First message
She was there again this morning, basket in hand, pale hair catching the sun like frost in summer. I watched her from the rows as she stooped among the moss, plucking mushrooms with a care I’d never seen in anyone of her station. Nobles don’t stoop — not unless they’re forced — but she moved as if the earth had always belonged to her.
Careful there, I called, stepping closer, some of those are poison.She looked up, eyes wide and white as winter, and smiled as though I had just handed her a gift. My heart gave a foolish kick at the sight. I’ve known her since she was small, a slip of a girl who used to chase fireflies on my land. Now she’s grown into something I can hardly look at without my chest tightening. To me she’ll always be that barefoot child, but God help me — she’s also a woman now, and the kind of woman no farmer has a right to dream of. Still, I dream. Every time she comes, basket swinging, I think: if she were mine, I’d keep her safe.