#location: sumula station

[letterstosestrilles]

Dear Tyko,

For once, I think one of my letters is going to put you in a good mood, which I’m delighted about, and hope you are too. Especially after the most recent spate, which I know you’re still recovering from.

After all our recent adventures, and knowing what we need strength for coming up, we all decided that we want to see pretty much everyone we care about, at least everyone we can arrange a convenient meeting with. We started, after some deliberation, with Bizza, spending a day catching up with him on Sumula Station and eating so many crepes I felt full to bursting. He’s doing well these days, and the business very well. He even said he’s gone on a date or two, nothing serious, but just testing it out, after how his last relationship ended, and I’m delighted for him.

Next, we went on to Honione. Maliah’s been back a time or two, on the rare occasions we’ve been apart, to say hello and get her bow tuned up, but I’ve always taken the opportunity to visit you on Sestrilles, or deal with some other business. Well, this time we both wanted to go, but I was the major impetus, because I’d been messaging with Sserit and Lian, now that I know Resurrection and have the means to gift such things to my friends. Do you even remember them? Sserit was the ghost who helped us in the adventure in HASAI, and Lian is her girlfriend, and they’ve been sharing a body since then, which they’re mostly fine with but is inconvenient at work, from what I gather.

Anyway, I offered the Resurrection, and after some discussion, they took me up on it, and we went through the bureaucratic process to get Sserit’s body exhumed and then let her move on for a few minutes so I could summon her from the proper place, which I did.

I cast Raise Dead during my service at Mishakal’s temple a few times, and Resurrection once, but I’d been warned in the literature at the temple that the longer someone’s been dead, the harder Resurrection is—not that it will fail, with consent, but Sserit could barely get out of bed for days and I felt, I suspect, not unlike Gaizka felt after they turned a black hole inside out, though thankfully without the dizziness. But I couldn’t so much as cast a Prestidigitation until I’d had a full night’s sleep, and I spent most of the rest of our visit in a hotel room quietly watching movies with a cool cloth pressed to my forehead. Still, though, it’s worth it to have watched the two of them get to hug each other and hold on, and then to see them holding hands several times (and just as many times see them give each other breathing space, especially at work, where they can go back to working on their separate projects more easily).

Once I was feeling better, I did get to tour around HASAI again, much more cheerful full of people and not in the midst of crisis. Fariya was excited to see my gloves, and everyone else was happy to talk about their research, and Maliah got her bow checked and was glad about it.

(I know, I told you this letter would put you in a good mood. Bear with me.)

From there, we moved on to Rugira Prime. First, a visit to Ekresh Veshteth, because I wanted to hear how the aliens in the Twilight of Cinders were getting along and wanted to compare notes on the demiplane Teleport variant Gaizka taught me as opposed to the pocket dimension access spell he cast to get us to the Twilight of Cinders. My variant doesn’t, alas, work to get us there, but he was happy enough to talk about spell particulars and then to tell me that the explorations in the pocket dimension are going slowly but well. All the aliens seem to have been picked up, Aji included, and no new ones have crashed, now that they aren’t being shot out of the sky. They remain something of a mystery, but maybe I’ll go back sometime, climb through that hole in the sky and go meet them properly. It’s nice to dream about, anyway.

Then it was Mashoy, which is at least a little cooler at this time of year than it was the last time I visited. Maliah and I spent a good amount of time visiting our friends at the Court of Flowers (who were all pleased to see her so much more sure of herself and happier than the last time we visited). We had dinner with Pika and her family, and they’re all doing well, taking care of themselves and each other just as we could have wished when she retired. I stopped by Midat’s shop, and we had a lovely long chat about her latest innovations and my gloves, since I didn’t even have Niko’s fabric the last time I came. Not to mention PA! They don’t have its model commonly in Mashoy, and she was delighted with the modifications I’ve made on it, and had some suggestions for interfaces for the arms I want to give it the next time I have time to devote to it.

But more than anyone else, I was in Mashoy to see Brennu, for two reasons.

The first, as I think I’ve told you, was to give him some water from the Deeping Wellemere, when the spell he was under left some remnants that make it hard for him to do what he wants to. He does look a lot better, not least because he doesn’t have a black eye this time, and asked me several questions about the water. I’d written to Ektarika and then when she didn’t have the answers to Cerunwe, asking about whether the water would do anything about mental effects of spellwork. Cerunwe though that anything chronic might be helped, but certainly not reversed.

Brennu also had questions about the longevity I mentioned, though I’m afraid I wasn’t much help there, saying that my best guess is that taking it frequently would be more likely to give him extra years, or taking it when aging was the biggest thing the water could find to fix. He said, wryly, that perhaps I should punch him again so we could see how fast the water would heal something on a regular mortal, and only laughed at me a little when I did a bad job of containing my horror.

In the end, he chose to take it, a sip at a time, and we talked until I was sure there wouldn’t be any immediate aftereffects (Maliah had come along as support and just because it seemed ridiculous that they hadn’t met, and I told him about her quest to keep Squirt, and she did deflect a bit to talk about how wonderful Squirt is, but did let me talk at least some about her heroics), and then I told him to eat a big meal and get some rest to let the water do its work and left him to take my advice with a promise to visit the next day.

And the next day, he said he didn’t have a headache, apparently rare, but that he suspected any effects would be felt more over the next few days as he tried and either succeeded or failed to do things he wanted to. And I, well.

I’d asked Maliah if it was wrong to ask him on a date, when we arrived in Mashoy, because I’d met him under such desperate circumstances and saved him, and since I’d come to help him more, and to act as a healer, no less. And she said that as long as he knew he could say no without anything changing, it was fine, so I plucked up my courage and I did it, I asked him to dinner and he said yes and didn’t even laugh at me when I immediately said he should probably choose the restaurant since I didn’t eat out much when I was in town.

And I’m so glad, Tyko. We’ve been writing ever since, and something about the way we met means that there haven’t ever really been that many things we can’t talk about. He’s always been honest about how he’s feeling, his experiences and what he feels responsibility for and a thousand other things, and so in return I tell him about the harder parts of my journeys in a way that really only you and Maliah hear, and oftentimes in different ways. We talk about books, and the instrument he’s learning, and about resurrection and the trials he had to testify at, and it’s so good to have someone outside of all of this, and outside my family too, who I know so deeply, and am known by so deeply.

Of course, as soon as he accepted, I was struck by a fit of terror, because, well. You know how I date—I date strangers, and if it ends, of course it’s sad, because I’d hardly have dated them if I didn’t like them, but I’m not missing a key piece of my life. But if I date Brennu and do something stupid and lose him someday, I don’t know if we’ll be able to be close in quite the same way we have been, and losing that is terrifying. Maliah, who finds first impressions much harder than lasting ones, the reverse of my feelings on the matter, was baffled and tried her best to comfort me, but I was very bad at being comforted until I actually went on the date.

By mutual agreement, we tried to keep that first date light, talk about all the things we skipped to talk about all the deep dark things in our heads. Brennu had picked a fairly nice restaurant (I was very glad I had an outfit I commissioned in the Feywild) and asked for a private room in the back, so we wouldn’t be bothered by press or other people interested in him appearing in public and me returning to town. We talked about his cousins, who he’s close to in the way I am to you, and about you and Alion and Tiriel and the children on Nosirion-1. I told him stories from before I met him that we’d missed out on, and he replied with the same, and we only talked a little bit about stars and what I’m doing next and all the baggage we’re going to have to work out.

I’m leaving Mashoy in just a few days, sending Niko off to a temple retreat and Maliah to visit Marsa and her mothers, going to Kirim and then to see you myself, but we’ve gone on a few more dates and talked more seriously about things again, the kind of things we talk about in our letters and the danger I’m in from what’s coming next. We’ve also made it clear that neither of us is particularly light or casual about this, but that we’re going to take it very slowly indeed, given what I have coming up and all the much easier baggage of living in different places and not quite knowing the shape our lives are going to take.

When I’m done dealing with Onver, though, and reassured everyone I’m still alive and dealt with the very immediate aftermath, we have a plan to meet somewhere quiet and private to talk a lot more, and I’m already looking forward to it.

There. Resurrection aside, isn’t this letter worth it? I’ll look forward to your teasing in a week or so in person, and will take it happily as long as I get to meet Lindanas again, and maybe even this book group you can’t stop talking about.

Love,

Elyn

[letterstosestrilles]

Dear Tyko,

It's been a fairly quiet few days—or rather, we've done plenty, but not much of it has involved adventuring. We stayed most of the rest of the way through the Downtime Festival on Iriossis, where I got into another jam or two, we ate a lot of festival food, and had dinner with Kereza, who I mentioned last time, our friend from last year's Challenge of Champions. We had a nice chat about what we've all been up to, and she's seen Wylcey a few times since last year, but not many—still, it's nice to have people all over to run into and catch up with.

We didn't have anything else lined up, so Maliah and I chatted about what we want to do next, since we can take a paying job instead of doing favors for friends (our party funds are holding up just fine, but still, next time we need healing potions we'll be grateful for the extra). She ended up scouring the adventuring pages for us, with me hanging over her shoulder, and we found three jobs that look like they could use an experienced party helping out. Not that dealing with mimic infestations and rogue shield guardians isn't valuable, but there are more people who can handle those.

These three jobs are scattered all over, and they've all got their own pulls, so it took us a while to decide which one we want to start with. (Obviously if someone else wants to take them on, I wish them the best, but they've all been sitting around for a bit, so depending on how long each one takes, we're likely to be able to do a bit of traveling around.) The first Maliah found is a matter of people disappearing from a town called Caystone on Nulbarak, where I've never been—there are some other odd happenings in the town, but the disappearances are numerous and consistent, and no one's been able to track them yet. The next is in the Underdark on Zarakib, residents of a village being killed by some still-unknown creature, and their bodies when found described as “dessicated,” which isn't nerve-wracking at all. And the last is a city where objects of historical and cultural significance are being stolen, and there's an arcane signature nobody has had any luck tracking.

Since nobody's died of stolen goods yet, we reluctantly marked that job for last in our heads and debated between the other two. I do admit that my desire to not go wandering through dark tunnels might have had me pulling harder to start with the job on Nulbarak, but it does seem to be the logical choice, too—the disappearances are consistent, whereas the attacks on Zarakib seem to be a lot of waiting and then a terrible attack, which means we might be twiddling our thumbs for three weeks, so we decided to stop the disappearances first, though I'm going to feel horribly guilty if there's another attack while we take care of that. Still, I'm hoping that people disappeared aren't necessarily people dead, and that we might be able to find at least some of them alive and, if not well, able to be healed.

So it's Nulbarak first, and Zarakib after if the timing works out and Nulbarak doesn't wring us out too much, and then we'll see if we're up for hunting a thief, since we're so good at that kind of thing.

Nulbarak isn't really in the way of many places we've been, but there are connections through Sumula Station, so when we got tired of the festival, we came here, to a busy day on the station—it can't hurt to visit Bizza while we're on our way to a job, after all, and we haven't seen him since after Hangi Syr, so it was nice for the chance to catch up. We looked into transportation first—there's a ship going direct in a couple of days, but it's a ten-day trip, and even if Teleportation Circle is a lot more expensive, nobody's likely to disappear in the time it takes us to spend a bit of time with a friend, take a circle over, and then a hopper over to the next planet, since easiest connection here is to a nearby planet and not to Nulbarak itself.

We hadn't told Bizza we were coming, since it was a last-minute choice to come, but he was delighted to see us, and we had crepes and a quick catch-up, and then went to grab a room for the night so he could finish out his day without being too distracted and went out for drinks. Rather a lot of them, in fact, the only reason I'm up and writing to you anytime before station noon is the true blessing of Lesser Restoration, which I also visited on Maliah and Bizza.

We talked about a lot, all three of us—about the good and bad parts of our adventures, and Bizza's ex's trial finally finished and judgment came down firmly on Bizza's side, as it should, so we talked some about that too, and how he is. (Still recovering, and not near ready to date again, but that's all only to be expected.) We talked about Marsa a good deal, and about finding Bizza a ship's captain too, since he's a fan of interestingly designed spaceships and we had a nice chat about the Procyon blueprints.

Somehow, we got into Maliah accusing herself of not being good with people, and we drunkenly chased that around for most of an hour, I think, and only got ourselves stuck in a mire, because Maliah thinks that being good with people means being like me, whereas I can't stop thinking about all the people on this journey who we're only friends with because Maliah saw something deeper in them, and they in her, and took me along with her. Athan and Kian, who liked her and wanted her to explore the way she wanted to and matchmade us a little, and who still mentor her so much. Bizza, because she was the one who noticed he was tired and got the information out of him about that. Half the Court of Flowers, who all adored her and would happily have kept her if she'd showed even the slightest hint of being interested in actually being a courtesan. Devon, who loves and trusts her so deeply. All the shop proprietors and waiters and museum docents who she's so unfailingly polite and kind to, who remember her and are friendly and pleased to see her when we happen to return to the same place.

I don't know. I don't think either of us left that conversation content, because I hate that she thinks poorly of herself and I think I was missing her point through the drinks. Because she would agree when I said that she doesn't have to be, and she doesn't really want to be, but it still upsets her to think she isn't. But in the end, I think she thinks that “people skills” only really means “getting what you want from strangers,” since she kept excusing all of that as people who already had reason to like her, and people who felt sorry for her (though I did point out that there are worse things than being pitied if you want to manipulate people, though she wasn't wild about that either, which is fair because I was too drunk to explain any of that properly). And I am good at that—I was on a ship, in a new port every month, for most of a decade, and before that, I was frequently with new foster parents or caseworkers of shuffled off to new people in the bureaucracy when I asked questions about the Procyon. I still feel like I'm faking more often than not, but I've definitely had practice. (I did not tell her that clearly I'm fallible, since if I were always good at people skills, I would have known what to do to help her through a conversation that must have been upsetting her, because I don't think it would have helped, but I am certainly feeling it.)

I did at least remind her that she's very good at noticing what people are thinking, what they're hiding or just omitting, because of how observant she is, and I think she was forced to concede that much.

We both have a horrible tendency to feel useless when we're not doing something directly drawing on our skills, I think. I'm quick to call myself stupid when I misread a wilderness sign, and she's quick to think she's not charming or likeable just because she stumbles over her words with a stranger or doesn't know what question to ask. I suppose it's something we both need to work on, and one of the reasons we're both in therapy.

At least I think Bizza and I did get her to agree to maybe talk to someone in Caystone without me, to prove to herself that she can learn what she needs to alone, even if it's not her favorite thing to do. I'm not going to push her, or teach her unless she asks me specifically for lessons, since that never ends well for anyone, but her shyness seems to frustrate her, so I hope she can try, if she'd like to.

And I think we're leaving for Nulbarak in the next day, so I'll let you know how the journey goes, and write you as we start unraveling their mystery. Hope all is well on Sestrilles!

Love,

Elyn

[letterstosestrilles]

Dear Tyko,

We're back on Mir—things do seem to circle back here for me, don't they? Here and Nosirion-1 below, where we're going in the morning and where I'll learn the sigil sequence for their newly finished Teleportation Circle so I can see the children whenever I want to and have the magic and time to spare. This time, I'm back because of a summons from Athan.

When I was out of contact before Hangi Syr, I can't remember if I told you that the data Thricusi's Horn offered me went to Athan and Kian, since they have the processing capabilities to deal with that amount of data. Athan told me they had a little information, asked if I'd please come, since some conversations are best had in person. So we stayed one more night on Sumula Station (yes, there was another week there, I'll tell you all about that in a moment), and then this morning I took us to Mir, casting Teleportation Circle for the first time. It was late afternoon to our early morning when we arrived, so I expect I'll be up all night, but that's fine, there's plenty to write about.

I had warned Athan we were coming, but he was a little surprised at the speed (I hadn't told him I was planning to cast the spell, so that makes sense). We had some breakfast, or early dinner, or something like that, and then Athan and Kian took us into the back room where they seem to give people information when they've been doing research.

The ship itself isn't in the logs from Thricusi's Horn. But there's mention of a colony ship known as The Blaze of Shadai that left gnomish space a bit before the Horn, with a crew member named Procyon ni Firda ken-Hadnai on it. (Perhaps not to do with the kin-Proceo clan that Snapdragon mentioned months and months ago now after all, though I'm not discounting that possibility—if nothing else, it might be a given name given in honor of another clan.) They dropped out of contact and never came back into it, but it's still a big lead—maybe my Procyon was named after this Procyon, if some ni Firda ken-Hadnai clan members split off into a new vessel at some point, or if the Blaze was wrecked and built anew.

What do you think? Do I seem like an Elyn ni Firda ken-Hadnai? I'm not sure of it, really. Most days I feel more like an Elyn bint Tiriel ken-Mara bi'Procyon, but even that doesn't sit quite right. Maybe nothing really will, but I suppose I'll have to wait and find out.

Kian also had a few things to say. The Horn sent on the star map as decompressed as they could get it with their tech, which is much much better than we've been able to do so far. He consulted with some astronomer contacts of his (who he can put me in touch with) and, miracle of miracles, they recognized the area, which is a large one with no known inhabited planets. The loop that's drawn on doesn't even go through any known settlements. It's also an area of space known for having all sorts of wormholes, planar gates, and other irregularities, which means the Procyon could well have entered through one and left through one, which is almost certainly why I've never been able to find a vector for it.

Can you have Lindanas open a reference query for me, if my library card is still active? Or for you, if I can't do it by proxy? I've asked Alion, but I want to ask you and him too—is anyone on Sestrilles keeping a record of godsfalls, planar gates, anything else like that opening up anywhere in the space around Sestrilles? No guarantee that the Procyon's would be close enough for a record, but if there is one, it would be good to know about—timing, maybe if there were any clues in the signature. I've got no idea at all how to read signatures, but someone must.

I also think that while I'm on Nosirion-1, I want to talk to Niko. She came through a suddenly opened portal. Maybe this region of space would be familiar to her? But she was so disoriented that it's impossible to know.

Athan also gave me a more concrete next step: Legend Lore. It's a spell I know I could learn, now, but it's never seemed like a priority and frankly I don't think it will be one in the near future, either, with all the other useful spells I could learn. He, though, knows someone who can cast it, and is willing to put us in touch—a mage on Nellaser's Landing, which I'd actually heard of recently, from Nuli and Thvara on Hangi Syr. There was an archmage, apparently, a planar expert, and that seems like the kind of person who might be able to help with this. And who can cast Legend Lore to seek out information about the Blaze of Shabai. I don't know what it will bring up, but it will be more than I know now.

This is a big step. And a frightening one. I was content with the slow pace of learning my variant of Speak With Dead, but this is a lot all at once and I'm excited and terrified with neither emotion seeming to win out. I guess I'll feel that way until I know one way or the other where all these leads go. At the least, I'm trying to remind myself that I can't keep changing what I want. Until I started finding answers, all I wanted was answers. Now I'm wondering about searching for survivors or distant family or resurrecting the dead. Some of it's useful thinking—Speak With Dead will come in handy, with a few more weeks of study—but most of it, I think I should stop worrying so much over until I know what the situation is, at least as much as I can.

Of course, I tell myself that, but I'll be able to stick to it for about five minutes.

Everything else I have to say is about Cloudleaper, and I feel a little guilty for telling you before I've even started writing about it. It's all secrets on secrets, but I need to talk to someone at least halfway impartial about it, and while I have Alion looking up a related query, I feel more like I can confide in you, if only because Cloudleaper knows I tell you pretty much everything.

She seemed upset a few days ago, and declared her need for milkshakes when we asked about it, so we went and she ordered a dozen, and then she started talking. First, it was things I was happy about—she told Stormflight that she's in love with him (and told Pika she was telling him) and showed us her confession, which was so like her in all the best and most heartbreaking ways, talking about wanting to be the best version of herself before she would dare let herself have him, if he would want to be had. His response so far has been that he doesn't have much in the way of privacy at the moment (he's staying with Pika, who still enjoys the vents), but that he'll write her when he does, and she was so terrified she couldn't even look at her inbox, so I've forwarded hers to me and am mostly being treated to Pika's long-distance delight and teasing so far.

And then she said—in order to be the best version of herself, there's something she wants to do. Has to do, she feels. She wants to find someone—her brother, her twin.

I don't even know where to begin with everything she said, how many secrets to keep. I know Alion will tell you what I asked them, and I know you're stubborn, so I think probably I should just say as much of it as I can.

Liadon Technologies—I know you and Alma have fixed up some of their tech, you mentioned that gun mount a few years ago, I realized when I went looking in my archives for any connections I might have. A hundred years ago, there was an explosion and a child of the family that runs the company died, and about eight years after that, another one disappeared, the head of research and development.

Only the first part of that isn't true. She caused the explosion, to destroy a technology that could—I don't know what it is. But it could have hurt a lot of people, and it was her brother, her twin, who came up with the idea, and she destroyed his work and everyone thought she died, and instead, somehow, at some point, she found her way into the deserts of Rugira Prime.

Even when I write it like that, an impersonal story, it seems like something out of a movie or a book, but Cloudleaper was too overwrought to be telling anything about the truth.

And of course Maliah and I will help her search for her family, that was never in question, but I think our courses may sharply diverge if and when we find him. Cloudleaper insists that he should go home, back to the family, who shouldn't have had to lose both of them. I think he shouldn't have to go anywhere he doesn't want to, and that if what he does when he's with his family is design weapons of mass destruction, he shouldn't be allowed anywhere near him. What if he's still doing it, in secret, on his own, with some plan that could hurt people?

Cloudleaper says that if that's the case, they'll go out together. I don't even want to think about that.

That's only the worst-case scenario, but nothing I can think of is good. The best I can hope for is that he figured out she's alive, and that he's been looking for her. Nearly as good (if not for him), is that he's been in seclusion with grief, but a hundred years can dull that kind of horror. Maybe he's captured, or in hiding, from the ecoterrorists who were trying to kill him and who Cloudleaper took out when she blew up his research. Maybe he's under Disguise Self and there really won't be any finding him.

And then the scenarios with Cloudleaper: she seems to think that her mother might be some kind of terrifyingly powerful warlock using her patron to get her ahead in business (though the loss of her son means there's been very little getting ahead in the past hundred years). Powerful magic might be able to tell her that Cloudleaper is alive, or where she is. And even if she doesn't have such powerful magic, she does have money and power, and we're getting well-known these days (Athan has said he's heard a few mentions. I am too terrified to ask more). What happens if Cloudleaper's face shows up in the news? What if her brother sees, and what if her mother does?

It's dizzying and terrifying and Cloudleaper is set on one course and too terrified to give much thought to other ones. Maliah and I are both very worried about what she's planning, though, and I think things could get very bad. I try to tell myself that if you'd disappeared, I would want to hunt you down and drag you home, so it's only natural, but there's a difference in what I would be dragging you back to do. And Maliah, without even that weak analogy, seems even more concerned about where this could lead.

But hope for the best means that I do want to find him. It's just that preparation for the worst means that I need to think about what's going to happen if Cloudleaper and I end up on opposite sides of a fight.

Maliah, at least, doesn't have anything too heavy going on. She's talking to her mothers right now, catching them up on the past few weeks and her adventures in lockpicking, after Cloudleaper and I attempted to give her advice about Marsa. I told her she might want to let Marsa know we're off Sumula Station and in this area, in case Marsa's around here, or in case she was passing by Sumula Station and hoped to meet up. Maliah was shocked by the suggestion and terrified that she might be bothering Marsa and Marsa wouldn't tell her if she was, and I don't think we managed to quite reassure her that that will not be the case.

I did venture to mention that when I was dating Araglas—we just had him for a few weeks before he transferred to The Siren's Jewel, remember him?—I would let him know our port schedule, and he'd do the same, both as a concrete way to stay in touch and to see if we could sync up on leave, and it's the only reason we lasted as long as we did. She was still worried about bothering Marsa, but I think maybe she'll actually write her. We did say that if Marsa doesn't answer, probably it means she'd like to cool things down, but really, I don't foresee that being a trouble. Marsa seemed very interested.

I would advise Maliah to ask Marsa if she wants to be girlfriends in a serious kind of way, but I can't imagine Maliah actually doing it, so I think for now, I'll leave them to figuring out their own happiness. I have plenty of other things to worry about.

Sorry, this letter is very long and I've hardly asked about you at all. Please do catch me up on everything—work and your book group too, I'm not just being nosy about Lindanas. Though of course I'll happily listen to anything you tell me about him.

Love,

Elyn

[letterstosestrilles]

Dear Tyko,

Yes, we're still on Sumula, and yes, I do eventually plan to stop teasing you about Lindanas. Not quite yet, but someday, maybe. You would have to deal with less teasing if you'd told me about him while you were still pining and not now that you're happy together, in all fairness. I would have had sympathy, then. I like the sound of his friends, though—they seem to be giving you two the appropriate amount of teasing. I'll look forward to meeting them as well as him next time I'm on Sestrilles.

It's been a pretty quiet few weeks, with lots of crepes and time with Bizza. Cloudleaper's been busy keeping to herself—I think she's still figuring out exactly what it means to be in love with Stormflight, and I don't blame her, so I've been leaving her in peace as much as possible. Maliah, on the other hand, has been learning to pick locks, thanks to a book and a teacher Athan told her to look up, since Athan has contacts everywhere. (Someday I'd really love to know more about him, but he doesn't really seem like the kind of man to want to talk about his past.) And buying toys for Squirt—I'm glad Lindanas liked that picture, because I've been looking at it at least once a day and laughing at it. She also got an enchantment put on Squirt's barding to offer him a little extra protection, since keeping us all safe seems to be her main goal right now.

After I talked to a silversmith friend of Bizza's, Umral, and commissioned her to set the citrine Aluarashi gave me into a belt buckle, I went to the arcane university here on-station to see if they had a necromancer. It's not their most thriving program, but they did have a faculty member to send me to, so I made the acquaintance of Evel Skywhit, a very scholarly and serious half-elf who was happy to sign on to help me and didn't even mind so much that I said our findings can't be published, since they're technically part of another academic study (even if we did make a point of hiding Ektarika's book with Bridan, which I feel a little sorry for, but it's Bridan's book more than anyone's, so it's her choice).

I had the pages scanned, the ones about Ektarika's version of Speak With Dead, her variant that doesn't need a body, that let her ask Bridan if she wanted to be a ghost. Her workbook didn't have the final version, of course, but Evel and I have made a decent start on unraveling it and on adapting it for bard magic rather than for wizards. It will take a lot more refining, but I think it will work someday.

And then there's a different kind of work to begin. It works, it seems, like this: I find a willing participant that the spirit I'm calling on can speak through. I cast the spell, using the spirit's name or something belonging to it as a focus. I ask my questions. It won't really be talking to them, them understanding who I am and being—themselves, really. That's not how Speak With Dead works, even if I'd like it to be. So I need to know my questions before I ask them, and they need to be clear and simple. For each casting of the spell, though, I only get five questions. It's hard to know what I want to ask first. What happened to the Procyon? Do they want to come back? Even the simplest, stupidest questions—what's my name, for instance, but if the spirit doesn't recognize me, that might be a wasted question.

And to make it work, I need names, or I need objects. I'm worried that the earring won't be enough—it's been mine for so long, and it was some creature's tear in the first place, and I need to know how to direct the spell to the owner who had it just before I did, for something useful. Maliah pointed out that, well, I'm something that belonged to the Procyon's crew, and I or some part of my genetic material could focus the spell. I'd have to ask Evel about that one, or another wizard, since I think we're about to start looking for what's past Sumula and I may need to start consulting a few other wizards on figuring out this spell.

To answer a question before you ask it: I'm doing okay about it all, surprisingly. Maliah's checked in with me about it, too, but genuinely, I'm handling it. It helps that there's still so much work to do before I can do anything with the spell. It helps that it's a smart solution, smarter than just trying to resurrect them without thought. And even if they say they want to come back, then even then, I can try to do it the smart way, and not spend my whole life on it. Even having an avenue of communication open is so much more than I feared I might ever get.

See? I may tease you about your boyfriend and upset you by having snits about your very good advice and frighten you with letters about balhannoths, but I do eventually learn, even if it's step by step.

No idea where we're going next, or when, or how. Maliah wrote Hiuda at the Silver Tree at some point, asking about jobs, and we can check postings from our adventuring guild, but we seem to get most of our jobs through friends and family and other such connections, so we'll see if anything else turns up.

Love,

Elyn

[letterstosestrilles]

Dear Tyko,

It's been a pretty quiet week for us, and we've finally left Hangi Syr, though not until this morning. I spent a few nights with Nuli, the singer of the pair of bards we met when we arrived in Arstead, after determining that her flirting seemed a bit less idle than her cousin's, but also spent a good amount of time browsing through the databases Maliah got me access to and just wandering the city.

And attempting to talk to Cloudleaper, who refused to be talked with. Aside from saying that the only redemption that would let her deserve to feel happiness would be to go back in time and undo something, which is mostly, if you ask me, an excuse to not have to think about how to move forward. (Because then she did say something about peace and healing, and refused to admit that she contradicted herself.) Anyway, she's talking to Pika about it, so I'm going to let Pika sort her out if she thinks she needs sorting.

Cloudleaper also gave us all some presents that she'd commissioned on the sly (she and Maliah both, with lovely presents indeed! I'll have to be on the lookout for something for them as well), made out of the balhannoth's teeth that she and Maliah collected. She's got bracelets, Maliah has a necklace, and I have a set of earrings, and if we're wearing them and speak the code word, the teeth are freed from their settings, to act as an extra dagger in a pinch. For the time being, I'm only wearing one earring at once, but I think I'll get a second piercing in one ear at some point, and move my own earring to that.

And, of course, if you do send me the ugliest pair of earrings you can find, I'm more than glad to swap out wearing them, on days when I don't think I'll need another dagger.

With that done, and once the dragon armor was picked up (Maliah insisted on me having it, since it offers some protection against dragon poisoning and she's hard to poison), nothing else suggesting itself, we decided that Sumula Station would do as well for shopping as anywhere else, since we have a friend here, so we took a Transportation Circle over and I memorized the sigil sequence when I arrived so I'll have an easier time visiting in the future.

Our first stop was the local Temple of Mishakal, where I think we bought every healing potion they had in stock and gave them some extra gold on top of it to make up for the inconvenience. Maliah is very very emphatic that we need to be safer, and healing potions are a very good start on it, so we'll try to be better about restocking, and better about using them when we need them.

And then we went right to see Bizza, who was happy to see us and closed his shop up immediately to cook for us and have some conversation.

As most people are on initial contact with Cloudleaper, he seemed a little baffled, but we told him about our adventurers (and he and Erel Dhuna are the only people we've mentioned them to who had heard of balhannoths before, which makes sense as they're both drow—Shadowfell portals are a lot more likely to develop in the Underdark, from what I can tell), and had a good little conversation about the balhannoth and talked about the lighter parts of our adventures too. We asked him about arcane shops in the city, which he didn't know much about, and I asked him about a jeweler, because I want to set Aluarashi's citrine, since I'm never going to spend it. That he knew about, and he's going to introduce me to a silversmith friend of his, Umral, tomorrow before we all go out for drinks, and either she or someone she recommends can help with that.

I think I'd like it set in a belt buckle, since it's a bit big to be a necklace or a ring or anything, and anyway then it would feel like a real part of my equipment, since I carry so much of the memory for my gloves in that belt, but we'll see if Umral or another jeweler advises me differently.

When we were leaving, Maliah and I hugged Bizza, and Cloudleaper actually spoke to him in elvish—quite formally, a little old-fashioned, but actual elvish when she looks at me like I just stepped on a small animal whenever I try to speak it around her. So I'm glad she did it! Especially as it means things are less likely to be awkward the next time we stop by Sestrilles.

And then we went shopping, after Maliah consulted her maps (she bought a whole armful of them the last time we were here) to find some shops that might have arcane items in them.

I am honestly in a little bit of shock over how much money we spent today, between the healing potions and the rest of the equipment. Across three stores, Maliah bought better arrows and armor and an alchemists' jug, Cloudleaper bought flaming arrows, and I got an amulet that was nearly as expensive as Maliah's armor but which I think is going to help more than being a little harder to hit will be, in the end, which is already making me feel hardier and healthier. I know there's no better use for the money than to keep us alive, but the money we make adventuring still seems barely real to me, and to spend what I'd never been able to build up before, more as a party than I would make in a year on The Promise and more—well, it's a lot to process.

And, to top it all off, I realized as the afternoon went on that, well—we're a little bit beyond the adventuring gear you can buy in stores. They're all set up for adventurers who haven't done quite as much as we have, ones just starting out. And here we are, and we've fought a balhannoth and two dragons, and of course I know that normal people are never going to do anything like that, but I don't think I'd realized before today that even most adventurers don't go as far as we have, and as we still are, since I don't think any of us is intending to stop yet.

I don't know what to do about knowing that, though. Or if I have to do anything at all. It just seems like a huge thing to wrap my mind around.

I don't think any of us are planning to go anywhere fast, though, so I should have some time to think about it. After the ruins, we're not in a hurry to go seeking the next danger, and we've all got things to keep ourselves occupied with (well, Maliah's trying to do about three different things and Cloudleaper is learning to sneak around when she's not reading on her new IICD, and there's plenty I could do if I thought about it for a few minutes), so we might stick around Sumula for a little while. I'm still waiting to hear from Athan and from Matrai about Thricusi's data and my star map respectively, whatever Cloudleaper is after isn't at a point where she needs our help yet, and Maliah is fairly content to float between adventures, unless we hear about anything happening in the Feywild.

If nothing pops up on any of our personal fronts by the time we get restless, we'll probably have a look at the guild, see if there are any jobs near us (or not near us, we can afford a Transportation Circle) that would give us something to do. Maybe not with ruins this time.

Maybe someone needs a party to negotiate with some more goblins. At least we have experience with that!

Hope all is well on Sestrilles, with you and Lindanas, who I have not stalked on the internet as per your request, and with the family! Tiriel tells me she and Niko have exchanged a few more notes about some commissions, which is wonderful for both of them, but I don't know much about what everyone else is up to. All Tiriel said about Alion is that they're in the lab all the time these past few weeks, some new experiment. That must mean you're babysitting more than usual, so tell Kari and Thari hello from me, will you?

Love,

Elyn

[letterstosestrilles]

Excerpts from a well-known bard spotting forum

Thread: Gnomish redhead with gloves?

station.eri: Hey, did anyone catch that bard with the gloves at the music festival on Sumula Station today? A friend of mine sent a video and she looks pretty badass. I'd love a closer look at that tech. If anyone needs some identifying features: gnomish, redhead, covered in wires. She wasn't on the roster of performers, so she must have just ended up jamming. Anyone have an ID? Tour schedule? Better video of her performance at Sumula?

lvl20lute: I caught this performance, actually! Wild. She just popped out of the crowd, set up a loop with a group that was already jamming, and spent the next hour blowing some minds. Didn't get video of the whole thing, but caught a couple highlights. Sound quality is pretty good! Unfortunately, she walked off with a friend without introducing herself, so no idea who she is or what her story is. Maybe she works here on Sumula? But she seemed like a professional bard, honestly.

station.eri: So glad to hear from someone else who heard her live! Those are some great videos.

harpingonanon: Anyone else heard of her? Skills like that, she can't have come from nowhere. 'Net searches are bringing up nothing.

pikaboo: I hear she's traveling towards halfling space, if you want to keep your eyes out for her.

lvl20lute: How would you even know???

pikaboo: I just do.

*

Thread: Bar jam with an unknown bard

orc.arina: SHIT, bard spotters, I just happened into a bar jam and saw some of the best electronic music I've ever heard. There's an entertainment vessel in port here at Velid-Kerverion, and some of them were jamming in one of our bars and in the middle of it all is this redheaded gnome with these gloves that let her play music without an instrument. Check out this video, it's wild. Anyone know who she is? Checked the roster of the entertainment vessel but got nothing.

harpingonanon: @station.eri, it's your redhead with the gloves, though it looks like she's gone wire-free! @orc.arina, last known location was Sumula Station, she just showed up in a jam there too, nobody knows who she is.

orc.arina: She's a fucking GENIUS is what she is, at one point she had a loop in three different time signatures going so it only matched up at weird times and got some solos going on the top like it was nothing.

station.eri: I MIGHT CRY. Who is she??? Where is she going??? She should have a recording contract.

Also, look at that guy in the corner, he's going to propose marriage in about two seconds. ME TOO, BUDDY.

lvl20lute: Whoa, I guess she doesn't work here on-station! I'd been kind of keeping an eye out for her, but looks like that was a useless endeavor. Maybe she was meeting up with the entertainment vessel and she'll be on it from here on in? @orc.arina, what's the vessel named? We can keep an eye out for it.

orc.arina: The Maiden's Harmony, but like I said I don't think she's on it. I'll keep an eye on the roster, though.

pikaboo: She's not on the Maiden's Harmony. She's heading for Elvish space, though I don't think it's for musical purposes.

harpingonanon: Come on, you cannot possibly know that.

Everyone, our mission is clear. #findher #jamcryptid

*

Thread: #jamcryptid

pikaboo: #foundher #jamcryptid On Sestrilles in Elvish space

{two-minute video of the good part of Elyn and Serime's jam}

lvl20lute: Holy shit, how did you know she was going there? Do you work PR for her or something? If so, maybe you could TELL US HER NAME.

orc.arina: Who is that with her??? Does she have a band now??? Seriously, a bard this good should have more of a following, why don't we know her name?

clary-net: Oh wow, I recognize the bard on the guitar! That's Serime, she busks in Sestrilles City. I visit my cousin there sometimes, and she works a few streets over from where Serime busks, so I know her name. I don't know the redhead, though! They seem to know each other pretty well. I could ask my cousin, maybe?

orc.arina: Please do! Any clues are good, seriously. @pikaboo, since you seem to have magical powers where she's concerned, any idea where she's going next?

station.eri: I'm dying, I'm dying. Where is her album? Also, calling it, @pikaboo is a divination expert who's using their powers to tease us all with this bard.

pikaboo: Oh yeah, and this happened: {video of Elyn getting her glove caught on her shirt}

station.eri: HOW IS SHE THIS CUTE, how are mere mortals supposed to survive.

clary-net: My cousin says she doesn't know the redhead's name but that she looks kind of familiar, so maybe she's been through Sestrilles before? I've asked her to keep an eye out, though, because seriously, this bard's got something. Even when she's screwing up, apparently.

*

Thread: Redheaded bard with gloves

witherzither: Hey, I saw a thread a few weeks ago about a redheaded bard with some gloves, and now I've got a sighting! I'm on Iriossis and she showed up jamming with a bard I've seen around a few times and a girl who I don't think is a bard. {video}

orc.arina: @pikaboo, WHY DIDN'T YOU WARN US, WE COULD HAVE BEEN PREPARED. @station.eri

harpingonanon: Wasn't she on Sestrilles like a week ago? I just looked up some vectors and that's some fast travel, she must have some serious magic or money behind her.

station.eri: Shit, that other instrument is cool. Iriossis bard-spotters, what do we know about the redhead's friend there? But also HOLY SHIT THE REDHEAD!!! @pikaboo, where is she going to be next, we need eyes everywhere. Use your magic if you need to, seriously.

Also, am I the only one who's feeling some sexual tension between the redhead and the other bard there? Damn.

clary-net: I grow more and more intrigued, but also why is no one paying attention to the best part of that video, which is clearly the RIDICULOUSLY HUGE DOG.

pikaboo: I don't know everything. But I'll post the next time I feel like she might be getting into a jam session.

station.eri: @pikaboo Seriously, do you know her? Are you a wizard? You can tell us. We just want to #findher. Also, @clary-net, that dog is great but mostly I am paying attention to the love of my life here.

*

Thread: #jamcryptid spotted on Rugira Prime

shiptripgigtips: Hey, I remember seeing some threads about a redheaded gnome with gloves, and then I was in THIS THREAD about a pretty well-known bard from Mashoy on Rugira Prime, Amsula Nyasui Sinal and there was a glancing reference? Last reference had her on Iriossis a couple months ago, so it's a vector that makes sense, especially if she's trying to establish herself in Mashoy. A lot of bards get pretty good patrons there.

harpingonanon: Oh hey, was just wondering about her the other day! The thread doesn't have a lot, but circumstantial evidence tells me that it's probably her. I wonder if she's sticking around for a while! Sounds like it was a pretty big party and she was more honored guest than entertainment, so she's coming up in the universe!

station.eri: YOU'RE DOING AMAZING, HONEY. Also, a name??? Starts with a D and probably from Bay station? Details about her were thin on the ground in the account. Anyone from the Bay region know of her? Like her FULL NAME? And where she's going to be next this time, or if she's going to stay around in Mashoy?

primerhyme: I'm from elsewhere on Rugira Prime, just chiming in here: politics in Mashoy just absolutely blew up, assassinations and corruption charges and some disgraced aristocrats, and it sounds like there was a new-to-the-city bard involved in some of it, so she may be coming up in the world, but maybe still actively adventuring and not sticking around? Hard to say, names are being kept out of the papers.

[letterstosestrilles]

Dear Tyko,

We'll be landing on Velid-Kerverion tomorrow, and I'm taking a short moment to respond to your latest and to rest my hands from all the work I've been doing on our voyage.

Before the Legacy could pull out of port, Sumula's station master sent someone to summon us to her office. Maliah and I were more than a bit concerned about that summons (which entertained Captain Sundust, as I can't say we were exactly subtle about exchanging looks), but despite our growing trepidation as we walked through the station to a so-quiet-they-can't-hear-you-scream administrative hallway, it all turned out well.

The station master, one Amili Niatpa-Luxu, had called us in partly because she wanted to thank us and partly, I suspect, because she wanted to make sure we wouldn't bring a suit against the station for the trouble with the trees. She gave us money for our “assistance” (presumably with the trees, not with the vigilante justice against Venarneth), as well a stone that will summon a fire elemental when broken, which I now have in my possession. (We are all lucky that gems don't break easily.) We thanked her, told her we'd be happy to render our assistance if they need witnesses for Venarneth's trial, and left as quickly as possible.

Well, I say that, but I did gloss over the part where Pika asked if “the charges” had been dropped. After telling us, back on the ship, that she'd had a perfectly quiet and relaxing spa day. But then again, it's Pika—why should I be surprised that a relaxing day would involve charges in need of dropping? And I oughtn't be a hypocrite—there was a certain amount of glossing things over when Maliah and I discussed our adventures as well.

As though she knew that, or just because even with a cold she's terrifyingly determined, Pika spent the walk back to the Legacy taking it in turns to drill me on compound tenses in Gnomish and to do something about Maliah's posture, which led to a performance that got us a few interested looks from passing commuters, both of which were made all the more difficult by the last remnants of that hangover.

(You were very unkind to gloat about that, by the way.)

From then, we stayed on the ship until takeoff, and we've had about a week's voyage to keep ourselves occupied. Maliah has mostly been spending the time with Squirt, training him to be his usual self even with his armor on. Pika has been rarely seen outside of our daily lessons in Gnomish and deportment, but did appear long enough to make it clear that she and Ayabith the weasel trainer are having a brief and enjoyable affair and to get a bit of inspiration from me about the matter.

Meanwhile, I have been cloistered either on my own or with the engineering apartment working on wiring the wirefree tech into my gloves. It's been slow, fiddly work, since the systems don't interface perfectly, but I think after a few trials it's going to end up being very good for me indeed.

We're probably going to stay a few days on Velid-Kerverion, waiting to see what kind of connections we can get to Sestrilles and enjoying the station, since we have the money to spend right now and that is rather novel for all three of us, I think.

I'll let you know as soon as we have our connections planned out, so you can clear your schedule to meet Maliah and Pika and to tell me everything you've been leaving out of your letters.

Love,

Elyn

[letterstosestrilles]

Dear Tyko,

Well, I did say I'd write when I had something interesting to say, and since I'm currently tending some wounds and waiting for sleep, I'd say that's a good indication that I owe you a letter.

(Yes, I'm fine. If I weren't fine would I be writing you a letter?)

The first leg of our journey on the Legacy went well. We spent some more time with Timory (mostly Maliah did, the two of them chatting in Halfling, but good for her, she seems a little lonely and could use people besides us), and elsewhere on the ship—I made some friends in engineering, helped with a repair or two that wanted small hands, practiced my Gnomish with Pika, and failed utterly at protecting Maliah from having to say kind things about herself in a strategy I remember from therapy and always hated. Pika is still quiet, but a little less so now, though on occasion, mostly when Maliah looks like she'd like to jump out the airlock, I'm reminded that one should be careful what one wishes for.

We've landed for our first break on Sumula Station—put in at a berth this morning, in fact and have two days to stretch our legs and spend our money. I'm glad to get to stop in. Several of the employees on the Promise had been through some training on Sumula, and I'd considered it myself, so I'd heard it was nice, and I've found it to be so, for the most part.

The first part of the day we spent on shopping: Maliah needed arrows, and bought an armful of maps (of the station, of planets on common routes from the station, really any map she could get her hands on), and then took us to a shop called Pack and Tack that seems to supply big items for adventurers, where she spent a shocking amount of money on barding for Squirt. (Not that she shouldn't have, he certainly deserves to be safe, and not that she couldn't afford it, because adventuring pays incredibly well, but just hearing the price quoted made me wince.)

With that done, we decided to go see an aquarium, mostly because the idea of someone having the passion to make one on a space station rather than a planet intrigued me. It was a good time, and I've attached some pictures of us (well, mostly me, attempting to make the same faces as the fish). There was even a pool where we could pet some of the creatures, and I did so once I'd taken my gloves off. Aluarashi's gift may have water-proofed them, but it also made them shinier, and I had no desire for a fish to start nibbling on the wires as a result.

We also spent some time in the gift shop. Pika and Maliah concentrated their funds and their energy on buying presents for the children, and I found something for you (though I had mercy and did not buy you a hat shaped like a jellyfish, mostly because it wouldn't have fit properly over your horns). With our loot in hand, we went to the post office to offload most of it (though I have kept your present to give you in person).

My thought about fish nibbling on wires fresh in my mind, I went off to make a purchase of my own. You know I've been meaning to find a way to go wire-free for a while, but expense, bulkiness, and the complexity of the tech needed always stopped me. Since the station is full of young people experimenting, I took a chance and had a wander around and found some nods that will connect the electricity with my arcane energy so I'm effectively both my own wires and my own battery. I still have to install them everywhere (belt, gloves, microphone, pedal), and it may take some sweet-talking (well, cursing) to get them to behave nicely with the tech I've already jury-rigged into place, but I do think it will work, and it will be a lot easier to equip myself, not to mention I won't be left defenseless if something cuts a wire in battle.

With that done, we decided to get some food, and Pika expressed a desire for crepes, so off in search of them we went! Maliah found a shop called “I Don't Give a Crepe,” which was a sweet little shop despite its name and had a menu full of every kind of topping one might possibly imagine for a crepe. Pika made her choice instantly, and I decided on dessert for dinner, but Maliah dithered a bit while we talked to the shop's proprietor, a young drow who later introduced himself as Bizza. He recommended an exhibit at the local museum about older starships, including some Dragonborn and some Gnomish ones, which made me like him right off, and we went to eat our meals.

It was Maliah who noticed that something was wrong with him, that he was drooping against the counter, exhausted, and she went off to take care of it. I don't know quite what she was saying, but eventually she caught my eye and beckoned me over, and I went to see what was happening with Pika at my heels. Bizza told us that he seemed to have been given a piece of cursed jewelry that was stealing sleep and energy and giving him terrible nightmares. He'd been looking for help but hadn't had any luck finding a cleric or anything similar yet.

That got all of us exchanging looks, and I asked him when he was finished with his shift and then if he'd consider letting us try to help. He seemed relieved and glad for the offer, especially once we introduced ourselves and I said that I'm a bard. (At the start of this adventure, I felt like a bit of a fraud saying that. I like that I don't feel like a fraud anymore.) He told us he'd be done working in three hours and we promised to be back then and went off to the ship exhibit he'd mentioned (after giving him a bit of healing—he really needed it, the poor thing, though my Lesser Restoration didn't do him very much good).

It really was a gorgeous exhibit—you'd love it, if it ever comes to Sestrilles (it's a traveling exhibit). All sorts of chances to try out what cockpits looked like a century or two ago, and exploration of early Dragonborn ships, where they were still very much based on Draconic design.

And the Gnomish ships. Mostly, there weren't any clues, not that I was particularly expecting there to be. But near one door, there was a design etched into the metal, and it looked familiar. I don't know if I've told you that I remember seeing a design on a wall on the Procyon, one of the only solid things I have. If it wasn't identical to this one, it was damned close.

Pika saw me looking, and she knew what it was: the holy constellation Khardab'heen (“The Star Lady,” if you don't know the translation), a symbol of a goddess few people still worship, but the symbol is still carved by doors or windows in many Gnomish homes and ships, and touched for luck. I haven't looked it up yet, but I do wonder what planet or planets you can see the constellation from.

Either way, it's interesting, and another thread, but it did make me sad, knowing this talisman didn't work for my family. Maliah tried to cheer me by saying that it at least may have been lucky for me, but, well—you know how I can get, when something hits me the wrong way, and I fear I made things awkward for a minute. In another I was stumbling on, suggesting we look at the Dragonborn ships again, and Pika and Maliah kindly allowed it, not without casting me a look or two.

The museum spent all our time, so we went back to Bizza, and he offered to bring us to his home to look at his cursed jewelry. It was, when we got there and he brought it out, a necklace with a black stone, and when I asked him who had given it to him, he sheepishly admitted that it was his ex-boyfriend. That gave me no great hopes for what I was going to find, and sure enough when I cast Identify on it, the stone was a heartstone from a Nightmare Hag, and it was allowing the hag to give him visions and curtail his sleep.

As I was about to try to come up with something to let him sleep, the hag herself appeared in the poor man's living room, taking us all by surprise.

It wasn't a good fight. She seemed to be able to resist Maliah and Pika's efforts, not to mention Squirt's, better than she should have, and I was caught between trying to hurt her with my magic and trying to heal myself and the others. I did some of both, in the end, but it was sheer luck that I didn't end up unconscious at one point. She even threw a Magic Missile at poor Bizza, who was hiding in the corner rather than fighting her, and knocked him unconscious. To add insult to injury, she hurt Squirt as well, and as I'm sure you know, Maliah couldn't let that stand. She and Squirt between them finished the hag off, and good riddance to her.

I went over to revive Bizza, and once he was feeling a bit more himself he reminded us that by law, anything the hag had on her was ours, so Maliah went to work divesting her of her belongings, and Bizza gave me a few scrolls (and a promise of a lifetime of crepes) as payment—one for Locate Object and one for Armor of Agathus, both of which seem like interesting spells indeed.

Maliah came up with some stones—moonstone and jasper—and some other objects, two of the three of which I have since identified. One is something called a soul bag, and it's dreadful and you really don't want to know what it is or what it's made out of. Another is a Potion of Firebreathing! I've never seen one used, but I've heard of them, and it will be useful at some point in the future, I'm sure. She had an envelope of dust as well, but considering the soul bag and my low energy, I decided to wait on identifying that one.

That all filled the time until the security forces arrived to deal with the hag's body and take our statements, mostly Bizza's. I hope he intends to press charges against his ex-boyfriend, and on our last day of leave tomorrow I'm half-wondering if we should look him up to impress upon him what a bad idea his entire plan (or lack thereof) was. I'm sore as can be and feeling vengeful about it.

At least I'm back in my quarters on the Legacy, though, exhausted and just about ready to sleep now that I've told you everything. I'll be fine in the morning, but for now I'm just about ready to keel over. Remind me never to get on a hag's bad side, would you?

Love,

Elyn

[attached: several pictures of Elyn making faces in front of exotic sea creatures and one picture of Elyn on her bunk on the Legacy, looking exhausted and slightly bloody but giving the camera a thumbs up]

[letterstosestrilles]

Dear Brathin,

I know, I know—last time you heard from me, I was getting on a ship to Mir chasing down the only thing close to a lead on the Wrath of Procyon that I've ever been able to find, and that was months ago. I've been busy since then, though I know that's a flimsy defense.

I'm adventuring now, though—I fell in with a few adventurers just before arriving on Mir and we've ended up staying together. Maliah is a ranger, a halfling from the Feywild, and she comes with a very large blink dog in tow. Pika is a monk of Bahamut, a fellow gnome who was looking to get her son back from his father, and she's just managed it, and found herself a pair of spouses on top of it, so she'll be taking up her life again here on Rugira Prime, and Maliah and I will be looking for a new companion.

We've had plenty of excitement, too! We went from Mir to Nosirion-1, working for an exploring group called The Silver Tree, to help out some scientists at the on-planet settlement, and we helped one of the scientists with a personal issue too, helping her gain custody of children of hers whose other parents, on Mir, weren't treating them well. On top of that, we investigated an arcane surge of tides on the planet and met a god, if you'll believe it.

By then, we'd figured out that Pika was trying to get custody of her own child, so we started a slow path to Rugira Prime to help her do so. That led us through Sumula Station (where there was a man being plagued by a hag set on him by his ex-boyfriend, and also a magical accident that led to a bit of trouble with awakened trees) and to Velid-Kerverion, where we ended up on a detour to Honione's Republic of Voices. Their government and arcane study buildings had been put in some kind of stasis, and we found our way through a great many undead to find a necromancer bent on taking things over.

We also stopped in at Sestrilles! It was good to see the family again, especially Tyko, and to get a chance to relax. I saw Anthin too, if only briefly, and he didn't say anything about your route taking you through, so you must be on a slow cycle-through this time—though I imagine you've been since, I haven't been writing Anthin and Tyko didn't mention, so I have no idea where the Promise is right now.

With that respite behind us, we went on to Rugira Prime with only a brief stop, and we've been here for ages now. First, we ended up in a big of a situation with a dragon and some crashed cities out at the edge of the desert, which wasn't what I'd describe as fun, and then we ended up in a pocket dimension called the Twilight of Cinders on the hunt for a scepter, where we also found people who'd been crashing into the dimension for ages because of a hole worn through to another plane.

And finally, finally, we made it to Mashoy, the city where Pika's child lives and where we've been ever since, for well over a month now. It's mostly been politics here, though I think you'd love the city itself—it's a high-tech planet, with its moving cities, and there are mechanics and tech designers everywhere you turn. I even got to tour the works of Mashoy, which was fascinating to say the least, with how different everything is to spaceships. The politics have superseded the tech, though. There was a corruption scandal among the aristocracy and we got in the middle of dismantling it, in service of getting Pika her son back.

Things seem better now, and Pika is settling in with her son and her new spouses while Maliah and I think of where we're going next, and whether we should be finding another person or two to travel with. Pika has recommended someone from her monastery, so we'll have to see if she suits.

Part of where we're going next, though, may involve what little I've been able to figure out about the Procyon. Some of that doesn't suggest any locations in particular. I've discovered, after years and years, that the silver earring I've always had isn't just a memento, but a data storage device as well, and a man in Yamin here on Rugira Prime decrypted a little bit of it for me, scraps of family information. There's also a star map, compressed to 2D, with what looks like a potential trade route scrawled on it. I know 2D isn't much to go on, but I was wondering if you and Lasrie would mind giving it a look, to see if you recognize patterns, or if you know anyone who's good at deciphering that kind of thing.

There's also information that I'm hoping you might be able to help me with. I told you, before I disappeared completely, that I was going to Mir because someone had mentioned an unregistered gnomish ship going through about a dozen years ago. I got the name of the ship and of its captain, and the next time you're in gnomish space, I was wondering if you could make some inquiries for me. It went from Mir to Velid-Kerverion, from what I can tell, and ship spotters there said that best they knew it was heading for gnomish space, so you're my best bet.

If anyone you ask has heard of the route, origin point, or current location of the ship Thricusi's Horn, or its captain Matrai tabn Awavi ken-Mehi bi’khardab, I'd appreciate if you'd let me know. I'm hoping to do some inquiries myself, now that I'm a little more free, but like I said, you're in a better position and location to keep your eyes out.

How are things on the Promise? Find an engineering assistant good enough to replace me yet? Did you get that faulty wiring in the cargo bay taken care of, ever? Give my best to Lasrie and to everyone else. I miss getting to fiddle around with tech, but I'm liking being a bard so much I'm not sure I'll ever go back to it full-time (though of course, as always, there are my gloves to fiddle around with—I've gone wire-free, actually! And memory storage is doing much better these days).

Sorry for taking so long to write you! I'll try to do better next time.

Elyn

[attached file: a star map compressed from 3D to 2D with a gradient allowing for a small amount of depth knowledge and a loop drawn in the middle that might sketch out a route]