AN UNYIELDING SPIRIT

[alienescence 1415]

 

 

 

 

Written by

Mother Josefina

 

 

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A depiction of three notable Reinmaren women,

Gertrude Barclay, Isolde, and Adalfriede, respectively.

 

 

 

With the recent death of the honorable Isolde von Kanunsberg, I feel the need to write about my late mother, Princess Adalfriede of Hexenwald. 

 

She reigned as the Princess of Minitz for forty-three years; she was a beacon of strength and kept herself steadfast in her noble position. Such was proven even when she met her demise, using her strength to cut open the throat of a werebeast.

 

This very Princess was the first woman who taught me how to wield a weapon, to defend and kill an attacker; which she had knowledge of herself.

 

Just hours after I prepared Isolde's body for her family to keep until the funeral, I found myself hysterically crying in the Kretzen city square. Fallen to my knees in my hysteria, I looked up at the sky in prayer. At that moment, I felt my mother’s presence; the sight of her face, radiating in the sun and clouds, gave me the strength to pick myself up from the gravel. My brother-in-law, Estmund, guided me to the Temple of Waldenic Martyrs where I continued to think of my mother and her late hirdwoman, Isolde. Too, I began to think of my late aunt, Gertrude Barclay, whose warm and cheerful spirit touched those around her, and those who knew her personally.

 

It is nothing short of a miracle, for I have never been one to recover from my grief in the moment so quickly.

 

 

 

CONCLUSION

 

In summary, find the strength to rise from your grief; for your lost loved ones will look upon you with warm smiles from the skies above. They will always look down on you with love for the rest of your days.

 

A CLOSING PRAYER

 

Almighty GOD, peerless, omnipotent, omnipresent.

Allow us to have hope amid grief,

Guide us all through the dark with Your everlasting light,

And grant us peace in Your presence.

Amen.

 

---

WER RASTET DER ROSTET

 

MOTHER, JOSEFINA

Court Chaplain of the Heather Court.

 

 

[Toffee 2843]

We will train in the clothes we are wearing, for I am not going to teach you the ways of the battlefield. I have barely seen true battle myself. Nein, it is these clothes that you will be wearing if you are attacked by an assassin or a brigand. There will be no place for fancy swordplay, honourable and choreographed, where there are rules and stances, gambits and parries. You must take your blade and kill them before they kill you. Let the others instruct you on the art of the sword. I will teach you what my mentor showed me; the knife. I will teach you how to kill.

[juliaINC 592]

Many winters ago, Isolde stood vigil beside Adalfriede, who read aloud to her young daughter. With the clinking of many gold cuff bracelets, the Princess traced the engravings upon an ancient stone. The song of a lone bird drew away Josefina's attention, her face alight with joy as she tossed her head about in search of the feathered singer.

 

Now, the memory of Adalfriede and Isolde lived etched among those very engravings, carried forth by Josefina’s voice to inspire a generation neither woman would ever behold.