grieve not;

Grieve not. I have loved you with everything I am, said James’ sylph. After he had wrapped Madge’s scarf around her, so tightly that her wings fell right off. He really didn’t mean to and never ever did he want it, but he killed her. First she lost her wings. Then he lost her - and all my sisters have grown shy of humans, because they know how the story goes.

Because we’ve learned that humans love differently. It’s what James’ sylph has taught us, they say in breathy voices and disappear in the mist. In thin air. Humans must own what they’re given. So although they both loved, James and his sylph – in the end she had to leave her life before his feet. While he had to leave her there, on the ground. Heavier than lead.

I don’t want to lower my voice around her own words, though. They’re too, all too strong – not makeshift like the moisture of dew on your wings, lingering only until you step into the sun. No, I truly, firmly (more firmly than anything I myself can be) believe that death isn’t too high a price to pay for love. Humans are mortal and they know they’ll die. Sylphs live forever and that’s why they shouldn’t fear death at all!

That's why. On the day when Effie, my dearest Effie, finally sees me, I’ve decided... I’ll let her wrap her scarf around my shoulders. If she really must. If it’s the only way. Grieve not.