> [RP] Mortimer Castle

To Lady Gina Mortimer, greetings.

I had the pleasure of meeting you and your betrothed, Lord Dranoel, some moons ago when I visited Evesham. At that time I did not know of my connection to Clan Fraser so you may remember me, if you do at all, as plain Maitane of Worcester.

It is not easy to find words to explain why I write to you now, so please forgive me if I set out the facts as I know them plainly. I am an orphan. My father died before I was born, my mother days after she gave birth to me. My meagre knowledge comes from the Dowager Lady Fraser, who was my father's wife and my foster mother Mair Reekie, and most recently, The Fraser himself, my nephew.

Sometime ago my foster mother Mair revealed to me the circumstances of my birth and how I came to live with her. As a result I was reunited with my father's family. This day I learned that my mother may have been a daughter of the House of Mortimer.

Lady Fraser has told me that she knew nothing of my existence until my father lay on his deathbed. At that time he confessed to her that he had had an affair with a young woman ,who fell pregnant. The girl, my mother, had been found after a great storm and entrusted to the care of a nearby nunnery. It was thought she had survived a shipwreck, but she had no memories of who she was, though she said her name was Phillipa. How she and my father met I do not know. To avoid scandal he had sent my mother to England in the care of trusted servants, a couple called Jenkins.

As he lay dying he asked his wife to swear on Jah that she would ensure that his child and its mother were provided for. He gave Lady Fraser a pendant bearing an unfamiliar crest on one side and a likeness of the girl, painted on ivory on the other. The Fraser says that I am very like my mother, from the portrait, if so I am honoured, for I think her very lovely. My father told Lady Fraser that by this token Phillipa would know that he had sent her for he had exchanged it for one of his own. It was agreed that if ever she needed more from him she should send his token back to him, and likewise that if anyone came to her bearing the pendant, she could trust that they came from him.

Lady Fraser is a proud woman, and strong willed, but she is Jah fearing and did love her husband. So I believe her when she says she despatched an escort to where her husband told her she would find my mother. The escort came back emptyhanded. The house they were directed to was empty and the villagers said that the occupants had left some time before with no explanation.

The Frasers traced the servants and discovered that on learning of my father's death they had abandoned their charge and fled with all the money they had been entrusted with for her care. They paid for their perfidy with their lives, but no trace of the woman and her child were ever found . Until I appeared Lady Fraser believed that both Phillipa and her unborn child had been murdered by the treacherous pair.

I grew up believing that my parentage was unknown. My foster mother, Mair, told me that she had met my mother on the road, destitute, starving and close to term. She had tended to her but was unable to save her when she gave birth. All she knew of my mother was that she was called Phillipa and that she was of gentle birth.

All that Mair knew of my father was that his name was Hugh, that he had been married and was now dead. Apart from my life the only legacy my mother left me was a gold signet ring bearing the arms of Clan Fraser which she told Mair my father had given to her.

Mair brought me up as her own resolving not to burden me with the knowledge that my father, as she thought, had abandoned my mother and I. Only after I had told her of meeting The Fraser and her own chance encounter with another of the Clan did she reconsider and told me what she knew.

Now comes the strangest part of this sad tale, and that which concerns your family. The Frasers accepted my claim on them. In the course of discussing my claim with her grandson, Lady Fraser showed him the pendant entrusted to her by my father. The Fraser recognised it!

He says it bears the arms of the House of Mortimer which he knew well for he had a friend, now deceased, named Gabrial Mortimer. He spoke fondly of this man, and recalled that Gabe, as he called him, told him of a family mystery - the disappearance of a daughter of the house, one Phillipa Mortimer, who had been sent to Denmark to marry in 1438, but had never arrived. It was believed that the ship she travelled on had been lost at sea with all hands.

Whether you believe that my mother was indeed that Phillipa Mortimer is not for me to say, but I send you the pendant Lady Fraser gave me as proof of this tale, for it is clear to me that the pendant belongs to the Mortimer family.

Yours respectfully,

Maitane Fraser of Worcester.