29th of Fall 512AV
Valo’s cottage
Late evening
Valo had taken the long way home that evening, for the moment he stepped through the door; the sun had already disappeared over the horizon. He had a long day, a tiresome day. A long morning of painting, with little fruit to reward his efforts. But nothing could have prepared him for running into the lady called Arianthe Swansong, who now seemed to linger in his mind.
Wasting no more time, Valo grabbed some stray paper and a quill; and by the light of a candle, he began writing:
“Mother, it seems like decades since we’ve last spoken. I hope you fare as well as you described in your last letter. Forgive my reply being so late, but the mundane nature of everyday life has a way of getting in the way. I am happy to announce that my art has been improving. I am sending you some drawings with this letter and I hope you show them to my sisters. Zeltiva is indeed a wondrous place, shall you ever visit, I would be most joyous. But for now I hope that these drawings satisfy you.
Tell me mother, how fares Tora and Sibel, my dearest sisters? I trust they’ve been working hard on their studies. You say their glass working has improved greatly. I do wish I was there to see. I can’t imagine how much they have changed since our last goodbye. Please let them know that they’re always on their brother’s mind and he misses them greatly.
And before you fume with anger mother, I may like to tell you I have made enough mizas to buy myself a small cottage. It’s nothing comparing to home. But it’s comfortable. I assure you that art brings a good income and I do not go hungry. In fact I’ve been spending a lot of time doing charity work at the local orphanage. The children there are like little gems of Zeltiva itself. I thought you may want to know your son has not yet been ruined by the frivolities of a human city. “
The pen created beautiful shapes on the paper. Crisp curves and sharp lines and horizontals and verticals of all sorts. Valo was quite proud of his hand writing. Such things were precious to an artist.
Valo suddenly ran out of words. He had not quite thoughts out the letter well, as there were so many things we wished to tell him old mother. But he knew not how to. He wished to tell her how he presumed he may be a father to one of the orphans, by the name of Kirara. He wished to tell her about his affairs with women and how he was sick to the back teeth of prostitutes. And how he was lonely. And how a Woman by the name of Arianthe Swansong, who had had treated him so cruelly that same afternoon, seemed the only person worth talking to. And how he was thinking of cutting off his long, fiery red hair… But all these things seemed so insignificant. He wanted his letters to bring his family joy, not shame.
“Please tell me in detail how your days pass. Do you miss me, mother? Do my sisters miss me?”
He added in frail hand writing, unworthy of an artist’s hand, before folding up the papers and kidding them in his bag. And for a moment, only for a moment he wished to be back in Wind Reach with his Inarta family.
Valo’s cottage
Late evening
Valo had taken the long way home that evening, for the moment he stepped through the door; the sun had already disappeared over the horizon. He had a long day, a tiresome day. A long morning of painting, with little fruit to reward his efforts. But nothing could have prepared him for running into the lady called Arianthe Swansong, who now seemed to linger in his mind.
Wasting no more time, Valo grabbed some stray paper and a quill; and by the light of a candle, he began writing:
“Mother, it seems like decades since we’ve last spoken. I hope you fare as well as you described in your last letter. Forgive my reply being so late, but the mundane nature of everyday life has a way of getting in the way. I am happy to announce that my art has been improving. I am sending you some drawings with this letter and I hope you show them to my sisters. Zeltiva is indeed a wondrous place, shall you ever visit, I would be most joyous. But for now I hope that these drawings satisfy you.
Tell me mother, how fares Tora and Sibel, my dearest sisters? I trust they’ve been working hard on their studies. You say their glass working has improved greatly. I do wish I was there to see. I can’t imagine how much they have changed since our last goodbye. Please let them know that they’re always on their brother’s mind and he misses them greatly.
And before you fume with anger mother, I may like to tell you I have made enough mizas to buy myself a small cottage. It’s nothing comparing to home. But it’s comfortable. I assure you that art brings a good income and I do not go hungry. In fact I’ve been spending a lot of time doing charity work at the local orphanage. The children there are like little gems of Zeltiva itself. I thought you may want to know your son has not yet been ruined by the frivolities of a human city. “
The pen created beautiful shapes on the paper. Crisp curves and sharp lines and horizontals and verticals of all sorts. Valo was quite proud of his hand writing. Such things were precious to an artist.
Valo suddenly ran out of words. He had not quite thoughts out the letter well, as there were so many things we wished to tell him old mother. But he knew not how to. He wished to tell her how he presumed he may be a father to one of the orphans, by the name of Kirara. He wished to tell her about his affairs with women and how he was sick to the back teeth of prostitutes. And how he was lonely. And how a Woman by the name of Arianthe Swansong, who had had treated him so cruelly that same afternoon, seemed the only person worth talking to. And how he was thinking of cutting off his long, fiery red hair… But all these things seemed so insignificant. He wanted his letters to bring his family joy, not shame.
“Please tell me in detail how your days pass. Do you miss me, mother? Do my sisters miss me?”
He added in frail hand writing, unworthy of an artist’s hand, before folding up the papers and kidding them in his bag. And for a moment, only for a moment he wished to be back in Wind Reach with his Inarta family.