Hey, Rae,

It’s been a long time so I don’t know if you know my handwriting anymore, but it’s me, Vahn. These three mages I met said they could get a letter to you, so I guess if you’re reading this they aren’t full of shit. They seem pretty okay, though, and I don’t know why Ke—Kar—the K-name one would say she kind of knew who you are when she didn’t, so I probably don’t need to worry about it. Kind of weird, though. Do you know how to make big-ass animals out of bone or blood or something, too?
 

I’m kind of rambling, sorry, I just don’t know what to write about. It’s been so long, I don’t know what you’re doing, or how you’re doing, or anything. Pretty dumb, since it was my idea to write this in the first place, but I just thought I’d know what to say when I started and figured it’d just work out somehow.
 

Sounds like me, doesn’t it?
 

Anyway, I guess I can tell you that I’m doing okay. I left the camp. I had to, because I got caught using magic and Raychehl told me it was either get lost or get dead, so I went with lost. She’s doing good. She got her da’er and everything like she always wanted, but she’s pissed off all the time. She might’ve gotten to wear those leathers, but she acts like they weren’t fit quite right.
 

Ohrcheen’s all right too. Still old, still a pain in the ass, still can beat the shit out of elves a quarter his age.
 

Wait, did I tell you I can use magic? Yeah, like you. Well, not exactly, different element, Magnetism, but anyway.
I saw Ahmrah on my way out. He left the camp after you did. He’s got a bunch of kids—not his, orphans and such—and, get this, he’s raising them on some farm out in the plains. Crazy, right? Thing is, though, he seems way happier there than he did in the camp after Kohrihn died. You should go see him if you get a chance. His place is far enough from the main camp that you shouldn’t run into anyone you don’t want to see.
 

So I headed north because I figured that was better than fucking with the Sun Elves, and I met a Mountain Elf on the way. His name’s Caelan and he’s a good guy. Really dependable, a bit of a stick in the mud, but hey, guys like me probably need guys like him around to keep them out of too much trouble. He was trading with the Ogru and since I helped him out with his cart he offered to take me to Mountain Elf country. So, I’m in Kordinor now. It’s a city in Emerald State, and I’m staying with Caelan. Apparently, he used to be a soldier before he started trading with beasts, and his mom runs this place but he doesn’t seem to like her much. It’s nice having a friend again. After you and Ahmrah left, and Raychehl wasn’t around much, it was…I don’t know. Boring. Lonely, I guess.
 

Caelan’s sister is pretty awesome. Her name’s Saoirse, and she’s a hand fighter too, like me. She’s pretty good! She’s a tiny thing, even smaller than you, but she can break a face like someone twice her size. She’s got a temper to match, so it’s kind of like having you around again, but like if you could throw a decent punch. She comes around every once in a while, to drink or whatever when she’s not fighting for money, and she drinks like she fights. So we get along great, even though Caelan thinks we’re bad influences on each other. He’s right, but who cares.
 

Here’s the stuff that’s really going to surprise you, though. After some shit happened with an orange dragon, I came up with the idea of us forming a band. See, Caelan can play guitar and Saoirse can sing, and of course you know me, so yeah. We’ve played a little and even played in a place called a “bar”. It didn’t go that great, but we’re getting better.
 

We even picked up a bass player a little while back, which’ll really help. Get this—her name is Adilah, and she’s a Sun Elf with the blood rage. I didn’t even know Sun Elves could have the blood rage, but there she was, stopping a runaway carriage from crushing me and her with her bare hands. She says the blood rage is called the “Mark of Kain” where she comes from, and the Sun Elves are real down on that kind of thing, so she’s an outcast too. She’d been living on the streets when I met her, but she’s staying with me and Caelan now. Man, I really don’t know how to describe her. She reminds me of Valuhree, but less, I don’t know, intense? But at the same time, I get the feeling I still wouldn’t want to be on her bad side. She’s easy to talk to, though. I don’t know if it’s because we’re both cast-offs or what, but... You know me, I like to talk, but I don’t like to really talk about ME so much, right? I don’t have that problem with Adilah for some reason. She’s a good listener, I guess. Anyway, apparently she used to play bass, but somebody scarred her wrists and hands really bad, so her fingers are stiff and she can’t bend them very well so she hasn’t played in a long time. Fortunately, yours truly listened to Orhcheen a little more than he thought, and I helped her with one of the salves he uses on his own scars, to loosen them up so he wouldn’t bitch quite as much. She was really happy to find out she could play again, and after a while we’ll test her out on the bass I got her.
 

That’s about it, I guess. I’m happy to hear you made it to the mages. You probably don’t believe it, but I was worried about you all this time. You didn’t leave in the best, I don’t know, headspace and you were barely more than a kid. Yeah, yeah, I know you’re bitching now about how you don’t need anyone else and you can handle yourself just fine and whatever, but I don’t care. You guys are my friends and I kept losing you, one after another. I know that with everything that happened that we all needed to find our own ways to deal with it, but every day I still wish we all could have stayed together and gotten through it. But there’s no going back, and maybe in some ways it’s better it’s all worked out the way it has. I don’t know. But hey, if you’re ever out this way, come find me and maybe we can talk shit like we used to and I can see if you ever got any bigger.
 

Until then, I’d say don’t let anyone get under your skin but I know they will, and I’d say don’t let anyone give you any shit but I know you won’t. So instead I’ll just say take care of yourself since I can’t right now, and keep kicking all the ass I know you’re already kicking. I want to hear all about it from you when you’ve got the time.
 

Bye for now.
Vahn