Letters to Aurin

[Aurin]

Aurin Kavafis' Mailbox

All mail can be posted here. Please indicate whether this mail reaches him by way of the Golden Peacock Theater, the post box of Portions for Foxes, or other.

[Arvælyn]

[The following letter, dated 25 Searing 122, was written using a cipher Arry learned in service to Portions for Foxes]

To: Aurin Kavafis
C/O: Portions for Foxes
Kalzasi, Karnor
From: Kyros Sorokys Arvælyn
Munus Litterarum Luxium, Solunarium

Dearest Aurin,

Once again I owe you a great debt. my saviour. First you saved me from abjection and now you've saved me from mediocrity.

To wit: The seeds you sowed in Antiris have borne fruit and I am over the moon! My wildest fantasies, it seems, were not wild enough to match my reality. On our very first day in Solunarium, I saw the two things I was most eager to clap eyes upon: A dragon, and my mum. After the glorious, golden Crownwyrm greeted us at port after whale hunting, we were conducted to a fancy villa where we dined with my mother and half-brother. Apparently, I have a couple more siblings as well. You won't be surprised to know that my mum remains a cagey bird, but she has revealed enough tidbits for me to have learnt that I was underselling myself with my former sobriquet and backstory. There is strangeness afoot. I am not fully trusting. You know that never comes easy to me and yet, having plied my 'trick' upon her, I know that there is truth to her claims and concerns... I even sensed actual love for me in her heart. Solunarium is queer and severe in many ways. I sense that, after a fashion, she felt I needed to brook hardship to to be worthy. Worthy of what? I know not yet, but rest assured I did let her taste of the pain I endured to satisfy her schemes.

I wish I could go into greater detail, but I hesitate to do so in writing- Even using our cipher. There is some nebulous peril at hand that demands my discretion. In the meanwhile, I've adopted a Solunarian name. Kyros Len'Sorokys Arvælyn. Given names go last in Vastian, and they certainly seem to love the character æ. The locals constantly mispronounced Arvalyn until I changed it to Arvælyn. I rather like it. What do you think?

I miss you fiercely, Fox, and hope you might visit that I can treat you to meal or something. Perhaps, if we set a date and time, Finn might be able to use his new trick to bring us closer or I don't know. There's all manner of strange magic about this place. Perhaps I'll stumble across a more efficient means of communication before this letter reaches you by post. I am desperate to hear how you're doing, as well.

I hope all is well with your businesses. Please give my best to the ensemble at the Golden Peacock and, as always, my worst to Torin!

I kid.

Cura, ut valeas!

Arry

[Carina]

.

To: Aurin Kavafis
The Golden Peacock Theater
Kalzasi, Karnor

From: Anna Caron
Transcriptionist Services
113 Allen St, Wintergarten Circle
Gel'Grandal, Gelerian Imperium

Dated Searing 15th, 123.

Ever since the disaster in Zaichaer, I've been mostly milling around in Gel'Grandal, taking on odd jobs. I started my own business that you might find useful, if it's not too far. It's difficult to make friends in a new city. If you'd like to pay a visit to a friend, I wouldn't mind.

Anna

.

[Chronicle]

Ash 58th, 124th A.o.S.

During the late evening at the Golden Peacock, a rather unusual courier had come to arrive with a note in hand. A Rathari male clearly in his Lycan form albeit he still stood shorter than the average human, reaching only an approximate three feet tall with eyes black as night and pinkish ears round as the moon. Tears at the edges along with a couple of scars underneath his fur might've suggested what part of Kalzasi he came from, but it was the tattered clothes and distinct musk of sewage that further fed into such speculation.

With the certainty that the note he had to pass on would be provided to Aurin, and Aurin alone, the Rathari Rat who delivered it said little else without so much of an inclination for payment from whoever accepted it from him. He made it clear that payment for the delivery had already been provided upfront, and simply kept to himself upon leaving the premises. Once Aurin himself would receive the note, it would contain the following message:

To Whom it may concern,

You seem to have something rather important—something that you've had a friend within the Midden asking about for a while now. Don't worry. We'll keep her safe under our watchful eyes, considering she seems to be a pretty resourceful contact. Valuable even.

But compared to an info broker such as her, she pales you far more in comparison as far as someone interesting goes.

My colleagues and I are very curious as to how you managed to come across that invaluable object, and if you're willing, we'd like to discuss a means of borrowing it for a while. You'd even be welcome to join a little private expedition they're putting together, but I suppose we'll have to see what comes from our initial meeting. Feel free to reach back out to us through your friend, she's going to work as an informant for the Myriad for a little while.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Foiled up in the parchment is what appears to be a sliver of dried-out keratin, almost as if it came off a snake that had gone through its shedding period.