She got the letter just after Christmas.
"Tinsel in the beds, tinsel in the gowns…" The nurse shook out a tinsel-y coverlet with a faintly exasperated face, gingerly picking out the silvery strands with her nails. "Mark my words, Dr. Ziegler, we will soon find tinsel in the patients' blood samples. Those natives spread enough holiday cheer to blanket a mountainside in tinsel."
Angela laughed. "Come now, June, it was beautiful last night, wasn't it? With all the lights shining from the lovely bonfire, I'd say the tinsel looked like string from Heaven."
The older woman winced as she plucked out a particularly long strand of tinsel, and then relented with a smile. "It did do the patients some good. Especially the hot food. Cheerier faces."
An intern, a new arrival from the school in London, peeked shyly into the tent at this moment. "Dr. Ziegler…?"
Angela smiled at him. "Yes, Finn? Do you have something for me?" The interns here were the quiet kind, students fresh out of the doctorate academy. They were usually subjected to grunt work, relaying messages between the senior nurses and doctors or taking simple sample from the patients.
The white-coated teen held out a bundle of letters, tied neatly with twine. "These are for you, ma'am. Dr. Eagle told me to give them to you, and to say that Nee'pa Valley has finally been cleared."
"Thank you!" Angela received the missives with delight. It had been so long since the last mail service had come through. With the reception so bad here, the mail carriers were heavily depended on, with their cargo of precious medicine and equipment, not to mention their sorely missed letters from families at home.
The Nee'pa Valley had long been a treacherous road, a narrow path between two crumbling mountains that the natives claimed were haunted. So when a mysterious earthquake occurred and the valley was impassable due to the boulder sized rubble, the panicked natives claimed that the gods were angry and they would not allow the workers to clear away the mess. The mail carriers were held up for nearly three months (!).
But it appears that the letters have finally arrived. Angela almost danced as she flipped through the slightly dusty letters, feeling like Christmas had given her a lovely post-holiday gift. Letters were always a welcoming sight, and the golden-haired doctor always made an effort to read and reply to these missives despite her busy schedule.
She reached a greying envelope folded neatly into a perfect square, and paused. The return address, written in a script obviously more accustomed to verticality, was from Nepal.
Genji.
Angela could not stop the delighted smile from spreading across her face, and carefully opened the envelope, taking care not to rip the paper. And inside was a snow-spattered letter, with neatly written words marching across the page, along with a clean brown sparrow feather.
She commenced reading immediately, with June's humming providing a soothing background noise.
Dear Angela,
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. I trust this letter finds you in good health? From your last message, you have stated that it was "much warmer" in the Middle East, and I hope that it means you won't be coming down with a cold this year. Do you remember the one winter we spent with the others, the year with the terrible freezes? Commander Morrison would not stop sneezing and shivering, so you forced him to take a very strong medicine. It made him irritable, and Lena called him "Commander Sunshine" for a week.
Angela chuckled at the memory. That year was a galling one, with the old-fashioned thermometer Winston hung outside the window nearly devoid of red. Jack, with his body more accustomed to the warm weather of his home, was a victim to the bone-chilling temperatures of that year.
She continued reading.
As for me, Nepal is frigid in the winter, but thankfully the monks keep roaring fires going at almost every hour to keep their joints (and now mine) from becoming stiff. Master has been creaking loudly lately, and I have been telling him to try to stay indoors more often. He loves the snow, however, and urges me to, and I quote him directly, "relax and revel in Nature to achieve balance".
To be honest, Angela, I do not see how unexpected snowball ambushes will relax me at all, for Master has now taken to pelting me with floating projectiles of snow at any given momen
Angela blinked, for here in the letter the neat script halted abruptly to end in a crazed scrawl and ink splot, and in certain places the paper wrinkled up, presumably from melted snow?
The letter resumed in a slightly more breathless tone.
Forgive the ruined paper, Angela, we have no more fresh sheets here. Master had thought it amusing (he is still robot-chuckling, how dare he) to attack me as I was writing. He says that it is a lesson to be aware of one's surroundings at all times, but I digress. I will have to be sure to return the favor.
Anyway, all is well here. I hope you will have a wonderful rest of the year. May your Christmas be warmer than mine (I am still covered in snow).
愛を込めて,
Genji Shimada.
Angela sighed appreciatively as the letter ended, but frowned a bit at the kanji (written with familiarity) drawn above his name. These were new, as Genji used to sign his letters with "Sincerely" or "Best Wishes" in English.
She looked up. "Mrs. Akabane?"
The nurse, who was folding the last of the tinsel-free bedding, paused in her work with a raised eyebrow. They were usually on a first name basis. "Yes, Doctor Ziegler?"
"Are you literate in Japanese?"
June drew herself with pride up to her full height of 5'4''. "Indeed I am, ma'am."
"I would like you to help me translate a phrase a friend wrote on his letter to me." Angela was a bit reluctant to disclose Genji's letter to an outsider, but she was very curious about the Japanese words and the obviously special meaning they conveyed.
June made her way over, pushing the hair out of her eyes. "I would be happy to help." She followed Angela's finger and read the kanji silently to herself. Then, to Angela's surprise, she began chuckling, mirth shaking her robust frame. Angel looked at her in suspense.
"Ma'am, you say this is a friend of yours?" June finally asked, her eyes alight with laughter. Angela nodded.
The nurse jabbed a finger at the paper. "This says, "With love", my dear. The very first character stands for love."
A/N: If my kanji is incorrect, blame Google Translate and not me.