Order of the Seven

Dear Eckardt,

I have received the letter of Duramarth IV not long ago. I am honoured to be considered as someone to be trusted and before the letter I didn't have any knowledge of Duramarth's actions. Now I am sending this letter in reply to the one that I got, happy to have found a possible ally and proud to able to participate in something for the greater cause.

Sarnai sat down and put her feet up on a root after a long day's work, leaning against the barrel of her equine companion. It was spring again, and her injuries from the summer before had long since healed. She reached out to touch a flower sprouting from the tall grass. Its pale petals were tinged in faint, fiery hues from the sunset that bathed the landscape in warm light. 

So much had changed. 

Balisan sat at the table in the scriptorium of the Order. He read through the parchment as he had done so many times, looking for nothing in particular but anything that would be helpful. He smiled to himself, thinking of how much he enjoyed this time alone, in which he could study and be completely at peace with himself and the world. Though of course the world was not at peace. Nevertheless, it was these moment he cherished most. He sipped from the herbal tea he had made earlier and placed the parchment he just studied on a large pile next to the table before he took out a new one.

Sitting atop her bed in the Warhorse Inn, Sarnai turned a wooden object in her hands. It was a crude, if artistically made wooden sculpture of a wagon. She held it up to her window, allowing the late-afternoon light streaming through the glass to illuminate its surface so that she could see it more clearly. After a few moments of adjusting the angle at which she held the object and squinting to see more clearly, Sarnai gently laid it down on the bedspread.

He gasped for breath, his hands clawing at his chest as if a desperate attempt to claw oxygen back into his lungs as they felt like they filled with fire.  Only to find that a burning pain began to surge through his arms, looking up to see the flesh on his and arms barely clinging to his body. The smell of charred flesh filled the air, tinged with the faint aroma of herbs upon his skin began to grow more fragrent as he tried to move around.

"Valour. Possessing the courage to face all challenges with a resolute and morale heart. It is important that bravery and courage should not be confused with pride. Bravery and courage are necessary to Identify and achieve life goals and the setbacks that surround them... This, was the first lesson I learned." 

     Gaildrin enters the room, surrounded by flickering shadows cast by the light of the fireplace, and bows deeply before the lady of the Order. "You summoned me, my lady?", he asks, unsure of what purpose Lady Alkawen had for arranging the meeting.

From the top of the slab of rock that jut out past the line of birch, Sybri and her horse stood silently overlooking the Loudwater below.  The scout's vantage point provided a good view of whoever or whatever crossed the river.  She wasn't looking for anything in particular, she was just watching.