He had intended to write in order for once, but first things had to be first.

Alysei Aidan astin Velain to Alysei Athal astin Velain, king of Valdyas, either still in Solay or on his way home.

Brother mine,

Cora took me to Vurian just now –I realise I’d been putting it off– and I told him about what the two men said. Not very coherently I’m afraid, I can hear Raisse tutting at me! Or at least, I didn’t say anything at first, just sat wringing my hands until he said “you’re bringing bad news, and it isn’t Athal or I’d have heard about it.” “Torin,” I said, “and I’m not completely sure because I don’t trust the man who told me.” It became a family affair at once, everybody from twelve-year-old Erlyn up called into the room and I had to tell it again. Cora, meanwhile, was talking to Lara in the kitchen, girls’ stuff or grand masters’ stuff, probably both at once.

There was an argument between Aine and Vurian, which Aine won, so she is going south on the fastest horse and Vurian is going to Valdis. Both, of course, to find out what really happened. I’m writing this letter as fast as I can in Vurian’s writing-room so I can give it to Aine to take to Essle. Vurian is good-natured about it, only a bit peeved that he won’t see Raith (“again!”), and probably not for a very long time because Raith is going back to Solay. He was a bit surprised that she was in Veray, but agreed that it was a good thing that she could take Ayneth with her.

Vurian took me half to pieces afterwards, telling me that I’ve been a sergeant, I will be a captain and I am a prince, and I can’t afford doubt. Well, yes, I’d kind of worked that out by myself, but it’s good to hear it from someone who really knows.

I’m getting this all back to front! I’ll try to start a bit more from the beginning now: even before we got to Veray there was a little harbour, I think it was in Nesh, where Ayneth and a lot of other people were waiting for us. When Ayneth had finished embracing Raith –for a bit– she came and hugged me and listened to my story about the girl whose name I still can’t pronounce or remember. She talked to her herself –she knows a little Síthi these days– but she couldn’t understand everything. She did gather that the girl was a Khas officer’s child, her mother had been the officer’s lover, but died when the little boy was born, and then the officer had taken her as his lover instead! His own daughter! It did mean that all the other officers and soldiers kept their hands off her. No wonder she wants another protector now and chooses the obviously most powerful man around, the prince; that is, me. Uncomfortable, but understandable. That still didn’t make it easy to tell Cora. But Ayneth kept her in Veray while I went home, she’ll be here in a few days and bring her, so it would at least be possible to tell Cora without making her think I’d brought a second wife.

Old Lord Aivan housed and fed those of us who weren’t going to Veray itself, about two dozen in all, seventeen men and two women for Turenay and the rest for some of the villages beyond Veray. Nobody from Gralen that I could see, perhaps they’re all still whole and fighting. He also arranged carts to take us to the north, and (very early in the morning) me and a few others to the Temple of Naigha. The driver was a veteran of the civil war, “I fought on the other side then, but well, I’m from Veray after all.”

Cora must have been looking out for me, because she saw me in the Halfway inn and got the gatekeeper to take her there on his horse. It seems that people left the room to let us be together, I can’t remember a thing about it. We’ve hardly left each other’s side since I’m back– though she does go to the hospital in the mornings, even though Leva gave her some days off, but she can’t resist. There are still two of our transport in the hospital, one with a really bad leg wound (which Cora mostly fixed this morning) and one who got hit on the head so hard that he was unconscious until Essle.

There’s one woman who came back to find that her husband had died from the lung epidemic, and she’d joined up to get over the death of her children from a fever, so she’s all alone now, though she has relatives in Veray. I’m thinking of making her caretaker in the training school if she’d rather stay in Turenay, she can live in Jilan’s rooms. The Temple of Mizran says that Jilan left everything to the regiment, and I think I’m the captain –at least acting captain until someone can swear me in– of whatever regiment we will turn out to have. I’m going to make Lyase my adjutant– I asked her if she wanted the captaincy, but she declined. Cora thought that it would be too much paperwork for her, anyway.

So now I’m home, trying to catch up with my life. I still get tired very quickly, and my side hurts at times (much better now that Cora rubs the scar with oil every day), and everything looks different but that’s probably because I’ve changed. Are you going to have a triumphal tour of the country when you’re back? Otherwise, at least come to Turenay in the autumn! I don’t think you’re likely to make Gralen at Midsummer, where I want to take Cora to have our baby.

There’s the young boy clerk with the sealing wax, I won’t keep him waiting. May the best man (clearly that’s you) win,

Aidan

He was spirited away while unconscious. Not that he could have done any more fighting, even against doctor’s orders.

Alysei Aidan astin Velain to Alysei Athal astin Velain, king of Valdyas, probably in Solay; otherwise please forward.

Brother mine,

I hope this reaches you in good order. Someone will know where you are, I suppose, it’s not as if you can disappear into the crowd. Not even I can, it turns out: as soon as people noticed that I was in Essle they came to me to sign their papers and settle their disputes. Now I’m writing on a river-boat on the swollen Rycha, so if the letters are wobbly and the ink runs it’s from that, don’t imagine I’m crying or my arm is stlll busted.

I was very surprised to wake up on the ship, and even more surprised that it turned out to be the White Whale! It must have been easier to repair those whopping big holes in the side than it looked. Oh, and I was very surprised that Raith was there too, spirited away by Dushtan while she was knocked out. She told me that she does tend to fall unconscious for a while after the sort of mind-work she did, but of course Dushtan doesn’t know that. Raith was positively livid and she intends to take Dushtan to task when she gets back. I couldn’t very well make the ship turn back immediately, for all it was my own, because there were about three hundred more wounded soldiers on it, but I offered to negotiate a place for Raith on the next ship back. She said she would think about it.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. I spent most of the time on the ship having nightmares with a lot of blood, and dreams about Cora with unfortunate effects (as I heard later), but one morning I woke up and my head was clear, though my body was as weak and limp as a rag. There was a small boy at the foot of my bed, and a young woman who didn’t quite look old enough to be his mother hovering near, and when she saw that I was awake she went and got Raith (who was still angry with Dushtan, even after six weeks!) It turned out that the girl had been nursing me all that time, and she did it very well too, she ought to be a hospital nurse! She didn’t speak any Ilaini or even Iss-Peranian trade-speak, only Síthi and Khas– she looked half of each, so it figured. I got her to say her name, and the little boy’s name, but it’s so strange that I keep forgetting it.

When I got on deck for the first time it was marvellous to breathe fresh air but I could hardly stand, so weak were my legs –though those, miraculously, were still completely whole. I could see land, Raith said it was the desert, not even alongside Idanyas yet. But we got to Essle after a while, and there Raith said she was coming along as far as Veray now that she was in Valdyas anyway. The ship was full of wounded veterans, most in about the same condition as me but some were worse and a few had died on the voyage and been thrown overboard by the priestess of Naigha, that seems to be the usual thing to do at sea. I suppose the fishes eat them. There was a whole committee at the dock to meet us, Rhaye among them, who took me and Raith away to the house that used to be your palace. The Mighty Servant was there too, and if Cora did something to make him not love Rhaye any more he’s got over it, because they were being very soppy. Rhaye did ask me “do you want to stay at my palace, or at the official palace?” (that is, Koll Neveshtan’s house) but all I wanted was a good bed and a plate of squid and onions.

So there I was at Rhaye’s house, and I did get squid and onions and a good bed. Raith and I were sharing a room because they had only the one guest-room free, so ornamented and scented that Raith asked “what is this, a brothel?” with her usual lack of tact. I thought I’d have a day of rest after the voyage, and the young doctor –not much older than me!– who had been looking after me on the ship had prescribed exactly that, but I didn’t get the chance: suddenly everybody wanted to see me. People who wanted veteran’s bonus papers signed (which I could do), people who wanted more elaborate paperwork done (which I couldn’t, and I sent them to the other palace where there are lots of clerks), people who wanted disputes settled (which, being a prince, I had to do even if I couldn’t. You have that worse than me, being a king, I suppose). Two men who both called themselves Arin from Torin’s regiment, and accused each other of having deserted and collected the other’s bonus; I was willing to give them both the benefit of the doubt, but one of them would only accept a judgement from Anshen himself, so I lit the fire –I can do that with my mind now, by just thinking of Cora!– and asked Anshen. Immediately the man who had seemed to have the best case started to look icky, as if he was dripping with black miasma, and I sent him out and apologised to the other one. That turned out to have made me a master in the Guild! I must have been on the brink for quite some time, only there seemed to be no occasion.

I slept for a few hours after that, I think, and then Moyri’s Uznur came with a lot of letters. We talked a bit, and called each other Your Highness to both of us’ amusement, and I told him about the two veterans, and suddenly it occurred to me that I was a wounded veteran and I’d get a bonus too! Three hundred riders, a sergeant’s bonus. “I can buy Cora something nice with that,” I said, and Uznur promptly sent me merchants with wares and pressed it on me that I ought not to talk about the price, “that’s not done if you’re a prince”. The clothes and fabrics weren’t as good as anything in the cargo of the White Whale, and of the jewellery I really only liked a very plain ring made of “silver that doesn’t blacken” according to the jeweller, so I took that, and I bought her a few books but I had to trust the bookseller, because I’ve never known anything about books. I could show him the ones Raisse had lying ready to send to her, though! “Do you think she wants something old, or could it be something new?” he asked, and frankly I didn’t know but the books Raisse had picked out were probably proper old literature, so I said new would be all right. Eventually I got her an Iss-Peranian book and a Síthi book, one to teach obedience and the other to teach independence, or something like that.

In the evening there was a banquet, with everybody who was somebody in Essle present, and the young doctor had given me something to stay awake but not necessarily alert, so I only remember that I ate quite well and people seemed to like me.

We started for Ryshas the next day. There were about fifty of us, out of three hundred, bound there. Two men of my own battalion went on to Valdis– someone told me they were all there was left of it. Poor Erian! I wrote a letter to his widow, too. And the two men with the dispute told me they’d seen your brother-in-law Torin fall, but I don’t know for sure that he’s dead so I won’t pray for him yet when I go to the Temple of Naigha in Veray to pay tribute to Dhamir and Erian and Jilan.

Raith said that looking at me made her want to hire a horse in Tilis and speed to Ayneth immediately– do I look so much like her? I’m the only one with curls, but I do have the same colour of hair and almost as many freckles. I said “why not?” but she wanted to stay with me, sort of to protect me, I think. Veray seems to be more dangerous these days than the last time I was there.

We tried to keep the girl and her little brother at the Order house in Essle, but she turned up on the boat! Either she’s so gifted that she can breach any seal, or she’s an accomplished burglar. We can’t see her gifts, though– I’m not surprised that I can’t, being only just a master, but that Raith can’t is something else. On the other hand, perhaps that’s what’s kept her alive among the Khas for, well, sixteen years or so.

Athal, please win the war– all I’m hearing now is that you’re already doing just that. I’m praying for you, which is just about all I can do in my condition.

Aidan

If all goes well this will arrive before the report of victory, not with it. And if all does not go well, it may be Aidan’s last message, but he doesn’t realise that.

Alysei Aidan astin Velain to Raissei Cora astin Velain in Turenay

Darling Cora,

I’m writing this in Iss-Peran! The north-westernmost point of it, a city called Kushesh in the kingdom of Jomhur. You probably know better than I where it is. It’s now full of our army, more soldiers than I ever thought I’d see, about ten times as many as left from Valdis. And that’s not even all of the army! Some troops have already gone forward to Solay, and I’m not counting all the sailors on the warships. Most of them are Iss-Peranians, but there’s a good thirty thousand Valdyans in all, perhaps more, because I didn’t see anyone from the old regiment of Turenay –the one that went first of all, before I even knew you– and I know they’re still active so they must be somewhere in the vanguard..

You were right about me being able to give Athal a bit of earth to keep him steady, though I wasn’t all that steady myself when we started out from Essle and gave my breakfast to the fishes. Apparently that’s normal for one’s first voyage, and the first mate of our ship gave me a sip of very strong brandy “to settle my stomach” and it did.

Athal wasn’t as bad as last time, he said, because there was only one bit where the water was so deep he lost his footing completely, but he did lose the use of most of his gifts the moment we were out of sight of land (and probably in deeper water than he could handle). I could just sense him, so I took him into my mind, in the pansy field — did you ever see the pansy field? I think it came from showing you the forest, because it wasn’t there before. If you stand facing the forest it’s in front of you and to the right as far as you can see; to the left there’s something I know is there but can’t see yet. To get to the forest you wade through pansies, and they smell delicious but don’t get trampled, they bounce right back again. I took Athal’s hand, in my mind, and sat him down on the ground there. I knew he shouldn’t fall asleep or I wouldn’t be able to get him back on my own, so when it looked as if he was dropping off I led him out again and he could sleep in his bunk without any trouble. I think I did that almost every evening, and he was really fit again after only a few hours ashore! (See, I’m using seaman words, a few weeks ago I wouldn’t have known ‘ashore’ existed.)

Prince Dhamir wasn’t seasick once, which is beastly of him, because the last time he was at sea, he says, was when he was eight years old. We were supposed to share a cabin but I’ve been with Athal every night, and he’s been sleeping in the men’s quarters with the rest of the troop. I wonder if Síthi men don’t have much of a beard generally, because he doesn’t, and what beard hairs he does have he pulls out with tweezers (which looks very painful!). I’ve been growing mine, but I’ll ask the royal barber to shave me before we fight, much more practical.

It’s so full of soldiers here that it’s hard to see anything of the city but I think it would be quite pretty if it hadn’t been half sacked by the Khas, and commandeered as quarters by our army. I think the Baroness of Lenay is quartered in what used to be a fish shop, with some of her apprentices.

We did have to fight off some Khas who thought to waylay us, but we had Prince Attima as admiral and they didn’t have a chance. I could point out on a map what he did, but I don’t have any words to describe it, it was sort of attacking from both sides at once when they thought they were attacking us in the middle. Attima said the Khas had a mage, but someone shot him down with a big crossbow before he could do any magic. And Athal says, now he’s clear-headed enough to have an opinion, that this mage must have been a very weak one or he could have pushed the bolt aside or shielded himself against it. He thinks –and so does Raith– that they’re keeping their grand master mages for the battle itself. Athal, Raith, Uncle Ferin, Attima, General Beguyan (a comical little man at first sight, but impressive the moment you see him working) and some other people who make the decisions are in conference now to talk about strategy. Athal asked me to “keep Dhamir out of it, please” so I took my troop to the flood-plain for sword drills.

Lots of other people had had the same idea, so it wasn’t even as if I was only doing it to distract him. There are even some soldiers in the Guild of the Nameless, who are fighting for our king! I talked to a sergeant who has been here for three seasons already, and he says it’s his king as well as ours, meaning the Guild of Anshen (I don’t think he knew that I’m Athal’s brother as well as a sergeant and a journeyman) and we could put our squabbles aside until we’d won the big battle. Sensible of him! I hope he’ll agree to put our squabbles aside a bit longer, so we can celebrate together afterwards.

The worst thing is that when we win, I can’t come into your arms right away! (It would be still worse if I died and you couldn’t be with me, but I’m confident that we’re going to win and that I’m coming back to you.) But the best thing about that is that I’ll be able to spend the whole journey back in expectation.

Blessings of all the good gods on you and on our daughter,

Aidan

This came with several crates of medicines from the White Whale.

Dearest Cora,

Here’s a load of medicines. I remembered just in time that if there were spices, there ought to be medicinal herbs too, and that you’d be glad to have them. After all, they’re ours, and we’re rich enough without selling them to strangers.

I let Athal’s doctor Dushtan take what she needed, but that wasn’t much at all, mostly stuff to use at sea. Athal’s seasickness medicine, for one! Today he doesn’t have time to worry about the voyage, because he’s gone to the poor neighbourhoods with Raisse and Moyri and all the little kids to meet the people there. Prince Dhamir from Aumen Síth wanted to go too, but Raisse said it was only an occasion for the people of Essle to see their king, not an outing for foreigners. He was properly chastised! Now he’s sparring with my soldiers, coming along nicely, I think he’ll actually be able to fight a bit once there’s some fighting.

Please, please don’t overwork yourself! I’d almost come home to keep you from it, but Athal needs me more now than even you and our child-to-be together. But take care!

This is likely to be my last letter that will reach you easily. Tomorrow we sail, as early as there’s a useful tide. I’ll try to write from Iss-Peran too, but I can’t promise those letters will arrive before I come back. I’ll be thinking of you every day, even when I can’t write to you. When I look at your picture, it’s as if I could touch you– and it makes me very sad that I can’t.

All my love, many kisses, loving thoughts,

Aidan