As worried as Heron was for his only living parental unit, he somewhat dreaded what he now had to do.
It wouldn't be right not to, but how was he supposed to go around telling his sister that their father had almost died? If he could, he would have liked to brush it under a rug and never let his sister know, so she could continue living in her bright world untainted from harsh realities.
But she would eventually find out and she would be put out so much that he had not told her. He knew it would be better for the both of them if he told her immediately rather than her finding out after coming home.
So he sat down and began jotting down a letter. He struggled with it a lot. Wanting to be upbeat so that his sister didn't worry, while keeping it to the facts.
The letter took him two hours to write, as he struggled, crumpled and restarted writing it several times. Eventually he finished a letter that he thought would be okay. It was mostly true too. When he finished it read like this:
"My dearest Hazel,
I hope that you are enjoying Carendlus. Not too freaked out by their customs, I hope. And that you are actually making friends. Afterall, that is the whole point of our little custom – to make connections.
You are probably confused that I would write you out of the blue. I mean I have not exactly kept contact over the year I was gone… it was a rather interesting year. I'll tell you about it later. When you come home.
I don't exactly know how to broach this subject. I guess I'll start with the fact that almost as soon as I got home, Father and I started fighting. I will not bore you with the details but I may have done something that upset Father pretty badly, or that is I made a friend that he does not like. Think on that, sister dear, I actually made a friend and Father was upset!
Well, anyway, I was cooling off from a particularly nasty exchange of words when our Father was attacked. He is okay, all things considered. I mean he is going to live but he was damaged pretty badly. Father was hit over the head with a large stone and slashed through the leg. He'll live but he will probably have to retire early. I may have to become a king sooner than I thought. Not sure I am fully ready for that.
They technically attacked me too, but I managed to fend them off. I've learned a few tricks they were not expecting. And my new friend was with me, so they did not catch me alone. We captured one alive and will deal with them to the best of our abilities. May have to seek help from Varenduil though.
Anyway, stay in Carendlus until this is dealt with, even if it takes longer than the initial year you were to stay. Carendlus, no matter how you might feel about the magic there, it is the safest of the five allied kingdoms.
Your ever-adoring brother,
Heron
P.S. – Say hi to Asrar for me and tell him to loosen up!
The letter was a bit misleading. It implied he had been greatly busy while in Jarenkul – which was only half true. He could have easily found time to write his sister. But what could he share? The people he hung out with she would not understand and he didn't have anything safe to communicate.
They had indeed captured one of the assassins though, who had not died from the fight. Though he had yet to talk.
Anyway now that he had written the letter, he needed to send it. He wanted to send it quickly, but there was a lot of upheaval at the moment and he was not sure how fast a carrier could go at the moment when panic was still spreading with the news of the king's almost fatal wound.
As he was thinking about this, Elswyth came into the study in which he was working. She immediately walked over to him and hugged him. "You good?"
"Yeah. Just thinking of how to send a letter to my sister."
"Sun could take it. He's very smart and somewhat trained for it."
"You'd lend me your bird?" Heron was surprised. He knew how much Sun meant to his friend. It was almost like the importance a wizard placed on their familiar.
"Sure, why not? I'm sure he would like to fly a bit. He seems a bit out of sorts with being cooped up a lot."
"Thank you."
"But he better come back unharmed. I couldn't stand it if my baby got hurt." She placed her hand against her cheek.
"Of course." Heron laughed then added another little tidbit to his letter under his first post script:
P.P.S – The hawk's name is Sun. If you want him to carry a letter back tie it to his foot and take him to the nearest window. Otherwise just take him to the window. Don't keep him, though, my friend will kill me if she does not get her precious Sun back."
Elswyth helped him tie the letter to her bird's ankle and then took him to the window, whispered in his ear and let him loose.
"And he'll know where to go?"
"It might take him a while, but he'll eventually find it. And once he's found it once, he can go to the same place easily. It is easier because the palace of the different kingdoms is among the things he already knows the address of."
"Really?"
"Yeah." She sighed, "Never thought I'd be sending him to one though."
Heron laughed a bit at that, then sighed. "Thanks again for letting me borrow your precious bird."
"No problem. I'd gladly lend you him anytime." She grinned at him happily.
After that they started talking together about various things. Heron found it easier not to fret when Elswyth was at his side.