Editing City Series:Volume5b Chapter17 (section)

===Rosetta’s Journal===

I think this will be a busy day so I will write what I can during the morning. Especially since I was too busy yesterday to write much of what happened last night.

Now. Lady Beretta was released last night. The mountain railroad was apparently repaired and her identification arrived from Paris yesterday. The mayor called for us at around 8 at night. Mother Rose was incredible then. She told me to hurriedly pack my things while she stuffed all of Lady Beretta’s things in her bag.

It only took her five minutes. Then she stole the truck from the mayor – that is the only way I can think to describe it – and drove me to the police station in Autun.

I did not understand why we had to be in such a hurry. It looked to me like she wanted us out of Herlde as quickly as possible. Our tickets were for a morning train so it was already too late to use them.

We could get home easily enough after picking up reserved tickets to Paris at Autun Station. But for whatever reason she insisted she see us off to Dijon right away.

I had questions but I kept them to myself. Because of the serious look on Mother Rose’s face. When we arrived at the police station Lady Beretta was waiting for us out front.

She was surprised to learn I and our things were loaded in the back of the truck. She too must not have thought we would be heading back so soon.

But she quickly climbed into the back and we drove to the train station not far from the police station. The train arrived almost as soon as we had arrived.

We let Mother Rose go buy our tickets while we checked over our luggage in the station waiting room. That was when the platform grew very noisy.

Noisy with voices speaking German.

Several people in military uniforms passed through the ticket gate and quickly left while discussing something that sounded serious. Lady Beretta saw the look of shock from the bespectacled station chief who was standing by the ticket gate so she asked what the soldiers had said.

To be very clear about what they said I will write it out as bullet points here.

*The Resistance staged an uprising in Paris. Some of the city was destroyed. The Resistance was crushed.

*The German army took heavy losses too. There was a traitor within their ranks. The uprising was led by Phillip Missel.

*Phillip Missel was killed during the uprising.

To be honest I still do not understand it very well. But I do know that Sir Phillip fought back in Paris in some kind of leadership role within the Resistance. And I know he was defeated.

That was all we learned there. But it was enough. Lady Beretta sat down next to me with a pale face. Then she fell from the seat and collapsed like the strings supporting her had been cut.

That is not all. When Mother Rose ran over and asked what happened I relayed what the station chief had told us. She too had to take a seat afterwards.

Lady Beretta has not come to. Mother Rose managed to calm down last night and looked after Lady Beretta but Lady Beretta is still asleep in the bed in our room. Her breathing is calm and she occasionally groans. Mother Rose says she has had a breakdown. The exhaustion has caught up with her so her body demands rest and she will continue sleeping until she has it.

Mother Rose had this to say while viewing sleeping Lady Beretta.

“There is nothing more I can do. We can only trust in her now.”

What am I supposed to trust in?

<nowiki><I</nowiki> feel an earthquake. It is not a serious one but this has happened a lot over the past few days.>

But not even the earthquake is enough to wake Lady Beretta. I put in her IV. For some reason her arm was a lot skinnier than I imagined. Even though I see it all the time. How strange.

Today’s newspaper said Paris is now under martial law and you must pass an inspection before entering the city. The Resistance uprising and the German counterattack destroyed Paris’s Arc de Triomphe. The city hall and the broadcast station and the postal agency were also partially destroyed. There were a lot of deaths but Sir Phillip Missel’s name is the only one being given from the Resistance side. Yet there is detailed information on the casualties from the German side. It seems unfair to me.

But it is true Paris had been caught in the war. Blood has been shed.

I only ever spoke with Sir Phillip twice. But now I know there will never be a third time. That seems like a shame to me. I wonder if there was more I could have spoken with him about. I only ever spoke with him about Lady Beretta.

But there is so much more we could have discussed. Yes. Like how he is doing with Lady Beretta. If I seem human to him. If he enjoys the time he spends with Lady Mallette and the others. And so much more about the past and the future.

Now that chance is forever lost. Lady Beretta must be feeling that even more than I am.

I want her to wake up soon. There is so much I want to tell her and ask her. For example she has yet to teach me how to use a comma. It seems to be similar to a period but also different somehow.

There are other things worrying me too. How is master doing? I tried to write him a letter last night but could not bring myself to actually do it. I have a feeling the same will happen today.

<Lady Beretta stirs in the other bed as if from a nightmare. Her left hand – the side without the IV – is grasping at her own collar.

I feel like I understand why she likes to hold things in her sleep.

<nowiki><I</nowiki> hear Mother Rose calling for me from the hallway.>

I must go. But first I think I will remove Lady Beretta’s hand from her collar and hold her hand myself.

That is my own bit of selfishness. My bit of selfishness toward Lady Beretta who continues to hide her fear of being alone and can only be honest about it at times like this.

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