September 7th, 1868

I recieved a reply from Ellen today! (Pasting this letter in my journal as well.)

Business is always very quiet here. But I'm sure I can scrounge up another salary for you. Of course, you'll have to create an alter idendity. Well, maybe not have to, but it's safer to have a name to hide behind. I think you would make a lovely Elizabeth or maybe a Katherine. I settled on the name Rebecca and Bo the name Mark. We became the Lewises. As for your mode of arrival, I suppose I could send Bo to retrieve you or if you'd like you could make the journey here on your own. There's always Monica's mode, too. Anyways, I look forward to your first day of work. It will be lovely to see again!

It made me laugh a bit, to know that we had the same thought. I decided on Mother's mode of arrival. I'm sure the scenery would be lovely on the journey to Cambridge, but I'd rather a quick and discreet method. I've packed up my things already, but I plan on arriving tomorrow. I'll give Fae kitten and cat duties. She'll like that. I'm not sure how long I'll stay at the bookstore. As long as Ellen will allow, or needs, I suppose.

She and Bo have had it open since about 1560, but Bo mostly works on the boats nowadays. (The bookstore is really Ellen's.) I could probably spend a good three hundred years at a bookstore too. It will be fascinating, seeing all the new stories on the shelves and watch the town change and flourish. Those are my main motivations to leave the Valley for the bookstore. It was all I thought about those four days waiting for Ellen's reply, really. (Besides the kittens.)

As always, I've also been thinking about what Corin has been doing. I'd thought that he and I had become close while he was here, mostly because of our love of books. But his letters to me seem to say otherwise. Perhaps he's just like that with everyone. Mari tells me that ever since he left so many years ago, when he was 15, he's been distant from the family. She says that she, Bo, and Corin were very close in their youth. Now, not so much. I'm still not sure why Corin left in the first place. Maybe it was a call of adventure. Or maybe he left on bad terms. The latter seems most likely.

The only reason he came back to the Valley all those years ago was for John. (The story is very similar to Wilhelm's, John had been injured in a battle near the Valley and Mother and Mari nursed him back to health.) They left shortly after. Then almost a century later they came back. (For what reason I'm not sure exactly, but Johnathan had experienced the losses of almost all of his children, and I suppose he craved the comfort of a welcoming home.)

It was a few very tense years when Corin returned after a millennium. Especially because he returned with someone who was mostly a stranger. A king, no less. It's hard to hate Johnathan though. We all like Johnathan. He has a humble personality and a kind smile. He was excellent at finding ways to make us laugh. I'm sure being a charismatic person helped him as a king. John is very strong, tall, and handsome. He's also a master swordsman (Wilhelm claims that the battlefield brought a ruthlessness out of him that he pitted against the enemy, and that he won many battles fighting alongside his people) and he is as educated as anyone in the Middle Ages could be. All qualities of an excellent king.

John doesn't talk about his parents very often, but from what I've heard of his father, John ruled his kingdom the complete opposite of him. John gained the respect of his people and governed justly and sternly, unlike his father. John became a king known for his skills of strategy and diplomacy. In the history books, he is called "King Johnathan the Lionhearted."

Now however, John is just a humble artist. It's funny to think that the tall, kind man who paints flowers has killed nearly a hundred people in his lifetime. I wonder if he misses being a king. Roving a whole new continent where no one knows who you are or thinks you've been dead for 800 years is certainly a step down from being a respectable king. I haven't asked him specifically whether he misses being a king, but I did ask him once if it bothered him that people don't treat him with the same amount of respect as they once did. He told me no, "People still very much respect me. Being extremely tall helps with that. No one wants to anger a mountain."

I agree with those words of wisdom. I sometimes wish I were as tall as John. I would be able to see the whole length of the Valley, and Cory would certainly have more reason to respect me if I grew two feet taller.

I've just realized! Cory won't be able to mess with me while I'm at the bookstore!

I'm going to try and rest now. But I'm far too excited about seeing Bo and Ellen again to sleep.