Letters from Ratchet
Letters!
Dearest champion,
I'm sorry I haven't been around for a couple of days -- things have been odd in Ratchet and I'm reluctant to travel much beyond the balcony. Don't worry, Alevh's fine and I'm ok, but the ground's been unsteady and I don't know if there's more than tremors in our future. Maybe I shouldn't be worried, but I am, so I'm giving into anxiety for now. Does this make me too much of a coward?
It's not on my own behalf I'm worried exactly. I just don't want to turn my back and have him swallowed up by Azeroth is all.
I miss you and want to see you, only I know you can't come here so I'll have to pull myself away from him somehow. Maybe if I can work out some surefire way to find him if the world splits into chunks like the Outland. So I don't have to worry about getting lost or whatever it is my problem is. And I oughtn't be pining for you like this, I know, I'm sorry. But I am and I do. Write me if you get the chance?
I've been blessed with meeting one of Jelleneth's brothers and cursed with meeting another; Ilthus is a pleasant enough sort, for all that he's a rogue, and I don't feel he means me any harm. Torian's another matter entirely and I hesitate to tell you about all of this for I don't want you to think I'm not able to take care of myself, but I feel I ought to warn you.
He reminds me of Magister Sargeras.
He came out to Ratchet to see me -- I guess to see if I'm some sort of danger to the Dread Captain's maidenly virtue. He didn't like what he saw, and he wasn't afraid of letting me know that quite bluntly. We had words (my fault, I ought to have been more polite as you would have and then maybe he would have left me alone).
I do not wish for you to meet him. I have enclosed a sketch of him so you are able to take appropriate steps just in case. When next I see you I can tell you in detail of what occured between us.
After he left -- or rather, I tired of being reminded of what a horrible bad dirty person I am and I walked away -- I was v. relieved to have someone's arms to retreat to for comfort. I didn't explain to Alevh what had happened, and he never really asks, because there's nothing he could really do either. We're all such broken, debased elves aren't we?
I do not pretend that the stings and loss I have suffered in my life is in any way like your own much greater pain, and I can never make up for what you cannot be given back -- and I cannot know, if course, what losses he or Magister Sargeras suffered and what secret pain their venom hides -- but it galls me so that these people with comparatively happy perfect lives look down on us so. If we are dirty, sometimes it is because someone had to do those things that sullied us. If we live in dusty ramshackle little towns -- and I saw how he looked at Ratchet, Jiel, like he was afraid of getting his feet muddy just by being there
well we can't all have palaces, can we?
We can't all be Blood Knights in shining armor and magisters in pretty robes.
Jiel, if one meets someone who's fallen into the muck for whatever reason, is it honorable and right to point and laugh, or to smugly inform them they are dirty? Or is it better to offer them a hand and help them get back onto solid ground? I suppose I shall never be a gentleman and do not wish to be, for it seems they are more concerned with whether it will get their own hand dirty as well -- after all, it wouldn't do to get one's lovely clothes smeared with shit, would it?
It makes me feel so worthless and stupid when someone looks at me like that. I almost felt as if I was doing Alevh a disservice to go back to him. I wish v. much to be his companion for as long as he allows it, but I know you wish to keep yourself from him for his sake, don't you? Am I really less sullied than you?
I know I'm not dead, but there's more to it than that. Oughtn't I worry about protecting him from me and the shadows I must call home?
I tell myself that he can choose for himself whether or not he wishes to know me, knowing what he does, but he doesn't know the full extent of my wrongness and I don't wish to force that knowledge upon him. And I apologize for laying this on you -- I don't expect you to have answers any more than I do, and indeed hadn't intended to complain to you of it for compared to your own difficulties with seeing him I've nothing to complain about.
Forgive a petulant child?
Ever yours,
Chry
ps: I'd like to go to your wedding someday but I suppose for Haken's sake it'd need to be in a church. Do you know any good ones for Blades?
pps: am sending some honey with this for Haken. Also some candied ginger for you -- you like that, right?
Dearest Netha,
I hope this letter finds you, your ship, your crew and your menagerie well. I wish we'd gotten more of a chance to speak at the wedding, and I would like to come for a proper visit soon but what with all the earthshaking I'm loathe to get out of eyesight of Ratchet lest it come tumbling down in my absence. It's something I'd rather be there in person for.
There is someone we both know, however, who is not averse to travel for the sake of friendly visits. I speak of your dear older brother Torian who was kind enough to track me down in Ratchet for a friendly little chat.
If I have through my rudeness and general uncouth nature made things between the two of you more strained, I hope you can forgive me someday -- I do not know how to mend things with a fellow who sees me as nothing more than a flaw in the fabric of our people or somesuch. Is he always so rude and sneering? Do you get along with him at all?
I do not wish to speak ill to you of your own brother, so I shall not. However, there are some things I would like to say if you would permit me.
He seems to have gotten the notion somewhere that you need to be kept safe from the world. Even apart from the lamentable observation that you are wasting your life and ought to do your duty (whatever he thinks that is -- probably something horrid), he honestly seemed to think he was looking into me and what I am because I might somehow hurt you.
If you want him to go on trying to protect you from yourself (and I don't even really know what that means!) then I won't try to stop him. But if you think perhaps his version of what you are and ought to be is incorrect, I think perhaps we should consider proving this in an obvious fashion, if only we can find a good way to do so.
Jelleneth, I don't think you're a weak and timid thing who needs coddled, fussed at, and looked down upon.
He said that your father called you little bird and spoke of protecting this delicate creature from the cats who would eat it. But Jell, are you really some Thalassian canary? If you're a bird, you're a falcon. Or you're a cat and he ought to be worried about keeping Quel'thalas and its polite society safe from you.
Let's find some trouble to get into. Productive trouble. Think Ilthy would be interested? Presuming of course that you are.
With warmest affection and a scheming heart,
Chry
ps: if Torian ever gets hold of Jiel or Haken and causes them harm, I'll kill him. But because he's your brother and I love you I'd be sure to do it around a shaman or something to bring him back.
pps: if he complains to you about me saying mean things about your parents or whatever, he deserved it. I didn't mean anything bad about them or you or anything, honest. And he said mean things to me first.
Dearest champion,
I'm sorry I haven't been around for a couple of days -- things have been odd in Ratchet and I'm reluctant to travel much beyond the balcony. Don't worry, Alevh's fine and I'm ok, but the ground's been unsteady and I don't know if there's more than tremors in our future. Maybe I shouldn't be worried, but I am, so I'm giving into anxiety for now. Does this make me too much of a coward?
It's not on my own behalf I'm worried exactly. I just don't want to turn my back and have him swallowed up by Azeroth is all.
I miss you and want to see you, only I know you can't come here so I'll have to pull myself away from him somehow. Maybe if I can work out some surefire way to find him if the world splits into chunks like the Outland. So I don't have to worry about getting lost or whatever it is my problem is. And I oughtn't be pining for you like this, I know, I'm sorry. But I am and I do. Write me if you get the chance?
I've been blessed with meeting one of Jelleneth's brothers and cursed with meeting another; Ilthus is a pleasant enough sort, for all that he's a rogue, and I don't feel he means me any harm. Torian's another matter entirely and I hesitate to tell you about all of this for I don't want you to think I'm not able to take care of myself, but I feel I ought to warn you.
He reminds me of Magister Sargeras.
He came out to Ratchet to see me -- I guess to see if I'm some sort of danger to the Dread Captain's maidenly virtue. He didn't like what he saw, and he wasn't afraid of letting me know that quite bluntly. We had words (my fault, I ought to have been more polite as you would have and then maybe he would have left me alone).
I do not wish for you to meet him. I have enclosed a sketch of him so you are able to take appropriate steps just in case. When next I see you I can tell you in detail of what occured between us.
After he left -- or rather, I tired of being reminded of what a horrible bad dirty person I am and I walked away -- I was v. relieved to have someone's arms to retreat to for comfort. I didn't explain to Alevh what had happened, and he never really asks, because there's nothing he could really do either. We're all such broken, debased elves aren't we?
I do not pretend that the stings and loss I have suffered in my life is in any way like your own much greater pain, and I can never make up for what you cannot be given back -- and I cannot know, if course, what losses he or Magister Sargeras suffered and what secret pain their venom hides -- but it galls me so that these people with comparatively happy perfect lives look down on us so. If we are dirty, sometimes it is because someone had to do those things that sullied us. If we live in dusty ramshackle little towns -- and I saw how he looked at Ratchet, Jiel, like he was afraid of getting his feet muddy just by being there
well we can't all have palaces, can we?
We can't all be Blood Knights in shining armor and magisters in pretty robes.
Jiel, if one meets someone who's fallen into the muck for whatever reason, is it honorable and right to point and laugh, or to smugly inform them they are dirty? Or is it better to offer them a hand and help them get back onto solid ground? I suppose I shall never be a gentleman and do not wish to be, for it seems they are more concerned with whether it will get their own hand dirty as well -- after all, it wouldn't do to get one's lovely clothes smeared with shit, would it?
It makes me feel so worthless and stupid when someone looks at me like that. I almost felt as if I was doing Alevh a disservice to go back to him. I wish v. much to be his companion for as long as he allows it, but I know you wish to keep yourself from him for his sake, don't you? Am I really less sullied than you?
I know I'm not dead, but there's more to it than that. Oughtn't I worry about protecting him from me and the shadows I must call home?
I tell myself that he can choose for himself whether or not he wishes to know me, knowing what he does, but he doesn't know the full extent of my wrongness and I don't wish to force that knowledge upon him. And I apologize for laying this on you -- I don't expect you to have answers any more than I do, and indeed hadn't intended to complain to you of it for compared to your own difficulties with seeing him I've nothing to complain about.
Forgive a petulant child?
Ever yours,
Chry
ps: I'd like to go to your wedding someday but I suppose for Haken's sake it'd need to be in a church. Do you know any good ones for Blades?
pps: am sending some honey with this for Haken. Also some candied ginger for you -- you like that, right?
Dearest Netha,
I hope this letter finds you, your ship, your crew and your menagerie well. I wish we'd gotten more of a chance to speak at the wedding, and I would like to come for a proper visit soon but what with all the earthshaking I'm loathe to get out of eyesight of Ratchet lest it come tumbling down in my absence. It's something I'd rather be there in person for.
There is someone we both know, however, who is not averse to travel for the sake of friendly visits. I speak of your dear older brother Torian who was kind enough to track me down in Ratchet for a friendly little chat.
If I have through my rudeness and general uncouth nature made things between the two of you more strained, I hope you can forgive me someday -- I do not know how to mend things with a fellow who sees me as nothing more than a flaw in the fabric of our people or somesuch. Is he always so rude and sneering? Do you get along with him at all?
I do not wish to speak ill to you of your own brother, so I shall not. However, there are some things I would like to say if you would permit me.
He seems to have gotten the notion somewhere that you need to be kept safe from the world. Even apart from the lamentable observation that you are wasting your life and ought to do your duty (whatever he thinks that is -- probably something horrid), he honestly seemed to think he was looking into me and what I am because I might somehow hurt you.
If you want him to go on trying to protect you from yourself (and I don't even really know what that means!) then I won't try to stop him. But if you think perhaps his version of what you are and ought to be is incorrect, I think perhaps we should consider proving this in an obvious fashion, if only we can find a good way to do so.
Jelleneth, I don't think you're a weak and timid thing who needs coddled, fussed at, and looked down upon.
He said that your father called you little bird and spoke of protecting this delicate creature from the cats who would eat it. But Jell, are you really some Thalassian canary? If you're a bird, you're a falcon. Or you're a cat and he ought to be worried about keeping Quel'thalas and its polite society safe from you.
Let's find some trouble to get into. Productive trouble. Think Ilthy would be interested? Presuming of course that you are.
With warmest affection and a scheming heart,
Chry
ps: if Torian ever gets hold of Jiel or Haken and causes them harm, I'll kill him. But because he's your brother and I love you I'd be sure to do it around a shaman or something to bring him back.
pps: if he complains to you about me saying mean things about your parents or whatever, he deserved it. I didn't mean anything bad about them or you or anything, honest. And he said mean things to me first.