To Whom It May Concern by Anne Wolfe

Chapter Three

To Whom It May Concern

Chapter Three

A Farm in Oklahoma (Again)

Ethel stared at the brief message, a heavy pit of dread forming in her stomach.

‘I am interested in your offer. I cannot write much now, but I am very willing to negotiate a return of property,’ wrote a person by the name of the-last-of-his-house.

As she went to the author’s profile, the pit of dread grew worse and worse. The profile itself was virtually nonexistent, only saved from complete oblivion by the list of works. (One, for The Silmarillion.) That work, titles The Autobiography of Maglor Feanorian, looked to be one of the most popular ongoing works in the entire fandom. How had she ever missed it?

The sprawling, detailed work spanned already from the author’s earliest memories to his father’s exile from Tirion, and looked to be updated daily. She read a few chapters, but as it threatened to pull her in entirely and leave her commission’s prepared canvas still blank on the morrow, she made herself close the window. She could read it later, when she had fewer worries.

What little she had read did have a particularly realistic feel to it, and all the recognizable characters were unfailingly in character, even in childhood.

Bother it all. The message certainly seemed genuine, and at least she’d be rid of the thing. She’d be impulsive for once in her life.

Riding a shaky wave of adrenaline, Ethel thought out her message to the-last-of-his-house. ‘I am very glad to see your message,’ her quivering hands typed, ‘and I am very willing to return your property. I do not have the resources to travel very far, but I can probably get anywhere in Oklahoma, north Texas, south Kansas, southwest Missouri, or west Arkansas, if necessary. If you wish to choose the meeting location, please reply with the necessary information.’

She made herself send it. She made herself shut the computer down, stand up, and walk over to her easel. She made herself get out the paint, and start forming the shape of dancers in motion.

Her shaking hands added an effect almost like motion blur.