Letters (4)

To, Lord Baloryn Dunn, Ebonhawke

From Lady Gracelin Howard. Divinity's Reach

Season of the Phoenix, 1325 AE.

Dear Baloryn, future husband.

I hope this letter finds you well, knowing that it leaves me feeling very much the same.

As you can see, looking at the letter, I have returned to Kryta and to Divinity's Reach after the many months of our journey and in the same breath, I pray you'll forgive me as I know my letters have been short and far between, but so much has kept me busy in the past months.

Father informed me today that we may expect your arrival in the city in the beginning of the new season and thus, preparations have begun everywhere to receive you, of course. The house servants are all alive with the talk of the returning Lord and I can barely remain still for long enough to be lectured and educated by Lady Tate on my expected behavior.

Just the other evening, as I made my way through Rurikton, I was approached by a Lord Madusan, he has only just become the head of House Madusan and is one of the Five Houses who founded the Shield so many years ago. I believe he has also been in Ebonhawke, serving the Vanguard. He seems very direct and has a pleasant way about him, playing less of the games so many of the young men pass their time with. Of course, I suspect the ways of the Shield might have some influence upon him as well. Would you believe, he treats his man-servant, an aging Guardsman I believe, very well. I hope you do not find me gossip when I tell you, his father had quite another rumor as to his behavior towards his servants. Of course, this Wex also seems far more loyal because of it.

You might be pleased to know that a number of gatherings, dinner invitations and tea parties have been set up in your honor as you return from Ebonhawke, many of our friends are very excited to meet you at last and to of course hear your tales from the battles against the Charr. Many have no understanding towards the truce made by the Queen, but I shall not bore you with the details, you will see for yourself when you arrive.

I will have to end here, Lady Tate is most eager to lecture me again and Arms Man Vall requires me for another lesson shortly.

So with this, my last letter through seven years, I pray;

May the Six watch over you.

Your betrothed,

Lady Gracelin Howard.


Dear Diary.

My time to write seems to ever be less and less as the days pass.

The wedding approaches rapidly and all preparations are underway, here in my room, carefully wrapped in paper hangs the clothes I will be wearing on that day. I feel my nerves slowly building as the days pass, and so I am thankful that my work with the Shield takes up so much of my time.

Yesterday, we went to a meeting with other noble houses in Ebonhawke. It seems there's a lot of needs between them, but some seem more urgent and, dare I say, sane than others.

Lord M plans an attack on the centaur and of course the Shield will assist him with any and all it can, further I have to see to the supply lines and make sure he and his men get what they need.

I spoke briefly to his man Wex, an odd man I have to say, but always kind and very dutiful from what I've seen. Yesterday, I realized he is perhaps not as old as I first thought. For some reason I had the idea that they were old friends, but upon closer inspection he seems to be closer to my age.

I told him to come to me directly if they need anything urgently.

One of the ladies, a Lady Thoron, wants to plan a strike on the Orrians to the far south. Insisting that she, even though she is very young and knows nothing of the military, could lead the troops.

I don't like the idea at all, but if they do go the Shield will have to support them of course and it shall, so I said to her. But it seems like a very bad idea to go gallivanting off south when you know nothing of the world (So she kept saying) to fight Dragon Spawn.

Lady Halentine wishes to support a Dredge rebellion taking place somewhere far north. Here both Lord M and Lord Baloryn broke in saying that they would like to know a lot more before they support such a matter. I was uncertain of what the opinion of the Shield would be, but I choose to agree with the men, after all it's always better to know more and perhaps there's something other than weapons we can provide?

By then, we were most rudely interrupted by a man, a Fallen Angel, apparently. Clad in black and with a mask and rather tall, he seemed very intimidating to me and caught me off guard. In the end, Lord M took over and settled the matter and I have to say it left me rather ashamed of my own inability to manage the issue. But I must say, he would not even remove his mask to talk to me and truth be told I almost fled the city in the end.

I have a mind to write a letter to the commander of the Angels however and telling him of this, it was a misunderstanding and I would really encourage him to teach his men some proper behavior. After all, the Shield should be working closely with these people again, even if it has been a long while since it was last active.


I must stop writing for now, Lady Tate is calling for me...


Later this same day, I wrote a letter to the squad commander we met in Ebonhawke.


To, Commander Yasir, Ebonhawke

From, Lady Gracelin Howard, Steward of the Shield.

Dear sir.

I write to you to clear up a misunderstanding which seems to have taken place between one of your men and several of my guests yesterday in Ebonhawke. You may have already heard of this, but I would rather be the one to step forward and speak up than have my pears thought ill of.

We were a number of people gathered yesterday in a secure building of Ebonhawke and in the middle of our meeting, one I cannot speak more of at this time, one of your men burst in. In the confusion and I regret to admit, the rude behavior of some of my guests there, we did not manage to show our credentials properly and some were disregarded as civilians and thrown out.

One Lord Adir Madusan stepped in and later solved the issue with your man, but as the formal representative of the Shield, an organization which has worked eagerly with Ebonhawke in the past, I feel I too should offer my most sincere regrets that the matter took so long to be resolved. We would, of course, not have been in the building had it not been for our need of a secure location between representatives of the Orders, the nobles of Divinity's Reach and the Shield.

I trust no harm has come of this and that perhaps in the future you might imbue a little patience in your men so that they might not impose quite as unpleasantly and of course we, though mainly the Shield, shall in the future announce ourselves better before we arrive.

I hope this can be to all our advantages and look forward to further cooperation with Ebonhawke.

Sincerely

Lady Gracelin Howard

Steward of The Crystal Shield.