AN: Les Miserables belongs to Victor Hugo.


April 19th 1915

Dear Eponine,

Romance novels? I do not call them that, rather they are examples of the incredible literature of Grecian playwrights. I believe these novels are necessary to own and read if one believes themselves to be a true lover of the classics. However, your playful antagonism reminds of how Antigone teased her family, the more I talk to you the more I think I should start addressing these letters directly to Antigone.

Also Eponine, never ever say you want to come and visit me. You should not have to see what I see every day; you should not have to witness this carnage. Wait for me, one day, hopefully soon, I will return home to you.

I understand your concerns completely and they also reflect the concerns which I have too. However, letters are our only form of communication and the idea of a secret form of code worries me. I can imagine sending out the message to rise on a particular day, but having each division interpret the code differently and thus rise on different days. Though that being said, people may misinterpret me even without the code, and therefore nothing is without risk.

There is a possibility of our plans being discovered but it is a risk I will have to take. If we have the opportunity to change the course of this war then I will take it. I will risk getting caught if it means that there is a slight chance that this war can end faster.

I have begun trying to listen to more of the generals' conversations however, after a few minutes they notice me lurking suspiciously around them and quieten down. I have been able to gather that they intend on turning it into a war of attrition. They believe that in total they will have more troops than the axis powers and therefore will be able to eventually overcome them.

My interpretation of this is that this war will be continuing for years and we men on the front will just be used as cannon fodder until the Axis powers run out of men.

It infuriates me. I hate to admit it but the Axis soldiers are better trained that the Allies. We lose ten men for every one man they lose. Therefore, it is reasonable to assume that if we were to continue this war, we would run out of men before the allies would. That is why we need a change at the top of this army. We cannot afford to continue on in this way if we want to win the war.

More and more men from up and down France are communicating with each other and I really am beginning to believe that men will rise up when we make the call and it excites me. I feel as if there has been a change in the spirit or the morale of the men. I feel as if there is almost a small sense of hope within our camp. It is extremely small and completely unspoken as if if the words were said aloud the atmosphere would be ruined, the generals would discover our plan and the revolution would be over before it even had the chance to begin.

It is a nice change I must say from the dreary, pessimistic conversations which used to fill the trenches. Now there is chatter everywhere, soldiers discussing better ways of winning this war and openly criticising their commanders. We do not worry about them overhearing us. They do not live in the mud as we do, rather they have commanding tents with access to telegraphs, nice food and most of all, beds. We have two blankets to wrap around ourselves and sleep in huddles to keep warm. It's just another example as to why thinks needed to change – like they needed to give me any more motivation!

Well Eponine, I must say that I am proud of you; it really pleases me to hear that you are beginning to cast a more critical eye towards our government. If only more people were like you and were willing to ask for more transparency and for some honesty from our government. And ask those women at your hospital how their God could allow men like us to watch our friends die, to hear the cries of men losing their mind when try to sleep. When we close our eyes all we see are the images of our fallen comrades. Ask them what God would allow this and please, tell me what they say. Nothing infuriates me more than people who believe in God's will or fate as an excuse for theirs or others misfortunes.

Now, onto the subject of your incredible cooking. I am so happy that you have met Madame Julien. In the lead up to our exams at university she would make so much food and force us to go to her home and eat. She started doing this for me when I first moved in to the apartment she saw me during my first set of exams and apparently I looked like I had just risen from the dead. She forced me into her home and made me one of her famous steak au poivre; it was the only food I had eaten all day apart from coffee and stale bread. The next day I made the mistake of telling the rest of the boys about it and they started studying at my house, on the living room floor, complaining loudly about how famished they were until Madame Julien knocked on our door and invited us downstairs.

It became something of a tradition, the boys; much to my dismay would stay at my apartment during the exam period. We, well most of us would study for the whole day until Madame Julien would barge into the apartment and drag us away from our work, take our mind of the exams and feed us the most luscious food, honestly, her cooking is brilliant.

However, a word of caution with the soufflé; be careful how much sugar you put in it as it can get very sickening very quickly. We used to have this cook back when I was living with my parents who put far too much sugar into absolutely everything including her savoury dishes, honestly the woman made the jus for our veal so sweet that we thought we were eating dessert! But that seems like so far away now, and god know what I would do to be able to taste that food now, even if it was so sugary.

Please let me know how your cooking goes, I cannot wait to finally taste your food when I get back to Paris. I hope you are all well and I shall speak to you soon. Oh just before I forget, is the strawberry and orange soup a dessert or a savoury dish?

Take care

Enjolras


May 3rd 1915

Dear Enjolras

You are a romantic and don't try to deny it. I believe I may have spotted Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice while cleaning your room. But of course, defend yourself by stating it is a classic. Sure, or are you reading it hoping to one day find you own Elizabeth Bennet? Oh you are so much fun to tease!

Yes Enjolras I absolutely adore Madame Julien! We have gone to her house several times now for dinner and she takes me to all the best markets in Paris. Her granddaughter is currently staying with her from Bordeaux and she too is an absolute delight.

I'm not quite sure what the soup is meant to be and I am far too embarrassed to ask Madame Julien what exactly it is. We ate it as a savoury dish but the next morning when I got up there was some left over and it was cold so I had it like a drink and it tasted fantastic! I can also imagine soaking biscuits in it too. So it is a true multipurpose dish. I have started making it for the men at the hospital and they too absolutely adore it.

However, the same cannot be said my crème soufflé. It was a disaster, it was so flat and never rose, according to Madame Julien it was because I did not whisk the egg whites enough, but my wrist was in so much pain after just five minutes that I gave up and just poured the half beaten eggs in. I do not have the time, or the patience for these fancy desserts. I shall stick to my cakes.

Also, I'm not sure if Marius told you or not but last week was my birthday, I turned 20. What a terrifying age! I am sure that if I were still living at home my parents would have tried to marry me off by now. In fact I hardly even know a woman to be 20 and unmarried, though that being said I hardly know an unmarried woman who lives in a man's apartment with her younger siblings. I truly am unique!

I spent most of my birthday working at the hospital which I didn't really mind. I tended to some wounds – the women have finally allowed me to start working on infections as well as some basic stitches. Then they allowed me to sit in and watch how they reset the bones of a man who had broken him arm. It was absolutely fascinating. I could not possibly ask them your questions Enjolras, they would immediately fire me!

After Azelma and I had finished work and Garvroche returned home from school we made some crepes and ate them down at the Seine. The sunset is absolutely beautiful at this time of year. In fact, everything about Paris feels beautiful right now, I just wish you were here to enjoy it with me. I am counting down to the day when I will finally get to see you and thank you for changing my life. If you had told me a year ago that I would be living like this, I would have said that you were dreaming but it seems as if my dreams have come true and you are the reason for this.

Please be careful when discussing your plans. It would not surprise me if the army would use the firing squad on you if they found out your plans. They cannot afford to have dissent within the army ranks, especially not when it is rife here in Paris. There have been rumours that the café that you and your friends used to frequent is being used by women who are unhappy with how long and deadly the war has been thus far and are trying to bring about change.

I know they are only women and the government will not even consider their opinion but it is better than nothing. I am hoping to go to these meetings sometime soon, though I have to make sure Gavroche doesn't find out as he will brand me a traitor and never speak to me again (or at least for a couple of days). After hearing of the plans to make this battle into a war of attrition I cannot possibly sit back idly and let it happen. It terrifies me to say it but if it becomes a war of attrition none of your friends or you will be returning home. You have already survived an incredibly long time in those trenches and it will only get more and more difficult to remain alive if your generals continue to disregard human life as they have done so far in this war. I do not know how I will cope if you die. I have been writing to you for almost a year, thinking about you, wondering if you are safe that it has become a part of me. I do not know what I will do with myself if I do not have your letters to look forward to. I eagerly await this war's end so that I may see you again.

I need you to return home.

If this becomes a war of attrition Gavroche will be sent to the front to die. I will not allow my brother to become cannon fodder.

I support you Enjolras and I wish you all the best in your attempt to make some fundamental changes in our military. Hopefully by the next time I speak to you some of these changes will be in motion.

All the best

Eponine.


AN:Thank you for reading.

I am not very happy with this one but I felt that I needed to get something out as it has been a while since I last updated. I will try and update again on the weekend.

Thank you to everyone followed and favourite the story, I really appreciate it.

Thank you to ThinksInWords, I can't believe someone actually recommended my writing, wow thank you so much to whoever that was, words can't describe how happy I was when I say that (I may or may not have happy danced for a few seconds in my room). Thank you so much for pointing out that I had spelt Enjolras's name wrong (wow talk about embaressing) I went through this one week where I forgot how to spell his name, it was weird. I have now done my best to fix all the errors. But thank you for your comment and thank you for reading I really appreciate it.

Thank you to J91 thank you for your comment and for once again pointing out my errors, I really appreciate it and always quickly fix it once you point it out. I thank you for you comments and hope you enjoyed the next chapter.

I would also like to thank PerkeyTurkeyBaby for commenting again, thank you so much I really do appreciate it.

Thank you to yellow111, DitzyBrunette89 and for your lovely comments, they are very much appreciated and really motivate me to keep writing.

Again thank you to everyone who reviewed, followed, favourited or even just read. Constructive criticism and comments are always appreciated :)