Scrap walks into the tavern, posts a notice on the bulletin board, then looks around defiantly
Dear citizens of Port Katherine,
As many of you are aware, I stood trial during this past festival of fire. As most of you probably did not have the full context for this trial, or perhaps any awareness it would be happening at all before Stanton showed up with an out-of-town lawyer, I have a few things I would like to say to clear the air.
First, whatever slander that Tojiman lawyer may have spread, I deeply loved my dearly departed Evangeline, and she (for reasons I still don’t quite understand but am sincerely grateful for) loved me. Yes, there was a significant age difference between us (more than 30 years), but I had hoped on the day we were wed that I would spend as much of the rest of my life with her as possible. The fact that we were so tragically separated by her death only a year after our wedding is a grief I will carry with me for the rest of my days.
Second, I did not ask for (and indeed hardly knew what to do with) the family name and wealth that came to me upon our marriage. Evangeline and I had been in a relationship for several years prior to our marriage, and I would have been content for things to stay as they were indefinitely, had she not proposed marriage to me. Looking back on her proposal, I still don’t know why she did it. Perhaps she already knew she was ill, and wanted to make the most of the time she had left. Perhaps she wanted to stick it to her family, who had always said she would never marry. Perhaps she wanted her worldly possessions to pass to someone uninvolved in family politics. Perhaps she simply wanted to declare her feelings for me to the world. I truly do not know, and I never will. But although I was born to a poor tailor in Drevnia’s Worker’s District, I had just completed an engineering apprenticeship in Elutheria when Evangeline started courting me, and I had means enough to support myself. I have no interest in the maneuvering of the political elite, nor in being a powerful merchant in charge of trade routes. I have found a place with my new family, but I was not seeking it out through my marriage.
Finally, I had no knowledge of Evangeline’s disease until several months before her death. She took pains to hide it from me and most others close to her. To say that learning she had only months to live was a shock is an understatement. I was devastated, and also hurt that she had kept it from me. Needless to say, this was well after our wedding, and had no bearing on my acceptance of her proposal.
I hope that these clarifications have helped to dispel any lingering doubts you, my fellow townsfolk, may have had about me after this festival’s trials. If anyone wishes to ask other questions or get further clarification, now that my personal business has been forced into the public eye, I am not ashamed to answer your questions.
Sincerely,
Scáthach “Scrap” Hirun Teuthida Alizé