The power to write and be understood is a gift given to many, but it is a gift that should be cherished no matter what happens. Humans have managed to find many ways of showing off their emotions but the most amazing is the power to write, as a letter can be kept and cherished forever.
Lyra's World
'Dear David,
I'm sorry you came to find me like you did, it must have been very hard for you.' Lyra wrote, and then stopped for a second. Her and Pan were sitting on the grass in the hot sun of another world, and she had decided against her better conscience to write to David and apologise so that he understood what was happening. Posting a letter to him would cause no problems; she would simply cut through to her own world and post it from there.
'Travelling is good, I didn't realise how much I missed the road when I was living in Oxford. I wish you could see some of the incredible places we've travelled too since we left you, it's amazing. I'm writing this while sitting on the grass outside a small village and I can see all the smoke from the houses rising into a haze in the distance. It's so beautiful; I can't remember when I was so happy. We're loving the atmosphere of travelling so much, it's something you can't understand unless you've been here but the idea of not knowing where you're going to end up is something that cant be matched by any other feeling. All around us the farms stretch out across the plains and there are young children playing and working on the land with their parents. It's something you would never see in Oxford.
I left my Gyptian friends several weeks ago and have been travelling since, first with Serifina Peccala and Iorick Briorson from the north and then by my own as they both felt the call of their own lands. I am hoping to visit them eventually but for now I am happy the way I am, travelling the land with Pan and not knowing where the future will take us. It is truly the life I've always wished to live; now I look back I wonder how I ever managed living in a city or town. I like it well enough but it's just not the life I feel best in. I'm unlike you in that way, although I didn't see it before. I love travelling but you seemed always to need the social interaction that came with being in the city. I couldn't handle it; it always made me feel very claustrophobic. I don't know if I've said this already but I need to be moving to be comfortable. I have many friends I never told you of and in the next few days I plan to head towards their homes. Hopefully I'll get around most of them in quick enough time, as I want to start my real travelling some time soon. Although I told you I was going especially to meet Will I spoke to several of my old friends before leaving Oxford and they recommended I took this time to go visiting all the amazing places I have friends in. I understand why they say that because this could easily be the last time I get a chance to go travelling. There are some things involving my destiny not many people can know but I'm trusting you now Davie, trusting that you will keep my history and my present a secret.
I am the new Eve. I know this must sound strange to you, and I'm not asking you to believe but I believe that everyone on earth has a part to play. And I believe that the story of the world is on a constant circle, with each story repeating itself on numerous occasions in a circle non stop. I hope you don't think I've gone mad, this is simply the believe I've been taught in my life, hard to believe it's only been sixteen years. I hope you're taking what I've told you okay, I know it's a hard thing to take but it's important that you understand that it is only in my nature to need to get away.
I must go now, I would prefer to find some sort of shelter before the night closes in on me. Love as always, your friends forever, Lyra and Pan.'
She put down her pen and reread it over quickly. It didn't sound too bad when you read it quickly, and she had managed fairly well not to mention anything about the Dust Maker or other worlds, very well in fact. She put the letter into her backpack, she would post it next time she bothered to pass into her world but for now she would have to move on, she was moving closer and closer to Will with every move and she could feel it. As she walked she sang to herself, another of the songs she had heard in Will's world, and another which had stuck in her mind for so many long years.
By lonely prison wall
I heard a young girl calling
Michael they are taking you away
For you stole Travelians corn
So the young might see the morn
Now a prison ship lies waiting in the bay.
Low lie
The fields of Athenry
Where once we watched the small, free birds fly.
Our love was on the wing
We had dreams and songs to sing
It's so lonely round the fields of Athenry.
By lonely prison wall
I heard a young man calling.
Nothing maters Mary, when your free
Against the famine and the crown
I rebelled, they ran me down
Now you must raise our child with dignity.
Low, lie
The fields of Athenry
Where once we watched the small, free birds fly.
Our love was on the wing,
We had dreams and songs to sing,
It's so lonely round the fields of Athenry.
By lonely prison wall
She watched the last star falling
And the prison ship sailed out across the bay.
For she'll live and hope and pray
For her love in Botany Bay.
It's so lonely round the fields of Athenry.
Low, lie
The fields of Athenry
Where once we watched, the small free birds fly.
Our love was on the wing
We had dreams and songs to sing
It's so lonely round the fields of Athenry.
Pantalaimon joined in as they walked, and soon they were lost in the coming darkness, the only thing giving away their positions the sound of their voices echoing in the large empty world.
Will's World
"It's so quiet. It's like we're the only people alive."
We're not, but everyone is sleeping. You shouldn't worry about things.
"It's hard not to when I've just come into a place where even the birds are silent."
They are, but that's just their way. This world has been in this state for a very long time. I don't recommend we spend any more time than we need here.
"I'll cut us a way out now." Will replied, and quickly cut a gate away from the world which they had found themselves in. It was nice enough when you first came into it, but soon you found the silence and nothing was imploding, locking you in as if there was no way out and no way to escape the forthcoming peril. He cut a window and found himself in a sunny world with the light shining through the blue haze of clouds. He looked to his right and saw nothing unusual, the long plains reaching as far as the sea in the distance reminded him of somewhere but that was nothing new. Most places nowadays reminded him of somewhere he had previously visited. He looked to his left and suddenly the feeling of belonging fitted into place, for far in the distance he could make out the outline of a grove of tall Wheel-pod trees. And, nestled in the topmost branches of one the platform he remembered Mary re-making on one of her last days in this world. He looked further and just as he had expected he spotted the village by the edge of the sea that was the home of the Mulfea he had spent some time with. Was it possible that he could see it from here, the tree he and Lyra had spent there nights together under? Yes, it was blurry and vague in the distance but it was definitely there. Will's heart jumped at the o-so-familiar sight but he forced his heart to quiet and sat on the edge of a rock to get his bearings before setting off towards the village he knew he would find all his friends living in.
The village was very different when he arrived, and he was shocked to find that Miya, Mary's special friend had died the summer before in an attack as had many of the Mulfea he remembered as adults. The village was now run by the 'children' who were more than happy to give Will a huge greeting and a hut of his own to live in. Will half remembered some of the children as the three who had been there when he had come so many years ago, and it made him sad to see how much they had become different over the years. However they made him feel comfortable and welcome, and Will found that within a few days he felt happy and safe and was settling into life among the Mulfea once again. It was during this time that he wrote to Mary to tell her of developments, with the plan of cutting through to his world and posting the letter at a later date.
'Dearest Mary,' he wrote, and found himself spilling all his deepest feelings into the letter.
'I love travelling so much, although I miss you like hell. I'm writing this from the world of the Mulfea, where I'm sitting under the tree where me and Lyra once stayed. It feels incredible to be back here after so long but in a way its' scary…so much has changed. I'm not certain is it a good thing to break the news to you but Miya sadly died during the summer a year ago in one of the final attacks, and the village is now run by the Mulfea we knew as children. They are doing a very good job though, and the land prospers. The wheel-pod tree's are all back to normal and the harvest is going as planned. There are more than enough wheels to go around and the Mulfea are living through a time of plenty. There have been no attacks on villages in many months, and recently the only attacks there have been are only small and nothing-like compared to how they used to be. There has been no villages destroyed in all the time we've been gone and the world is settling down. Miya died in the final attack on any village, although it is hard to call this place a village anymore, it is more like a fully fledged town. I have been given your cottage to stay in although I feel better to sleep under the tree where me and Lyra once slept. You'll never believe it, but when I went into your house for the first time your clothes were still in the closet. The rough cloth skirt you used to wear when you were mending nets and the blue wrap-around sarong you always wore when we were going to sit on the beach and in the evenings when you were telling stories, they all brought back such memories. I'm not certain is it what you wish me to do but the village people, when they realised what I was doing writing this, asked me to send you back your clothes and their gifts of some more Wheel-Pod oil. I told them of the lack of success we had when planting the trees and it was their wish that you kept the oil. All who were left after the attack that destroyed most of the village last summer send their love and wishes.
I walked up to the opening yesterday, although it was something I was very much afraid to do. I needn't have been however, though there is still a stream of ghosts coming from the gateway. The trees that were planted around it have grown large and strong and have developed into a form of barrier which tunnels all the dead in a protected line out into the open air where they can be sure to escape properly from the bounds of the earth. It is truly something magnificent to watch and gave me a feeling of joy which it is hard to explain. I saw no-body I recognised from our world there which in a way is a blessing, but there were certainly some who I recognised from the battle of the many worlds. Many of the dead from three years ago are still forcing their way up along the tunnel which leads from the world of the dead now the abyss has been closed. Much to Kirjava's disgust I found myself walking a small way down into the world of the dead to see how it is changed, and I was amazed. While when I passed down first it was a dark and depressing place it is now sunlit and joyful, with many ghosts happily enjoying the state of the world that they have come too. They all choose to come up though, because the call of their daemons calls them all in the end.
I visited the grove as well, and found the very place it all happened. The memories of Lyra there were so strong the whole atmosphere vibrated and I was almost blinded by the strength of love filling the place. I always knew our love was strong, but I didn't realise it could rattle a world. I could almost feel Lyra as I sat there on the grass, dibbling my feet in the cool water and relaxing against the grass. I don't know if love like ours is strong enough to leave a lasting mark but there was certainly something there. It amazed me to feel it.
I hope this letter reaches you in the good health it leaves me. My love to everyone at home, please tell Lydia I'm not really mad at her, it was just the stress of leaving. Thinking about you always, your friend, William Parry.
Letters home, what are they thinking about! Next chapter is going to be about Dawn and life with Myst, and it's going to continue every-other until I kill someone. I'm sorry, but it just has to be done. In the words of Harry Potter author J. K. Rowling, 'to be a children's author I have to be a killer.' Please review. Love, Stargazing Maiden.