________________________________________________________________ Message: 36531874, 38 lines Imported: 1:42pm EDT, Sat Jun 25/94 Subject: heather's next To: Kris Fazzari, fazzari@umich.edu, jlarke@umich.edu, liamr@umich.edu, reeshau@connected.com, sodapop@chico.css.itd.umich.edu From: seddy@mpcc.org It has been so very long since I've had to reorder my thoughts; for the last 13 years it has all been so wonderfully clear. Now it seems as though I must take once more an active role. Very well, I am content with what I've had. Life in the Court was just what I've always dreamed, especially since learning how to blend more effectively. The majesty and manners of the place were elegant beyond description, and that is perhaps as it should be; their words speak delicately of matters other than their outward meaning and intent. Participating in a conversation is akin to throwing down your gauntlet, and the ensuing display is just as dazzling. In so deadly a locale, it only makes sense that aggression be sublimated so, for the perils of actual combat are many and often quite grisly. I do not have many friends outside of my immediate family here; most of the women resent my position and the men want little to do with a married woman, especially one with so watchful and dangerous a husband. Still, I have ever kept my own company, so that I am not greatly distressed by this behavior. Oddly enough, my closest friend was once Mandor's occasional outlet for frustration. I now know where he disappeared to at times during my pregnancy. There exist no hard feelings between us, though, over our various relationships to the man. Maddy is, however, the only person whom I've ever seen address him less than properly in public. Emer has grown into a charming girl, and already I detect some attempts at positioning among the noble fathers of the court. I am certain that their zeal is merely in response to her wit, manner, and growing beauty. She has begun to see me as a teacher, I'm afraid, rather than a mother or a friend. Her affections seem reserved for her father, who tries helplessly to return some of her to me. I am told that this is normal, that she will come around eventually. My foster daughter was ever by my side, but she had no father, so I really don't know. Of Mebd, I have seen little, nor of anyone else at the other pole. Mandorways runs fast even in relation to the Courts right now, and that is how I'd wished it. There were too many things transpiring, and I'd foolishly put my hand in several of them. Now that events have conspired to involve me once more, I am at least glad for the time that I've had for my studies which have better prepared me to pick up the threads. Whatever happens, I have seen my daughter grow, and that will have been enough.