When he had finished writing his letters, Francesco reached for the box of sealing wax and seal that he knew was kept on the upper shelf of the lesson room. He brought the box back to the table and opened it up. Inside were three sticks of sealing wax, one red, one white and one gold, along with a sealing stamp made of gold or some similarly colored metal. Francesco was about to light the sealing wax when he glanced down at the design on the seal. He frowned, then remarked, "The seal is different."

Catarina glanced up from the sums she was working on. "What do you mean?"

"It's not the archbishop's seal," Francesco stated, remembering the seal on the envelop he had torn open in Naples what felt like forever ago, "And it's not my...our father's seal either."

Catarina glanced at the seal in Francesco's hand, but she'd seen it before and knew what it looked like. "That's the Sfroza family crest. When our father was Pope, he used a different seal that was destroyed promptly following his death, and never used by anyone other than him. What do you need the seal for anyway?"

"I need to seal the letters to my sisters," said Francesco, "but it can't be true. Someone must have used it after his death."

Catarina's eyes narrowed. "How would you know?"

Francesco bit his lip, "Because they used his seal to send the letter saying he was dead."

Catarina looked shocked, "What?"

Francesco sighed. "He...he always used his seal on letters to my mother and letters to me as well, and we were always so glad to receive a letter with that seal. Then, one Sunday, a letter came for her, with his seal, and she was so happy..." his breath hitched, "but when she opened it, she turned white...I remember it exactly; Damiana was sitting in a corner and Maria had one of the twins,Lucia, I think and was at the stove, stirring the Polenta, and Vincenza had Giovanna in one arm, and my mother started stuttering, then burst out crying, and Vincenza grabbed the letter with her free hand, and said, 'Fuck, he's dead.' The I said, 'don't say that.' then she thrust it at me and said, 'Just read it, Bastardo,' and then I read the letter, and..." He trailed off, and took a deep breath in, trying not to cry, especially not in front of his little sister. He clenched his hands into fists.

He kept talking, because he wasn't sure what else to do, and he felt like now that he'd started he should tell his story all the way through. "Well, I was sure after that, and it was like a blow to the stomach, then Giovanna started crying and Vincenza told her to shut up, then Maria scolded her then Vincenza said something about the letter, and then Lucia started crying, and Maria grabbed the letter to read for herself, then Damiana comes up and asks what's wrong in her normal voice, and Vincenza who isn't think straight tells her, and after a minute, she starts screaming 'No!' with her hands over her ears and banging her head on the floor, then my mother tells us to go to bed, or something, and we listen, with Maria taking the twins, and me and Vincenza dragging Damiana because we didn't know what else to do."

He finished his story and takes a deep shaky breath in, wiping his eyes on his sleeve and sniffing. Alessandro who hadn't been listening to the conversation, and probably didn't understand everything that Francesco said, climbed into his brother's lap and threw his arms around him. Francesco returned the hug and said, "That was years ago. Anyways, my point was, someone must have used his seal to send that letter. They probably destroyed it afterwards though." He looked away, cheeks burning."

Catarina nodded slowly. "I suppose...I'm sorry."

Francesco refused to look at her. "You probably have memories just as bad."

Catarina looked away, remembering the night she had fled from the screams of her dying parents. "You're right. I...let's not talk of such things."

Alessandro, still perched on Francesco's lap looked from one to the other. "What's going on?"

Francesco stroked his little brother's hair. "Nothing. Do you want to help me seal the letters?"

Catarina went back to her sums, smiling, glad that her brothers were getting along, at least for now.

A/N-That was emotionally exhausting to write. I'm going to skip ahead to Maria and Vincenza's replies next, and maybe come back to Catarina and Alessandro later.