Lace of Lords

Prologue

My dear Rosaline,

The mind is a fragile place to inhabit. Lifetimes are spent building, expanding it to seemingly no end, and yet in an instant, that riveting expansion of invested lifetimes can vanish like a sleek, black cat under a speed-limit surpassing vehicle.

It is inevitable though that what we can retain from our periods of expansion can be looked upon fondly before our moment of complete erasure. Such has not been the case for me, and as I reach my time, I'm more often than not left confused and worried by my periods of growth. Frankly, I've always believed that life is linear and in perhaps a shallow sense, follows many of the far more concrete aspects of existence by abiding by a set of physical laws - inertia for example. Life to me is an unstoppable force until it meets the immovable wall of death that beckons to us from the instant we start wailing in the doctor's arms; fragile, naked and afraid. 

My wall is coming, Rosaline, and I'm afraid I've stretched far past my allotted time on this plane.

I've left letters to you amongst my possessions in hopes that you should develop an understanding of who I am and the life I've lived, and the secrets our family possesses. It should come to no surprise to you then that in my will, which I hope you'll be reviewing soon, I have left all of my possessions to you.

I understand this will be challenging for you as you've stayed with me all these years, but I'm afraid you won't have much time to wallow in your mourning. These letters of mine will reveal to you some things that I know you will not have suspected at all, but there are few faint hearts in our blood line - which I'm sure you'll come to realizes as they come flocking in after my death - and I fear there may be some that will not take so kindly to our secrets as yourself. 

I'm sorry I was unable to reveal this hidden side of our family to you sooner, and beyond that, I'm sorry that I should be the one to share them with you at all, as it really should have been passed on to you from your parents who loved you so dearly, I reckon it hurt them more to leave you in this world than it hurt you to grow on without them.

All this to say my dear, that life is not linear and in many ways, your parents, and soon myself, will continue to walk beside you as you pass through and beyond your own years of expansion. The mind has fewer limits than you believe it to and I hope that in time you'll come to understand my sudden departure, and be forgiving of me as the spider's web untangles. 

While I ask you to be forgiving, I beg you not to be too much so. There are people in this world that seek to do you naught but harm, and as I pass into the next plane, I fear I will no longer serve as a barrier between them and yourself. Keep your wits about you my beautiful girl and perhaps you will not live your life with the same fears as have I. You have a life ahead of you, but I dread to tell you that from now on, you shall have to fight for it until you no longer can.

I'm sorry if this first letter has frightened you, and I'm even more sorry that the following ones will likely render you even more so. 

Know that I love you, and please trust in my assets, as I've kept a fair many of them to protect you and reveal to you the truth of our family. I hope we should meet again someday on a more peaceful plane, but until then, stay safe and stay skeptical, Roseline, for you have many roads to tread and so many things to discover before your wall approaches. Remember, darling, that the wall is not a room.

I will miss you dearly Roseline, and hope you will miss me the same.

Love Always,

Aunt Liza