A Letter to Amir
Oct 4, 2018 13:23:39 GMT -8
Post by aabria on Oct 4, 2018 13:23:39 GMT -8
Amir, my beloved Lantern, salve!
Blessings to the Many Lights that read this as well.
I write to you now from the borderlands. It is as wet and miserable as ever, but I will soon head south for Paris, and then perhaps back to home once and for all. Enclosed you will find my book of notes on Orc-kind. I trust this knowledge will suffice to promote me from student to a full member of the college.
I know you must be thinking that some poorly organized sketches and details on culture and anatomy cannot gain me much, but if you turn to the back third of the tome you will see my true work! I have found, with the assistance of the Norsemen, the French Catholic, and an Orc warrior, the histories of a lost Orc tribe called “Catal” written in their own hand and stored in bone scrolls. I’ve provided limited translations, but as I do not yet know their language, I must rely on the Frenchwoman’s efforts.
This knowledge is strange not only to humankind, but to the 5 tribes of Orc scattered across Europe. While only time will reveal either the whereabouts or the fate of the Catal, I send these ahead of my arrival with thoughts to future relations with the Orc. If the other tribes still exist somewhere in the world, we must prepare for the myriad outcomes of their discovery. We live in exciting times, my love!
The other reason I’ve sent my work ahead to you, Amir, is that I ask you now as a (hopeful) full member of the college to undertake the sacred duty of completing this task in the event of my death. You have my notes from the last 3 months, and I trust you to use them to complete the narrative of the lost tribes, so that I might live on in the Halls of Truth forever.
I know what we talked about before I departed for Londinium, and I remember well your warning on the dangers of dealing with Entities. However, I realize now that I have so few paths towards becoming one of the Many Lights like you. You call me impulsive and rash for thinking so early about these matters, and you’re right. Regardless, I am decided. I have now the True Names of 3 Entities of great power. I can call on either the Fallen One or the Fae Queen to teach me deep magics, though there is another way.
The Orc Warrior I have travelled with as of late carries with her the bone scrolls of not only the histories of the Catal, but the magic wielded by their Shaman. She is suspicious of me, and has kept them from my grasp thus far. If there is something heretofore unknown in those scrolls, I must do whatever I can to learn it - even if it means I must harm the orc to obtain them.
As you know, I take no glory in violence, though my magic is violent by nature. Still, we exist to discover and keep knowledge so that the Age of Darkness never comes. It is my duty to see and know these scrolls. I will do my duty.
Amir, I admit that I am afraid. She is much stronger than I, and my magic has been a bit wild lately. I do not think I can hope to defeat her without pushing my abilities to their limit, though that puts my life and the lives of anyone nearby at great risk. I wish that she would just give me the scrolls. Right now, I am imagining your voice telling me the futility of wishing. It makes me laugh and cry to think of you. I hope soon to return to you, wiser and more powerful than when I left. All I do now works towards this goal.
Allah willing, I should be in Paris within a fortnight. Please alert any members of our college of my presence so that I might obtain some critical resources. I’ve been out of coffee for weeks, and I refuse to live this way any longer than I have to! If your contacts report back to you that we did not meet, then you’ll know I was unsuccessful in my task. In that event, please finish my book and light a candle in my memory.
As always, you remain warmest in my heart. May the light of your love guide me ever back to you.
Your Ifrit,
Katibah
Blessings to the Many Lights that read this as well.
I write to you now from the borderlands. It is as wet and miserable as ever, but I will soon head south for Paris, and then perhaps back to home once and for all. Enclosed you will find my book of notes on Orc-kind. I trust this knowledge will suffice to promote me from student to a full member of the college.
I know you must be thinking that some poorly organized sketches and details on culture and anatomy cannot gain me much, but if you turn to the back third of the tome you will see my true work! I have found, with the assistance of the Norsemen, the French Catholic, and an Orc warrior, the histories of a lost Orc tribe called “Catal” written in their own hand and stored in bone scrolls. I’ve provided limited translations, but as I do not yet know their language, I must rely on the Frenchwoman’s efforts.
This knowledge is strange not only to humankind, but to the 5 tribes of Orc scattered across Europe. While only time will reveal either the whereabouts or the fate of the Catal, I send these ahead of my arrival with thoughts to future relations with the Orc. If the other tribes still exist somewhere in the world, we must prepare for the myriad outcomes of their discovery. We live in exciting times, my love!
The other reason I’ve sent my work ahead to you, Amir, is that I ask you now as a (hopeful) full member of the college to undertake the sacred duty of completing this task in the event of my death. You have my notes from the last 3 months, and I trust you to use them to complete the narrative of the lost tribes, so that I might live on in the Halls of Truth forever.
I know what we talked about before I departed for Londinium, and I remember well your warning on the dangers of dealing with Entities. However, I realize now that I have so few paths towards becoming one of the Many Lights like you. You call me impulsive and rash for thinking so early about these matters, and you’re right. Regardless, I am decided. I have now the True Names of 3 Entities of great power. I can call on either the Fallen One or the Fae Queen to teach me deep magics, though there is another way.
The Orc Warrior I have travelled with as of late carries with her the bone scrolls of not only the histories of the Catal, but the magic wielded by their Shaman. She is suspicious of me, and has kept them from my grasp thus far. If there is something heretofore unknown in those scrolls, I must do whatever I can to learn it - even if it means I must harm the orc to obtain them.
As you know, I take no glory in violence, though my magic is violent by nature. Still, we exist to discover and keep knowledge so that the Age of Darkness never comes. It is my duty to see and know these scrolls. I will do my duty.
Amir, I admit that I am afraid. She is much stronger than I, and my magic has been a bit wild lately. I do not think I can hope to defeat her without pushing my abilities to their limit, though that puts my life and the lives of anyone nearby at great risk. I wish that she would just give me the scrolls. Right now, I am imagining your voice telling me the futility of wishing. It makes me laugh and cry to think of you. I hope soon to return to you, wiser and more powerful than when I left. All I do now works towards this goal.
Allah willing, I should be in Paris within a fortnight. Please alert any members of our college of my presence so that I might obtain some critical resources. I’ve been out of coffee for weeks, and I refuse to live this way any longer than I have to! If your contacts report back to you that we did not meet, then you’ll know I was unsuccessful in my task. In that event, please finish my book and light a candle in my memory.
As always, you remain warmest in my heart. May the light of your love guide me ever back to you.
Your Ifrit,
Katibah