[Customs House] Behind, a Sealed Route

[Philomena]

Logically, she knew that the blanket acceptance of her request should have made her feel relieved. Perversely, she felt nothing but pity for Raisa, and a kind of cold, numb acceptance for herself. What a lonely world the girl had! Doing a work she was not made for, her mother the last family she has, and she both far away and a world away in temperament, and now Minnie, a little shard of something connected at least a little bit, a little fleck of her world, comes... and then goes.

Minnie groped at some form of comfort, "You could come, I... we might find your grandmother, there, or some little relic of her. I would be glad of you."

No, that felt wrong, like she was asking something of her.

"Or... or your grandmother's papers, I have them, they are in the chest. You could... I do not know. They would give me comfort if I had a family. But I know you and I are not necessarily the same."

x

[Liminal]

Teresa sighed. It was not an expression of anger, and indeed, seemed not to be directed at Minnie at all. The sound simply came, an exhalation full of longing and sadness. The woman brushed a stray strand of blonde hair away from her face. "This journey is yours, Doctor Lefting. Qalaya and her servants have called you away. It is not mine to take, and I wouldn't intrude on the doings of a deity. As for the papers, the books, whatever else there is, I can keep them safe for you. I doubt that Qalaya's handmaiden needs any additional protection from me for the written word, but I'll do what I can." The sun was gone now. The moon was not visible, and although Raisa was looking out the window, all she could really see was her own image, reflected back to her from the glass. The hollowness in her eyes, and the weight that seemed to lower her shoulders -- she might remind Minnie of the later portraits of Kenabelle, when the voyage was behind her in time, but not in mind. She stepped back to her chair, but didn't yet sit down. "I'll miss you, Doctor Lefting. But I"ll remember you."

[Philomena]

It struck Minnie, quite suddenly with the last line, that the two of them spoke from different places. Minnie spoke of what must be done - but Raisa's words seemed more caught up in what would be - or it seemed to Minnie. OR perhaps, what would not be.

She knew, of course, that Raisa would say no. She would have liked Raisa to be the one that sailed with her - there was a kind of symmetry to it in her mind. The Lady Wright and the Scholar, sailing towards the impossible. But the days of heroes were gone, the days of glorious quests passed.

"The west wind carries off all things,
Both joy and sorrow, tenderly
To travel o'er the Eastern Sea.

And now my love is lost to me,
As all loves in the end must be.
Away, across the Eastern Sea

A friend of gods, as well as men.
I was the ship that carried her,
Around about the arbored lee
To sail toward the Eastern Sea.

Now gods, and men, both gone to me,
Have followed her across the sea,
And left me only memory."

From her bag she took a bundle with five hand bound sheaves of paper, carefully wrapped, and set it on the chair. She gently unwrapped it and took the last sheaf turning it over. The cover was written in her own hand: "The Captain's Tomb - a Libretto in Three Acts, by Philomena Lefting. To my dear Teresa, I dedicate this work. May your life be as full as your voice." She then shuffled quietly to the door, not saying anything else unless stopped.

The other four works, are also librettos, the five forming the operatic cycle she'd been working on since her early days in school:

The Gods' Doctor
The White Plague
The Captain and the Doctor
Circumnavigation
The Captain's Tomb

x

[Liminal]

Teresa almost started when she saw the dedication. However, the only thing that she said was a whispered, "Thank you." And then Doctor Lefting was gone, and the Master was left to her own thoughts and the cold lapping of the black waves.

OOC: Once again, a lovely thread! I'll be PMing you soon with details for the voyage.

+1 Socialization
+1 Persuasion
Lore: The sadness of Raisa Wright Allwave
Lore: The poetry of Marie Sendlant (partial)