Letter To Locke

((Originally posted by Swanage on 12/23/07))

Locke:

Swan here. I wrote you earlier. Perhaps you wonder at receiving another missive from me so soon, but I could not sleep. If you labor under the same conditions as do I, you very probably find sleep a stranger to you, as well.

Allow me to get comfortable, and I shall continue my commentary.

I losthe this chair. In better days, I was more mobile than I am at present. Perhaps some day, I shall again be as free.

I want to give you some advice and I trust you will receive it well. That is this: During this night of... of waiting... you made certain assumptions while ignoring other realities. There is more to this than you know and it is important that you listen and attend.

Oof... This body is irksome at times, yet it is what I have to work with... and work within... for now.

Ah. There.

At any rate, I am glad that you remained on watch this night. Even with the... unfortunate incident involving the... doorway... it was a night in which prophecies were begun. And initiated into realization.

It is about prophecies that I converse with you tonight. I could not sleep, myself, and now I know why.


Your references to Cora's supposed immoralities will cease. At once. The child she is carrying is not the offspring of some casual coupling. She was planned for long before you, or even I, walked this earth, and her effects will last after we are gone. To call her mother a whore is to fly in the face of events greater than you understand.

Can I elucidate? No. Would I, were it possible? Yes. But even I do not understand the full sweep of consequences, save only that those who are my 'superiors' (I hate that word!) have told me that Cora and her baby are pivotal in a larger movement.

You are hnot to insult her again. You are to protect her. Yes, and guard her from harm from those who DO have true enmity toward her. There are those who would see her dead, her child destroyed and her very existence denied. The most powerful entity present in the Manor is you! On your hand lies the responsibility for Cora's safety. I do not exaggerate.

I once stood where you stand, LOcke. About to be wed to a woman I had no respect for, no love toward and no understanding of. Phoenix. Not the blind girl you may have heard of, but her mother, insane, now for over three decades.

It was of her that I dreamed, this night. Her face, in the smoke and flames of the Paradise. On the very night that the twins were concieved. She told me what I now tell you. Do not take Cora lightly. She is not yours to make sport of.

I will tell you a truth that took me 70 years to learn. Your greatest strength lies in that which you despise. If you can look your humiliation full in the face, if you can take hold of it and draw it into your very being, accept its limitations and use its strengths to your own purpose, you will become far more than you ever dreamed possible.

You have a vital role to play in all this. If you do as I have advised, things will move in directions that will make many things better. And your own powers will increase. I am certain that this is a thing that you earnestly desire.

Also, as to the woman for whom you sat vigil this night, she will become your strength as well, if you accept her terms. I warn you, the strengths of these people are at the limits of your own capacities and you will have to extend your own efforts. As to the worth of the endeavor... I would have given my entire wealth to stand in your shoes!

Do this, man, and you will find that the world is yours to do with as you will. Fail in it, and you will slip soundlessly into the mass of unnamed souls forgotten by history. Those are your choices.

They are not easy, but then, what is worth having is worth fighting for. Cease the bickering and the snarkiness... your efforts will be needed for more than petty badinage and you had best be prepared.

Why do I go to this effort?

Simple...

... I am worried for you.

Now go and take the things that are yours. And take responsibility for the persons I have spoken of.

Good day to you.

Alan Dorian Swan