Dearest Seora

By Esther Carlisle

When I travel to see you
What shall you see?
A tired dark face
Star gazing at you

When I travel to see you
What shall you think?
Of the journey I took
Or the journey you'll take?

When I travel to see you
What shall you do?
Smile so brightly
And make my heart race

When I travel to see you
What shall I see?
Eyes like the stars
And a heart of gold

When I travel to see you
What shall I think?
Don't ruin all this
You've one shot to take!

When I travel to see you
What shall I do?
Get down on my knees
And kiss your hand

When I travel to see you
What shall I say?
"Dearest Seora
I've waited for you"

---

Esther Carlisle had a crush, and she had it bad.

Her mission had been fairly simple - establish contact with Seora, a famous Ritual Maiden from Divinice. She had in the past hinted at a pro-Stolisian sentiment, or at least a willingness to work with the Stolisian government. It was of great importance, then, that Esther establish contact and figure out exactly how deep her sympathies ran, and what she may be willing to do for the betterment of both countries.

It started out so well, too. Esther had sent two letters in one envelope - a simple letter, like what she supposed Seora would regularly receive, and a more formal letter about Stolisia. She expected Seora to answer with a single letter, answering the formalities in the post-script, and that's precisely what she did. Esther relayed her answers, she was given new letters to send, and thus the pattern continued.

It was so simple! So how had Esther started sending Seora letters even when she didn't have a formal one to send, how had they started sending each other gifts and talking brightly of their lives and hobbies? How had it gotten to this? And could she even tell anyone about it? Was this against the mission? Would she be punished for it? What would happen?

Her superior officer, Gabriel Valentine, couldn't supply answers. In fairness, she never mentioned Seora by name when asking about it, but she assumed he connected the dots. All he could do was suggest ways to handle it like she would any regular crush - explain her feelings, somehow. But wouldn't that compromise the mission? What if Seora didn't feel the same way and her confession just turned her away? What if that made her less willing to work with them? It was terrifying.

It was eventually Gabe's suggestion that she write her crush a poem. It didn't have to be an explicit confession, it could just convey a feeling, or talk about an event. It didn't even have to be about the relationship, if she didn't want it to be. But that freedom had it's own limitation - Esther wasn't good at poetry, and didn't know what to write about.

That is, until a very special formal letter was sent to Seora. Would she, if given the chance, travel to Stolisia to work with them?

Yes.

Future Events

During the 'Retrieval Mission' at the Ylaia Amanta, Esther used the final line of the poem (I've waited for you) as a way to surreptitiously identify herself to Seora. This was successful, and helped the mission go off without a hitch.