#like the entombed thing makes me think anastasia has to be either the writer or the recipient

[lady-harrowhark]

So I know this note is kept on the Sixth which implies Cassy is either the writer or the recipient, but I’ve been fiddling around with other configurations to see what could potentially work, just for fun, and... Could the note in the puzzle box in Doctor Sex be from Alecto to Anastasia? Or perhaps Anastasia to Alecto? For reference:

Darling girl,

Tomorrow you will become a Lyctor and finally go where I can’t follow. I want you to keep this letter when you are far away and think of me and want me and can’t have me, and know that no matter how far you travel, nor how long the years feel, the one thing that never stays entombed is

Current ponderings:

“finally go where I can’t follow.” Is this suggesting the writer cannot become a Lyctor? The Lyctorhood John and Alecto have going on is obviously different from the others, and the others theoretically don’t know that Alecto was his cavalier to begin with. If the writer were Alecto, she either doesn’t know the logistics, or isn’t revealing it, or doesn’t consider them the same thing. In the John chapters, we get that bit about how when the others said “Lyctor” she didn’t understand that they wanted what he’d done to her, so I suppose those could be viable possibilities. If it were Anastasia, maybe she means she has already tried and failed, and cannot try again? I don’t really know why Alecto would be becoming a Lyctor, although I suppose it’s possible there was some John-centric obfuscation going on there.

“Finally” could mean that they are one of the last to ascend, or have been waiting/planning this for a long time. We know Anastasia is said to have “researched it too much,” per John, so ymmv. And she was the last to attempt Lyctorhood (I think? I can never keep the OG God Squad timeline straight and need to take better notes.)

“when you are far away,” and “no matter how far you travel,” brings to mind “Lying in the tomb that had claimed her heart, faraway in a land she had never travelled, Harrowhark Nonagesimus fell asleep, or dropped dead, or both.” Which would be a fun little connection to the Tomb specifically.

“want me and can’t have me” Alecto asks for Anastasia as John is bringing her to the Tomb.

“Entombed.” Self explanatory. Could echo either Anastasia as the Tomb-keeper, or Alecto in the Tomb.

“keep this letter” is obviously reminiscent of Harrow’s letters, but also gives us similar imagery to the talk of “keeping a shred of dance card” (with all the comparisons between Harrow and Anastasia that we’ve gotten so far) and Nona (slash Alecto) insisting she’ll go back for the moustache shirt and remember them.

Important missing context in the case of Alecto being the writer or the recipient: can Alecto read? Or write? Nona can’t, but does that hold for Alecto?

I’ve got my fingers crossed that this comes up somehow in AtN, I’d love to get a definitive answer even if it doesn’t end up being plot relevant!