Stories inspired by a letter from Dietfried Baugainvillea. It certainly helps to read 'Baudelaire's'
'The Lost Scribe of Justitia' and 'Skeletons of the Heavens' as references.
No characters from Violet Evergarden belong to me, as none of the ima...
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It had taken nearly four years for the northern railways to be repaired. Once they were, Cattleya Baudelaire and Benedict Blue made ready to board the train to Machtig. From there, nearly 20 miles further would be their ruined home city of Capria. At the train station in Leiden, Claudia held Cattleya in his arms, his chin resting atop her head. She embraced him and breathed in his scent, as if she might forget it the scant few days she would be away. Claudia stepped back, and held her at arm's length. "You'll think about it, won't you?" Cattleya's eyes slid down from his face, and rested on a shirt button at the level of his chest. She simply nodded. Then the train whistle blew and the conductor hollered, "All Aboard!!" Benedict Blue sighed, irritably. "That's the second call! Come on!" Claudia scowled at him, and gave Cattleya one last kiss before letting her go. They sat opposite of each other in the train car as the steam engine lurched to life. The world outside slowly began to slide away. "So, which is going to happen first?" Benedict asked, pointedly. "You finally accepting yet another marriage proposal from him, or you presenting him with his baby you've got going and he knows nothing about? I personally would find it hilarious if. . ." "Hush yourself up!" Cattleya snapped at him, in a hushed tone. Benedict chuckled, and turned his attention to a newspaper left behind from the car's last passenger. Cattleya kept her attentions out the window, and then after a moment hurriedly found a lavatory to sick. The lurching of the train did nothing for her new found nausea. North of Machtig, in cooler climates, there grew a myriad of herbs the women of Cattelya's family utilized for the female population of Capria. There were teas for every phase of a female's life. For many, a relief from monthly cycle pain, stress headaches, new mother depression, and change of life ailments, had always been more than welcome. If only Cattleya's family home had not been a total loss in the war, she would still have her mother and grandmother's herbal medicine journals. But all the volumes had burned with everything (and everyone) else. Cattleya would have to rely upon her own memory for the particular herbs she planned to gather to relieve her relentless morning sickness. But this was not the main reason for her visit. In recent days, a part of Cattleya's mind that did not wish to return, argued constantly with her heart which yearned to see the ground generations of her family had lived, worked, thrived and died. Further more, there were those she and Benedict had to leave behind, but not without the promise to honor their deaths by returning as soon as the railways made the journey possible. They disembarked in Machtig, known for their beautifully hand crafted native flower wreaths marked for all occasions. Cattleya and Benedict purchased a total of eight wreaths, two for Benedict's parents in mass grave #4, one for Cattleya's grandmother, who died just before the war and therefore had her own grave, one for Cattleya's mother, who had no grave but had been given to the elements after her hanging, and then four of their close friends, all girls, in a mass grave #16. One of the wreaths was slightly larger than the others. Benedict was willing to pay more to honor one of the dead girls, that being Gabriella. Not that Cattleya needed an explanation, but Benedict gave one anyway. "She was. . .well, who I considered someone I would have. . .you know, stayed with. . .had she survived." Cattleya squeezed his shoulder. "I know. Honoring her as such does not dishonor the others." Benedict sighed and then nodded acceptingly. He looked away and blinked back unwanted tears. "I am scared, Catt." "Scared?" "Yes. I just don't want to see. It will make it true that she was just dumped into a pit." Cattleya pulled him to her, and hugged him tightly. "We do not have to go, of course." Benedict took a deep breath. "Yes. I do have to go. I have to face the truth of it all and move on." Cattleya smiled and kissed his cheek. "Alright, then. I see the excursion bus coming." The road into the outskirts of Capria was not a smooth one, but Cattleya kept her nausea at bay. It helped that it was later in the day, and the fact that the trip took less than an hour. Not a whole lot had been done in clearing away the rubble of the destroyed city, but according to signs set up around the city, that was about to change. The railway availability apparently stirred the minds of those with the means to rebuild, if only for access to the Tabern River. At the moment, however, there was nothing but the bombed out skeletons of a great many buildings and homes. The excursion bus carried others who were traveling to Capria and further north to Intense. It would return to Capria by 3, giving Cattleya and Benedict plenty of time to lay their wreaths. They first made their way to Benedict's parents, and were surprised to find an actual (although makeshift) wooden maker with words burned into it. It read:
