Dearest Veronica, Can You Not Read?

[Emily James]

Much like many witches and wizards, owls were essential to communication for Emily James. She enjoyed reading letters just as much as she enjoyed writing them--even if they were just small notices and correspondences. Emily had just received a letter by owl, but the writing on the envelope was too smudged to decipher who it was from. Hoping for some clarification for precaution's sake before opening the letter, Emily went to the Post Office.

There stood Veronica behind the front desk, per usual, helping many send off their letters and packages. Once Emily made it to the front of the line, she smiled. She hardly knew Veronica, but she knew her because of her position at the post office; a place she traversed quite frequently. "Hello, Veronica," she said and gave a polite smile. "How are you today?"

[Veronica Grantham]

Vic enjoyed her job, even though it was not as easy for her as it could be. Thankfully with Kon around, she could breathe a little easier; having one of your brother's roommates as you manager made things a little less stressful. It wasn't to say that Vic wasn't good at her job, she was very good with people and pleasant and she could clean with the best of them, but when she got stuck behind the counter and there was a lot of reading involved, it seemed to go slower than it should. She had of course, learned the basics of reading during her one term at school, but when she stopped using it frequently, it kind of slipped away.

Fortunately she still recognized the letters and some of the sounds, but putting it all together wasn't a very smooth skill in Vic's world. Fortunately most people came right in with everything all addressed, ready to go and Vic just had to make sure it went in the right bin to be sent out. Her math skills were much better than her reading, having always kept a close eye on her own budget and spending habits, Vic was very good at the register in that regard, but it could be easier if she read a bit faster and with more success.

"Miss James, pleasure as always." She smiled easily as the brunette approached the counter. She saw Miss James quite frequently and therefore recognized her easily; it was no surprise to see her so often during the week.

  

[Emily James]

Emily smiled back and gave a slight nod intended as a polite bow to Miss Cooper. "The pleasure is all mine," Emily said. "I received an owl recently, but I don't know who it is from and I was hoping you could help me." Emily knew that Veronica would oblige her, but she also watched her struggle countless times before. It wasn't uncommon for a lower-class lady to have a bit of trouble reading. If one couldn't afford the schooling or had no one to teach them, they may not always have the chance to properly learn. Emily was a well-mannered woman, however, and would never assume too much for fear of offending someone.

She handed the letter to Veronica. "See, here, I can't read who the letter might be from," she said. "It appears it's been horribly smudged and I don't like to open letters of anonymity."

[Veronica Grantham]

Veronica took the offered letter, though looked down at it skeptically. She often had a hard time putting things together when they were legible and when they weren’t she was at a bigger loss than most. Still, she took a look at it, unsure as if to anything other than the first letter. Some people had truly miserable handwriting! Of course her own was chicken scratch as well, but she hardly had the time or the knowledge to practice it. Plus, Vic had always been the kind of person to conduct her personal business, well, in person. She would much rather speak with people than try and write them a letter.

“I’m afraid I’ll do no better with it. I can return it the the sender with a note if you like,” Or Konnor could, he had much more magical knowledge than Vic did herself. In fact it was truly a tie if you looked to see which she was more proficient at. Her spellwork was limited, mostly a few household things, cleaning, a healing thing or two, but nothing major. Vic wished she could be more helpful than that, but there was little hope of her reading it. “I can also leave it for my manager and see if he can’t do something with it.” Those were really the only two options Vic had to offer, unless Miss James wanted to simply take the letter and take her chances.

  

[Emily James]

Emily sighed as Veronica said there wasn't much that could be done. She was trying to be helpful, at least. She wondered if maybe they could work on it together, there was no one waiting behind her at the moment. "I wouldn't mind it being handled otherwise," Emily said. "However, I do worry that it could be urgent. You never know." Emily leaned over the counter and looked at the envelope carefully.

"Do you think that second letter is R or E?"

  

[Veronica Grantham]

Merlin's beard! I'm so sorry for the wait!

Honestly, even though she knew the difference between an E and an R, Vic could not discern what that second letter was. Her limited knowledge of blending letters was useless as well. Those who could decode letters and sounds could use the clues to help them figure out the likely letter, but Vic was not so knowledgeable.

"I'm really not sure, unfortunately." Vic pursed her lips, trying to suppress the impending frown. It was both embarrassing and a frustrating reminder of her lack of skill. She rather hated when she couldn't help people as best she could. "Mr. Broadmoor will be in this afternoon, I'll leave it for him with a note that it requires his immediate attention." Konnor would know what to do or at least have more options. "We'll certainly let you know the outcome?" She questioned, still annoyed with herself that she couldn't be of more use at the moment.

"Was there anything else we could do for you today?" She was hoping she could at least be some kind of useful to Miss James today.