[Mkguild] MK: "Letters Home" (1/2)

[Hallan Mirayas]

Letters Home

by Hallan Mirayas



 =

    "Papa!  Papa!"



 =



    Philipp Bauer
straightened from his work and wiped his brow, shading his eyes to watch his
youngest daughter as she dashed across the fields toward him, clutching
something white in her hand and waving it wildly in the air.  He smiled. =

She looks so much like her mother,
he thought.  So lovely.  So full of joy.  "What is it, Ada?"

 =


    "It's
a letter from Wolfram!" she replied, leaping over a cluster of pumpkins in
her path, her sun-blond hair streaming in a long braid behind her.  "A cara=
van from Metamor dropped it off
as they passed by!"  She held it out
to him, bouncing excitedly.  "You
should have seen the people riding with it, Papa!  They were-"

 =


    The old
farmer leaned his pitchfork against the half-finished hay mound and took the
wrapped bundle from his daughter while she chattered away, turning it over =
in
his hands a few times before handing it back to her.  "Take it to your mama=
," he said.  "You can read it tonight, after
dinner."

 =


    "But
Papa!"

 =


    Philipp
laughed.  "Now, none of that.  No pouting, and no calf eyes, Ada.  You can =
wait. =

There's still work to be done, and daylight for it to be done in.  Take it =
to your mother."  Without waiting for her reply, he turned back
to his work.

 =


    "You
heard Papa," said Frederick.  The
oldest of Phillip's sons and never fond of his next-oldest brother even in =
the
best of times, Frederick had not stopped tossing hay through the whole of A=
da's
breathless speech.  His darkly tanned
brow was, as usual, furrowed with irritation at the mention of Wolfram's
name.  "We're busy.  After dinner."

 =


    Ada stuck
her tongue out at her brother, but she went.

 =


-----

 =


    "Madam?  A message for you."

 =


    "Just
leave it on my desk, Jacob."

 =


    "I
believe it is from your son, madam." =

A snap and a clatter from the next room drew the speaker's
attention.  He did not move, but merely
waited patiently.  "Is everything
all right, milady?"  His face
somehow managed to hold its placid expression through the fusillade of curs=
es that
followed, and yet when he asked, "Did milady break another
buttonhook?" his voice held the understated amusement that only a servant of
exceptionally long tenure could get away with.

 =


    Daria
Marcus sighed.  "Eight years,"
she grumbled, "and I still can't get this buttoned up right.  To think that=
 I once insisted Maria wear all
this frillery."  A metallic ping
followed, trailed by more curses. =

"-That- was the buttonhook breaking," she said, tossing the
broken tool aside, and turning in front of her tri-paneled mirror to see if
she'd done any damage to her ruffled dress. =

"Before that was a button coming off.  A little help, please, before I'm la=
te for my
meeting with Steward Macaban."

 =


    "Certainly,
madam," Jacob said, producing a second buttonhook from a pocket as he
approached.  "Would madam like to
read her letter while I fix her buttons?"

 =


    Daria made
an exasperated face at her most trusted servant.  "Jacob, you've been with =
my family since
I was a snotty-nosed three-year-old boy. =

Stop calling me 'madam'."

 =


    Handing the
letter over her shoulder, the old tabby cat replied in a perfect deadpan.  =
"Of course, madam."

 =


-----

 =


    "Mmm.  Good cookin', Ma," Philipp said, leaning
back in his chair and settling his favorite pipe between his teeth.  He too=
k his time filling and lighting it, waiting
for everyone to quiet down. =

"Conrad, Barrett, quit pestering your brother.  He'll finish when he's read=
y."  Waiting a few more moments until his pipe was
properly lit, he added with a hidden smile, "Emily, Ada, help your mother
clear the dishes, please." =

Frederick took the hint and hastened to finish his meal before his plate
was taken away.

 =


    Turning to
his two younger sons once the table was cleared, the old farmer asked, as
nonchalantly as he could manage with the two of them looking fit to burst f=
rom
waiting, "You have any trouble at the farrier's today?"

 =


    "Philipp!"  After taking an admonishing swat at her
husband with a dishrag, Amelia Bauer turned to Ada and nodded.  "Never mind=
 your father.  He's just teasing you."  Reaching up into an overhead cupboa=
rd, she
took down the letter and the wrapped parcel that had come with it, setting =
both
on the table and swatting Barrett's hand when he tried to make a grab for t=
he
package.  "Let your sister read us
the letter first," she said as she sat down, making a mental note that her
youngest boy needed a haircut.  His dark
hair was getting downright shaggy. =

"Go ahead, dear."

 =


    Ada stood
up straight and tall as she'd been taught, the only one of the Bauer childr=
en
the family had been able to afford to send to school, and she beamed with p=
ride
as she read aloud:

 =


"Dear Mama and Papa and family,

 =


    Things have
been busy here at Metamor this past month, and I have a lot of good news to
share.  First off, I actually wrote this
letter.  Yes, you read that right!  I can read and write now, and it's wond=
erful!  It has taken about a month of classes, but it
is worth every moment.  Drift and Xavier
have both been good sports about it, but I think they're getting tired of me
reading out loud every sign we pass on the street.  I just can't help it!"

 =


    Laughter
resounded around the table.

 =


    "Speaking
of Drift, the poor sap is engaged!  He
proposed to Alexis during the Harvest Festival. =

I'm a little worried about him. =

Alexis is a wild child and she's really rubbing off on him."

 =


    Frederick
snorted.  "Now there's the pot
calling the kettle black."  His
father smirked around his pipe.

 =


    "Yes,
Fritzie, I know that's the pot calling the kettle black.  Who would know be=
tter than me what a wild
child acts like?"

 =


    "He's
got you there, Frederick," Emily said, earning a dark glower from her
eldest brother.  He hated that nickname,
and Wolfram knew it.

 =


    "Don't
grind your teeth, son," Phillip drawled without even looking.  "Keep readin=
g, Ada."

 =


            "You
should have seen the outfit she talked him into wearing for his dance in the
talent show at the Harvest Festival, a long loincloth in front and behind, =
and
nothing else!  Mama would Not Have
Approved.  Still, the dance itself was
fun, and finding out that the outfit was a joke that Alexis had pulled on D=
rift
was priceless.  Poor Drift.  He's so trusting, it almost takes the fun out
of pranking him.  Almost.

 =


            "Engagements
seem to be breaking out all over the place. =

At a party later in the evening, another Keeper proposed to his sweetheart,
and Xavier said that the Duke himself proposed to his lady the next
evening.  Still no prospects for me,
Mama.  I'm having too much fun!  I haven't gotten into the Long Scouts yet,
but I haven't given up hope.  In the
meantime, I've joined the Keep's regular army. =

That's right, Papa, your boy's in the army now!

 =


-----

 =


    Daria
Marcus finished reading the letter, chuckled softly, and reached out to a s=
helf
nearby.  She trailed her fingers across
the portraits of her son and her daughter there while Jacob finished sewing=
 on
a replacement for the button she had broken. =

"My little girl and my little boy. =

How grown up they've become, and yet they still feud like when they were
children."  She chuckled, holding up
the letter.  "Even when they don't
know it.  Not even a week ago, Melissa wrote
to say how much she was enjoying herself in Marigund, and now Xavier writes=
 to
say both what a profit he made during the Harvest Festival -and- how much h=
e's
learning at Metamor."

 =


    Jacob
chuckled.  "Do you remember how delighted
Melissa was when the Curse made her a black cat?  And how furious she was w=
hen it made Xavier a
black leopard?"

 =


    Throwing up
her hands in simulated teenage outrage, Daria wailed, "'He's copying me
-again-!!'" before breaking out in laughter.  "Eighteen months apart, and t=
hey behave
like twins."  She sighed, her
amusement fading.  "I just wish I'd
been able to send both of them to the Mage Guild, or at least send Xavier to
Metamor back when he first started showing his talent."  Her hand drifted t=
o the necklace she always
wore, fingering the keepsakes of her two children that she kept there, a bl=
ue
crystal and a small shard of lightning-shattered wood.  "Damn Loriod," she =
swore, as much at
her own foolishness at letting him blackmail her as the actual act itself.

 =


    "You're
a bit late, if you want him damned," Jacob replied with a wry snort, setting
down the needle and thread and straightening the lacy frills on Daria's dre=
ss.  "Still, if milady insists, I'll try to
put in a foul word for him next time I'm at temple."

 =


    Daria
chuckled.  Jacob was of the Yehudim faith,
not her Lothanasi, but she couldn't fault his faithfulness to his chosen go=
d.  "No, that's all right.  I'm fairly certain that wouldn't be
proper."  She fussed with her hair
in the mirror for a bit and then added, "Lovely sentiment, though.  Pass me=
 my pearls, please."

 =


    She held up
Xavier's letter to the light to read. =

"Dear Father, thank you for the excellent price on the corn
shipment.  Between that, Drift's tinwork,
and Wolfram's brewing acumen, we were able to turn quite a profit.  That pr=
ofit was enlarged slightly by an idea
from Alexis, which I pass on to you.  She
suggested that we emboss Drift's tinwork cups with a Harvest Festival emblem
and a date, to make it a 'collectable'.  It
seemed to work:  I was able to cajole a
few more coppers out of several customers over it.  Perhaps the strategy ma=
y be useful to you?

 =


            "My
training proceeds apace.  Saroth is an
excellent teacher, and Metamor's archives on the subject have been most use=
ful.  Melissa sent me (and I'm sure you as well) a
letter saying how happy she was at the Guild, but it sounds much too busy f=
or
me.  If you should visit, I hope to take
you for a walk through the hedge maze. =

When Wolfram and Drift aren't trying to prank me, I find it a wonderful
place to relax."  Maria chuckled,
remembering the letter telling her about the prank her son's friends had pu=
lled
on him.  "Speaking of which,"
she continued reading, "Tessa sends her regards and hopes to meet you at
the Duke's wedding this winter."

 =


            "I
looked into her background, as milady requested," Jacob said as he settled
Daria's pearls around her neck. =

"She comes from good Sathmoran stock, and is of appropriate social
rank.  People who have seen the two
together say that they balance each other well, and that it seems to be a g=
ood
match."

 =


            Daria
nodded.  "Is that the carriage I
hear out front?"

 =


            The tabby
didn't even turn his head to look, his feline ears and years of experience
enough to confirm it.  "Yes,
ma'am.  Exactly on time."

 =


            "Thank
you, Jacob," Daria said as she folded the letter and tucked it away.  "That=
'll be all."


_________________________________________________________________
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