Tales from Farmacie - Part 3

Okay, I've finally gotten back to this epic story! Yay! Go me!

If you missed parts one and two, here they are!
Tales from Farmacie - Part 1
Tales from Farmacie - Part 2

--- --- --- Part 3 --- --- ---

"A pen pal?" echoed the royal twins.

"Yes, a pen pal," repeated the tutor.

The idea was so utterly normal it almost seemed absurd.

"How would we go about finding one?"

"Let me worry about that," the tutor answered.

After that days lessons the tutor immediately drafted a letter and sent a copy of it to each and every person in the kingdom that had a title or an ounce of blue blood in their veins. The letter asked if the respective ruler would be so kind as to allow the royal children to write to their children.

The letters were sent with the fastest horsemen to every corner of the kingdom where a royalty laid their head at night and within a fortnight the answers began coming back. The tutor was dismayed at the replies which generally read something like this:

Dear Tutor Ridalyn,
We are pleased to see that the Royal tutor has thought of our children worthy enough to write to the dear prince and princess. However, we are ashamed and regret to inform you that our child is ____ (illiterate, away on holiday, at their aunt's, at their grandmother's, out of town, out of the country, terminally ill with the plague, recently lost their writing hand, etc.). We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you. Perhaps (the ruler in the next province)'s children are able to write.
Signed,
(Enter rulers name here)

After the first few letters the tutor realized that they were afraid to allow their children to write. As it stood, the general rumor amongst the aristocracy was that whatever curse was upon the royal children was transferable to anyone if they got too close. The tutor did not learn this until several days after the first letters arrived and only after he, in a moment of frustration demanded an answer of the chamber maid. The fact that everyone was so superstitious bothered him greatly, but there was nothing he could do about that. What he could do, however, was reach out to the community where perhaps such wild rumors hadn't spread as yet.

He approached the king with the proposal of letting a commoner write to his children and received a less than favorable response and ended up spending the night in the dungeon. The next morning however, the king saw this as a way to perhaps boost his image to the people and so released the tutor and let him send out the invitation.

To Ridalyn's dismay, the response of the commoners was hardly more enthusiastic than that of the aristocracy. Most of the replies came in the form of a sob story, and the ones that were not were plainly written by mayors and sheriffs who wished a promotion and favor and wrote with their left hand. Ridalyn was determined to find suitable pen pals for the royal children and so, in a moment of desperation, sent out messengers to the outer provinces where mostly farmers lived. Most of the messages had to be read to the farmers who then sadly had to reject the offer, but there were two replies that were written in return and delivered by owl.

Ridalyn was so delighted by the two replies that he immediately wrote back and attached the letter to the leg of the messenger owl and sent them on their way.

"My children, I have found pen pals for the both of you!" Ridalyn announced one day at the start of lessons.

"REally?!"
"Truly?!"

"Really and truly! I have granted them permission and you are to begin writing immediately. Now, I'd like you to write a letter about yourself, introducing yourself to your new penpal. Write the first draft now and the second draft after their first letter arrives."

Just then a messenger owl tapped at the window of the classroom. Ridalyn lept up and opened it and in flew the owl who flew of Morfine and dropped the note in her lap then flew back to the windowsill and sat.

Morfine read through the letter three times and then proceeded to write her first draft. Codine waited patiently for his letter to arrive, and his patience was rewarded when a second owl flew in and dropped the letter in his lap.

Ridalyn smiled as the royal children read their letters and wrote back. This was the happiest they had been since Beneidryll took a holiday.

... to be continued...