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Almas
Andoran
Gozreh 19
4735 AR
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"This way!" Scribe Ariah moved briskly through the halls of the Golden Cathedral, pushing open one side of a great pair of double doors emptying into the Cathedral's grand library. Knight-Captain Talisa Gwynn moved at a slower pace behind her, hands clasped behind her back and attention lifting to meet the arched glass ceiling in the library foyer.
"I understand your excitement, Scribe, but there is an assignment conclave in less than an hour and—" Talisa isn't given an opportunity to finish her sentence before Ariah wheels around and clasps her hands together, begging.
"Please! I promise, I know it's here—I can't believe I didn't think of it until now!" Ariah bleats before sharply turning back around and hustling up a short flight of stairs, past a velvet rope to the Eagle Knights' historic archives. "I've been re-organizing our archives and cataloging pre-war communications to look for any information that might expose covert Thrune operations."
"Mmhmm." Talisa purses her lips. "And you found something relevant to the Jeggare situation?"
"No!" Ariah says excitedly. "So, I'd gotten as far as our records from 4717," she explains while dragging a stepstool over to a particular shelf, "and I found a collection of letters marked irregular, unidentified."
Talisa crosses her arms, brows furrowed and head tilted to the side as she watches the scribe scramble up the step latter, retrieving a small wooden box. "Those are just suspicious communications that were deemed to lack obvious tactical information and no discernable cipher."
"Right." Ariah says with a grin, coming down with the box. "But I found one addressed to you."
Talisa steps closer, her expression shifting from impatience to confusion.
"This letter," Ariah fishes it out of the box and hands it to Talisa, "arrived in Almas on the 2nd of Desnus, 4717 AR." Talisa opens the letter as Ariah talks, scanning the page. She stops immediately and looks up at Araiah.
"When?"
"The 2nd of Desnus, 4717—"
"I was twelve years old." Talisa says with a hitch in her voice. She looks back down at the letter and feels her heart racing. "You're sure?" She asks.
Ariah nods, stepping over to look at the letter with Talisa. "Look at the weathering on the parchment, the ink used, and," she taps the back, "there's a dated seal from the courier. If it's a forgery it's a good one."
Every time Talisa looks at the letter, it's like her mind skips over words. It's impossible, what she's seeing. "There's—I'm the only Gwynn to hold this rank, am I not?"
"I checked the roster going back 100 years." Ariah says, proudly. "You are the only Gwynn recorded among the Eagle Knights."
Talisa looks at the letter again, lips parted in disbelief.
Knight-Captain Gwynn,
We are alive, although our position is currently distressingly erratic. By the time you receive this we will almost certainly no longer be where this letter is coming from, and I cannot say where we will be next, because I do not know. It seems we are truly at fate’s whim at the moment.
The professor we were with can answer your questions. Find him. We last saw him in combat against my old employer, but I would be surprised if he was dead. Captive is a stronger possibility.
The man we engaged at the theater is working with the church that we had an issue with in your city. We are following up on that now.
I will say that this city is a beautiful place to visit. The view of the lake from the highest towers is breathtaking.
CA
"What the fuck." Talisa whispers.
"There's more," Ariah says, circling around to Talisa's other side. "On receipt of the letter and confirmation of its apparent veracity, I cross-referenced references within and correlated the 'CA' to potentially be your missing agent Cassius Avignone. References to the theater and church—"
"Get to the point." Talisa says shakily. She'd already pieced that much together. Reflexively she makes an apologetic expression and shakes her head. Ariah expects the frustration, it's a frustrating enigma.
"Based on the wax seal on the letter, we know it was delivered from the city of Caliphas in Ustalav. The last sentence is a reference to Lake Encarthan, and I believe 'highest towers' is not in fact a reference to the royal palace, but potentially Count Gideon Hightower." Ariah is beaming with excitement.
"Ulysses' brother?" Talisa asks. It's mostly rhetorical. "Who else has seen this?"
"Scribe Udaran and Proctor Westglaive, Ser."
Talisa folds the letter up and tucks it into her jacket pocket. "Do not speak of this to anyone else until further authorized. I'm going to bring this to Knight-General Reinn immediately."
"Affirmative, Ser!" Ariah says with a sharp salute.
"And, Scribe?"
"Ser?"
"Excellent work."
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A Short Time Later...
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"Cassius."
Calisaria Reinn exhales the name like a curse, but with good humor. She sets the decade-old letter down, then leans forward with her hands folded, watching Talisa from across the desk. "I'll handle the follow-up on this, Gwynn." She says with a soft, matter-of-fact tone. Put it out of your mind.
Talisa eyes the letter, wanting to argue, but chooses her battles wisely. "Do we have any leads on Delgado? Everything in Vurustak was a dead end."
Calisaria shakes her head. "Nothing. I can't get a scrying spell to stick to him either. I don't think he's dead, based on the results, but wherever he is he's hidden well. Same with Izah. Whatever happened on that mountain is casting a long shadow over this administration that we don't have the time to disperse."
"Is this about the talks?" Talia edges for more context.
Calisaria offers a small nod of confirmation, then slouches back in her chair and watches the snow falling outside window beside her. "We have a tentative agreement from Mendev to meet in a year's time. Kraggodan and the Accressiel Court are already prepared to join us."
"Do you think Queen Galfrey will come?"
"I think if Mendev has any hope of getting future aid for the Worldwound they need the war down here to end. I have a promise from Corva Hightower that the Order of the Godclaw will accompany Galfrey if she comes." But Calisaria says all of that with the weariness of expectant disappointment.
"Isn't that... good news?" Talisa scoots her chair forward, trying to bridge the gap Calisaria's desk has put between them.
"Not if Montand Jeggare starts a war in Osirion." Calisaria's mutters, finally looking at Talisa instead of the snow.
"Corva won't come to the table if her uncle is on the wrong side of the war?" Talisa squints. "I didn't think they were close."
Calisaria sighs. "It isn't that. Galfrey is already distrustful of the Hightower family and when you add Hellknights to that it... complicates things. But having a war criminal like Jeggare actively fighting our side makes trusting his family—no matter how far removed—challenging. For Galfrey and for the Supreme Elect."
"Wait." Talisa sits up straight. "Is our government the blockage?"
"They won't authorize the talks if Galfrey won't come to the table, and Galfrey won't come to the table while Jeggare is still on the board." Calisaria says, resting her head in one hand. "We're in a democratic gridlock over our own war."
"Then we solve the problem." Talisa is adamant. She reaches across the desk, offering her hand to Calisaria. "I will solve the problem."
Calisaria looks at the hand, closes her eyes with a sigh, and wearily takes it. "You're the best friend I have, Tal. I can't lose you to some fucking desert."
"With all due respect, General, I'm too fucking good to die in a desert." A crooked smile dances across Talisa's lips. "You take this Avignone headache, let me handle Jeggare."
Calisaria squeezes Talisa's hand. "You already have a move planned, don't you?"
"I've always got a next move planned." Talisa's smile grows. "Get me to Sothis, and I'll get you your talks."
Sighing, Calisaria squeezes Talisa's hand again. "Come back in one piece, Captain."
She lets go of Talisa's hand.
"That's an order."
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