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Mar. 23rd, 2007 03:18 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dethoratsPrompt: Postmark
Word Count: 438
Her grandfather was waiting for her on the front porch when Rebekah came home for the day. Classes had run long again, the final frantic rush to cram in every last piece of information before exams and the departure of some of the students if they were lucky enough to graduate. Although she grumbled, Rebekah diligently took notes and listened. She was to be one of those able to receive her diploma, a ticket to a completely new world, and this far into the game, she didn’t want anything to jeopardize her future no matter how irksome it was that her hours were eaten up by tedium.
There was a letter in his hands, thick and brown, and could mean only one of two things. Breathless, having sprinted up the walk upon seeing him, she held out her hand and he placed it gently in her fingers. The postmark, a heavy black and red stamp with a curious winding of vines and snakes and a spear, eliminated one possible sender. As for the thickness, that could go either way. Rebekah was trembling, her fingers shaking the tiniest bit, as she carefully opened the top seam with her penknife. When green pages met her searching fingers, she laughed in relief and grinned up at her grandfather.
“It’s from Kallen.”
A letter from the front and it wasn’t a military death notice with the accompanying insurance and claim information. Thank the gods and the lady Sondellia. Her brother and her dearest friend had marched off to war nearly a semester ago, leaving her reluctantly behind to finish what she’d already spent four and a half years on. They didn’t give her a choice; education first. And by leaving her with her grandfather, they’d effectively shielded her. There was no way she could abandon the kindly but no longer so spry old man to go haring off to the front after Tumas and Kallen. They’d found a way to keep her safe, damn it, and even though she’d known the truth of that since before they left and understood their reasoning, she chafed against it even now.
Still, a letter was a precious commodity with the postal services at the front being very erratic, and Rebekah cradled it to her chest. This was something to be savored and she still had a paper to write, dinner to start, and a bath in her future. She would save it for later, once she was in bed. Kallen always knew how to encourage her and she would need the cheerful woman’s strength to help see her through to the end of her path.
Word Count: 438
Her grandfather was waiting for her on the front porch when Rebekah came home for the day. Classes had run long again, the final frantic rush to cram in every last piece of information before exams and the departure of some of the students if they were lucky enough to graduate. Although she grumbled, Rebekah diligently took notes and listened. She was to be one of those able to receive her diploma, a ticket to a completely new world, and this far into the game, she didn’t want anything to jeopardize her future no matter how irksome it was that her hours were eaten up by tedium.
There was a letter in his hands, thick and brown, and could mean only one of two things. Breathless, having sprinted up the walk upon seeing him, she held out her hand and he placed it gently in her fingers. The postmark, a heavy black and red stamp with a curious winding of vines and snakes and a spear, eliminated one possible sender. As for the thickness, that could go either way. Rebekah was trembling, her fingers shaking the tiniest bit, as she carefully opened the top seam with her penknife. When green pages met her searching fingers, she laughed in relief and grinned up at her grandfather.
“It’s from Kallen.”
A letter from the front and it wasn’t a military death notice with the accompanying insurance and claim information. Thank the gods and the lady Sondellia. Her brother and her dearest friend had marched off to war nearly a semester ago, leaving her reluctantly behind to finish what she’d already spent four and a half years on. They didn’t give her a choice; education first. And by leaving her with her grandfather, they’d effectively shielded her. There was no way she could abandon the kindly but no longer so spry old man to go haring off to the front after Tumas and Kallen. They’d found a way to keep her safe, damn it, and even though she’d known the truth of that since before they left and understood their reasoning, she chafed against it even now.
Still, a letter was a precious commodity with the postal services at the front being very erratic, and Rebekah cradled it to her chest. This was something to be savored and she still had a paper to write, dinner to start, and a bath in her future. She would save it for later, once she was in bed. Kallen always knew how to encourage her and she would need the cheerful woman’s strength to help see her through to the end of her path.
