This project is a work in progress. The few chapters above comprise about 25% of what is to be a longer piece, as the outline which follows will show. As is, it could be used as a short story ending at the conclusion of Chapter 5 with Marie's healing. If you include chapter 6, you might use it as a research/writing opportunity: What are Marie's options as a girl circa 1500 in Europe? Given her background, how would you logically conclude her dilemma?

Hyperlinks that may prove interesting to young readers are as follows:

Working Outline:

The soiree is predictable, but Claude is a no-show. His family says he is not feeling well, as he just returned from a trip to London. He is feverish and lethargic.

The next day, Claude is found dead in his bed (link to sweating sickness, a mysterious epidemic in the Renaissance)

Marie dutifully mourns as his betrothed.

She thinks she's caused his death, dreams about the unicorn, who tells her that marriage is not her destiny.

Papa commissions a set of tapestries to commemorate the unicorn hunt.

A shop of weavers works doggedly to meet his specifications. Differences in the workmanship if the tapestries illustrate the competency of the various weavers.

Marie observes the work with growing trepidation (link to Unicorn Tapestry site as tapestries take form, to acquaint readers with the scenes depicted). She convinces her father to commission a scene depicting the unicorn alive and whole in the enclosure where he'd been killed, and he agrees to humor her.

Marie cracks when she views the scene of herself with the unicorn at her side, with Corinne standing to alert Gerard, and Gerard sounding the trumpet.

She sneaks into the shop by night and shears the tapestry in two, burns the half with her image. She loathes being associated with the unicorn's death.

When the vandalism is discovered, the shop owner accuses her.

She says nothing to confirm or deny his accusation.

She dreams of the unicorn, who tells her not to fear.

The next day, every weaver in the shop is found dead of the sweating sickness. The epidemic has reached the continent.

As the epidemic spreads, Marie's mother takes sick. Marie's father tries in vain to revive her with the unicorn's horn, but she dies. His faith in the charm is shattered, and he destroys it.

Marie feels personally responsible for the epidemic. She thinks the unicorn has done this to save her from being punished for destroying the tapestry. At the same time, there are suspicions in the town that she is dabbling in witchcraft.

She convinces her father to join her to a convent.

He gladly agrees, relieved to free himself from what he feels is a misguided mystic. He gives her the tapestries as a dowry.

Marie finds fulfillment in the convent as a scholar and musician (references to Craig Monson's Disembodied Voices).

She ascends to the position of Abbess and writes a book about her life.

The conclusion shows her reading her story to a young novice who had been admiring the tapestries and inquiring about the missing segment. The narrative voice changes and Marie speaks in the first person, counseling the younger woman to pursue her dream and devote herself to learning.