Submission (#3134) Approved

“Pryalis,

I hope this letter finds you well in this difficult season. I can’t truly put into words how much I want you with me, but I know that we have our own paths to follow. Still, I closely count the days that remain until we cross paths again. My map of the mushroom forests of Silveil is going well, but our progress is slow. Well, even slower now with the miasma about. The mushrooms were growing so thick in some places, we couldn’t even get the caravans through and we had to bushwhack through them on foot to bring the carts through.

Now that the miasma is here, we’ve set up a more permanent camp with wards on the shore of a lake. I’ve seen several lakes like this, but they never cease to impress me. The water is clear, not that you’d be able to tell because of the constant mist. If the fog happens to clear out, one can peer into the water and spot some glowing jellyfish! Haha, remember when Sulahn got stung on that beach in Palu’au? The poor boy was sobbing so bad, it must have hurt terribly. Even if the miasma wasn’t present, you wouldn’t catch me swimming in these lakes. Besides the possibly deadly jellyfish, I know from experience that they’re deceptively deep.

Do you like the scene on this postcard? It’s actually my view of the forest from the door of my tent. The river you see in the background doesn’t have any glowing jellyfish, mostly little crayfish. They sometimes crawl out of the river for reasons that are beyond me. We’ve found them in our supplies from time to time. And is it just me, or does that orange mushroom by the tree look like Adavir’s head? I’ve been practicing my watercolor painting lately. The postcard you hold in your paws is one of my better attempts. When we see each other again, I’d like to try painting you. I won’t be held responsible if you don’t like it, you know I’m not really an artist.

Are you eating well? I hope you at least have someone to remind you to eat. Us? Well, it’s been nothing but mushrooms for a while. It’s been hard to bring other supplies in, so it’s up to those of us that can to forage. Unfortunately, not much of note grows here except mushrooms. And before you eat them, you have to make sure they won’t make you sick, which can be kind of a hit or miss process. I told you about that time I tried to harvest mushrooms before, right? Well I can promise you that my foraging skills have not improved since then. But I learned my lesson after a few uncomfortable nights. Now I leave the mushroom identification to our mycologist.

How is your research going? I know some of it can be complex or too theoretical for me, but I wish you would explain it to me. Just so I know what you’re doing and that you’re okay. …I haven’t heard from you lately. Maybe the post is letting one or the other of us down. I can only pray that you’re alright. You have to admit, you have more talent for getting into trouble than most elnins.

…Please write back soon. Just to put my mind at ease.

Yours always,

Lune”

After several hours of crossing out phrases and agonizing over word choice, Lune puts his pencil aside and looks at his handiwork. On the back of his paw-made postcard, words and scribbles are packed in sardine-like to the point of almost being illegible. The blue elnin isn’t worried about this, however. If the postcard makes it to his mate, Lune’s message would be far from the most difficult thing Pyralis has ever read. Besides, he had a lot of thoughts that he had to express and no one to tell them to. Quite stoic by nature, Lune is really only able to say what he’s really thinking to his mate. Without him here, Lune has to keep everything bottled up until he has a spare moment to write. Lune sighs and puts his chin down on the barrel he was writing on. Both he and Pyralis are wanderers by nature and their respective careers keep them on the road for many months at a time. They aren’t always separated, but this time Pyralis’ research took him to Ealei and Lune had been commissioned to create a map of Silveil’s mushroom forests.

He tries to be strong and keep his emotions close to his chest, but after being with Pyralis for so long, the blue elnin has gotten rusty at being stoic. Lune feels a bitter feeling well up in his chest, but he clenches his teeth and scrubs at his face with his paws. He is not going to cry. He doesn’t cry.

…But it’s hard. Pyralis is so far away, either too hurt or too busy to write, and Lune has no one by his side. If he could, he would at least take a small leave of absence from his expedition and see his grandson Sulahn in Palu’au, but neither of them would be able to make the journey safely.

Against his every wish, a hot tear rolls down his cheek and onto his watercolor sketch of the riverbank. Lune sits up and once he realizes what’s happened, tries to dab the moisture away, but it’s too late. The damage has been done and the colors have been diluted, leaving a large, pale blue smudge where a blue mushroom had been. Lune sniffs hard and wipes away another tear. Well, there goes that. Half a day’s work wasted. He starts to crumple the sketch/missive up when he gives the diluted blotch another look. And then he considers it some more.

He reaches for his pen, still working out how he’s going to commit this small burst of inspiration to paper.

He sketches ears, a round tail, wispy ear fluff into a passable representation of himself, but hesitates at the face. He moves to make the face neutral, but stops. Just this once, he’ll be honest. He draws sad eyes welling up with tears and a downturned mouth. An expression of deep sorrow and longing.

Lune can’t stand to look at it. This was a nice idea and everything when he was sad, but now it’s come full circle and is mortifying. Without another thought about what he just expressed in his letter, Lune shoves it into an envelope and plans to hand it to the first Noble messenger he sees.

(1106 words)