Another evening of tossing and turning in her suite at the Hotel Excelsior, her ivory silk nightdress was bunched and twisted around her. The bed coverings distressed from their mistress’ unrest. The braid in her hair disheveled. From the pitch of darkness, dawn was not far away and she had barely slept a wink all night.
[img_assist|nid=2861|title=|desc=|link=popup|align=left|width=640|height=480]The last letter from Edward had disturbed her and it had been a few weeks since he sent word.They had, since his departure, written frequently. The letters often arriving in the wrong sequence and randomly depending on the port and mail service to Babbage. His last hastily scrawled letter placed him somewhere in the Windward Islands, still giving chase to a nameless, faceless sea monster. They had run into some pirates, encountered hostilities from locals on some of the islands and were now safely in St. Lucia. The submersible had been damaged on the starboard side by a wayward cannon ball and forced to stay in Vieux Fort until they could restore the vessel to seaworthy condition.
Leia flipped onto her stomach and gently placed a hand on the empty pillow next to her, caressing it delicately. She stayed like this for a while with thoughts of her dear husband in peril and in the hands of pirates until sleep finally overtook her.
You poor dear!
/me takes note .. Prepares a Lovely Basket with Lavender, Some fresh baked Lemon cookies, mint tea and takes particular care to tuck a good size bottle of liqueur, ((absinthe shall do well )) .. Covers Basket with a pretty pastel powder blue gigham cloth . Ties a Yellow ribbon to Handle .. ((for Friendship)) Jots a short note on imported floral note card .. Grabs a cute child, tosses them a new shiny coin .. sends Basket on it’s way ..
Dear Miss Leia,
I do hope you are well , please pardon my delay in sending you a welcome note and token.
The nights in the city can be grueling with the heat and long summer days . Might I suggest a nice stroll in tubes with a rest in The Lotus deep Under the Sea ..
All The best always ,
Ever Breezy Carver Fabre
“Child, can you wait a moment and carry a letter back to Mrs. Fabre? There’s a lemon cookie and this coin for you it you do”, she added with a grin.
“Yes’m”, the child nodded eagerly and waited, fidgeting as the blonde lady went to her desk.
Picking up her fountain pen and a cream colored sheet with delicate embellishment, she writes with a clean flourish:
Dear Mrs. Fabre,
Allow me to extend my deepest gratitude for the basket of delights I received in my hotel suite this afternoon. A splendid surprise! You managed to assemble a collection of my favourites.
I will endeavour to find The Lotus, to take respite from this heat and hope to find you there doing same, so that I may show appreciation in person. Thank you again for your kindness.
With gratitude and friendship,
Mrs. Leia Rossini
With a creative series of folds and a small sprig of lavender inside, the letter gets tucked into it’s envelope. She drips wax onto the closure, pressing her personal monogram to seal it and hands it to the child with a coin, who dashes off with cookie crumbs a-flying in a trail behind him.