surilla now.  The day after Legis Day, Surilla visited the Corresanti villa.  Though my aunt never includes me in their dinners, this day she invited me to join them.  Your aunt questioned me about you, and to my shock I found myself answering.  I am no fool;  I know enough recognize the snare of suggestion.  I did not waste my energy in some futile struggle.  Instead, I gave her double-edged words and let her slice her own wrists.  I spoke of my bitterness, of how you had shattered my dreams and abandoned me;  I did not say that I knew you had not done any of these things of your own will.

And so she dismissed me... they all did... as a slighted handmaid.  Worthy of no concern or attention.

At first I dared do no more than wait and watch, and count your enemies and friends.  Then fate forced my hand.  My uncle informed the family that we are to return to Corresanti.  My aunt, of course, balked -- as did my cousins in the Tower.  Me, she would have sent home.  But I would be of no use to you there.  I begged the Countess not to send me back to those desolate hills and cold halls.  Why, she asked, should she risk angering her husband on my behalf?  He will be angered by your refusal, not mine, I told her -- for he cares not a whit about me.  Besides, I could serve her.  Everyone ignores me.  I hear things -- from servants, from ladies in waiting.  Things no one would say to a Countess.  What things, she urged?  Knowing that she courts your aunt's favor, I told her whispers about the King's favors.  How he feared the growing unrest, and was said to be considering a strategic marriage.  How several nobles pressed their daughters forward, hoping to catch a most eligible husband.  

That evening Surilla dined with us again, and wished to hear more of this talk.  And when the evening was finished, Countess Corresanti said she would never dream of exiling me amongst 'those ridiculous frost-bitten sheep' of Corresanti.

These days I feed your aunt tiny morsels sprinkled with poison:  rumors that the King favors Count Galens' daughters, hints that not even Magnus Tillaford is her true friend, for he encourages the King to consider a noble marriage (to whom, I have not yet found, but he does not favor Galens, this I know).  Surilla grows frantic, snapping at shadows, sure even her allies mean to rob her of her ambition.  Soon, I think, I can drive her to strike at her 'enemies' -- and call the King's fury down upon herself.  Perhaps this is unkind of me;  perhaps she will lash out at some innocent.  But all who remain at court are either fools or corrupt, and I have no sympathy for their foolishness and evil.

So far I have learned little from Surilla.  Yet she made an odd slip one evening when she was deep in her cups.  The talk had turned to the villainy of men, and how fickle they were, how quick to abandon their 'one true love'.  All men, said Countess Corresanti, were worthless.  Not all, Surilla replied.  There was one true man in the world, one who would never betray her.  Who was this paragon, the Countess sneered?  Surilla would not name him.  But at length, stung to defend her beau, she snapped, "My brother would never..."  After these words she fell silent.  She would say no more and left soon thereafter.  None of the Corresanti could grasp her meaning;  I do not believe any of her brothers hold the slightest affection for her.  Larentius most definitely does not -- does she hint that Martialis is corrupt?  Perhaps I should not mention my worst fears, since they may be groundless.  But some part of me worries that it was your father she spoke of, and that she has done something truly unspeakable to his body and spirit.

I have no more space.  My love, always.  I hope I am not absent from your heart, even now.