WARNING! This contains spoilers to events that have happened or are happening in m stories Forever in Time and Another World. If you would like to read those stories, you can find the links to their respective blogs in the Other Works by Me section of this blog.

Dear Jasper,

The warmth of the day grew even warmer when I received your letter. It’s always such a pleasure to hear from you, my friend.

Ah,, thank you for asking about Alina. The situation hasn’t resolved itself as of yet, and there is still preparations Mathilda must make in order to help lift the curse. They are strange things, curses. They can range from fairly mild to downright lethal.

What a lovely story about your healing! It’s strange, but curses are often thought of as magical means for some kind of revenge, but aye, they truly are a manifestation of someone’s anger or sadness passed to another person. It’s lovely that all it took to set ye to rights was the blessing, prayer, and the waving of the healer’s hand over your jaw. Sinus infections are pesky little blighters so ye must be relieved to have been rid of yours. Ah, if it were only that simple for Alina.

I shall tall ye the entire story. It’s a long one, so settle in and grab a cup of tea while ye read.

It goes back to when we all thought our Lenora had passed from this life. Tyrone’s sister and her accomplices decided to seek revenge, misguided though it was. Ye see, Tyrone’s sister, Valerie, had many a problem in her life and believed that Tyrone got preferential treatment over her. She was blinded to the facts of how things truly were, and this led to tragedy. Her main accomplice, Shane, also wanted his revenge but on Lenora. Long before she married Tyrone and after her first husband was killed, she’d been seeing Shane for a time, but the relationship never really moved forward. She broke it off after finding out he was married. Shane is the type of person who discards, not the other way around. Then, there was Shane’s brother, Allen, who was as loony as they came. The man truly was ill with Schizophrenia and heaven only knows what else. He had a fixation on Lenora and believed that if he had her, all his problems and illness would go away.

With the help of a doctor who was also a wizard, a spell was cast on Lenora to make it appear as though she’d died. The doctor, Neil, was being blackmailed by Shane and Valerie, but he was a very unwilling participant. Mathilda began figuring things out and later confronted Neil, who turned the tables and cooperated with her.

Anyway, believing Lenora to be dead, we buried her, not realizing that it was a clone of her we’d buried. Lenora, herself, woke up in a cell where she remained until Mathilda and Tyrone figured out the scheme and rescued her.

In the meantime, like all of us, Alina was devastated over the loss. Ye see, the two are like sisters, they’re so close. Alina made the mistake of mixing potions one day while in such a distracted, grief-riddled state that she made a fatal error.

Her potion backfired, and Alina succumbed from the fumes. Robin and Mathilda found her on the floor where she lay dying. As Mathilda worked to reverse the reaction, Alina passed.

We can all be thankful Mathilda was involved, for if it had been any other witch or wizard, we would surely have lost her for good. Just as Orpheus had done, Robin begged Mathilda to send him to the realm of the spirits so he could retrieve her.

Mathilda did, but no sooner had he arrived, he came face to face with a wicked fairly called Flora. She finally pointed out Alina’s whereabouts but as Robin ran toward Alina’s location and unbeknownst to him, Flora cast a curse at his back that he unknowingly transferred to Alina upon making physical contact with her.

Robin brought Alina back, but this curse also came back with her. The two of them were married soon after Lenora came back to us, and they tried for two years to have a child. Nothing came of it, even though they went to a fertility specialist. It was only when Silvan came to visit that they began to wonder if other forces were at work. Silvan is a fairy prince and the fiance of my great-granddaughter, Aurora. Being a fairy, Silvan is adept at seeing auras and distinguishing things about a person by reading what is inside the aura. He is an expert curse breaker in fairy magic, so he knew that it was Flora’s curse that was causing Alina to be unable to conceive a child.

Unfortunately, in order for the curse to be lifted, the circumstances of how she got it in the first place must be recreated. In other words, Alina has to die again and Robin must fetch her. The curse can only be lifted by the fairy who cast it or by someone with expert knowledge in such things. Rather than confronting Flora now (Mathilda has a plan for that), Silvan offered to remove Alina’s curse. All of this must be done in the spirit world or it will not work.

As ye can see, this will take a lot of preparation to carry this out. As I have already died, it’s easy for me to breach the gateway between the physical and spirit worlds, so I’ll be taking Silvan there to lift Alina’s curse. Naturally, we are all concerned, as this has the potential to go very wrong. However, Mathilda has called in some reinforcements and I trust her judgment implicitly. I must believe that Alina will be fine and that all of us will come through this unscathed.

I will send your best wishes to Alina, who will be heartily appreciative. Alina is a sweet lass who has been through some harsh times in her life but remains in awe of the world. I will tell ye more of her in another letter. But then, she might even sign up for this project herself now that her mother, Lenora, and I are a part of it. She certainly is intrigued by it and loves hearing about it.

As I said, this project seems to be “all in the family.” It’s proving true with your nephew joining. Ah, enchanting reasons, be it now. Well, these things often are the cause of more than one type of friendship being developed.

So, magic seems to be rubbing off and finding it’s way to ye. From your letter, I trust it is very white magic, as it is giving ye positive energy. There certainly are times of the day and in the year where lines between worlds are more defined. There are parallel worlds out there and if someone is very skilled, they can travel to another era in time. There is also that line between the magical and mundane that often grows thin. For example, have ye ever misplaced your keys and spent, say, a half hour looking? Ye look in all the places ye think they may be to no avail. Then, ye check a certain place one more time just to be sure, and there they are! In cases like that, it’s fairies taking their fun by having a play at ye. Fairies can be pranksters and often love having some fun at the expense of a mere human.

Ah, capacity for friendship! Ye know, I thought of that very thing shortly after returning to the physical world and gaining my immortality. People come and go from our lives and being a professor, that happened to ye at the change of every term. A true and real friend is someone who always sticks. They may go away but they’ll always return somehow. Mathilda was a prime example of this. While raising my Lenora, I turned away from magic to protect her. Och, it was so misguided but at the time, I felt I was doing what I knew to be best. When Lenora was deathly ill and dying, there was no doubt I needed Mathilda, so in desperation, I called her. Without question or hesitation, she came and saved my Lenora. Our friendship was rekindled and I realized the error of my ways.

Friendships have a way of evolving. It certainly did with Mathilda and me. It took my death for us to realize just how we felt, and I am grateful for that second chance. Friendship evolved into love and great respect, and there is no finer woman than my Mathilda.

How wonderful that ye are able to continue to use your teaching skills after retirement! The gifted program must certainly be enriched by your involvement, and the students are lucky to have ye for a tutor. And it’s even lovelier that ye are getting such stimulation from it as well. It sounds like this particular student ye mentioned is a sharp arrow who looks for information anywhere she can find it. Such tenacity!

There is much to be said about solitary luxuries. I remember the times I lived alone. It was nice to spend a quiet evening reading or engaging in some activity that kept my hands busy. I am fortunate to still get those luxuries often yet enjoy the fulfillment of a big family. Mathilda is often busy with her work, so I am treated to solitary time. It’s nice to just look within and mentally take stock of things. I have the best of both worlds, really. Ah, Jasper! Life can be both sweet and savory, can it not?

Aye! Food is much better when prepared with attention and love. Mathilda is a fantastic cook, as are Lenora and Alina. It’s a wonder I’m not fat from all the goodies and delicious food my ladies are always fond of preparing for me.

Ye can find magic in just about anything if ye know how to look.

Wishing ye many blessings and many blessings to those ye love.

With warmth and gratitude,

Liam