22 July 1870, Thursday
Metz, Alsace-Lorraine, France
Dear Herr Schmidt,
I do not know if this letter will reach you, as I am not sending it via the normal post, and am rather counting on your extra-ordinary abilities to allow it or its contents to find a way to you.
I write in the hope that some agreement may be reached between us that will end hostilities and allow natural forces to reassert themselves.
I am given to understand from your sister, that you are a very powerful being, who unlike your brother and sister, has not found a place for yourself in either your mother or father’s country. It is also my understanding that you have sworn an oath and bound yourself the King of Prussia. I do not know the nature of that oath but it seems to require you to take direction from Herr Hans Bopp.
Some excuse can be made for you and your behaviour as you are not human and have a more elemental and passionate nature as a result. For Herr Bopp no excuse can be made. He has threatened my friends and more importantly killed an innocent bystander in a fit of pique. He is human and responsible for the consequences of his choices, including using the powers granted to the Bull of Damascus, a creation and collaboration between humans and the djinn intended for the benefit and protection of all, for evil purposes, I have very little hope for his redemption at this point.
However, something that my experience so far has shown me, is that the most unlikely of people can choose to redeem their past actions by present choices. I hold out hope that you are one of them.
My companions are not likely to comprehend my motives in writing this letter to you. I freely confess that I am unsure of them myself. Except that I believe that every being has its place under the Wing of Compassion even if they have not been shown the way before.
I do not know if there is anything I can do to rescue you from your current circumstance. However, you have certainly been given evidence of the determination of my friends and colleagues to help those who have fallen under the influence of dark powers. I know from my own sources that there are forces arrayed against humans, fae, and djinn that would sweep us and all our makings into the dark abyss of chaos. We stand between the dark and the light, facing the darkness to keep it at bay.
I do not know if we can turn the tide of the war that is building between France and Prussia but I would ask that you remove yourself from the field of battle and use your tremendous powers to aid all in the coming battle with the devourers. You may not feel that you have a stake in this world, or any other, and so you may feel that destruction and death do not impact you. However, there is much that is beautiful and worth preserving in this world.
I would not choose to fight you again if there were another choice. I will candidly admit that part of my motivation stems from fear of you. You seem to be both ruthless and powerful with no one to love or protect. That is a fearful combination. You also have an astonishing power to rise from the dead.
Though I am told that the final death for you will be like that of a wave upon a shore, leaving no trace of the life lived in the imprint of the universe. I personally think that is so much balderdash. We are all loved by the Universal Power and I cannot believe that God would be so negligent as to deprive some of his children of the life everlasting when it has been granted to the sons and daughters of Adam and Eve. The path for you may be different but the choice is yours wether to follow or not.
I digress. If, by any chance, we both survive the coming encounter, you will find that it is a tendency of mine, and not always a beneficial one, as I tend to be divided in my mind as to how to deal with a problem until the decision is upon me and I can forestall it no longer.
We are quickly coming to that point.
I do not know if you can be killed. But I have been told that you can be destroyed. I know that I can be killed as I have been on the death’s doorstep twice in the past week. I do not want to die (though I will at least be in good company given the spirits that haunt our pequilar group) and I would not see you destroyed when you have such potential to be a friend of Creation.
I would not even object to you fighting for your King if it were on a more equal footing with the sons of men. I am told that powerful beings like yourself have agreed in the past to allow some of their power to be bound away from their use, in exchange for protections from types of harm that would normally bring about the final death.
You have seen a corrupted form of that power used by the Comte d’Erlette. In its pure form it was a much more equal exchange. I know from the intelligence of your brother and the wit and compassion of your sister that there is something in you worthy of being saved, that being used as a tool by the King of Prussia and his agent Herr Bopp is not your highest and best destiny.
I understand that it would take a great deal of trust for you to abandon your current path in search of the one that I offer. I can make no promises except on my own behalf. I do not even know how the logistics of such a thing could be brought about. I do have full faith and trust that it could be made to happen if both of us were willing.
I extend my hand in a offer of peace and ask that you consider my proposal.
I await your answer.
Victoria H. Whinell
P.S. I realize that you are a master of communicating though dreams, however I would request a more conventional response to this letter. V.H.W
Proceed to Four-square consequences
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