The Wing-Sealed Letter

By morning, someone had left a violet scale beneath the door.
Mara took it to the watchkeeper, who stopped winding the clock when he saw it. He asked where she had found it, then whether she had touched the pale edge.
She had.
He opened a drawer and took out a letter sealed with two folded wings. Her name was on the front. The paper was brittle; the ink had faded almost to brown.
“Who wrote it?” she asked.
The watchkeeper turned the envelope over.
“Tell me what you heard last night.”



