* As composed by scribe Allora Qinton of Illador

𝑫𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝑫𝒂𝒅,

𝑰'𝒗𝒆 𝒎𝒊𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖.

𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒊𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒍𝒘𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒂𝒚? 𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒚𝒆𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒂 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒔𝒐𝒖𝒍 𝒄𝒓𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒔? 𝑾𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒄𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒍𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒎𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒐𝒘𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒇𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒇𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒅𝒐𝒎𝒔, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝑰'𝒅 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒇𝒆𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒔𝒐𝒖𝒍-𝒇𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝒄𝒐𝒓𝒏𝒚-𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆-𝒍𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒐𝒏 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒕𝒐 𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒏𝒖𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒎𝒂𝒄𝒉-𝒇𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝒂𝒃𝒔𝒐𝒍𝒖𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒚 𝒅𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒐𝒖𝒔 𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒎 𝒑𝒖𝒇𝒇𝒔 (𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒎𝒚 𝒏𝒆𝒘 𝒇𝒂𝒗𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝒅𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒄𝒊𝒆𝒔, 𝒃𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒚, 𝒔𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒊𝒎𝒂𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒉𝒊𝒈𝒉 𝒑𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒔𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒔).

𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒃𝒊𝒓𝒅𝒔 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆. 𝑬𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒆𝒍𝒔𝒆 𝒎𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒃𝒆 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝑰'𝒎 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒖𝒍𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒚 𝒉𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒔𝒊𝒄𝒌, 𝑰 𝒍𝒂𝒚 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒂𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒎𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒂𝒕𝒄𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒊𝒓𝒅𝒔 𝒇𝒍𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒄𝒓𝒐𝒔𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒌𝒚. 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒎𝒂𝒈𝒑𝒊𝒆𝒔, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒓𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒋𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒔𝒆𝒆 𝒊𝒇 𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒍𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒏𝒆𝒙𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑰 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒍𝒎𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝑰'𝒎 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒊𝒏 𝑰𝒍𝒍𝒂𝒅𝒐𝒓. 𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚'𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒔 𝒚𝒐𝒖'𝒓𝒆 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒕.

𝑰'𝒎 𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖'𝒅 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒕 𝒎𝒚 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒂𝒕 𝒂 𝒄𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒍𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒇𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒆𝒙𝒄𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒐𝒓 𝒂𝒅𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆, 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒘𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒕𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒆𝒏𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒉𝒖𝒔𝒊𝒂𝒔𝒎 𝒕𝒐 𝒇𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒑𝒂𝒈𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒑𝒂𝒈𝒆𝒔. 𝑰𝒏 𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒕𝒉, 𝑰 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒎𝒚𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇 𝒃𝒐𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒒𝒖𝒊𝒆𝒕 𝒎𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒕𝒘𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒆𝒂 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒊𝒆𝒔. 𝑾𝒆'𝒗𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒃𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆, 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒂 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒚𝒍𝒆 𝒘𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒂𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒗𝒊𝒆𝒘 𝒂𝒔 𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒃𝒍𝒆, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒍𝒆𝒇𝒕 𝒂𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒆. 𝑰 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝒎𝒚 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒊𝒇 𝑰'𝒎 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒐𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒑𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆, 𝒊𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆'𝒔 𝒏𝒐 𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒓𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒐. 𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒅, 𝑰 𝒔𝒖𝒑𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒆, 𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒍𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒓𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒕𝒐𝒐 𝒖𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒕𝒖𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒎 𝒑𝒖𝒇𝒇𝒔. 𝑫𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒚 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒎𝒆- 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒂 𝒑𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒍 𝒈𝒊𝒓𝒍, 𝑫𝒂𝒅, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑰 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒊𝒕 𝒘𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒕.

𝑰 𝒉𝒐𝒑𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒓 𝒊𝒔 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒊𝒆𝒓. 𝑯𝒐𝒘 𝒊𝒔 𝑰𝒍𝒍𝒂𝒅𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒔𝒐𝒍𝒅𝒊𝒆𝒓𝒔? 𝑰 𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎 𝒔𝒊𝒈𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒖𝒑 𝒊𝒏 𝒅𝒓𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒓𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒎𝒊𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒆𝒂𝒄𝒉 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒆𝒏𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒐𝒚𝒂𝒍 𝒕𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒚 𝒊𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒗𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒅. 𝑾𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒕𝒐 𝒍𝒆𝒕 𝒎𝒆 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒊𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚'𝒗𝒆 𝒖𝒑𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒍. 𝑴𝒂𝒚𝒃𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖'𝒍𝒍 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒃𝒆 𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒏𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝒃𝒓𝒂𝒔𝒔 𝒉𝒐𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒅 𝒃𝒆𝒍𝒕 𝒃𝒖𝒄𝒌𝒍𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒆𝒚𝒆 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒘𝒆 𝒈𝒐 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒌𝒆𝒕 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆.

𝑮𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝑱𝒖𝒏𝒊𝒑𝒆𝒓 𝒎𝒚 𝒓𝒆𝒈𝒂𝒓𝒅𝒔- 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂 𝒏𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝒋𝒖𝒊𝒄𝒚 𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒍𝒆.

𝑳𝒐𝒗𝒆,

𝓚𝓮𝓵

She watched the scribe finish the letter with a looping flourish, signing the name of a stranger with far more pomp and embellishment than the owner of said name cared for. With Allora's focus dedicated to combing through her arrangement of elegant letters, looking for those little imperfections like an undotted 'i' or misspelled article, Kel allowed herself a bitter smile. The royals really shouldn't have warned them that they'd be going through their letters- not that she hadn't already expected it- but getting to know Kel couldn't be demanded through a royal decree, no matter how nicely worded. She hoped that whoever had the job of reading these would be nice and disappointed that the girl who witnessed the might of Kalum's punishments twice didn't find them worth mentioning, that she preferred talking about cream puffs, birds, and penning in barely veiled criticisms to both the Illadorian crown and Selection process. They could enjoy the vacant pleasantries addressed to an illiterate dead man.

MAURAGREENAUTHOR

Sarlenonetoo

-chxmomile