From the Lost Mailbags of the Hotel, Part 2: Two More Letters and a Video Recording

Scarlet

“Mail time, Scarlet!”

Daphne bursts into the Glittering Moonfire Spa with a big smile. Scarlet, supervising a novice painting a mural of Eilistraee in the spa lobby, turns to kiss her mermaid-girlfriend. Daphne gladly reciprocates. The novice watches them with an intense look of longing and jealousy. Half of the novices from the Drow District Eilistraeen temple has a massive crush on Scarlet that, frankly, makes the oread a little uncomfortable. All of them have the good sense not to flirt with her, but Scarlet still sees the looks they give.

“Hey, my Beloved and I are going to go swimming in the pool after I finish delivering the mail. You wanna come hang out? I got you a super comfy floatie!”

“If I can finish everything I need to get done today, sure. You still on for joining me with Alex tonight?”

“Of course. She still wants to teach me how to ride a skateboard?”

“Is it wrong that I kind of hope she doesn’t?”

Daphne looks annoyed, “I know I’m a little clumsy on these weird human legs but I’m not that clumsy. And you don’t think I’d look cute in the outfit Alex picked out for me?”

Scarlet stammers, little spurts of flame riding her cheeks. Daphne gives Scarlet another kiss, “It’s cute when you’re flustered. It happens so rarely.” Then, the mermaid waves goodbye and heads out the door.

Scarlet leans up against the reception stand and opens the first of two letters. She wasn’t exactly expecting this one:

Dear Scarlet,

Thank you for taking the time to reply to my letter. Am I correct in assuming the secret you were sworn to keep was the existence of the place known as the Hollow Garden? I have not yet seen it myself, but Andy has told me about it and its purpose. He also told me there is a person there you know, a woman who works in the clinic Arabella has established. A Dr. Hornblower, I believe. Is that the person who is important to you?

Regarding your compulsion, there are various techniques I was taught to help me center myself and avoid being overwhelmed. I am not a good teacher. But there are books out there that might help you in learning them. Or you may know them already, as a therapist. I highly recommend them. They make me feel better when the world is too much. As for your hypersexual friend, have you tried chamomile tea? It might help in reducing the number of orgasms she needs before sleeping.

You mentioned cat breeding behavior, and in the second challenge, the transformation I was given was a significant increase in my fertility as well as in the likelihood that, should I be pregnant, I will produce multiple offspring. I don't know how I feel about that. On the one hand, I am not against the idea of children. I have never truthfully imagined myself as a mother, but I also have never imagined myself as a catgirl, and yet here we are.

I suppose the compounding factor is that Andy's latest Gifts mean, according to Arabella, that we'll all live for at least half a millennium, and will remain in the prime of our lives until we die. That is a really long time in which to have children. At a rate of, say, 3 children per year (assuming we take precautions and that my transformation yields multiples in the same way as a cat would produce litters), Andy and I would do well in investing in significant birth control (assuming the transformation doesn't bypass it) or we'll be submerged in children.

Strangely, I find I do not overly mind. I am not alone anymore. I have sisters who would help. It is a good feeling; I never really had female friends before, let alone friends that were close enough to consider sisters.

I would love to continue the conversation but I must go help with the photo wall. Erin sent a letter to Harper, an invitation to Andy's surprise birthday party. Harper is allowed to bring two guests. I have suggested you be one of them. I believe you would enjoy meeting Marissa, and perhaps myself.

If Harper accepts, I will see you at the party. I am hoping you will be there.

Thank you.

With kindest regards,

Claire

Scarlet mulls over the letter, focusing on the final bit first. A party? She pulls out her phone to text Harper, who confirmed that they are going to it, whenever it is going to occur. Scarlet doesn’t handle the time dilation effect very well. Gives her a migraine thinking about it.

Scarlet snorts a little at the first bit of Claire’s letter. The oread was completely unaware that the Hollow Garden existed until she watched bits of Andy’s season with Harper. Still, she did her best to hide Dinah’s existence on the set; she’s glad she doesn’t have to anymore.

Tina’s compulsion is a biological one, though Scarlet may not have conveyed it very well at the time. All of the girls have a very minor version of it with Harper’s exit now. Chamomile tea is no substitute, but Claire shouldn’t have to worry about that. Maybe their exit will work differently.

The bits about pregnancies and fertility has brought up some nagging sensations in the back of her mind. Honey has been spending considerable time finding hunting grounds for spider monsters in anticipation of needing corpses for her offspring. Daphne has been asking Harper to fertilize her egg sacs on at least once a week basis since they all arrived here. Skye and Aelene have been plotting pregnancies almost more than planning their weddings. As soon as the nursery wing has been built up enough, there are going to be so many fertilized wasp eggs in the hatchery room, from Honey and Tina and maybe Nyadia. She hopes Claire and the others bound to Andy will be able to handle a bunch of kids.

Still, Scarlet will see Claire at the party and can formulate a response then.

The other letter is from Dr. Holt:

Scarlet,

I appreciate your concern, but truly, I was glad to know Maeve was also in this situation, because I was then able to reach out to her and hear from her in return. In fact, Arabella and Genet were able to even synchronize our seasons long enough that I could visit Maeve in person, and we could spend some time together, talking about our situation and advising each other. It was a much-needed distraction and it wouldn't have happened without you. Thank you.

Regarding Harper, I am glad to know you recognize the challenges of the situation. I would suggest that it is highly unlikely Harper will not need therapeutic support after the show ends – this is true for all of you too, by the way. The traumas caused by repeated transformations, coupled with the high-stress environment of a hostile season, need to be addressed and should not be swept under the rug. I highly recommend finding therapists with whom to talk, if nothing else, to elaborate your grief for the persons you once were. They deserve to be remembered, too.

I believe your second concern was associated with the place known as the Hollow Garden, which Andy visited last round. I have not yet visited it, but I could understand why you would be sworn to secrecy until he found out about it and i understand your concerns. Hopefully we will be able to discuss more thoroughly in our next batch of letters.

Thank you also for explaining both your new nature, which admittedly I struggle to understand (much less now, after Erin's latest transformation), and your concerns about Andy's balance of time with us all. While yes, that would be a concern, I believe there are ways to allay it. After all, once the show is over, it would be perfectly fine for multiple women to spend the night with Andy, unlike the constraints of date night here. And Andy's gifts mean we all need much less sleep, with Andy probably not even needing it every night: that gives us more hours in the day. Certainly, there will be days when one or the other is not in Andy's bed. We will deal with such situations when they happen. I will say I am not a great fan of what you say happened on this Mark's season, not only because buying transformations changing one's sexuality is clearly the Hotel's intent, but also because I believe artificial shortcuts don't help in the long run. Some of us will be curious about sleeping with other women, such as Liesa with Sam, perhaps others as well. Others won't. We all have to make our own evaluation. But even in a monogamous relationship, the couple doesn't always have sex each evening. In such circumstances, bonds between harem members may be more valuable in terms of trust and friendship, being happy that your sister is enjoying her time with Andy, rather than jealousy or absence. And we know Andy will do what he can to show no favoritism.

His recent ability to split into Andy and Andi may help, and not just if he should be interested in exploring female sexuality: in Andi form, she could spend time with those of us who don't feel like having sex, or who crave Andi's companionship, while the Andy form could cater to those who need physical satisfaction. More upgrades to that Gift might be highly desirable and I will discuss it with him when I can.

Good luck with your last challenge, Scarlet. I hope we have the opportunity to meet in person, once you all complete your journey.

Yours,

Marissa

Scarlet is glad that Dr. Holt got to meet with Dr. Petrov. The name Genet brings her magma blood to a boil, as it had ever since finding out the name of the bitch who delayed her letter asking for advice on how to save Dinah to Dr. Petrov. Nice to see the bitch can be helpful, at least to people on other seasons.

Scarlet feels a bit frustrated at the therapy advice. She knows Harper needs it, but it is almost an impossibility. The closest thing to therapy she can get the sea elf to participate in is semi-regular spiritual advice from High Matron Jelenneth, when the drow can spare the time between temple reconstruction and her normal duties. Not that therapy exists as a profession here. Harper has adamantly rejected her former life; while it may be for the best eventually, she is still stressed and hurting. Stubborn, my love is.

She hopes that Dr. Holt and the rest of them can work out the time situation. She doesn’t know if Dr. Holt was ignoring that Scarlet was focusing more on the romantic and emotional support a partner is to bring than on just sex. While she was operating on more incomplete information when she wrote last time, she has seen how incredibly busy Harper is. Without Daphne and Tina and Josie and Alex, Scarlet would be starved for affection. In fact, part of her worries about Harper is that the sea elf may not be getting intense enough emotional support from any of them.

Things to talk about that the party. Be nice to get some real ballroom dancing in.

Aelene

“Maybe, Lady Silmerana. I did write to one of them. I bet this is a reply.”

Aelene opens her letter and, happily, she does not have to read. She has no idea what is going on with this video recording embedded on a plain sheet of parchment, but both of them watch it:

A brunette kitsune woman is seated close to the camera, slightly off-center, as if she aligned herself by sound rather than sight. Her posture is straight, composed. One hand rests lightly on some sort of white painted cane leaned against her knee; the other is folded in her lap. Her singular fox tail is visible only when it shifts, a small, **** movement. She faces forward, chin lifted, expression calm but intent. Her eyes are unfocused, fixed at the middle distance. Aelene feels confused and sad for this stranger before her.

“Lady Aelenetheria… I hope I’m saying that correctly. Thank you for the message. And for choosing a recording. You were right—this is easier. For both of us.”

A brief pause. She exhales, steadying herself, as if organizing thoughts the way she once organized charts. I recorded a message for her? Why do I not remember?

“I should say first: I am not... a kitsune. I didn’t know that word before arriving here, and I still don’t fully understand what it implies where you’re from. I’m human. Or I was. I’m a physician by training – internal medicine, hospital work – not a healer in the magical sense. So if I sound overly precise, or a little dull, that’s why.”

The woman gives a faint, self-conscious smile, then continues, “Your kindness came through anyway.”

She inclines her head slightly, acknowledging the weight of what was said with pregnant pause.

“I appreciate your concern about my sight. Truly. And I appreciate that you didn’t pretend it was a small thing. People do that sometimes – out of politeness, I think. Or fear.”

She draws a slow breath.

“I won’t lie to you. Losing my vision hurt more than anything else that’s happened to me since. Not because I loved seeing beautiful things – though I did – but because medicine is... observational. You learn by watching. Faces, skin tone, pupil response, posture. I built my confidence on that.”

Her fingers tighten briefly, then relax. So much pain in her. To lose one’s sight, then kidnapped by the show? How awful.

“But I’m still a doctor. That didn’t get taken from me. My diagnostic habits changed. My tools changed. My certainty… changed. But the core skill – the need to understand what’s happening to someone and help them survive it – that’s still intact.”

She gives the camera a small nod, firm, not quite facing it.

“You offered two paths. Restoration, and adaptation. I’ve thought about that distinction a lot, actually. More than is probably healthy.”

She smiles again, wry this time.

“If my sight can be restored – safely, without trading one harm for another – I would accept it. I’m not proud enough to refuse help out of principle. But I’m also not waiting for it. I can’t.”

Her head tilts, listening to something faint off-camera – voices, movement – then returns to the lens. That is quite sensible, I suppose, if her world lacks those that can easily cure blindness. I wonder why I did not send a cure directly? Surely I could have gotten a Scroll of Regeneration from Daphne.

“So I’m adapting. Slowly. Badly, sometimes. With bruises and wrong turns and more frustration than I ever let my friends, and Andy, see.”

A soft huff of breath, almost a laugh.

“The cane you sent… thank you. I understand its function. I tested it carefully. Repeatedly.”

A pause just long enough for Aelene to have another thought. Why send a cane? Isn’t that for those with a missing leg? I should ask one of the others.

“It’s... reassuring. Not just because it’s useful. Because it assumes I’ll keep moving. That I’ll go places on my own again.”

She rests her palm against the handle, grounding herself.

“I don’t know what will happen to me here. Or after. I don’t know if I’ll leave as I am now, or as something stranger, or something healed in ways I can’t yet define. But I do know this: I’m still participating in my own life. Not observing it from the sidelines.”

Her expression softens, earnest.

“Please tell your wives – your family – that their examples were received in the spirit they were offered. Adaptation isn’t resignation. It’s work. Continuous, often unglamorous work. And I respect anyone who does it.”

A pause. The woman straightens slightly. Aelene squeezes Lady Silmerana’s hand.

“And... thank you for writing to me not as a cautionary tale, or a symbol, but as a colleague of sorts. Someone who understands loss without needing to dramatize it.”

She inclines her head again, more formally this time.

“Be well, Lady Aelenetheria. And thank you – for the message, and for the trust implicit in it.”

She reaches forward carefully, not quite fumbling as Aelene would expect, and the recording ends.

Both elves sit in silence for a moment. Lady Silmerana breaks the silence first, “Who was that, Lady Aelene?”

Aelene sighs, truly baffled, “I don’t know. The kitsune who claims not to be one never said. It was a reply to a message that I don’t remember writing. One moment.”

Aelene pulls out her phone and texts Lady Tyalangan. The conversation was brief, as her betrothed wants as little to do with planning the aesthetics of their upcoming wedding as possible. Aelene did get her to agree to boughs of carob trees to decorate the rafters of the cathedral. Still, answers that Tyalangan mayhaps should not have delivered so quickly were provided.

Aelene fills in Lady Silmerana, “Her name is Myra and she was just added to the harem of the good human Andy Cooper. She apparently just lost her sight a few days ago, by her perspective. That is monstrous of that set’s host.”

Lady Silmerana considers it, “But she seems to be handling the show well. And you helped her. Perhaps, when you make your message, you will have done some good? How our lady love keeps the time stuff straight is beyond me.”

Aelene shrugs; the time stuff is confusing to her, too. Perhaps it is a wizard thing?

“I suppose we did get our answer, Lady Silmerana. I got a response from a letter in the future. Lady Tyalangan is likely not taking me. But, we do get to go to our weddings in a few short months. That will be enough of the frivolities of parties for me.”