Enola POV - Summer 1888
Coming into her lodging room at the end of a busy day tracking a band of thieves, Enola noticed a small letter under her door. Knowing that the three people who sent her letters usually had something interesting to say she snatched it off the floor and ripped it open.
"To Miss Enola Holmes,
I hope this letter finds you in good health.
I on the contrary have contracted scarlet fever, which has mother and uncle Whimbrel as anxious as a mouse in a cat house. No matter, I intend to come out the other side of this battle waving my sword in the air.
There are some lovely zinnias in the vase by my bed.
Regards,
Viscount Tewkesbury."
She sighed exasperatedly at the letter. She had been hoping the letter had been from Tewkey, and that this time it wouldn't have been about another unfortunate scenario the git had got himself into. "Zinnias," she said to herself searching for her floriography book, so she could decipher the (rather amateur) secret message he had been putting in his letters recently. Enola smiled at the small writing, which said 'Zinnia: Thoughts of a missing friend.' While she was not technically missing per se, she had been missing from his life since their separate professional lives had become so important. She wished she could be back in the countryside, camping under the stars with her runaway friend. She missed the feeling of butterflies in her stomach when he stared into her eyes and wondered if, secretly, he felt the same. The sound of her stomach grumbling pulled her away from her thoughts. She looked up at the clock and realised it was dinner time, so she threw the letter on the bed and brushed the dust off her gown as she ran downstairs.
Autumn 1888
Two months later Enola was reading the morning newspaper at her desk when she heard a rather loud knock on her door. Remembering her mother's defensive training, she carefully undid the lock as she readied herself to fight whoever was disturbing her peace. Making her voice as powerful and dignified as possible, she enunciated "You may come in." The door opened quicker than she expected causing her to attack by instinct. "Well, that took you... Wait, Enola... Ouch!" yelped the man at the door that Enola had recognized as her brother Sherlock a second after landing a punch to his stomach.
After apologising profusely and making her brother a cup of tea, curiosity finally got the better of Enola and she decided to enquire as to her brother's business in her lodgings. "I assume you have come to take me back to finishing school?" she asked, and then added before he could answer, "And how did it take you, Sherlock Holmes, greatest detective in the world, ten months to find me?" Sherlock chuckled, before firing back, "It took me precisely 4 days to find you, but given I knew you were happy and reasonably safe here, I simply neglected to tell Mycroft, who does wish to send you back to finishing school, that I had." he informed her, amused, "Thank you for the compliment though."
Calmed by the knowledge that the day's activities would not include packing her bags and being reintroduced to Miss Harrison, she settled into the chair across from her brother. "Then why, might I ask, are you here?" she asked, and then added excitedly, "Have you found mother?" He sighed sadly, "No, that puzzle is still eluding me. I have however come to warn you of a meeting Mycroft, and I have been invited to, by the Dowager Marchioness Basilwether." he expected Enola to interrupt at this point, but she was too taken aback by the mention of Tewkesbury's mother and confusion as to why she would want to meet with the Holmes brothers. "I have been informed that this meeting concerns our positions as your guardian. And while Mycroft believes you should not be involved, I believe otherwise. So, I will be taking you along." Enola found herself speechless in shock, confusion, and a stack of theories, she wanted to ask him a hundred questions but was stopped before she could even get to "What on earth...". "That is all I know Enola," he chided "Just be at my flat, looking respectably dressed, at 2 pm sharp tomorrow." And with that, he placed his cup back on the saucer and let himself out before Enola had time to ask another question.