The warmth of the fire hardly seemed to reach Ellen where she stood. She held in either hand a small glass vial. One empty, one full. Tonight marked the end of her innocence in a way that made losing her maidenhead out of wedlock seem a child's error.<br/><br/>Ellen wiped the tears from her eyes and cheeks and turned to her writing desk. Crossing the room to the desk, she rested the two vials upon it.<br/><br/><em>'Be vague, Ellen.. Be vague, so your love may keep the words you write him... If he chooses.'</em><br/><br/>She pushed her deeds from her mind and took to the writing of her next note, though this particular note was burned many times before finally finding its finished form.<br/><br/><em>Beloved Louis,<br/><br/>You will be pleased to hear that your words reach me and stay with me. Things are in motion to assure the safety of me and mine, and we both take comfort from your writing.<br/><br/>It pains me to think what circumstance keeps us from sharing, and then again were circumstances different we may never have met. You are so very dear to me, Louis, for the friendship and strength you offer me so readily.<br/><br/>Keep me with you always.<br/><br/>Your flower</em><br/><br/>How childish she found the signing, but taking all facts about who was involved out of the letter gave him a better opportunity to keep it. Particularly when the words were also kept so brief. She could have written for ages, but instead she said what mattered concisely using plain, black ink that would not carry her scent. She sealed it with pale, red wax bearing no symbols and considered the parchment for a time. This one she would deliver herself.<br/><br/>She would visit Louis soon, when she was as close to showing as she dared wait to be before telling her father, and she would enjoy the stolen hours they shared. The myriad things she wished to write here in plain words and couldn't she would speak aloud to his ears as she caressed away his pains and soothed any suffering she found him in.<br/><br/>When she left, and only then, would she give him the letter, with a spoken promise of her love and a spoken plea that he not read it until she was well gone from the Lamb in Briars.<em>'The rest will be in vague terms, my dear, and I'm sorry for that.. But perhaps in plainer words you can find a few shining moments to savor for eternity... A few words that need not burn within your fire here.'</em>She was still many nights from visiting, but already her eyes welled with tears and her throat felt constricted by a lump from her emotions.<br/><br/>"How can love be so cruel?" Ellen sighed aloud as she asked, taking the two vials in hand again and pacing to the window.<br/><br/>When she at last did visit she savored every moment, every touch, every scent and sound. Her hands roamed his body. In the end she could not speak the words which had welled to the surface of her mind in parting, and instead simply pressed the plain parchment into his hands and left the chamber while tears had yet to fall.