Every night for a fortnight or so (time became so extraneous after I’d died), I returned to my small collection of stones and the crude, metal nail. I was lucky that none of the living really walked through the fields surrounding the castle any longer. I found that, so long as I was working with the sun completely down, I was able to, with effort, leave small marks in the rock. After a week or so of practice, I felt I was ready to enter the next stage, and begin making the final symbols, the rock I would lob into the forest. However, the problem still remained that I had no idea what was appropriate to engrave.

I spent several of the wee hours of the morn pouting and flailing around in a right proper fit. It was a pity there weren’t any of the living around, I really was wailing with praiseworthy theatricality! When the dawn came, I admitted to myself that I was completely tuckered out, and retreated to the dungeons to nap. I was feeling maudlin and sorry for myself, and I craved the dark.

However, when I awoke, a new resolve seized me. I was determined to go forth, among all the tourists, and learn from them modern, appropriately universal symbols of goodwill and camaraderie.

Finding it was still mid-morning, I pranced out among the living visitors, being careful not to do anything paranormal that might spook them. I wanted to observe them at their happiest and see what they did.

I decided right away that I was going to steer clear of the nuclear family-types. They were just too boring, and probably too conservative to be suitable for supernatural communications. After several hours, that conviction was what led me towards an interesting find.

Towards the very back of the parking lot, I saw a lone, boxy vehicle that was surrounded by a strange, odiferous cloud of smoke. The smell reminded me a bit of the spray of a skunk, but much more dilute. Seeing that there were youths surrounding the automobile, I approached, curious.

The garb of the young people was very different from most of the tourists that came to the castle, though I’d begun to notice such attire appearing more and more frequently. Seeing how shabbily they were dressed, and how unkempt their hair was, I figured that manner of personage would be the most appropriate from which to garner a symbol of friendly homage. The girl in the woods had looked quite frowzy and disheveled herself, after all.

I watched the youths as they communally smoked some manner of herb, which I deduced was the source of the odor. I eyeballed their clothing, and their automobile, for useful symbols. I took note of a white bird, as well as several runic symbols that had no meaning to me. I stored them in the back of my mind for later.

Several days passed, and I spent each observing the frazzled, slovenly youths among my visitors. I found it was not uncommon for them to be collectively smoking that skunk-like herb, as well as several other similarities. It was these people I was most likely to find fornicating in random corners of my castle, venturing into the off-limits, structurally unsafe areas, showing up at night to explore the grounds, or using strange, unfamiliar slang.

One day, I was watching a pair of them copulate, when a docent, much to my amusement, discovered them. “Get out of here, you dirty hippies!” As they scrambled to clothe themselves, I realized that had to be the name of their social caste, as well as the fact that it was frowned upon by the majority to be a member. Interesting.

As the weeks passed, I continued observing the hippies that came to see the castle. I grew to understand their slang a bit, though not entirely. More importantly, I had noticed two runes that seemed to bedeck almost every vehicle they traveled in. One was a circle containing spokes arranged like a crow’s foot. The other was simpler, with two dots and a curved line contained inside another circle.

One evening I spotted the woman in white once more, only to have her run away in response to my inquiry, crying out in fear, yet again! I decided then that I had all the material I needed to mark into the stone. On one side, I would carve the circled crow’s foot, with the other, abstract symbol adorning the other. That way, no matter how it landed, my peaceful intentions would be conveyed. With fresh determination, I set to work.

Notes

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