The Stars Are Right: The Irish Rose: Letter 8

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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, 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. De Bonnevault's Household (which of course included myself) was still inside the borders of the Enclave during that time. This was before 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. 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. Seelie (or 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.