The laundresses of three neighboring noble estates have long come the same bend in the river to clean the fabrics of their masters and chat about the day’s trivialities. All seemed right and normal for years, until one day the laundry emerged from the waters covered in strange, flowing symbols too neat to be stains, too precise to be meaningless. -- Deathshead419
Three Baronets held neighbouring lands, and it was a lucky thing that they were friends. The shared hunting grounds were a forest where a majority of the three realms' politics happened whilst riding out and locating their shared quarry. Most of the rest happened over ales at the feast for the victor.
It was therefore no shock that the servants were also fast allies. The neighbouring holiday castles shared the same stream where the laundresses clustered to chatter and scrub. Most of the news that didn't reach the town criers exchanged itself at that junction.
"M'lord's young lady's come to bloom," cheered the laundress for Ronchenac, Nellie. "She'll be meeting her fiancee very soon."
"We'll have to get our blue-bags," said the laundress for Sweetcomb, Olga. "Lot of white in those kinds of parties."
"I heard the maid's 'bout t' get wed," said the laundress for Dawburn, Wynna. "From what I know about m'lord's boy, she'll have a nerve wearing white."
The other two cooed their interest, hands never stopping on their work.
"I can't say much, gossips are terrible people," said Wynna. "But I can say there's four little reasons already in the castle as to why he's headed off to Swinbrau."
Another coo of excited interest. "Surprised he waited that long," added Olga. "Lad's been chasing skirts since he could run."
"What in all the gods and faeries?" said Nellie. She lifted up the latest piece she'd been scrubbing. A bed sheet for one of the staff, but now it was all over with symbols. She turned the sheet about. "It's... writing?" She scrubbed at a patch with her soap. Worried it against the washboard. "And it's not coming off!"
"That's a portent," said Olga, checking her work on a kerchief. It, too, was covered in scrawl that she couldn't read. "Uhm... Wynna?"
Her lady's petticoats contained columns. "We should take this to our lords' Wizards. This is something ominous for sure." They at least made sure all the laundry was as clean as they could get it, because they took pride in their work.
They said hurried farewells and scurried off to their lords to bring the matter to their relative court Wizards. Not seconds later, three heads popped up from the flowing water. One undine lifted up by the other two to check in three directions.
"Yeah. They're gone. I told you I knew what Human writing looked like." She returned fully to the water, and each of the three checked the shorelines where washing had been moments before.
"Did yours drop anything interesting?"
"No they took it all with them."
The scout of the trio searched her shore, slapping it with irritation when she was done. "Nothing. Bugger!" She sighed as she sank up to her iridescent, scaled shoulders. "I was sure that would make them panic and drop something nice."
"So... next time we try the wishes three thing?" suggested her compatriot.
"Let's workshop that," soothed the third. "We know the Humans always want wishes to work."
[Photo by Annette Batista Day on Unsplash]
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