Messages

Deputy Chief Scribe, Legates,

I understand this must be a busy time, but I wanted to inquire as to the status of the allotment funding for the Hospital.

If it is not possible to transfer the funds via the Stele, as a I reminder I do not make a wage as Palatial Physician - though I am informed the position once held a wage before it was given to me - and that this is one option for funding the public medical center.

The Ignis Vitae Medical Center has already provided care for multiple members of the Accord who required medical attention beyond divine healing, after a recent battle with a Titan, among other contributions. Services are free for the public. In my work I have also provided the Fourth Legion with post-mortem examinations of the dead for the purposes of investigations.

It is an option if transferring directly via the Stele does not work.

Thank you,
Fiordelise Foscari
Palatial Physician

[Estellise's note is folded up into a star shape and returned without comment.]

Will be taking a break, aside from logging in here and there to get some money for rent. Server has been more stress than fun for a while. Cheers all.

Returning from my break tomorrow.

Let us not forget the bonds we forged this season.

Signores Durgin and Crowbell, I hope to speak with you both soon on how your people might be helped - once I return from my rest.

This election was driven more than anything by hate and by greed, by threats and by force. We must do right by Aeronwy and Katya, and I at least will never, ever forget that those who so proudly championed "Voices for Veterans" and for "the People" then sought to threaten their own veterans. I will never forget how conveniently calls for riots, treason and military betrayals were ignored. None of those things are good for the Well, whether Voiceless or Voiced.

The success and joy of the Voiced need never be at the expense of the Voiceless.

As time marches on and more refugees arrive, the Well will only become more multicultural, more multifaith. So I urge us, too, to be a leader in ensuring the Well is a place of peace between peoples. This benefits the trade and wealth so many of you value, for myself, it benefits the downtrodden. We need not fall into the White trap of thinking that any of these things are enemies, are mutually exclusive.

Signed,
Fiordelise Foscari

Will be taking a break, aside from logging in here and there to get some money for rent. Server has been more stress than fun for a while. Cheers all.

Signores Gedwyr and Zalthar,

I wish you and yours well. I am trying to keep track of votes, and wanted to check in to ask whether you have yet cast yours.

If you have not, I urge you to this election before time runs out.  We are up against a man who wants to dismantle currency and the markets...

Signed,
Fiordelise Foscari

Acolyte Narwen,

I agree, that is inappropriate, and should not have been done without your permission. I am reading through the transcripts and see what you mean.

I will speak with him - and ask that he be more considerate, and not pull you into his political campaign in such a way.  I will also take some responsibility for it, he was not aware of your request to me that you not be thanked publicly for the donation.

If there is a way I can make this right to you, my ears are open.

Live and drink,
Fiordelise Foscari

A very simple note is left for the woman, written hastily.

Saluti,

Zina Zizzo, the fine Modini merchant, looks to speak with you as soon as possible. I felt it was easier for me to contact you than explain to her where you are. I would recommend at your earliest convenience, if you can.

May the Illuminations guide you true,
Fiordelise

Estellise,

I meant that I was in a wheelchair as a girl, signora.

I wish the best for you, and hope that you find peace from what seems to trouble you.

Fiordelise

To signore Qari Alriyh,

I have heard you are back in town, and have been dealing with an illness in the family. You have my deepest condolences, though I am even more glad to hear that they are recovering. My cousin has been similarly pulled away by illness from his own side of the family - I know well the difficulty it can be.

Much has changed, and much has not changed at all, since your departure. I am eager to catch up in person, though I will be busy with my own patients and preparations for much of the rest of the day.

You will find the current election climate amusing, no doubt - much of what you told me of my old League I have come to see with my own eyes. While I am not sold on the Gold League entirely, I am giving it a chance for now and advocating for compromises and against the destructive attitudes of some of those who remain. Your own League meanwhile has grown much recently, with a groundswell of support from new business owners. I am hopeful for its success in this election, as strange as that sounds. I am supporting the Gold ticket in this election.

The matter of my faith has been one of frequent discussion - both support and hate, but kindness by and large. I am working on a public hospital to provide beds and long-term care for the wounded, which has recently finished funding and should be opening soon! The Hakem Tariq has been a great support and we hope to work on the project together. He has taught me a great deal about your Twindari, and though your people's views on death remain difficult for me to understand, I am working to build a foundation of greater respect and peace with my people and those of the Wheel. I pray that our people flourish together.

I miss our old conversations, and hope we might continue them again soon. They were exceptionally educational.

Wishing you and your family well,
Fiordelise Foscari

Dear Estellise,

At the end, I will address the matter of the Disaster if you want to skip my long-winded response. I do have a question about what you mean; I am curious and hope to learn how the dying world might be healed. I presume you speak of this. 

If I can sit down and speak with a Wheel zealot who would see me purged, to try and bridge the gulf with understanding - what is stopping you from speaking with me, too? I am always open to building mutual understanding through talk. I am not the kind of person you think I am, though I am becoming used to presumptions of menace based on my faith alone.

As for your questions, I have not sacrificed my ideals. Instead, I hope my recent choices hold more promise for the many refugees than the alternatives.

I will try to explain who I am and what I believe. It will be a very long letter, toss it away if you wish. 

I care no less for the Voiceless. Instead, I am asking Dante to improve the current situation and to keep it better. I made this choice knowing that some would hate me for it, that mud would be slung my way, but if there is some chance that the people I work to care for may benefit, I would take it. I am no great influential Apothar, no bender of Time or Fate, but I can urge the person who loves me to consider those who do not have voices themselves. 

You agree that love is powerful. Dante loves me, whatever you think of him. I met him when he was trapped as a dog. I promised him my help - I understood what it is like to be trapped in a body, for it was the Mercystar who once saved myself from such a state. I took him to Il Modo and pleaded for the aid of the Sages. He was remade. And when the time came that I needed kindness after I had seen terrible things - showed me kindness in return. So our friendship was born, and it has strengthened my beliefs.

I believe in universal compassion wherever we might extend that hand. Often easier said than done, but to try. That in giving compassion, we rouse it in others. That people can change. Whoever you believe Dante is, whoever he was before to you - he is not the same man. Not physically, not in spirit. Do not stifle change, do not smother it. Please give it a chance to grow.

This is my soul. I do not want rage and fire and riots. I want to see people grow. I believe that humanizing each other, not demonizing, is the key to our survival in this fading world. This is how we survive this. We plant seeds of kindness; we hope they grow. Every soul will shine brighter for it, and hate will only dim our light.

This is not some lazy sentiment: the core of my faith is that our souls must grow in harmony with the world, with each other. Harmony in this life is an impossible dream, in perfection, but it must yet be something we strive towards.

As for my ideals:

Since I arrived in the Well I have held the same beliefs and ideals. I spoke of them publicly in White League meetings, on sendings, and to my friends. But when you are a quiet person who prefers not to shout, people have a way of tuning you out. I continue to uphold the ideals I've voiced publicly: compassion, compromise, and the pursuit of common ground. My experiences working in the Humbles have reinforced my belief that practical, incremental improvements are vital, even if they fall short of ideal solutions.

So what do I believe? What are my ideals that I insist I have not sacrificed?

I believe in compromise, common ground, and finding understanding with one's fellows. I believe in compassion. I believe in peace. I believe in the power of dialogue and openness to bridge differences. And in this, I have failed: I have missed opportunities to understand you as I ask you to understand me. I believe, too, in enabling self-determination. I believe we are in this life to learn and grow so we may one day join the Stars. I believe each mortal spirit is redeemable and capable of healing and change.

From the beginning I have advocated for reaching across the aisle in many forms. In finding common ground to work towards and seeing the "other side" as human. In terms of politics, religion, culture, and even values. How many times in White League meetings did I urge compromise and broadly agreeable solutions to be found so that we could win improvements in the lives of the needy, even though those improvements were not as grand as we might hope? The idea of compromise was often scorned. I have watched the purest White of politicians reject broad improvements when they had the chance to guarantee better lives. 

They held it against Peryn that she campaigned for a 5,000 dinar Voice 'because a true White Leaguer should demand Voices for free.' Are we so attached to a vision of ourselves as pure and virtuous that we would sabotage a real gain for those we claim to care about? A 5,000 dinar Voice would have still left out many, but it would have helped many too. 

More still the eagerness for violence, riots, barging down doors, disrupting lives - this I oppose.

These beliefs are shaped by my upbringing and work in Il Modo's slums, dealing with plague, malnutrition, and poverty. There are no quick and easy solutions in that world. Only rolling up our sleeves with direct action. 

I have said all of this since the beginning. 

So why did I leave the White League?

Many knew it was a long time coming, and I will not waste much of your time explaining. Hostility from within the League for being a priestess of the Dome. Unwillingness to compromise, sabotaging our own ability to make meaningful progress. Wariness of the favored candidate. 

I mentioned it to you in person, but my reason for accepting a Gold badge was simple. To ensure that there would be personal accountability and agreements to improve the rights of the Voiceless in the case of a Gold victory by Dante. To advocate for the Voiceless, for the common people. To be an internal voice towards something good rather than merely giving in to the binary of elections. Dante offered real improvements for the rights of the Voiceless, and I will hold him to his word. I will continue to advocate for better, within and without the Gold League. Whether I will stay in the Gold League will depend on how successful this is.

I do not expect you to agree with me, or even to change your mind that I am some insidious being. But I hope you will at least try to understand why I have made my choices. Perhaps they are the choices of a naïve girl, but they are made with measured hope.

As for stars and Disasters, I encountered a strange golden star upon my arrival here in the Well. I will not pretend to be able to tell whether it is genuinely of the stars or simply crystal. Whether by chance or perhaps fate, there it simply was for me. I have been meaning to bring it by the Tower for study as so far no scholar of the stars has been able to answer its nature to me. 

I wondered, too, what you wrote of Disaster. I understand that our world is dying, and I know there must be more to healing it than we know. My faith is one of the stars, and I suspect the answers are somewhere out there in that great unknown.

May the Mercystar shine gently on you,

Carrot,

Thank you for the conversation earlier. I have gotten word that the funds have just been returned to good Narwen, so please do not worry any longer on my behalf. I will speak with her soon.

I am hopeful that she and I might work together on future projects, not for my work specifically but for charity overall in the Well. She seems to be one of those willing to work hard and put sentiment into action, for the betterment of those around her.

Signed,
Fiordelise

Acolyte Narwen,

I am glad to hear this - I apologize if it caused you any distress. I admit my impressions were colored by our interactions on the matter. I will respect what you are asking.

I will seek you out soon, and begin the work.

Grazie,
Fiordelise

Acolyte Narwen,

It has been a full week that Ahmet has held the funds for charity - for refugees, for public health. Is that correct? Has he still not returned it to you, or made any attempt at a meeting?

Withholding funds from the needy is one of the few things that truly angers me. I feel a disservice is being done to you, presumably to spite me, and the ones that pay the price are the sick, wounded, and poor.

I find myself at a bit of a loss at how to encourage him to return your money to you. None of this is your fault. Please let me know if I can be of any assistance, as our goals are one in the same: the aid of those in need.

Signed,
Fiordelise Foscari

Signore Gedwyr,

I understand completely, and thank you for your swift reply!

No one is currently trying to oust me - though I do worry a bit of the location causing issues. I am grateful for your offer of aid: I pray that it never be necessary.

May Fortuna shine on your days,
Fiordelise