Dear Victoria,

Here I sit, beneath the peaked roof of the dragon temple. The dark interior is a quiet oasis and the cloying scent of resin brings back vivid memories of our last visit here.  The moment I entered the triangular doorway of the Norwegian structure, my thoughts turned to you and your attachment to this region. I at once sought a comfortable perch to begin my letter to you, seeking solace in a one way conversation.

I decided to take one last trip before leaving Earth and realized this secluded village was the ideal destination.  Mixing the need for succor with a desire for your presence,  I headed for the village of Urnes.  We spent our last joint holiday with our parents here and the memories are a joy to recall.  It has been more than ten years since we were last here, but nothing much has changed.

After dropping off my things at the lodge I climbed the steep path to the black stankykje, perched on the top of the hill overlooking the village. Even from a distance I could see the ornate roof rising over the trees and could detect the smell of dark pitch used in the protective coating of the wooden structure. I will stay only a few days here before heading back to Oxford, but I needed the comfort of your spirit which is prolific here. That sprite is already healing the deep wound within me; a wound that has created a deep chasm between my head and my heart. Being unable to discuss this new discovery of the dark Anomaly is eating into my rationale like an infection. I have lost my ability to distinguish what is real and what is imagined.

I sit now at a crossroads.  One road leads to a clear and straight path with no questions or uncertainty.  The other direction is arduous, with blind curves and no defined direction.  Making the decision whether to pursue the more difficult course and abandon years of research and planning is eating away at me. 

So here I sit, summoning your spectre once more to assist my decision making in the most unlikely of places. This is one of the locations I feel your Atua the strongest. Not only because of the spiritual path you have chosen in life, but also because of our shared fascination with this area.

I am torn between my desire to chase this new element and the duty I have to the Louvre and our original research subject. The facility in New Zealand has confirmed that my initial readings from the Smoo cave laboratory have merit. My sense of responsibility to follow through with my journey to the Alpha Centauri system is at war with my desire to chase this new element to it’s source. As insane as it sounds, I am seriously considering heading in the opposite direction from my origin destination and begin the chase for this new detected signal. You are already heading to our first subject and I cannot help but think we also need to study this dark mirror. It will take an extreme effort to adjust my travel plans (and I am not even sure there is an option to find transport to this part of space), but I must look into the possibilities of chasing these new readings. How important is this aspect to our research? Will it offset our final product with this signal originating closer to Earth? Should we include these measurements in our calculations? If we do, will it have a negative effect on the influence of our product? These questions and dozens more go on and on in my head. Thus I have come here to discuss with you a solution to this conundrum.

I will end now and try to guide my path with your help and use this wondrous location to meditate on my problem. Which one to choose will dictate my life for the coming years.

I will let you know what we decide.

Love Annalis