(2025-08-14) Freedom

Details

Author:	Alli
Summary:	In response to her essay, a letter arrives from Merelda for Ozzy at the Howling Oak.
Rating:	T for Teen

A letter sent to the care of the druids at the Howling Oak, addressed to Ozzy Gravehowl. The handwriting is very even, simple and easy to read.

Dear Ozzy,

Thank you for the essay. Given your progress in written communication, I will not patronize you by simplifying my own words. I recognize that you’re no longer the little girl I found in that wretched house all those years ago. You’re a grown woman, and are fully capable of handling your own life as you see fit.

I am listening to you now, in a way I may not have in the past. I understand that you have no need of a guardian and that you haven’t for quite some time, despite my efforts to make myself one on your behalf. I know you are not my child, but I still love you. I will try my best not to allow that love to become a burden.

This is the compromise I offer.

I have not intended for the home I have provided to be a cage or a place holding bad memories. Your presence there is welcome, but will never be demanded. I wish you could think of your room in my household as a refuge, but you may also use it as storage, or simply as nothing at all. That room, like other things I have chosen to give you, is a gift. You are free to reject it, but it will not be taken from you. If a time comes when you decide you want it, it will still be there.

As an aside, if anyone ever yells at you, hurts you, or refuses to feed you in the Veyne household, please tell me. I will handle the situation. This I promise you, even if the offender is Lord Veyne himself.

I confess that as you write of your childhood, it prompts in me certain feelings of jealousy towards my cousin’s role in your life. Still, I am aware that had he not taken your father’s life, I might never have met you. That would not be a satisfactory state of affairs on my side, though I cannot pretend to know your thoughts on the matter.

Love,
Merry

P.S. I will be heading back down to Surwich once I conclude some of my work here in Stormwind. If you do attempt to find me and I am nowhere to be found, that is likely where I am.