Letters to Riven

[Riven]

Riven's Mailbox

Hey! You can send your letters for Riven here, he'll get them at some point. Thanks for reaching out!

[Taelian]

28th of Glade, Year 120

My Arlaed, and most admired,

I write to you from the halls of Melitene, a fortress of magic and mystery. I've been residing here on and off for some time; originally only on occasion to practice magic with my friend and mentor, Eloise, but now far more often. In the last seven days, I and my Elainian brothers met with the threat of several Dranoch and nearly died. The Black Remedy cell here has all but been wiped out, and as I am now, I sometimes worry that I won't see you again. The consequences of that battle have been grim on me, but I am recovering. So these worries... I know they are an illusion of my fearful mind.

The truth is, Arlaed, I have been afraid since leaving your side. Afraid of where the world might take us, of the ways in which it may divide us through distance, necessity and time. I followed willingly the order of my people, serving their needs as I always have. I came with them here, to the city of Grimholdt, knowing that it would distance me from you. And I did so because I knew that I would love you even from afar, and that you would feel the same way towards me. That no matter what boundaries formed between us, we would eventually reunite.

But I began to feel a great deal of pain. The emptiness of awaking without you at my side -- the sorrow that I feel when I think of how you are not there, how I am deprived of you, how you are deprived of me. And then I think about my personage; how quickly you made me discover the man that Taelian could be. I never realized that I was capable of such complex emotions until you. And now, I can't seem to be rid of them. It's a beautiful thing, the change you've inflicted upon me. But sometimes, it makes me weep. Because I worry that the person who did this to me -- the man I love, who I will always love, who I will always long to be near -- may never be witnessed by my eyes again.

I've often come close to death in fighting the Dranoch scourge. They are a quick, lethal foe, and mortal life is frail. What I experienced now was perhaps the seventh time my life was a mere cut thread away from fading entirely. But what separates this time and others is the fact that now, I actually have something that I want to live for. With all of this being said... Riven, I have decided to disappear from the Black Remedy. The two members of my cell remaining are seriously ill, and may not make it as they are now. Wherever I go, they will not be able to find me. And should I reach them again, it will be on my own terms.

I have been living for this revolution for a long time. But the truth is, my Arlaed... I want to live for myself. And with you. The Remedy has taken everything from me -- my purpose, my sense of being, even the congruity of my soul. But you... you bring these things back to me, more and more, every moment I spend with you. I find myself finding not only one reason why I should be alive, but tens, and hundreds, and more.

I want to be with you again.

If you wish for me to return to you in Kalzasi, then I will. Send a letter in return to me, and I will come to you as quickly as I can. I've attached the location of Melitene below, so that you might find me. Otherwise, I've also attached another address: one in Loregard, where the Covenant has seen fit to place me into the court of a Finla. Whether I remain committed to this or decide to move on is my choice, and if there is some other place you want for us to be, that is happily where I will go. I love you, Riven, and I miss you. If you don't mind residing with me in Loregard, then come the moment you can. I will greet you with all the love I have dreamed of giving you for all of this time. My Arlaed.

Thank you for reading my words. By the time you receive this, I should be in Loregard, so send your reply there. Now,

From your companion in this life,
Taelian Ela'Rannoch
With all of his love.