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Dearest Trevor,Thank you for the thoughtful gift. It brings me solace in these troubled times. Our house has not yet fallen, although some days I think mother's pride alone holds up its walls.She discovered your previous letters. I cannot believe she went through my horde like that! I am sad to say that even with the rebellion going on and the followers of Tiamat stalking the streets, she has found time to lecture me on relationships, and breeding, and duty. Not of love. What would she know of it?Father understands. He promises me he will try to make her understand too. In the meantime, he assists me in making sure this missive reaches you. He says such maudlin things. Like our time may be too short, to waste on propriety. He wants me to be happy.You make me happy.Those brief days at your inn were some of the brightest in my life. The grandest of a dragon's horde could not compare to such joy.I remember how you made me laugh. You still do. I will say that mother's face when she saw your present was a treat. I don't care what she says, I adore it. I know it was made with love.Never doubt that I am thinking of you, and that I will see you again. I have trained all my life for dark times like these. I will not fall. If only because it would deny me the chance to see you again. Such a fate I truly could not endure, and thus I will make sure it never happens.Good luck with your spider problem. In a sense, we are both battling pests! May we shoo them out quickly.Until we are once more snoot to snoot, my cutie boop,- Your Forever Gal Up North
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Dearest Trevor,Mother isn't speaking to me. Stubbornness. Damn stubbornness, at a time like this. Well, she's not the only one who can be stubborn. I'm in the right on this, she knows I am, father knows I am. She'll see.I wonder if the cultists feel that way too. They seem very sure of themselves. I just don't understand it. I don't understand the kind of hate that can drive a person to worship a god like Tiamat. What does she stand for? Greed and spite? Who wants more of that in their life? Who looks at those kinds of values and thinks, "Yeah, more of that. That's what I want"? Oh Trevor, the things I've heard said on the streets. The things they've done in the lower quarters. It's just…I've never been so glad that you're so far away from here, Trevor. I'm so glad you're safe.I just can't believe it. It doesn't seem real. These kinds of people on Skolla's streets. This is the realm of the Dragonborn. Descended from dragons. The most high and noble of races. Above reproach. The greatest nation in the world and an inspiration to all. That's the story I was told. Virtuous, so virtuous, our noble god Bahamut held above politics, above all. Justice. Law. Order. I wonder if that's how others see us or if that's just how we see ourselves? What do you think about Dragonborn, Trevor? Help me see it through the eyes of someone not born here. Help me understand.Is it possible that there's something these cultists know that I have missed? Are they right about us? Do they see us as we truly are and seek to embrace that somehow? Has this been here all the time and I just didn't see it? What am I missing? They have to know those are not things to aspire to. They must know they're not the good guys in this situation. I keep trying to get into the mindset and I just can't. I can't see the steps that brought us here, and that scares me. There's so much I don't know.The followers of Bahamut have always been quick to remove unwanted elements from the city, but they completely missed this. Silence has not weakened this cult. If anything, it seems to have made them stronger. Organized in ways that we're still scrambling to match. And used to operating in secret. I always wonder, is the person in the line next to me really on my side? I worry that, in the most critical moment, the danger will be greatest from the people I call friends. Some of the cultists….they were friends. I never knew I was such a poor judge of character. I had no idea. We never talked about it.If this had been out in the open, could we have talked about it? Could we have found common ground? Educated them, helped them see the error of their ways? Is that all we needed, was to talk?…I just wish she would talk to me, Trevor. I just wish mother would talk to me.I want someone to tell me it's going to be all right.Snoot to snoot,- Your Forever Gal Up North
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Dearest Trevor,Mother died today.I tried to set up a meeting with the cultists. I thought we could work something out. Open up a dialog. It was a trap. Of course it was. I was expecting reason from people who worship Tiamat, a goddess famed for holding a grudge. They don't want a discussion. They want power and they justify it by dressing up Bahamut's opposition to their evil as oppression. They don't want a peace treaty. They want to rule this place and wipe out Bahamut's faithful, down to the last claw and scale. I went in there. Like a fool. Mother's the only reason I came out.We got cut off from each other. I tried to reach her. Couldn't. Failed her when she needed me most.Father left. There's nothing here for him, without her. He has no ties or love for this place. Never has. He asked me to come with him but…There's too much here. Too much I need to do. Too much I need to make up for.But once he was gone, it occurred to me…he was not of her station, when they married. Her family couldn't have approved. I said she knew nothing of love, but…I never asked. The questions were right there, but I never thought to ask them. And now I'll never get the chance. I wish I could have been there. Held her, at the end. Told her I loved her. Gotten her blessing. Anything. Anything. But we didn't even have a body to perform rites over. Unless you count the piece of her the cultists sent us, as a token of their esteem.I said before that I couldn't understand how a person could hate like they do.I understand now.- V.
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Dearest Trevor,I'm sorry that it's been so long since my last letter. I have been…well…I was going to write that I've been busy, and that's been true, but I could have made the time.The truth is...I've been scared.There. I said it.I…I don't think you'd be proud of the person I've been these past few weeks. And I…I don't think you could love that person. I don't think anyone could. Or should. And I'm sorry. I let you down. I let myself down. I let Bahamut down.Enlightened justice. Justice that has mercy. Justice that forgives.Funny, how much rage can feel like justice in the moment. But I know it isn't, in the darkest parts of the night. And there's nobody I can confess it to. Except in this letter. Which part of me hopes you'll never read. I'm a hero on the battlefield, Trevor. That's what they say. But I'm a villain in my heart. And a part of me thought…maybe…maybe it would be better, if you just didn't know. I thought you couldn't be ashamed of me that way. So I took my doubts and I threw them into the fire of the fight. I made combat a salve for deeper wounds. I did things…things that I'm not proud of. And I wrote no letters.I met the strangest person today. A bard, human no less, or at least I think human? I'm not always great at identifying lesser -- no, that's unbecoming arrogance -- other races. Maybe he was an elf. I think they were a he. I'm not so good telling the gender of other races apart either. Anyway. The name was Spice Caraway. Strumming away in the corner in a quiet moment between assaults. I didn't want to disturb him, but the music…I've never heard such music. Melancholy. Sorrowful. I wanted to leave, but I was frozen. The song seemed to find a way through the walls I put up after mother died. And the sound just…it shattered me. I couldn't stop crying. I was besides myself. And the music stopped. And he asked me what was wrong. Offered me a drink from a flask. I didn't even have words. It stopped after a while. The crying. I felt so empty. He didn't ask. Just chatted about random things. Stupid stuff. Forests down south this time of year. Chickens. Something called Documancy. And Cornerstones, which at first I thought he meant the part of a building, but no, apparently it's a food down south? A kind of sweet, with jam. I guess a little bit like a frosted fried gecko? Anyway. That kind of stuff. We got on the subject of sweethearts somehow. And I told him…I told him that I'd found someone special, but that he was far away. And I missed him. And I that…that I'd probably never see him again.And Spice got quiet. And I asked him if he had someone too.And he said…that there was someone that he liked, but that she was also very far away. And that he was also scared of never seeing her again. He said he might have messed things up. Might have broken everything. He'd kept secrets from her, lots of secrets, and he told himself that it was because she hadn't asked, but…When she started finding things out on her own, and confronted him, it just made it so much worse. He might have been able to fix it, but…he was scared. He was scared about the other questions she'd ask. The other secrets she'd find. So he'd stayed here, in Skolla, and sent his beloved away. Because if she was somewhere else, he wouldn't have to face what she thought of him. He said the song he'd been playing…that was for her. I've been thinking about that a lot.And now I've written you this letter.I'll understand if…if you don't want any more letters from me, Trevor. I'll understand.- V.
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Dearest Trevor,I've started this letter five times. A real waste of paper, that! This is a terrible beginning too, but this is my last sheet and I can't go out on the battlefield today without writing to you. Your last letter…it shook me. I never expected it. I thought you'd never want to hear from me again. You are…I don't have words for your kindness. Your generosity of spirit. Trevor…you are a marvel to me. And I worry that I don't deserve that kindness. I know how silly you'd find the notion. You'd laugh at the idea, until I couldn't help but laugh with you. That's just who you are. You have the biggest heart of anyone I've ever met. And that…that gives me life. That shows me what I'm fighting for.The cult of Tiamat would have us believe that we Dragonborn are superior to all other races. That idea was alive and well long before this resurgence. I can't pin the blame for the sentiment on these cultists. That we have to own. By the gods, Platinums consider themselves above even other Dragonborn! I never questioned it before. Never looked at it real hard, all those assumptions that seemed so normal. Now I know to question the things I always took for granted. And I will not stand by and let this land be over-run by those that view people like you beneath them. They would not stop at Skolla. They worship greed and power and view what other races have as something they deserve. I will drive them out. More than that. I fight to make Skolla a better place. A place I can be proud of. A place where people like you, and Spice, and everyone would be welcome. I will fight to be a person you can be proud of.I know. I know. You're already proud of me. You made that clear. I guess, what I mean is that I want to be a person that I can be proud of. And that you'll be happy for me when I am.I'll keep your letter close to me. Folded up, next to my heart. So your words will always be with me no matter where I go. I love you, Trevor. I realized that I'd never said that. I won't make mistake again. I love you. And I will see you again. Until we are once more snoot to snoot, my cutie boop,- Your Forever Gal Up North