By Beth Griese

Date:   August 30, 1997

Quote of the Day:
“You all scare me mightily.” -- Jim Leitzel

To Garen Thundersson, cleric of Mielikki. From your faithful friend, Jade.

With our bearings finally firmly set, we made our way in a bumpy, hard-seated coach from Eversult to Pros. Pros, a little merchant town whose sole claim to fortune was the fact that it lie on the Dragon Sea, was less than impressive. The moment we stepped off the coach, small boys started nipping at our heels with promises of inns that would provide us with any service we cared to imagine. I was offered a few services I never even had imagined before, and didn’t really care to know about. We headed straight for the docks, although Telaran seemed momentarily tempted by whatever one young fellow was promising awaited back at the inn of his choice.

The “docks,” if you could call the rotted pieces of soaking wood that lie in the water such a thing, were bustling even though it was already dark. Verence, not to my surprise, declared most of them smugglers. But he talked to a captain of a barge that was sailing immediately, and managed to haggle space on board for us. The ship’s crew was a lot that normally I would expect to see across the shaft of my arrows; rag-tag humans and half-orcs, mostly. The trip, which took a little over a day total, was quiet. We had one serious storm during the night. Borreau and I didn’t mind the water too much, although one of the other passengers on the ship, a half-elven woman by her looks, did more than not mind. She stood on the top of the barge’s cabin roofs and called the rain and thunder to her as if it were a shower of blessings from the gods. I suppose it takes all kinds.

We docked a few miles away from Suzail, and ended up hiking back toward familiar streets and trees. Rooms were ready for us at the Adventurer’s Club, and we even got a report of seeing Kaz, Telaran’s old dragonet friend, around the Club. The next morning, it was an easy task to hire horses to carry us the rest of the way back to Arabel, where we had started weeks ago. The relief to see Trellant, Chip, and Dale all well and taken care of again! We all breathed a sigh of relief, too, to see that the keeper of the Murdered Manticore had been true to his word and safely stored all the things that we had left behind when that blasted curse spirited us away. I felt whole again, Garen, to hold Trellant’s reins in one hand and my beautiful bow in the other.

We were finally able to return to our original purpose in Arabel; to find old friends who could, once again, share some of their stories and their skills with us. I find Brion in the Red Raven Mercenaries easily enough. We spent a couple of months traveling the forests outside of Arabel that I’ve come to know so well. I noticed this time, though, that for as many things as Brion taught me as we caught our dinners and followed unsuspecting wanderers through the woods, I probably showed him nearly as many new things along the way. It wasn’t a surprise to me when Brion told me that the time had come to seek new teachers if I wanted to learn anew.

As you know, though, by that time I had more on my mind than lessons in woodlore. When Borreau and I shared dinner at one of the Arabel’s tastiest festhouses, I had no idea he had commissioned a ring months ago to be made for me. The ring is finer than any of the works of art I’ve seen in my travels, Garen: bright gold and jade in a twining leaf pattern, with emeralds set along the band. The funny thing is that, when he gave it to me, I honestly think neither of us intended to end up in a marriage ceremony. But as we talked about our lives, and making sure they would be joined together, and swearing to it before our gods, that became… marriage. I think it snuck up on both of us.

Thank the gods that all happened so close to Midwinter’s Day, when Borreau and I could talk with you about speaking for Mielikki for our joining. I was nervous about asking you to serve in the ceremony, and I think Borreau was nervous as a colt about telling you about our plans. You were the first to be told, my former master and the closest I know to a father, and your enthusiasm and happiness for us made the rest easy. It was fun to watch the faces of the rest of the Wayfarers when we invited them to join us for the ceremonies.

I haven’t yet stopped offering thanks to Mielikki for that day. You and the cleric of Tempus worked together graciously to bond us in the eyes of both our gods. The ring I ordered for Borreau turned out beautifully; worked gold like mine, but bright white instead of yellow and jade green, with the fiery swords of Tempus forming the pattern instead of my leaves. Borreau seemed as proud to receive it as I was to present it. And Verence called the kindest of gifts for us, when that unicorn appeared at the end of the ceremony to touch us both with his horn before returning to the forest as if to give us his blessing. It was a wonderful, unforgettable day, and I still glance constantly at the jade ring on my finger to convince myself it all was true.

The Wayfarers certainly didn’t get long to celebrate, though; it was during the festivities after the ceremony that we were reminded twice over about a responsibility we’ve let lie for too long. First, you presented me with my own sword back again, praise the gods. You were right, it definitely has lost some of its power in the battle you and your friends fought, but it was worth it for the success you report, and it still feels so right to have it back in my hands again. But as recompense and a celebration gift, you gave us a healthy sum of money. And in the same evening, a Suzail treasuryman found us to report that we owed this year’s taxes on the castle was had “inherited.” It seemed to all of us that it was time to finally put matters to rights and restore Weston’s castle, claim the Wayfarer’s fiefdom, and find the three people who the treasuryman said are living on Weston land. We owed them at least the courtesy of knowing the people who now owned the land they lived on.

So over the next few weeks, with help from you and what seemed to be dozens of advice-offerers, we learned what is involved in restoring and maintaining a castle and its surrounding lands. When we finally made our way down to Weston’s, we were a mini-caravan of our own, with the laborers, hunters, clerks, cooks, and various livestock and supplies we carried in our tow. Jeremiah, the man we hired as the Majordomo of the castle and our spokesman in our absence, seems reliable and trustworthy, just as you promised when you recommended him. We’ve been at the castle for over two weeks now, seeing to the establishment of the restoration work on the castle and the beginnings of a road to connect it to the main tradeway between Espar and Tyrluk. I know well by now, though, the signs of restlessness among us. It’s about time to move on again, perhaps to finally visit again that drow nest we found a couple of years ago. Whatever the plan, I’m sure we’ll soon be on the move again, but now we have a permanent residence that mailings can be sent to, Garen, to be sure to reach us eventually.

I remain, as always,

Faithfully yours,

--Jade

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