Part 14

          The day before I'm scheduled to meet with Sylvia, the psychic Anna recommended, I take a walk over to the Masons' after work.  While I don't have time to dig into any kind of gardening project or anything, there are a few hours yet before sunset, and a relaxing walk around the grounds will do me good I think.  I've calmed down a little from my last vision - the talk with Rosemary helped ground me again, reminding me that there's much more to the family, and the history of the place, than the moments of pain inflicted by Azal's cruelties.  And I miss Evelyn, I haven't seen her in some time - even if I don't see her, visiting her canterbury bells always warms my heart.
          Entering by the main gate, I circle around what had been the front yard, skirting the fringes of the woods that have encrouched upon it over the years.  I reach a horse chestnut tree, and notice that a few of its branches are conveniently within my reach.  It occurs to me that it might not be a bad way to get an overhead view of what's left of the house's foundations, if I can get a little ways up in the tree and find a gap to see out between the leaves.  Also, I haven't climbed a tree since I moved out of my parents' house, and I want to see if I still can.
          There's a few feet of foundation and bit of brick wall still standing just beside the tree, so I step up onto that - and find the lowest branch is only about chin-height, making it easy to clamber up on to.  From there, I actually find a pretty manageable path upwards, though the structure of the branches keeps me near the central trunk most of the way.  I'm probably a good twenty feet or so up, when I finally spot a wide sturdy branch that extends in the direction of the house.  I scootch carefully out onto it - luckily, it's a pretty old tree, and there are plenty of cross-branches for me to hold onto to keep my balance.  I spot a nice open space between some of the branches, and I lean a little to one side to see if it'll be enough to see the house's outlines---
          When I fall.
          I didn't slip - the branch beneath me just disappeared, and my heart stops thinking it broke and it's a long way back down---
          But before I can finish the thought, I've landed, having fallen about a foot and landed on... carpet?
          I'd laugh if I wasn't still in shock.  The branch must've extended into the space the tower used to occupy - I'm on the floor of the library!  I glance around me and listen, but it seems I'm alone.  Which is just as well, it takes me a minute to get my heartrate back to normal again.
          Then I remember what happened the last time I spent too long on an upper floor of the house - I'm not going to narrowly escape one drastic fall just to take another!  So as much as I'd like to nose around the library, I also want to find someone to talk to.  And, you know, not fall twenty or thirty feet again.  Quickly and quietly, I dart down the circular stairs, listening carefully as I go.
          Voices in the ground floor parlor make me pause at the second floor study.  I can't make out any of the voices well enough to be sure if I recognize any, but it sounds as though it's a social call of some sort, there are a number of women's voices.  Somehow, I suspect a stranger (and a woman in pants, at that!) wandering into the middle of a society gathering wouldn't go over very well.
          Looking around the wood-paneled study, I see the two desks on either side of the room - and suddenly remember Meres' letter, which is still tucked inside my sketchbook.  I really don't think keeping it with me has actually caused any trouble, but I still feel a little guilty about having accidentally stolen it.  I don't even know what year I'm in right now, but it's closer to the letter's time than my own time is, so, what the heck.  Why not.
          It doesn't seem I'll be able to put it back right where I found it, but, you know, I'm in the study, letters would be expected to be there anyway.  Guessing by the style of the items on the desks, I suspect Meres' (or maybe Azal's?) is the one beside a window looking out over the gardens.  They look so beautiful now... I wish so badly they were this well-tended in my day.
          Though several of the drawers are locked, I find one that isn't, and start to slide the letter into it - when my eyes fall on a letter already inside, which begins with "Meres".
          Now, I'm fully aware that I'm currently acting on the theory that taking a letter from this time into my own caused trouble. (Which it probably didn't. But you never know.) So reading another piece of private correspondence is probably not the brightest idea I've ever had... but how can I not?? And I'm stuck in this room for the moment anyway...
          So I set Meres' letter to Azal in the drawer, and lift out what must be a letter from Azal to Meres, and start to read:

          "Meres,
          I shall arrive in your North Carolina in late April.  I am still not entirely well - but I am not likely ever to be so, I have lost so much.  My memories have not all returned to me, and I begin to fear they may not.  This could be as much blessing as it is curse, but you know how deeply it pains me to have any of that which I have learned over so many, many years slip away from me.  We all have things we take deep pride in... and I fear, as well, that some of what I've lost may not remain elsewhere in this world to be found again.
          But, that may also be for the best.
          I am dubious about the change of scenery - and such a prosaic life you seem to be leading!  How you pass the time in such a small and sleepy place, with so little company, I cannot comprehend.  But at the least, it will make my palace here feel all the more comfortable upon my return.  I have heard Mephisto is in New York, I may spend a little time with him on my way to you.  I do not expect that it will delay me long, for while the entertainment he provides is always excellent, you know I soon grow tired of his company (and that of his inevitable protégé of the moment).
          I do look forward to seeing you again.  This is hardly the first time our coterie has disbanded so, yet I find myself unusually troubled by it.  Perhaps it is only a residual weakness from my recent trouble, perhaps it is only that the spread of civilization enables the miles between us to increase at each parting.
          I shall be with you soon.  Do take care of yourself, and do not remain too much alone.
          Azal."

          I slip my camera out and take a careful photo of this letter, before putting it back in its place, under the letter I've just returned to the house (which I already have a photo of).  His writing is much more angular than Meres', though just as graceful in its own way.  This is the most I've ever heard in Azal's voice, come to think of it, and he sounds... like much less of an awful person.  I'm still angry at him for a lot of things, nothing will change that, but, at least this brings him into the realm of a person again, rather than purely a monster.  I wonder what kind of illness - or, I suppose, injury - would have caused him that kind of memory loss?
          I suddenly notice the voices downstairs have fallen silent, and when I look up from the desk, my eye is caught by motion out the window.  A procession of light-colored dresses winds along the central path, some pausing by the fountain, others continuing on into the lush rainbow of blossoms.  I can hear laughter and light chatter, and I scan the hair and faces as best I can, looking for any I recognize - but most of the women have parasols to keep the sun from their carefully-maintained pale faces, so I don't have much luck.
          But before I can take much time to study, there's a crash in the room below me, and a frightened gasp.  I return to the stairway and peek down into the parlor - where I grin, seeing Jacob kneeling by a fallen tray and a scattering of tea cups and saucers.  Poor kid!  I continue down the stairs, trying to make enough noise that he'll hear me coming and not be startled.
          He is, of course, startled anyway, not recognizing me at first.  Then his face clears - I realize it's a little older than the last time I saw it - and he grins.  "Why, I remember you!  How did you vanish like you did last time, the Missus thought I was feverish and seeing things."
          I grin ruefully.  "Unfortunately, I don't really know how it happens, either.  But I hope I didn't get you into any trouble?"
          "Oh, not at all, Miss.  And even if you did, well, I get into enough scrapes under my own power, it wouldn't make much difference."  He gestures at the fallen dishes around him.  I'm relieved to see only one has actually broken, the thick rug beneath our feet must have cushioned the rest.
          I grin and help him place them back on the tray.  "So I see..."
          "Oh, no, you needn't do that."
          "Hush, it's no problem.  Just talk to me while I do - does Celestine have company over?  I heard voices in here a few minutes ago."