Perhaps if you had not moved nearly the distance you had, we may still be capable of visiting one another whenever we please. However I understand you have done what you thought best for your heart. You are rather lucky to have been able to find a love for I have had no such luck nor, I fear, I may ever. If I am capable of persuading my mother and father to allow me, I shall sail to you as soon as it is possible.

With love,

Delphina.

The quill was placed in it's holder as she began folding the parchment. She sighed as she thought about how long it's been since she's actually been able to see her beloved cousin. Despite the size of the family, many were living in distant places, making it difficult for visiting one another.

Once the parchment was folded, she gently slid it into an envelope before reaching for her small candle. She held the wick over another candle on her desk so she wouldn't have to waste another match. She waited for a short time before the wax began to melt enough to slowly drip onto the paper. She allowed for enough to leave a big enough circle for the stamp to not be too large for.

Some time after her father had married to her mother, he had gone to have a custom symbol made for the family. Such symbol was the one that was left in the wax when she lifted the stamp back up to allow the wax to further finish drying.

The symbol that was left behind from the stamp was a small picture of a sitting cat looking at a crescent moon with a bat flying in front of it, slightly above the cat.

Once that was all done, she flipped it over and wrote out any information needed for her letter to be delivered.

She leaned back in her chair to look out the window. She would not sigh no matter the urge. She was upset, yes, but why show it if the cause is long done with.

She was quite happy for Alexandra. She had, not surprisingly, found someone to love. Despite the fact that his family could not care for their kind, he had fallen for Nora nonetheless. He had not cared about the fact that she is a vampire. In fact, he wanted to be turned right away. He had been grateful for he will now be able to live past the rest of his family and will not have to put up with their disapproval.

Only after a couple of minutes of sitting there, she could hear a faint heartbeat and smell the slightest scent of her mother coming toward her door. Once her mother finally reached it and knocked, she was already sitting up with her back straight.

"Yes?" she called to her mother.

Her mother opened the door and motioned for her to come over to her. So Delphina stood and walked to her smiling mother.

Her mother with the same raven black hair as her. Her ears and tail out from being in the comfort of their own home. Her green eyes seemingly glowing with excitement, causing her to look as if she were still Delphina's age.

"What has you so happy?" she asked once she got to her door.

"We have just received a letter from Alexandra and her husband."

Delphina began to smile as well. What are the odds that as she was writing her very own letter to send off to her cousin and would get one from said cousin for the family. She ushered her mother forward and they rushed into the den where her father was sitting on their couch. He was looking up at them before they even got to the room from hearing their hearts as Verona had heard her mother's.

"Well, come come, I want to open this letter already," he said once they entered the room.

Her mother rolled her eyes at him, smile still on her face and sat to the left of him with Delphina sitting to his right.

Her father finally lifted the wax seal and the flap of the envelope. Once he had the letter in his hands, he put the envelope to the side and unfolded the parchment to reveal Alexandra's clear handwriting.

To my favorite aunt, uncle, and cousin,

Paxton and I have quite the exciting news to inform you of. Around the ending of the next month, I am due to have a child. We have thought up many different names for both boys and girls for us to be prepared for when the baby arrives. I am well aware that to come here by ship is very expensive, however it would mean the world to me if even one of you would come and stay at our home for some time before and after our baby is born for you to be able to meet it. I hope that at least one of you can make it here.

With love,

Alexandra.

Once Delphina's father finished reading the letter, both him and her mother looked to each other before looking to Verona.

Her mother was the first to speak with, "You may want to start packing your trunk today."

Delphina looked to them with wide eyes. She had expected that her father would suggest that just her mother go since she is Alexandra's aunt from her own side of the family. Yes, they did have enough for all of them to go together. But or all of them to go would mean to have much too little money left when they return.

So Delphina decided to voice her concern.

"Mother, we do not have that kind of money. And we will be left with very little when we return if we do go."

But it seemed Verona understood her mother wrong, because she gently shook her head with a small smile and addressed her daughter's concern, "No, we do not. Not for all of us here at least. Alexandra said she would be happy if even one of us could make it to be there."

"We both know she would prefer it if it were to be you," her father added, "She has always loved spending time with you most when she still lived here."

Delphina smiled and jumped to hug them.

"Thank you!" She pulled back from them and asked, "Are you completely sure you don't want mother to go?"

Delphina's mother shook her head yet again and said, "You go. It will be good for you. I know you've been wanting to visit her more and more recently."

Delphina just nodded her head with a big smile on her face. She was much too excited to respond. She wouldn't know how.

So, her mother simply waved her hand toward the door to the den, "You should start getting packed. We will get you a ticket for the soonest ship to sail as quickly as we can."

"Thank you. So much, really," Delphina didn't know what else to say.

She then turned to the door of the den and turned down the hallway.

Now, the Umbra house is not a large house. It has one floor with two bedrooms, one bathroom, a kitchen, a den, and a family room.

They were clearly not a large family either, meaning that the house they own is perfect for them.

Once Delphina reached her room, she walked in and went over to her bed. She began to regret putting so many containers underneath her bed since she now has to move them all in order to get her trunk.

She sighed, turned around, and walked toward her dresser at the other end of the room. She looked around at all her papers, including the letter she had just written to Alexandra. She picked the letter up and thought, It would seem I don't need to send this anymore.

She placed the letter more to the end of the dresser and continued her search.

She started to move around some of her random sketches and maps that she had. Many of the sketches were of dragons or weapons, mainly swords and daggers.

She never understood why but she has almost always had a fascination with one specific iron.

She had seen it once before at a market, however with all of the research she decided to do on the iron afterward, she soon learned that the man trying to sell the sword that was there had merely painted it. He had overpriced it by far too much as well.

She even decided to go back to the market the next day to see if he still had it. Unfortunately, he had not. She had desperately wanted to expose him and attempt to get that sword from him for free.

Stygian iron has always caught her attention since that day. She felt as though she needed to have at least a dagger made of it just to be happy with a weapon.

She had been sketching many different designs for swords and daggers since she decided on this and hasn't seemed to be able to stop.

Delphina then gathered all of her sketches into a pile and put them to the side. She then gathered another pile of random maps she had and put them next to the sketches.

She thought she had put at least one ribbon exactly where she was looking, but it must have fallen with when she was drawing. She gently hit her hand on her head for being so forgetful and just decided it would be easier to get a new ribbon from her drawer.

The ribbon was a simple black one. She didn't need anything special. She only needed to get her hair out of her face while she looks for her trunk.

Many of the things under her bed were glass bottles and things like that from which she had many different herbs and minerals in.

Her family, being Skoupídia and some vampires, she did inherit quite some magic.

She just liked to keep some things to practice with every now and then.

Once everything she needed to move was out of the way, she was finally able to get to her trunk. She reached for it, grabbed the handle, and pulled it out.

After she got it out, she moved it to the side so that she would be able to put everything back under her bed.

It hadn't taken quite as long to put everything back as it had to take it all out.

When everything was back under her bed, she walked over to her desk, sat down, and got out a piece of parchment along with her quill and ink.

Delphina wanted to make a list of things that she would want to bring with her to Alexandra's house. She knew she would want to bring her maps. That wasn't a question. She would obviously need to bring at least a week's worth of clothing.

She knew that she also definitely had to bring all of her maps. Both both Alexandra and her had a love of maps and where they could lead.

She wrote down some other small objects like her sketchbook, some pencils,a second pair of shoes since the pair she'll be wearing on the way may get soaked (it is a ship after all), and a compass.

She then sat back with a smile once satisfied and looked around one last time.

I will get to see you soon Alexandra, just wait.

Key:
- Skoupídia is literally just werecat in Greek, at least that's what google translate says ¯(°_o)/¯

- Stygian iron is just black iron but if you get the reference then you are an absolutely amazing person.

Word count: 1,939 (why tf did I make it so long, sorry 'bout that if you actually read the whole thing for some reason ಥ‿ಥ)