The River Beyond

Chapter 7

With the quill in my hand, and ink touching the tip, I plotted my words out carefully on paper. This signal would provide my family with the ability to understand the dire circumstances I've now put myself into. Journeying across the River, to where the meaning of peace so desperately lies, I would not be able to fathom its truth.

At this same moment, I felt compelled to ask them for their blessing in person, differentiating the hurt they would have in their hearts if I did not, and the love they would bestow upon me for finding my own path in life.

My hands shook as the quill touched the paper, but soon my fingers began to glide effortlessly across the written sheet, forming words through my own emotional state, into coherent sentences I knew my parents would understand - feelings of love, of loss, and of hope for the better.

———

Although I slipped the letter beneath their door, I decided it best to wait out the night, listen to them in length, and consider their response, for it was only right to do so now.

- - - -

Once the daylight broke through the lace curtains in my quarters, and Carilla joined me to get ready for the morning, I took a warm bath and came out to lavish accessories and another dress to wear for the day. Some time ago, I'd told Carilla dresses were becoming less and less a part of my unique style, for I would wear them every day, and insisted upon pants paired with a cardigan for practicing archery in the pasture. However, to this day, Carilla has chosen to bypass that belief.

Her new clothing choice made me smile, rolling my eyes while slipping the dressing on over my undergarments. Its coloring of earth tones in a deep maroon signaled today would not be one of practice, but rather respite for the journey ahead.

Once it all would be recollected for me, my mind began to wander to the truths of the journey ahead. From where I would venture, to where I would be coming from, and who this would make me, had thoughts swirling in my mind.

As I pondered these thoughts, I had not quite realized the revelation they would hold, in shaping who I've been meant to become. But as the day continued moving forward, and my parents greeted me in the morning as I shared the news of where I would end up venturing towards, they shared moments of love with me, encouraging me to go onward with my journey.