Chapter 1
Dear Cadence,Cadence,Hey, Cadence!
After her years of writing apologies to over half of Jackalfax’s population, Morrigan thought she would be an expert in writing letters. She was not.
Sprawled on her recently enlarged bedroom floor, surrounded with scrunched up paper, the Wundersmith groaned into her hands. Her face felt unnaturally warm.
‘Okay Morrigan, let’s try this again.’
Dear Cadence,
There’s something I’ve wanted to tell you for a while now, and I thought it would be best to just write it down. Ever since-
There was a knock on Morrigan’s window. Her fourth floor window. She jumped, scrunched up yet another piece of paper, and turned around.
It was Hawthorne.
Obviously.
‘So. Let me get this straight. You’re not.’
It had taken an unreasonably long amount of time for Morrigan to work out how to get Hawthorne off the wall of the Deucalion and into her room. It had taken even longer for her to sneak Hawthorne into the broom closet containing the first aid kid, because even though he had worn his incredibly protective dragonriding gear, he had still managed to get multiple blisters and scratches on his hands and knees. It had taken another several minutes for Morrigan to sneak Hawthorne back, and explain why she had multiple piles of paper, some the height of her bed, all over her room.
‘Well, uhhhh….. I mean I wouldn’t say that, but… uhhhh…..’ Morrigan trailed off.
‘But you would?’
Morrigan sighed. ‘I don’t know. I grew up in the Republic- remember? We couldn’t really... act like that.’
‘Well, you’re acting “like that” right now.’ Hawthorne grinned. ‘I should know, I’m an expert in these things.’
‘Didn’t you try flirting with Arch with fortune cookie pick-up lines?’
‘I’m usually an expert in these things.’
Morrigan laughed. ‘Well then, somewhat-expert. Let’s get this letter written.’