Fruitless Endeavours
Dearest Mama and Papa,
As always, I hope this letter finds you well. Rest assured I am safely arrived in Sharlayan and have been exploring the city with an eager zeal. It’s everything we’ve heard in the stories and more. While the nonchalance with which Sharlayans regard the world outside their borders concerns me I try my best not to let that color my perceptions of the Sharlayans as a whole. I take each person as I find them, instead of leaning on the notions that they’re all self-absorbed scholars that are oblivious to the true perils of the world.
As you well know by now, Valeria Camena has been ill and we’ve come to Sharlayan to find a cure for her. Thusfar, that endeavour is proving rather fruitless and frustrating. The malady she suffers from drains more and more of her aether from her with each passing day, last I heard she was up to drinking four bottles of alchemical ether to sustain herself. She’s more than likely up to more than that now, she just refrains from telling me in order to keep me from worrying. I will worry regardless, which makes such self-sacrificing caution moot, but there’s no explaining that to her. She will do as she will, as she always does, and I will be here to pick up the pieces.
Zerey has finally joined us in Sharlayan, too, which makes me glad. To think that we were once at each other’s throats, now I find when he is absent I miss his cantankerous, gruff presence. There’s a common sense stability to him that’s in contrast to the complex and intricate issues that Valeria and I concern ourselves with. For all that they say I am the anchor that keeps them all grounded, Zerey is the one that helps me keep things in perspective.
We are to meet with a member of the ruling body of Sharlayan soon, a man whose motives I must ascertain. There are other people here in the city that may have … influenced this point of contact. I would never put Valeria into the hands of our enemies, which makes me exceedingly glad we now have Besheke Ma’iingan among our number. His ability as a sniper will ensure that Valeria is kept safe, even if I myself cannot be there.
I almost feel trapped within this city. I dare not leave, not while Valeria’s life hangs by such an uncertain thread. Every moment of spare time I have has been dedicated to scouring the Noumenon and other libraries and bookshelves of the city. The only place I haven’t searched are their Restricted Sections, but it is our hope that if this Forum member is legitimate in his need that we might procure permission to search those secreted archives. Until then I must be patient. Patience is a virtue.
But there are times I long to be unvirtuous.
All My Love,
