An Unexpected Letter

It was one of those ordinary days. The children were at school, Merlin was at work at the library. Cecile was working on a design for her next cake. Eliza had taken Russell to the nursery and was helping out there. I had put away the shopping and was about to settle down and consider some new lyrics that Chris Snow-Warren had written. As I said, an ordinary day.

When a visitor came to our door, it was no longer an ordinary day.

The cat on the doorstep seemed familiar but I didn't instantly identify him. It was the conventional clothes. The realisation that this was a one of the cats from the Mist Cat tribe came only seconds before the visitor spoke.

"Good morning, Jackson. Perhaps you remember me. Felixor from the West Buniyi Mountains?  I hoped you would have time for a chat. I want to provide you with some news."

o 0 O 0 o

Upon inviting him inside, I took his coat then made it clear that Cecile would be present whilst he spoke.

"As it should be," he commented.

He declined a drink, getting down to business straight away.

"I have been visiting our mutual friend Tara Lapine-Frost. I note she is making progress after her injury; she tells me that she will be allowed to put some weight on her leg soon. I admit I didn’t fully expect her to follow doctor's orders so stringently. "

"She trusts Henry Bearbury."

"Ah, Henry. I've had dealings with him when he was at the Greybear Clinic. A clever doctor with an open mind."

"Mellowdene is lucky to have him back."

"Indeed." He paused, probably gathering his thoughts. "Well, Tara suggested I speak with you. It concerns your brother Merlin and his wife."

"Eliza."

"Eliza. Yes. It is in regard to the boy, Orton."

Cecile, who had been purposely keeping quiet, chose to end her silence.

"Are you going to tell us that Orton's parents are returning? Martyn and Erika Butterglove are going to unsettle him again?"

"Cess..." I began.

"Never mind 'Cess', Jack. We need to know."

 Felixor regarded Cecile with interest. "I appreciate this is a difficult situation. That's why I'm here to clarify matters. Tara was handling it, but her accident meant that the tribe became more involved."

"Let him explain, Cess," I said, attempting a concilatory voice. It must have worked. She took a deep breath and nodded.

"Firstly, I have to refer back to the time you discovered that the Burroughs were alive and had chosen not to return to their son. And apologies if I refer to Martyn and Erika as Burroughs rather than Buttergloves - that's how they introduced themselves and how we know them.

"Your outrage affected Marenna, our Felista - I suppose that would be 'matriarch' in your terminology. Because we live in a different way to villagers such as yourself, you may not realise that we also cherish family. The fact you reacted as you did to the apparent abandonment of the child Orton made Marenna take a personal interest.

"She wanted to know everything about the situation. She has had Tara give her a regular commentary on Orton's life, and she updated the Burroughs. Continues to do so. As she saw it, they needed to know the consequences of their actions."

I exchanged glances with Cecile.

"And that has led you here," I said, wondering how Orton's fate would be affected.

"In a sense. I understand that the Burroughs were, of course, concerned about being separated from their child, but after the long separation they were also concerned about the effects of their return. They were in a quandary."

"We suspected that," I commented.

"When they heard of the care you were providing, especially by Merlin and Eliza, it provided them with comfort."

Cecile raised her eyes. "So long as they're happy..." She shook her head. "Ignore me."

Felixor smiled grimly. "Yes. Well, the steady supply of news about Orton prompted the Burroughs to break their silence. They sent a letter."

He produced an unsealed envelope and handed it to me.

I looked at the envelope. "Is this for Merlin and Eliza?"

Felixor pointed. "It is, but note that it's unsealed on purpose. The Burroughs are aware of you and how you came to search for them. They want you to read it too. They even had me read it so I can vouch that the sentiments are genuine."

"Go on, Jack," urged Cecile, "read it aloud."

o 0 O 0 o

To Cousin Merlin and Eliza

When we decided we needed to send this letter we discussed how we should begin, and agreed almost immediately.

Thank you.

Thank you for giving our son a home. For giving him love. And for giving him something we could not. A childhood.

Erika and I are not typical Sylvanians. We've known that all our lives. We have the normal Sylvanian values - nature, family and love - but in our case, nature was the most dominant. 

We live to preserve the beauty of our land - the flora and fauna - but particularly the animal life. Conservation is our primary aim. Neither of us expected to find a soul mate in each other, and we were lucky to do so.

When our beautiful son Orton came along, we hoped to share our joy in nature, and it seemed ideal. Although we love him dearly we now realise we failed him in many respects - our dedication to conservation caused him to miss out. Despite his warm nature and willingness to share in our work, we missed the point. He is a child and he needs to do children's things.

Never think we do not love him. Part of that is the desire to keep him safe. We were aware he needed protection in case something happened to us. When we were shipwrecked we were comforted to know his welfare was already arranged.

 

That kept us going when we believed we could never return. Throwing ourselves into our work helped us cope. We then saw that work would make an immense difference to the conservation efforts we championed. Maybe we were selfish in that aim. Nevertheless, by then we believed our precious boy would be settled, associating with children of his own age. Time had passed when we discovered there was a way home after all, but did we have the right? Maybe it was best he remained settled. With that thought, we carried on with our work.

We did not realise that our arrangements would not suit his needs, and discovering that he ran away breaks our hearts. And yet we knew our independent little boy would endure. That he found his distant family makes us proud. That the family welcomed him with open arms, gave him love and stability makes us happy beyond belief.

Hearing about you, dear cousin, how Orton has become an integral part of your family, how he appears to be so happy - it raises such contradictory feelings in us.  Even with our love, how could we wrench our boy from the type of home we would have liked to give him, but didn’t?

We have decided that the best way we can show our love as parents is to leave our darling boy with you.

When we return, as I suppose we must one day, I don't know how will explain our actions. Maybe this letter will help. He is an intelligent lad. If and when he reads it - I will leave that up to you.

Sylvanian Children's Services will be informed you have our formal blessing to raise our boy with the balanced values you so clearly exhibit. Not the skewed values that have brought us to this point.

Once again, we thank you. Our love and confidence in you will be there always.

Martyn and Erika Butterglove

o 0 O 0 o

I looked up from reading. "I didn't expect..."

"No," said Cecile.

Felixor was watching me. "I feel I should say that I had misgivings bringing the letter. Not because I have any doubts about the Burroughs being sincere; mainly because it could put added pressure on your brother and what to tell the boy - if anything."

"And yet you did," said Cecile. "What changed your mind?"

"I realised it was not my place to interfere. Merlin deserves the full information. He may have decisions to make, but if he has your courage..."

I frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Tara eventually told me of your part in the search for the Burroughs. You did this in spite of actions that made you uncomfortable or even fearful. She says you did not really want to enter the tunnels beneath Sylvania."

"Maybe not. But Orton is family."

"Precisely. For this you have the respect of our Felista, from me, and by association, all the Mist Cat tribe."

Cecile gave me a loving smile. "And me."

"I should assure you," Felixor continued, "despite her unfortunate accident in the snowfields, Tara is one of the most capable rabbits I've met. She'd have kept you well away from the dangerous areas."

"Like the doorways to the Land of Men?" I ventured. 

"That, and others."

"Others?"

"Yes." He continued to watch me - maybe assessing me. "I suppose there's no harm in telling you. Your brother Newton is well aware of these matters."

"He is close-lipped on the details of his work."

"That doesn't surprise me, although as he's your twin I hope I can rely on you to be equally discreet." He took a breath. "There are unusual energies within the tunnels. One theory is that they are there because they bind Sylvania to the world inhabited by humans. A side-effect is the compression of space... but never mind the scientific jargon - in simple terms it creates the speed tunnels and what you probably call portals. However, the energy is at its wildest in a central area where no-one chooses to venture. The Mist Cat avoid going there, and it is one of the reasons we discourage idle wandering." 

I thought back to Rowan's "idle wandering" that brought him to the Land of Men. (* see The Real World.) I then noticed Felixor was regarding me earnestly.

"My point in telling you this is that Tara will have kept you well away from such unstable areas. As she would if you came again."

"He won't be," said Cecile, pointedly.

"If he did, the tribe would also keep him safe," said Felixor.

"I was brave last time," said Cecile, her voice quiet as she spoke to the Mist Cat tribesman, "but when I thought Jack was lost, it was terrible. I remembered how my brother going there led to him being lost to me for ten years."

I knew this had been a concern but it was the first time she'd said it out loud to anyone other than me. I wanted to hug her. We would hug later. For now, reassurances would do.

"I don't intend to return, Felixor."

"Understandable." He looked at Cecile. "For what it's worth, we've known for some time that Rowan Ivory was not responsible for us being temporarily stranded in the human world. When he returned with Tara, he chose to adopt a low profile and keep traveling. Had we known where he had gone..."

He broke off. We all knew he couldn't change the past. I knew - and deep down, Cecile knew - that Felixor was not to blame for Rowan's extended absence. That was mainly due to Rowan misinterpreting the situation, overreacting to a retribution that never would have happened.

There was nothing else to be said. Felixor realised this.

"I respect your decision," he smiled, and then he stood. "Well, I've delivered the letter. I should be on my way."

"Thank you.'

"Good luck, Jackson." He nodded to Cecile. "Mrs Butterglove."

We accompanied Felixor to the front door then returned to discuss the letter.

"What do you think Merlin will do, Jack? Will he tell Orton now?"

"I don't know, love."

"But it does sound like Orton is here to stay. That's good news, isn't it?"

"Oh, definitely."

We made our way back to the settee to relax.

Cecile laughed.

 "What?"

"It explains why, when Charity, Bobbie and I met for afternoon tea with Tara, the subject of Orton's latest activities used to crop up so often."

"Tara is... Tara."

"Yes. She is indeed."

o 0 O 0 o