Editing The Stars Are Right: The Irish Rose: Letter 8

Return to [[The Stars Are Right: The Irish Rose]].

==F. Lovejoy to H. Flynn==

24 August 1932

Heather--

: I've received a letter from someone calling themselves the Comte de la Fere who claims to have been a friend of yours, and to have seen you under Parkhurst's care back in January. They're interested in an article I wrote about the rescue of a pair of children from a farmhouse early last week, [[http://wiki.rpg.net/index.php/The_Stars_Are_Right:_The_Irish_Rose:_White_Slavery_in_the_Motor_City! | which I've included]]. Do you know them? They were interested in securing Parkhurst's notes, which has generally been a red flag. More information if you're interested; hope you feel better.

Frank

==H. Flynn to F. Lovejoy, received 28 August 1932==

August 1932

Dear Frank,

: What a surprise to get a letter from you! (Even if it was mostly all business.)

: What I know about this Comte de la Fere is all second hand, and hearsay. I've never been introduced to them (him? her?) — and to claim we are friends is a bit of a stretch. However — it is possible that he — or she — did see me in January. (More on that in a bit.) I know it sounds all complicated, and I suppose it is.

: First understand that I got all of my information from indirect third-hand sources. [[The Stars Are Right: The Irish Rose: Maturin de Bonnevault | De Bonnevault]]'s Household (which of course included myself) was still inside the borders of [[The Stars Are Right: The Irish Rose: Enclave | the Enclave]] during that time. This was before [[The Stars Are Right: The Irish Rose: Hannelore Rhyner | the Queen]] arrived... and even before the Fae folk existed.

: If you don't know, it's probably a good idea for me to define a couple of terms that I'm going to be throwing around. '''[[The Stars Are Right: The Irish Rose: Nightsiders | Nightsider]]''' was the self-applied label used to describe those carrying the Condition ''before'' the existence of the Seelie Queen. '''Fae''' is the label the community used for themselves after receiving the Queen's Blessing, but before the establishment of the Seelie Court. '''[[The Stars Are Right: The Irish Rose: Seelie Court | Seelie]]''' (or '''[[The Stars Are Right: The Irish Rose: Unseelie Court | Unseelie]]''') is the label for those who live inside the Court now. ('''Fae''' is still applied to those few who do not live inside either the Seelie or the Unseelie community.)

: Just to make it more complicated. The Enclave — where de Bonnevault, Emma Hamilton and a number of others had their Households — was made up of very old, very long-lived people who carried the Condition. They did not consider themselves "Nightsiders" — but part of community more refined and elevated. As far as I know the Enclave no longer exists as an organized community and all of its old members are either scattered, dead, or ... something else, now.

: I think first mention of la Fere and some others — Galileo, Ariel, Hardeen — came into the Enclave around late 1928. That was right when the rumors about Medea began to surface as well. "Medea" was a sort of Nightsider redemption myth that had been around for hundreds of years. A spiritual figure that would return "souls" to the Nightsiders. (As it turned out this was true — just not in the way we thought it would be according to the old stories.)

: Anyway — these folk — your la Fere — among them were instrumental in bringing about the existence of the Seelie Court Queen. Again, all of that happened while I was still inside the Enclave, and information from the outside was very tightly controlled. So I don't know all of the details about how that came about.

: What I do know for sure is that for a few months at the end of 1928 — before la Fere and the others made themselves publicly known — that there was an exchange of "envoys" between the Nightsider community and the group la Fere was a part of. One of the Nightsiders — a woman now known as Miranda — went to stay with la Fere's people. To educate them about the nature and custom of the Nightsiders.

: In return, Miss Rhyner (this was before she married Theo Weiss — and became the Seelie Court Queen) went to Chicago under the protection of a man named Jonathan Cromwell. There she spent time with the group of Nightsiders located in Chicago. The sort of unspoken supposition at the time was that it would accustom her to them in order to help persuade her to become the Seelie Queen.

: What came out of this — and how la Fere and the others came onto the public stage (if briefly) is that at the end of those couple of months — it was probably early 1929 ... these people signed a treaty of mutual assistance with the Nightsider community.

: Now, since so much has happened, this Treaty doesn't sound like a big deal. But back then it was — because it was the first time that the Nightsiders had made their existence known to anyone outside of their own community.

: There was a lot of discussion between the heads of the Households in the Enclave at the time about the Treaty. (Which is how I heard about it.) Most of it very derisive, and there was some fairly serious discussion about sending people out to kill Miss Rhyner and all those involved with the signing. The members of the Enclave thought that it risked exposing their existence as well. As it turned out, cooler heads prevailed, and that decision was not made.

: Beyond that — as I mentioned earlier — I know that la Fere and some of those who signed the Treaty were critical to the series of events that led to Miss Rhyner's acceptance and transformation into the Seelie Queen in October of 1929.

: What happened to those people, or where they went after that, I don't know. Why la Fere has chosen to pop up again ''now'' — may be another question to consider.

: I also don't know the details of the Treaty — I've never seen it. However, given that it is/was a legally binding document — at least to the Nightsiders at the time (and one assumes la Fere's people) — a copy of it would have been left with Meridon Caine in New York.

: Now — as to last January. This was while the Queen and Parkhurst were holding me. There were a lot of people that came through where they were, and a lot of people (both Fae and non-Fae) who knew that I was there — or heard that I was there. Comte de la Fere could have been any of those who passed through. So it's very likely that what "he" says is true — that he saw me in January — but I would not have known it was "la Fere."

: One more thing to add, and then I have to finish this up, because the courier will be back soon.

: When you start asking questions about these names, especially to those involved with any of those who carry the Condition — understand that to them — each of these names is literally a different person — even if they belong to the same person.

: So, when you start asking about the Comte de la Fere — you will get information about the Comte de la Fere... but not information about whoever else "he" may be. If you ask questions about "Medea" — you will get very different information than if you ask about Hannelore Rhyner (Weiss) — or about the Seelie Queen of Air and Darkness. The Community treats each of these as if they are utterly different individuals.

: As always — it's not just about asking questions. It's about asking the ''right'' questions.

: I'd love to hear more, if you have more to share. And I am much recovered from what happened at the Rose with Danny. I'm with old friends, who have been looking after me, and so feel fairly safe.

: Give my best to Vic and Doctor Walters... I miss all of you.

: Thanks for everything you did to help me out.

Heather.