Letters to a Friend I

[Lani Stranger]

51st of Fall, 518AV

Lani was curled over her current book, carefully and painstakingly copying the common letters into the new book when something thunked on her desk. There was a scroll, tied off with a rather elegant piece of string and wax that denoted the Craven manor. She stared at it, recognizing the crow, but still confused as to having received the reply at all. Lani looked up, black eyes falling on the tail of the Chiet courier who had delivered it to her, and she whistled out a quick thank you in Nari. The other scribes glared at her loud words in the otherwise silent Enclave, and Lani shrunk back into her desk, avoiding their gaze.

With nimble fingers she peeled the wax and string from the scroll, unravelling it so she could read it.

Dear Leavou Daughter of R’yse,

We regret to inform you that Madeira Craven has traveled to Lhavit to live for some time. We are sure she would love to remain in contact with any Konti friend she has had from youth, and would like to redirect you towards the Dusk Family in Lhavit. She is their treasured guest for the time being, and would enjoy your congratulations on her growing renown with the family.

Warm Regards,
Madara Craven

The mixed blood chuckled a little at the assumption she was Konti. She supposed they guessed because of the name, but she was sure the haughty taughty Craven bloodline would be less pleased to know she was a mixed blood, and not of high class. She supposed that Madeira had never really told her family about Lani, the thought set her nerves on fire.

If she remembered the rich little girl she was friends with correctly, then she couldn’t be too surprised that she was married off for political favor. The girl spouted loyalty before she could toddle, still, would that mean she had changed her mind about how much she valued Lani, now that she was grown?

The utter lonliness that she had felt since leaving Zeltiva was encouraging her to write a new letter. The returned scroll from the Craven Manor held an address, so that Lani could get the letter directly to her, rather than wait for a Lhavitian courier to seek her out. It would be easy, and it would be one of the fastest letters she had ever sent, now that she nested in the home base of the Wind Eagle trading routes. Hesitation forced Lani to roll the scroll back up, placing it down. The wax was smushed, so she decided to mix it with the wax blocks in the work room. Waste not, want not.

[Lani Stranger]

After returning from the work room, the scribe had set the scroll as far away as she could on her large writing desk and returned to her work. What work she was able to do was slow and distracted. She didn’t dare mess up the fresh pages, but she found herself pausing significantly more than usual, glancing at the letter. Just do it, Lani. She chastised herself, reaching for the scroll once more. She would never get any work done if she didn’t at least write the letter. She didn’t have to send it, she just had to write it.

Lani plucked a piece of parchment from her desk. She always started a work shift by cutting the standard size Kalean scrolls, as that was the size any scroll she was copying would, or should, be in. It was also, coincidentally, the perfect letter size, and would fit comfortable in most Kalean scroll cases.

Dear Madeira Craven,

If you recall any of your childhood playmates, I would hope that Leavou comes to mind. I’ve been graced by Aquiras with relocating to the center of the Wind Eagle trade routes, here in Wind Reach. On a whim, I thought to send you a letter at your home in Alvadas, although I was returned with directions to your new accommodations in Lhavit.

Lani paused, reading the absurdly formal letter. She wrote much more formally than she spoke, a result of her late education, but even she felt this was too impersonal. It wasn’t as if Madeira had known Lani when she was able to write, although the human girl had been taught from a young age, Lani hadn’t learned until she reached the Spires. Even so, her handwriting and language were solid for such a short time in the literary world. Sighing, she dipped her quill in the ink once more. She did not want to waste too many of the Enclave’s resources, so she attempted to wind the letter into a more personal note in the next paragraph.

Warm regards from the second city that raised me, I do hope you find those chilly mountain tops to be just as fascinating as the illusory streets of Alvadas.

Too formal, too formal.

I doubt the Okomo smell any better than when I was there,

Too… weird.

but luckily you needn’t ride them much.

Too judgmental.

Although, should you have the chance, they are a joy to!

Too friendly. Lani shook her head, she would at least finish what she wanted to put in the letter before deciding to write a new one. If she was even going to send it.

If I recall correctly, Lhavit is far more open to magic than Alvadas ever was, and I hope you are finding peace with that cultural shift.

[Lani Stranger]

Lani began on the note, but was unsure of how close she remained with Madeira. Surely talking the morality of magic was not the best subject after having not spoken to one another in over a decade. She didn’t want to give her childhood playmate any reason to fail to return a letter, or to return a curt friendly answer without any interest in pursuing communications. The latter felt as though it would hurt more than the former. Lani left the sentence in, but did not dare continue the thought. It was vague enough that perhaps Madeira could not read too far into it. Lani was a mage herself, after all, not that Medeira would know.

Before I forget, I am told I must congratulate you on your ‘renown’ with the Dusk family, but as I am who I am, I must ask your opinions on the matter. Did they select a man for you, or did you happen to fall madly in love with a Lhavitian all on your own? Did you threaten Dira’s kiss to the sailors who brought you or welcome the city with open arms? You can imagine I am curious on your views of the city that raised me just as much as Alvadas, and I am excited to hear your reply.

Warm Regards,
Leavou Daughter of R’yse

Lani let the ink dry, reading it over and over, until the words began to grow numb to her mind. She made no mention of the eleven year gap since they last spoke to one another, she shared absolutely no personal information, not even her new name, and could only comment on what she had learned from the return letter, of which she made only one reference. The letter could be received as a pleasant surprise or creepy, the half-Eypharian had no way of knowing. The uncertainty concerned her, but she chose not to rewrite the letter. As a scribe her script was perfect and her words were distinct, so she knew it was not for edits that she wanted to rewrite. As soon as the ink dried, Lani quickly plucked her razor from the desk, slashing the bottom half of the parchment, where it was blank away.

She detailed the address provided to her from the return letter of the Cravens, and her own return information. They didn’t quite have addresses in Wind Reach, the couriers would simply find her based on her information.

Almost ritualistically she slipped the fresh scroll into the rolling dowel and spun it tight, wrapping a leather cord around it to be steamed at the end of her day. She would prepare the scroll completely, that way if she decided to send it, she could do so without much thought.

For the next bell until the break she was afforded to eat food, Lani was able to actually focus on her work. Worry followed her every stray thought on how the letter would be received by the long lost connection, but by the time the clock ticked for her supper break, Lani realized she had made up her mind. She was going to send the letter.

[Lani Stranger]

Almost excited for the prospect, Lani picked up the dowel, deciding to prepare it immediately. She walked to the backroom, trying not to run on her way, and immediately put the kettle to the brazier. It was a special kettle with a mesh covering so that once the boiling water was able to produce steam, it wafted up from the top with ease, allowing Lani to quickly roll the letter in the steam and then place it beside the kettle to dry. She usually saved all her scrolls to do this en masse at the end of the day, but she was currently too excited to be patient for the end of the day.

The mixed blood had to distract herself while she waited for the heat of the brazier to dry the scroll into its place on the dowel. While it dried, she searched the work room for a something of higher quality than the simple leather straps used for the scrolls that remained in the library. She knew that unless Madeira had for some hapchance been denounced by her family, a prospect that surely hadn’t happened, that the rich girl she used to play with was used to the nicer things in life, and Lani did not want to appear as common as she was.

This thought bothered her, and she paused, the difference in their class had never once bothered Lani, or as far as she knew, Madeira. They had gotten along so well as children because of the differences between them. Alvadas did not have higher class neighborhoods and lower class ones. The city had placed R’yse little hovel beside the nicer home of Madeira and her father. The Craven child had not yet begun her studies at the Craven manor, but neither child had ever doubted that she would. Just like Lani had not yet begun traveling the world with her Konti mother, but neither child had doubted that eventuality either. They knew who each other was when they were first acquainted, there was no sense in changing that now.

So Lani selected a deep red wax and a melting spoon, she cut off a reasonable piece of wax from the stick and placed it inside the spoon, returning to the brazier. She positioned the wax spoon over the brazier to melt while she tied the leather tight over the each end of the scroll and then removed the dowel. By then the wax had dried, and she could pour it onto the center of the seam of the parchment, sealing it so that Madeira would know she was the first to read it.

It was then that she realized she had no wax stamp like most people, as she had never really had a reason to send letters. So she simply pressed the bottom of the spoon into the cooling wax, the typical mark of those who did not have a stamp. She would have to get one, but in the meantime it would do. The half-Chaktawe’s nerves had been set aflame through the past few bells it took to decide to write the letter, write the letter, then decide to prepare the letter. She knew she had about fifteen chimes left on her break, which she should have spent in the dining hall scarfing down what she could of Chef Davoid’s delicious stew, but instead Lani found herself slipping the scroll under her arm and setting off to the courier’s station to make sure her note made it on the next flight to Lhavit.

Word Count: 2,023

[Ssezzkero]

Observation +3, Copying +3, Writing +3, Investigation +1, Composition +2, History +1, Rhetoric +1, Storytelling +1, Philosophy +1, Madeira Crave: From Alvadas, Madeira Craven: Childhood friend, Madeira Craven: Niece of Madar Craven, Madeira Craven: Lives in Lhavit, Craven Manor Symbol: Crow, Investigation: Finding an old friend through letters, Composition: Finding the correct Using a simple Brazier, Time Changes People, Utilizing Wind Reach trade routes to send letters
+1 Letter from the Craven Manor