Vassa Razorclaw

Ran, 

There is the matter of the sacred hunt in winter, and the rituals I must do… My goddess may understand that my continued life is more important than these things, but the other clerics are a bit finicky about these things.

They may look at me strangely.

We have paved more stone on the ground, and created the space where I plan to put the first market square. Unfortunately, we cannot build the stalls; merchants must choose to park there later on.

Oh. I have decided to partake in meals with my people. They are going much better than expected! My expectation was that the workers would all absolutely despise me, but that has not been the case at all. They are merely wary and some are waiting for me to reveal that all of this has been an extremely long and complicated con job!

I wonder if being the opposite would disappoint them.

Your friend, Saelly

So I have asked him, and I have learned that you were right. You were incredibly right. Nadal is a wonderful flirt. 

Were you aware that he has wool blankets? So warm.

Dear Saelly!

I would think that the safety of the clair clergy would be most important, but I understand if they are more focused on the tradition of things?  I think your safety is most important anyway!

I’m glad construction is coming along and I hope no one looks at you too strangely!  I don’t think anyone could hate you!  You’re very nice!  But the station gap is probably very intimidating!  I think they’ll be relieved it’s not a complex trap! 

Do you talk to them or just sit with them? 

- Ran ✬

Saelihn made a brief mental note to hire a hurdy gurdy player for the festival she had planned.

Vyth’s look turned curious. Friends? He liked that bard, sure. She was plenty nice. At the same time, though, she was hired to be nice. “I didn’t make any friends,” he told Ran. “Nadal made a friend. I kinda need to, umm, trust someone first, I guess. And I didn’t really trust anyone on the ship?”

He pressed his pointer fingers together.

“We kinda had to do all the traveling. I think Nadal wants to find a place where I’ll be safe so he doesn’t have to take me with him anymore… Or, or maybe that’s what this is…”

Saelihn looked to him with widened eyes. “I shall have someone find him, and then I shall speak with him about this.”

“No.” Vyth’s gaze briefly hit the grass, but he forced it back up again. “I mean… I don’t need anyone to talk for me. I- Even if I stutter, or, or mix up sentences or repeat words, I can- I can do it.”

Would the Ta’ecelle Saelihn knew have been able to say that, she asked herself. Her eye softened and she gave him a little nod. “Of course. You have really come a long way… and not just over the ocean.”

Trusting someone first was probably smart.  Ran probably should have been doing that too, but if he’d spent his childhood paranoid he would have driven himself up a wall.  Better to just hope for the best and...oh.

“Oh no!  That’s not what this is.  I mean, Nadal also offered to tutor me if you decided you didn’t want to.”  It probably would have been similar to lessons with Vyth, but Ran had a feeling he’d have spent less time clothed...  “I don’t think you have to stop traveling at all if you don’t want to.”

Vyth thought back to his time on the ocean. “It always smells kinda salty and the ship moves up and down or side to side a lot.” The crew wasn’t too bad though, now that he thought about it. Just the captain… 

“Um, Nadal made friends with the captain… And I kinda liked the bard in the passenger quarters! She played the hurdy gurdy. And, um, there were two beaches! One at the start and one at the end. Sand’s kinda funny, too, like a soft squishy rock?”

Squishy rock...  Ran supposed Sand might be a little similar to the silt along the river bed then, but river sand and ocean sand could be very different.  He kind of wanted to go see for himself...but also that sounded like too far away to travel.

Ran,

I shall ask her the next time I see her.

The exterior box is done; it was a very simple project. We are working on the porch area and basement now.

Did you mean to write partridge?

We are lining our tents with furs as I write this letter to you. The people at camp wear thick coats now, thicker than the ones our human neighbors seem to be wearing. Humans are so accustomed to this cold.

I am having trouble wearing clerical garments without a ring of endure elements… Is it really clerical garments if I do that? Perhaps I must make the judgment call that my life is more important than my worship.

An aside, but I am hoping to see snow. I heard you can build all sorts of sculptures out of it, such as men and fortresses. 

Your Friend, Saelly

[A second note has been included in the envelope, this one in their mother tongue.]

P.S. If I was to ask humans how to flirt with someone, they would undoubtedly start to spring their sons on me again, so you are the only one I can ask…

How does flirting work, exactly?

You see, I am questioning the stability of my work desk and would very much like to test it with someone.

Dear Saelly!

Partridge!  Thank you!  That is the kind of bird!  [a happy partridge is doodled here] 

Simple is good!  When you want something fast, I do n’t don’t think it is wise to get too elaborate.  Later you can always make additions too!

Coats and blanks are your friend!  I have made a little nest area for the chickens inside now because of the cold.  Soup and Salmon sometimes sit in it with them.  If it is cold for them with all their feathers, then it is too cold for clerical garments!  I think that kind of outfit is best suited for summer!

Snow is very cool though!  I built a shelter with it!  You can also eat it! 

Stay warm!  I’ll try to too! ❀

- Ran

P.S Nadal was much better at flirting than I was.  But there is a lot of alluding to what you want.  For example, I told Nadal that rather than chocolate for dessert, I would rather have him.  I guess tone is also important, because Nadal suggested finishing our date at my place, which on its own is not very seductive?

Ran,

The most fortunate thing has happened! A visitor came to the camp today; a cleric of Eilistraee who was born on the surface. We prayed in the town square (of sorts) for a blessing together and she has offered to help those our existing clerics cannot.

Do not be surprised if you visit again and meet a surface elf. I have invited her to stay as long as she wills or to visit as many times as she wills.

Your friend,

I am happy for you!  Is she there now?  Or is she gon?e? gone?  How did she here hear about Eilistraee?  Did you show her the custom building?  Is that done or is it still just paper?  Or frame?  I am happy you are getting extra help!

Today Vyth and I caught a partr [There is a ink spot here like Ran spent too long thinking of how to spell the word] bird!  I showed him how to clean it!  I think he is very good at that part!  I showed him how to make a fishing pole too.  He tries very hard!  I am very proud of him!

Oh!  What are you going to do when the cold sets in?  Are your tents properly lined?  Winter is awful and cold! 

Fur is your friend! And so am I!

Vyth’s head perked up when a topic he understood finally surfaced. “Um, well, Nadal showed it to me,” he told Ran. “That’s how we got out.”

Saelihn’s eyes widened. “Ah, that ends a fair distance away from here, does it not?”

Vyth nodded, silver plaits bouncing. “Yep. We had to take a ship to get over here!”

Had everyone known about the portal but him?  Ran frowned.  A ship ride sounded nice too. 

Ah, now that was a trade secret! That Saelihn would immediately tell Ran anyway, because why keep a secret from her best friend? “We are going to redirect the portal next to the city to travel to the inside of this customs building.” Here, she described the process of doing such a thing, using herself and a wizard who would arrive within the month.

It was a bit long-winded, but the process was complicated!

“The portal will be under the building,” she explained further. “And we will introduce light gradually as those arriving go up the stairs, so that they are not blinded when they see the sun.”

That was a lot to take in.  Ran hadn’t even known there was a portal.  Dang that would have been so much easier and less stressful!  Ugh.  Oh well, at least it was gonna be used to help other people get out quickly.

While Saelihn also liked that there were now windows in the design, she didn’t exactly like how little effort Urlryn continued to put into every job. Even the ones he selected! It was ridiculous. “The exterior, yes, but another is designing the interior.” And a third person would have to design the roof and other exterior decor, apparently.

Even though Urlryn picked that job himself. She’d… speak with him. Again.

“A porch…” But what if it rained? They would need to add an overhang. “Good idea.”

Vyth knew just about nothing when it came to building a city, so for now, he sat quietly and listened as the two spoke. Ran was good as constructing, and he’d made at least one house with a whole bunch of furniture to go in it. So Vyth was just glad Saelihn listened to Ran about it.

Ran blinked.  The interior needed a whole separate person?  Maybe she meant for decorations and the like.  That would make sense.  Paintings and plants and maybe a suit of armor.  Or not.  That last thing was hard to clean.  He beamed as Saelihn decided his idea was a good one though. 

Saelihn exclaimed in surprise as her feet raised from the ground. That was an adventure! She gave Ran a little pat on the shoulder as she caught her breath. She would definitely write her letters in common from then on.

Ran’s dictionary, however, was a mess and Vyth knew it.

“Perhaps I will be able to see them when the customs hall is finished,” Saelihn offered. “It should shorten the workers’ travel time by a lot, and our clerics would not get so… overburdened as we were today.”

Vyth piped up. “Oh, and, and Ran taught me how to make traps and jams and stuff.”

Saelihn gave the orange-clad eighthboy a kind smile. “Good. I am very glad the two of you have met each other. You are both wonderful company.”

Yay pats!  Ran bounced excitedly.  Today was going great and no one was crying like he thought would happen! 

...Oh, right.  The customs building.  “Well, from what I saw of it, it shouldn’t be that long to build?”  Very simple.  Such a box. 

“I like how there’s windows.”  Actually Ran wasn’t sure why there apparently weren’t any windows in the original, but oh well.  He didn’t have much room to talk given his house was also a series of boxes.  His House had been a series of boxes too.  Long boxes, grand boxes, and every one of them needed endless cleaning.  Simple was good.  “You could maybe add a little porch waiting area though?”

Saelihn stood at Ran’s arrival and held out the other silver coin she’d separated from her purse. “That would be nice, but first, please take this. For a job well done.” Her hand remained open, waiting for him to pluck the coin away from it.

“Umm…” Vyth fidgeted. “So, um, Ran’s been teaching me wilderness survival stuff, and I’ve been helping him, um, practice common at home.” His hands separated and his pointer fingers pressed together in front of his chest.

Saelihn gave the two of them a smile. “Ah. Shall I send you letters in common? Would that help?”

A job well done...  Ran took the coin.  A JOB WELL DONE!  Ran swept Saelihn up in a hug, spinning her around before setting her down again. 

“Thank you!”  He should frame this.  Or...no.  Something.  Ugh.  He stowed it away to admire later.  This was exciting.  Ladies rarely told him he’d done a good job!  Normally--well, normally wasn’t normal anymore.  Maybe this was the new normal.  Exciting!

“Oh!  Yes!  That would be really helpful!”  Then he could have a chance to consult his dictionary at his leisure and copy and define new words.  His dictionary that wasn’t that bad to navigate, Vyth!  ...He’d make it more orderly later.  Ran beamed.

In Saelihn’s defense, the cleric she sent to Ran’s home was not one of the three clerics that belonged to this camp. The first clue might have been that the cleric she sent was a human, not a dark elf, and in this camp, most of the humans around were there to guard the workers on their trips to and from the underdark.

Saelihn and Ran working together could manage to clean, close, and dress wounds twice as quickly, while Vyth busied himself asking if people needed anything. Most would say no, but some complained that it was too cold or they were thirsty. Easy enough for him to fix!

When all was done, Saelihn could sit near the fire outside, taking the time to warm her hands. Vyth’s shaking steps had loosened up enough to follow her, regardless of whether Ran was necessarily at his side.

Saelihn reached into her purse and handed out two silver, one for each of them. “Thank you for your assistance. I apologize for taking advantage of–”

“Stop,” Vyth interrupted. He’d take that silver coin, though.

“I… apologize for–” 

Vyth’s hands cupped at Saelihn’s cheeks. “Ssssstttttooooppp,” he drew out, half-whining. Until he realized what he just did and immediately parked his hands at his sides. “I-I-I don’t need- What are you trying to- Wh-what do- What do you want?” Damn his nervous stutter. He must have looked like a total wimp.

Which he was, but that wasn’t the point!

“I would like it if…” Saelihn paused to take a breath. “You would be my friend?”

Vyth’s lips pursed and dragged to the side. “Then- then be my- be my friend.” He did his best to calm himself, and started up again. “I get that you’re sorry and you’re sad, and, and… Just be nice to me? If you’re nice to me now, then I’m not gonna get mad at you for stuff you did years ago. I’m not. So just be my friend.”

Saelihn sat silent and still for a time. Was it really that easy? It hadn’t been for her father. It hadn’t been for most, really. “I… Thank you, Vyth.” She’d count this as a success.

Ran had finished up before trotting after the nobles.  He caught the tail end of what probably would have been a very awkward apology to stand witness to.  He was glad he missed most of it.  Better to just patiently wait for the friendship speech and the silence and thank you to be done with.

Ran looked between the two, fidgeting and shifting his weight.  When was a good time to end the moment?  Now?  Later?  Maybe now.  “Do you still want a hug?”

Saelihn took the paper in her own hands, and rolled it up for now. She could get someone else to work on the roof and wall decals; this was fine for a starting point. “Early this morning, the camp was attacked,” she told them, moving on to another bedridden worker. “We fended off the bandits, but in the process, we used most of our curative magic.” She dabbed at a wound on the victim’s leg. 

“When some of our workers came back wounded, we could not treat them as quickly as we would usually be able to. There are only three clerics among us. This is often enough to handle what injuries people do suffer, but…” She turned to the patient. “Continue to rest today, please. We will solve this tomorrow.”

She gave the wound a once-over, but it seemed the guard who accompanied that worker did a good job closing it up. Good, good. “Ran, if you are good at this, I would very much appreciate the help. Like I said, we have only three clerics.”

Vyth cupped his hands together. “I-I can help… I’m not a healer, but I can bring stuff you need?”

Saelihn turned her attention on the boy. “Then, please ask the patients if they would like anything. Blankets, food. Anything like that.”

Vyth nodded and set off to work on that right away.

Huh.  Ran supposed he’d never considered the possibility of the encampment here being a target for theft.  Hopefully this would be an isolated incident and not the start of a trend.

“Oh!  I like to think I’m very good!”  His specialty was self triage, but he’d worked on other people before!  Stitching, binding, disinfection, Ran could do all those things!  Only three clerics though...must be hard being a forward encampment.  Oh wait. 

Vyth felt himself washed over by a pool of calm and stepped forward– once, then froze in fear again and forced each step forward, one after the other. “I-I can do this. I can…”

“Please try to stay off that foot,” Saelihn directed the resting worker. “At least for today. I promise I will be able to finish this tomorrow.” She stood and turned toward the footsteps behind her. “Ah. Ran, Vyth, hello.”

There he went.  Ran watched Vyth’s agonizing journey a few moments before catching up easily.  Now was probably a bad time for hugs.  And maybe a bad time for nicknames?

“Hi Saelihn, uh.”  He glanced around the tent.  “Did something happen?  Can I help?”  Oh wait!  “Oh!”

“Yeah, maybe,” Vyth granted. Something told him the job Urlryn wanted and the job Urlryn had right now were not really the same thing at all and he’d probably work more if he didn’t hate it.

Saelihn could be found in the back, attending to a worker whose foot had been crushed on the job and soon to attend to a number of other wounded people who had taken these hits either through work accidents or attacks from bandits and monsters. Not usually at the same time.

Vyth froze. His fingers laced together, weaved and unweaved, while he tried to slow his breathing.

Oh, oh!  There she was!  Ran waved, though the motion crawled to a stop as Vyth also stopped.  Ran dropped his hand.

Urlryn stopped and turned on his heels, toward the kid that had just stood next to one of his many kid brothers. Once he got this little task out of the way, he could hide in his tent for the next few hours, but… Did he have to be the one to do it?

He scanned Ran. “Sure. Hey, you can give her this while you’re at it.” He handed off the building sketch, a simple box of a building labeled ‘Customs V.2′, now with windows! “She’s not at her tent right now, I just checked. Might want to try the workers’ tent or the cooking pot.”

Just like that, Urlryn left. Bye, Ran, enjoy your delivery quest.

Vyth caught up to Ran and peered at the sketches on paper. “Oh. Um, yeah, I should have told you… Urlryn’s one of my nicer brothers, but usually just wants to stay at home and play with his lizard. So, um, if he has a way to go back to that instead of doing what he’s supposed to, he’ll take it.” But they had a direction! Vyth steeled himself and started walking toward the big communal tent.

Blueprints!  Ran stared after the noble.  Somehow, he was not surprised.  “I feel like if he does this a lot...maybe he shouldn’t be given jobs...”

Running home to hang out with your lizard was just kind of irresponsible.  And Ran wasn’t just saying that because similar behavior from himself would have earned him punishment!  He trotted along with Vyth, humming as he looked over the blueprints. 

Saelihn’s setup couldn’t have been that far. It took a few days at most for these letters to get back, and some of that could have been due to Saelihn’s busy schedule or moving around or mail schedules.

Vyth could pack some things while Ran ventured out to talk to a kobold about sitting on chickens. He didn’t need to bring his half-finished coat, even if the kobold would have looked at it and thought it was good stuff.

They wouldn’t steal from Ran, probably.

The collection of tents outside the forest that was the current capital city of Myazhe was indeed not too far away at all. Piles of murkhwood and stone had their own designated spots, while workers carried wheelbarrows full of materials from the south to place within these piles, guarded by armored individuals both elven and human.

Saelihn’s was not the largest tent; that belonged to the resting workers and the engineering staff. Hers was situated among of a ring of small tents, each belonging to a high ranked member of one of the noble families. A male dressed in all green wandered in and out of each tent with a building sketch in his hands. He wore a single ponytail, with many ties along its length as it snaked down to his mid-back. A slight blue tint marked his skin, though more slight than Morennil’s and only visible when the light hit him just right.

“Urlryn!” Vyth called out to the busy male. Urlryn turned, regarded his younger brother with a nod, and went on his way.

“That’s our Fifthboy,” Vyth explained. “Or, Fourth if Xarann is… B-but anyway, um. Which tent do you think is the right one…?”

The most danger Vyth’s coat was in was having little lizard hands feel it up, but Scout Riseki had watched Ran’s home before and nothing had gone missing.  Well, food, but that was to be expected and the kobold had permission for that. 

A chicken-sitter procured, supplies packed, and off they went!  Ran spent the whole time chattering about tracking animals and also stepping on every leaf and twig he saw.  Gotta get practice in for being noisy!  Once they reached the capital, Ran’s attention was pulled by the construction.  Fascinating!

“Oh, surviving up here isn’t so hard.”  If Ran could do it, surely Xarann could, with or without a child in tow.  Urlryn was definitely still Fifthboy.  Speaking of, they could probably just ask said Fifthboy which tent was Saelihn’s.