Chapter Forty-Four The Letters from Jupiter
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
The Letters from Jupiter
From Captain Jupiter North
Hotel Deucalion
Humdinger Avenue
Wick
Nevermoor
To Lady Mallory Darling
The Grand Old House of Darling
Greater Circle
The Silver District
Ogden-on-Juro
Nevermoor
Seventh Saturday, Spring of Eight
Age of Southern Influence
Dear Lady Darling,
My name is Captain Jupiter North. I am the owner and proprietor of the Hotel Deucalion, a decorated officer in the League of Explorers, and a member of the Wundrous Society, Unit 895. I write to you with news you will find surprising and, I hope, uplifting.
But first, I wish to offer my condolences for the loss of your daughter. Though I never met Meredith myself, we had a mutual friend who held her in the highest esteem, and I was saddened to learn of her passing several years ago.
Morrigan’s eyes narrowed at the words ‘ we had a mutual friend ’ . Yet another thing he’d never bothered to tell her. She gripped the letter, fighting an urge to rip it up and throw it in the fireplace.
As part of my work with the League of Explorers, I am sometimes required to provide intelligence to the Free State Security Department regarding conditions in the Wintersea Republic. In the course of these duties, I recently met a woman who shares a common interest with you.
Having finagled an invitation to a soiree in the home of an ambitious young Wintersea Party politician, I was conducting an illicit search on the upper floors when I made a mistake, blowing my cover. The lady of the house caught me red-handed, spying in a house full of Wintersea Party members.
I was in the centre of the proverbial viper’s nest. Ornella Crow – the young politician’s mother – could have made one cry for help, and I’d have been arrested and likely never seen again.
As it happens, the woman did make a cry for help. For my help.
When she realised I was acting as an agent of the Free State, Madam Crow brought me to see a sleeping child named Morrigan – her granddaughter, born to her son and his late wife, Meredith, on the cusp of the new Age.
Morrigan felt her pulse quicken. She checked the date at the top of the letter again – Spring of Eight, Age of Southern Influence. Jupiter had first written to Lady Darling when she was seven years old.
Her grandmother had known about her for almost seven years.
The letter went on.
The date of Morrigan’s birth is unfortunately considered inauspicious in the Republic. But in truth, the only consequential thing about Morrigan being born on Eventide is that it was also the day your daughter passed away. I’m aware there has always been some mystery surrounding the circumstances of Meredith’s death; I am sorry to tell you she died during childbirth.
Though I know this news must bring fresh grief, I pray it also gives you a degree of closure. I also venture to hope that knowing she left behind a child – your granddaughter – may provide some prospect of future joy.
Your daughter lives on in little Morrigan. At Madam Crow’s behest, I have briefly observed the child in her lessons and at play. I’ve noted her kindness to other children and unnimals, her innate sense of fairness, her intelligence and imagination. Our mutual friend has spoken of Meredith’s own generous nature, her passion for justice and her intellect. It has been my privilege to witness these seeds of goodness – perhaps even greatness – growing in Morrigan.
‘Over-egging it, North,’ muttered Morrigan, sniffling. ‘ Seeds of goodness . Honestly.’ A tear dropped onto the page and she hastily wiped it away, smudging her own name.
However, the parochial superstition surrounding Morrigan’s birthday has made her life difficult, and if she remains in the Republic I fear things will get worse. Madam Crow believes her granddaughter’s best chance of a future lies in Nevermoor, with her maternal family, and I agree.
We should meet as soon as possible to discuss a timeline for Morrigan’s passage to the Free State. My associates and I will do all we can to ensure the success of this operation, and to bring Meredith’s daughter home safely to you.
Discreetly and utterly at your service,
Captain Jupiter North
The next letter was dated almost four weeks later.
Eleventh Wednesday, Spring of Eight
Age of Southern Influence
Dear Lady Darling,
I find myself confused by your reply, and I fear the blame lies with me. No doubt I poorly explained things in my previous correspondence, or misunderstood some part of your own letter. I apologise, and pray you’ll be patient with me while I seek clarity.
It seemed, upon my first and second reading of your letter, that you were suggesting Morrigan couldn’t be related to you.
To begin with I can assure you, most happily, this is not the case – there is no doubt Morrigan Crow is the daughter of Meredith Darling, and your granddaughter.
Confusingly, however, your letter also seemed to hint that you knew of Morrigan’s existence. You mentioned her father’s first name, Corvus, which I don’t believe I disclosed. I find myself wondering how you came to know of a child from outside the Free State who you believe has nothing to do with you?
If I seem impertinent, I hope you’ll forgive me. I’m certain this is a misapprehension on my part, and no fault of yours.
I eagerly await your reply and look forward to a time when you can meet your granddaughter at long last. I know it will be a joyous day for you and your house.
And for Morrigan, it will be life-changing. I cannot emphasise enough what the care and love of a family could do for such a child, who in her seven years has known so little of either. We must act quickly to secure her future.
I am ready to meet with you at your earliest convenience.
Your servant,
Captain Jupiter North
There were dozens and dozens of letters. Morrigan made herself read every word, even while they stuck in her heart like needles. As she barrelled through years of correspondence from an increasingly frustrated – and decreasingly polite – Captain Jupiter North, part of her wished she could see Lady Darling’s responses. But perhaps it was better she didn’t.
First Tuesday, Spring of Nine
Age of Southern Influence
Dear Lady Darling,
Please tell me, what else do I need to do?
I have tried all year long to meet with you. I have written countless letters. I’ve come to the gates of the Silver District and been dragged away by the police. I’ve politely approached you at public events and been dragged away by the police. I’ve sailed a hot-air balloon into the Paramour Pleasure Gardens and been dragged away by the police. Short of sending a fleet of messenger penguins or singing telegram, I have tried every possible avenue to make my case to you. If we could only meet – at a time, date, and venue of your choosing – I know we’d come to a better understanding.
I deeply sympathise with the grief you must feel over the loss of your daughter. That is a pain I understand; I too have lost family members.
But I take solace in knowing and loving the family I have left. My nephew, Jack, is my greatest source of joy and comfort. Having him by my side even though I no longer have my sister – his mother – has saved my life.
Morrigan blinked back tears when she saw Jack’s name. She felt a sudden, bone-deep homesickness, for herself and for Jack.
I have no wish to harass you, but I don’t know what else to do. Morrigan’s life is in danger if she remains in the Wintersea Republic, but she has a safe and legitimate claim to Free State citizenship through you . We only need to get her here.
Most urgently and hopefully,
Captain Jupiter North
Winter of Nine, Summer of Ten, Winter of Ten, Autumn of Eleven … time went on, but the letters never stopped coming, even as they went obviously unanswered. As Morrigan’s eleventh birthday drew closer, Jupiter’s polite urgency turned to desperation, and then anger.
Lady Darling,
I know you are receiving my letters. I know you are reading every word. Must I remind you that a child’s life hangs in the balance?
I repeat my previous offer to find a home for Morrigan with another family, in another pocket of the Free State. You need have nothing to do with her. She need not be a reminder to you of her mother’s past misdeeds, or – how did you once put it? – a ‘blight on your family’s good name’. My associates and I will ensure that she is safe, happy and protected for the rest of her life. I only require your help in bringing her to the Free State legally , so that she needn’t spend the rest of her life looking over her shoulder in fear.
With rapidly diminishing respect,
Captain Jupiter North
After Eventide – at which point Jupiter had obviously been forced to bring Morrigan to Nevermoor by not-so-legal means – his letters to Lady Darling became less desperate, and much less frequent. Jupiter seemed resigned to what had become a one-sided correspondence. He’d begun to use it as a sort of diary of Morrigan’s life in Nevermoor, a short monthly report about her studies and budding friendships and birthdays and Christmases and summer holidays. He never mentioned that she was a Wundersmith, but detailed her success in the four Wundrous Society trials, going on about her tenacity and courage and honesty and cleverness as if he was a one-man band, paid to march behind her in the street singing her praises.
Morrigan couldn’t help wondering why he’d bothered to keep writing. Something dark and sour churned inside her. Lady Darling had kept all these letters. Not just kept them, but kept them locked in a safe, tied up with a ribbon as if they were something precious. Why? How could they be precious, when nothing in them had moved her to save Morrigan’s life, or even to meet her until now? And why now ?
After another year or so, Jupiter’s tone began to change again. The letters became shorter, more sporadic, and almost abrupt.
Second Monday, Spring of Two
Third Age of the Aristocrats
Lady Darling,
Morrigan is twelve. She continues to forge a bright and blazing path for herself in Nevermoor, and in the Wundrous Society, and in our hearts. She is dearly loved by all at the Hotel Deucalion, and by none more than me.
Yet still I greedily wish more for her. To know her own mother’s family, to meet her aunts and cousins – even now, after all these years of casual disregard – would be a gift to Morrigan.
With little hope or expectation, but with a great deal of weariness, I invite you once again to acknowledge your granddaughter’s existence. Please.
Regards
Jupiter North
Third Friday, Autumn of Two
Third Age of the Aristocrats
Lady Darling,
You would love her. You would like her. You are missing out.
It is not yet too late.
Regards,
J North
Thirteenth Monday, Winter of Two
Third Age of the Aristocrats
Lady Darling,
You may wish to know that your granddaughter will be spending her thirteenth birthday in hospital, having sustained a serious injury while on active duty for the Wundrous Society. She is healing well and will thankfully make a full recovery. (If you’d like to hear the details of the incident, it would be my great pleasure to discuss it with you in person. Any time, any day, any place.)
Morrigan’s fortitude and courage continue to astound me. I’ve never known terror such as I felt when I saw her in that hospital bed. She is braver by far than me.
J North
Second Friday, Spring of Three
Third Age of the Aristocrats
Mallory.
This will be the last time I write to you.
I don’t fear for Morrigan anymore. She will live a good and happy life. She will always be surrounded by people who love her, because she is extraordinarily easy to love. But you will never know that.
You don’t deserve her. You never did.
Forget I ever wrote to you.
JN
There was one more letter in the stack, but it wasn’t addressed to her grandmother.
From Captain Jupiter North
Hotel Deucalion
Humdinger Avenue
Wick
Nevermoor
To Lady Margot Darling
The Grand Old House of Darling
Greater Circle
The Silver District
Ogden-on-Juro
Nevermoor
Sixth Wednesday, Autumn of Three
Third Age of the Aristocrats
Lady Margot,
It’s clear to me that you are aware of my previous correspondence with Lady Darling. You’ve known about Morrigan for longer than you will admit. (How long, I can only guess. Weeks? Years? Perhaps you’ve known since my first letter. I wonder, to what degree you have aided your mother’s negligence and cruelty? I’d like to put the question to you in person so I might see the lies plainly on your face.)
But what you said in the Smoking Parlour yesterday was correct; I do have Morrigan’s ultimate happiness and well-being at heart. For this reason alone , I will allow you to continue your charade. For now.
I am, as ever, an optimistic fool. I want to believe that where your mother’s humanity failed, yours will not. I want to believe that this change of heart for Darling House is not a lie. I want to believe that allowing Morrigan to believe your family hasn’t known about her until now is the right thing, the kindest thing to do for her. That this deception will allow you to right the wrongs of the past and give your niece what she has always deserved: a family of her own blood. Her mother’s family, who should love her without reservation or expectation.
I want to believe all those things can be true, for Morrigan’s sake, and so I will not interfere.
But know this: I have eyes and ears in the Silver District. They will be watching and listening, and I will be ready to intervene the moment intervention is required. If you are unkind to her, if you mistreat her in any way, you may expect me.
I will come into your district, and into your home, and I will tear through your lives with a savagery you have never had cause to imagine. I will unravel every thread of your privileged existence, shatter every stone in its foundations. You will spend every minute of every day, until your dying day, weeping for what you can never get back.
Try it and find out.
Jupiter North