By now it’s restrained fury. Hallei Raith to Alysei Athal astin Velain, king of Valdyas, in Solay. Athal, You’ll know by now that Dushtan sent me off with the wounded while I was out, and you’ll have guessed that I was furious. On hindsight It’s all for the best, though. I could take your sister along myself instead of waiting for her to come to me. Also, your brother needed a bit of protection against — well, I’ll be charitable and not call her a leech, but she does stick, like one of those little fishes that swim in the wake of a big fish to be safe from enemies and eat the crumbs it leaves. A girl of fifteen or sixteen, daughter of a Síthi whore and a Khas commander, who sneaked on board our ship with her little brother. Sad but all too common story: her mother died when the boy was born, officer took her instead. It did give her protection, and the protection of the most powerful man around is what she craves, paying for it with the use of her body. She’s been hanging on to Aidan ever since he was in the hospital, it […]

I got up in the middle of the night to write this because it haunted me so much that I couldn’t sleep (granted, sore throat and clogged sinuses made me sleep badly anyway). Also, caterwauling drunken carnival-goers gave me dreams of witches. Hallei Raith, in Kushesh, to Alysei Ayneth astin Velain, in Veray. Darling Ayneth, Writing this in great haste– my next message will come with the report of –hopefully– victory. A large Valdyan fleet has been sighted and it has the royal standard on one of its ships, not a warship but one of the big fast freighters. This probably means that it’s really Athal himself and not his envoy, because (one of the sea-captains tells me) those ships are the most stable in the water while still making good speed. I can’t see Athal’s mind at all, of course, and it’s too far away really to see someone else clearly, no way I’m going out of my body again before the big battle, and only then when it’s absolutely necessary. I can’t afford to be weaker than I could be. But I want to get the Feast of Naigha off my mind before things happen that might make […]

Some people expected it to be a trap –even Raith did– but nobody expected it to be this. And not even I expected the other thing until I was on the bike the day after this session and thought about it. I think it was sparked by the GM saying something like “she’s actually quite happy in her quarters in this city”. Hallei Raith in Kushesh to Alysei Ayneth astin Velain in Veray. Sometime near the Feast of Naigha. Dearest Ayneth, I hope you can read my scribbling, because I’m only now regaining the use of my right hand after four days of uselessness. And of my left hand, and both legs, and some more embarrassing parts of my anatomy. Remember I was so curious about the ships? Beguyan sent a little scout boat out, and when it hadn’t come back after three or four days we all got worried, so I went to have a look, out of my body because they were too far away to see without doing that. I could find Erian (a journeyman of ours) and Lan (a master of the other side) and Sashila (dandar, gifted enough, but not aligned to anything we know) […]

It looked like another round of the waiting game… until things started happening. And of course when things start happening, they all happen at once. This letter was written with interruptions (marked with a <hr>). Hallei Lenye Raith, in the city that she now knows is called Kushesh, to Alysei Ayneth astin Velain in Veray. Dearest, The new moon has come and gone but no sign of the eclipse. Perhaps the priestess was mistaken about the time or the place, or perhaps I misunderstood her. Good, because Athal isn’t here yet. The last I heard was that he had left Valdis, at least. It’s been so boring here that I have to amuse myself by learning all the patterns of air and water and weather between here and Solay –it’s just too far for me to reach– because there’s only so much claim one can lay on apprentices’ time and attention and learning capacity. Useful, of course, but a way to pass the time more than anything else. Bebakshi and I have two rooms in a house that used to be a fishmonger’s shop. The shop itself is deserted– I receive visitors there if they’re not familiar enough to take […]

Ayneth’s letter and Athal must have travelled on separate ships after all, because it has arrived and he is nowhere in sight yet. (Also, the eclipse hasn’t arrived yet; I’ll correct the priestess’ estimate after the fact.) In the westernmost port before Solay, probably almost the Feast of Naigha Dearest, You can’t imagine how touched I was when I got your letter with enclosures. Or perhaps you can– you’ve always been the imaginative one of the two of us. I couldn’t help crying, and when Bebakshi looked puzzled I gave her the letter to read but she couldn’t, of course (though she can understand quite a lot of Ilaini now), so I had to give her a summary. She thought you looked sweet in the picture, but even more strong, and I think she’s right. That painter has caught you exactly as you are in my mind. And the silver locket! I’d forgotten that your hair was so red. Since my last letter there hasn’t been much fighting: the only Khas sort-of-army we met was only a few thousand strong, which I’d have thought a big army if I’d stayed in Valdyas but it’s a very small army for what […]

This is part II of the letter from Dasht. A young woman came to see me: Tarin’s widow, though I don’t think they ever got married. “You’re of the–” she said, lacking a word, but she meant the Guild of Anshen. “What Tarin was of, too, and you’re going to have a feast, right? Are you going to commemorate him?” I reassured her that we were; would she like to be there? She nodded, relieved, and told me how she’d always been just on the edge of being one with Tarin when they made love– I could see that she was just on the edge of being gifted, too. “I’ve heard from other people that if you’re both like that, like you and Bebakshi, they can really get inside of each other!” And realising what she’d just said, she added hastily, “not that I think you and Bebakshi do that, together I mean, of course.” I couldn’t do anything but grin and tell her “I have someone at home, and yes, that’s the way it is.” She told me a little more: she’d had her eyes on another Valdyan soldier first, but that one didn’t even look at her, while […]

Raith thought she was shaken by the previous battle, but this one shook her still more. Some of the fighting details may be off, especially the order in which things happened, but I think the gist is there. This is Part I; Part II (much more cheerful) tomorrow or otherwise ASAP. Somewhere in (I think it’s called) Dasht, on the road. Darling Ayneth, If my handwriting is shaky it’s because I’m on the back of an elephant again, and though they’re much smoother in movement than a horse (or even a ship when there’s any wind at all) they don’t exactly stand still. Strangely, either nothing happens or everything happens at once, with lots of travel in between. I trust my letter about the battle with all the lightning, and the one with Bebakshi and the king of Jomhur (that makes it look as if they’re a couple, but nothing could be further from the truth) reached you in good order. That was around the feast of Timoine, and now it’s just been the feast of Anshen, and in that whole season nothing much happened except that I acquired apprentices. More than a dozen of them! Valdyan soldiers, a few […]

Written after the two letters to Ayneth and sent with the same ship. It should reach King Athal before he leaves Valdyas, but with the stormy weather we’ve been having lately it’s not entirely clear how long it will take to get to him. Jomhur, just after the feast of Timoine Hallei Lenye Raith to Alysei Athal astin Velain, king of Valdyas. In haste. Athal, I’ve been writing to Ayneth a lot, and she ought to get all the news in two letters I’m sending with this one –you can read them as far as I’m concerned, nothing in there that’s not suitable for a king unless you mind a bit of sappiness– but I remembered just in time that there are things I want you to know before we go to battle together, so you won’t have to do all your preparation the moment you set foot on dry land. Those Khas have real mages. I’ve seen some; I’ve fought one hand-to-hand, and one from a distance, and they’re not to be sneezed at. They can do lightning at the very least. I must admit that I didn’t give the second a chance to show what he could do, […]

Lots of things happen, but no substantial fighting: the next bout of that, barring skirmishes, will probably be at the gates of Solay. This letter, and the previous, will probably arrive at some time, unless someone sinks the ship. Dearest Ayneth, If someone had told me that war is mostly waiting, I’d have laughed at them, even though I’ve done some fighting in Valdyas. But that was fighting, not actual war, I know that now. After we’d ended up back in the camp with a couple of thousand Khas prisoners-of-war, meek with shock (or probably because they’d lost their mage and their commander, whether or not those were the same person), there was suddenly nothing to do. We couldn’t enter the city yet, even though the occupying Khas had panicked at the shape of the clouds, and the hot sand-storm, and the lightning –there had even been some lightning strikes in the city itself, not of my or even Bebakshi’s doing, but simply a side-effect of the storm– and surrendered as one man because obviously the army of the Alliance had powerful mages (I still can’t get used to people being afraid of me). That news hit us like a […]