RECAP

Straight Waybill in the Name of Bronislaw (of Ameryswald Eastern Cave) (consigner) For Transport of Goods (detailed below) by Track and Wheel Company (A.S.C.)

Track and Wheel Company herein agrees to take under care and transport to Ameryswald (lately of Bracken), via a combination of methods as expedient to Track and Wheel Company and within the swiftness guidelines pursuant to the fees paid, the following cargo:

15 crates (suits, chain mail) to be received from State Surplus Outfitting

8 crates (suits, chain mail, dvojka) to be received from Pumptown Union Foundry

1 ream (crude weight paper) to be received from Pulp and Refinement of the Flaxlands

4 crates (personal effects, Nis-mel Zaidu) to be received from 22nd Row Hrakel Storage

5 crates (furniture, Nis-mel Zaidu) to be received from 22nd Row Hrakel Storage

48 sacks (grains, mixed) to be received from Iccuahxoch Victuallery

1 crate (dilute potions of restoration) to be received from Yaskel Cures and Tinctures

1 crate (dilute potions of healing) to be received from Yaskel Cures and Tinctures

6 crates (poultice infused bandages) to be received from Yaskel Cures and Tinctures

36 bolts (jute) to be received from General Baltine Textiles

36 bolts (canvas) to be received from General Baltine Textiles

24 bolts (flannel) to be received from General Baltine Textiles

1 crate (nails, iron) to be received from Pumptown Union Foundry

4 crates (cookware, iron) to be received from Pumptown Union Foundry

5 crates (personal effects) to be delivered from Walerian and Band (no residence)

Receipt shall be made by Bogumir the Mountain Lord or his delegate.

Nis-mel Zaidu, acting as the agent of and with authority delegated by Bronislaw (of Ameryswald Eastern Cave) hereby states that protection from various natural and understood threats which may be encountered during transport shall be provided by Walerian and Band, who shall travel with the cargo under their own motive power.

Comes now in writing before the Gods and the Synodal Court of Keltokel,

Nis-mel Zaidu,

Seeking the following relief and redress:

Nis-mel Zaidu declares that he maintains his innocence with regards to unfounded accusations made by representatives of the city of Jade and Great House school. Petitioner has not committed misuse of city assets and services nor embezzlement of school funds.

Nis-mel Zaidu declares that he shall quit residence of Keltokel, specifically Room 30, 22nd Row Hrakel, and shall depart the city. Petitioner offers no update of residence and enjoins the court to refrain from speculation of his destination to outside parties related or unrelated.

Nis-mel Zaidu declares that financial indigence motivates his departure and therefore begs parties seeking remuneration for services including but not limited to housing, laundry, and sustenance to forgive debt or to accept payment at some unspecified future date.

Nis-mel Zaidu declares pursuant to the contract attached that he is in the employ, personal and official, of Bogumir the Mountain Lord of the Aligned Princes of Keizai. See Keizai Treaties, Commentary and Jurisprudence, Discussion 62: Ambassadorial Status of Retainers to and Agents of a Princedom.

No reply to petition is required. No direction for further correspondence is offered.

Nis-mel Zaidu, Barrister

(The letter is on a satiny sheet of paper that was undoubtedly expensive. In contrast, it was written in dvojka with charcoal and there are huge smeared handprints all over the right side of the page. It was left in the care of the groundskeeper at the Place of Green Moss.)

Kasumi I just love you and don’t get the chance to tell you enough. Here it is in writing and you can show anyone so they know. Keltokel is amazing but not as amazing as it was with you. Hozysh isn’t as good in a fight. We were in a couple more, but only one of them was because somebody got mad at me saying what I thought. Don’t worry, he’s okay, he fought good and didn’t run off.

The pile is gone! I never thought about how much the money would weigh but it’s kind of heavy itself. Or at least it was until I gave it all away for the armor and stuff. The barrister made his share just disappear. He gave it to an apkallu and only got a piece of fancy paper in return. He says that he can sell the paper anywhere for the same amount. I hope that’s right, or I just hired a complete idiot.

He keeps prodding me about what the Princedom is going to be called, and what our heraldry is going to be and I’m getting sick of it. I don’t know! That’s something for father to decide! If I did he’d just change it probably. The only thing I can think of is maybe the face on his armor’s gut plate. Supposedly that’s his great-grandfather’s face, but it’s been repainted a bunch of times so it’s probably nothing like the original.

Walerian, the leader of the Lesser Mada rumiany, arrived after I paid for a message to him. He had his people pool up money for a caravan ticket for him to come to Keltokel. Father’s money will pay for the rest to get here and then I’ll send them on to the valley. He seems reliable enough, likes his drink, has been to Keltokel before, and has the head of a Baltine quarrel in his shoulder from when he was shot stealing cows a hundred years ago.

I was thinking the other day what I’d do if I wasn’t father’s son. I think I’d travel with you and we’d be a couple, that’s how much I love being with you. It’d probably be work, like being married back at the New Camp is, but it’d be us.

I’d been working on something for you and I wasn’t happy with it so I didn’t give it in person. But I have to give you something now, since you bought me that amazing vest. When you put it together with the others, you can pretend the middle one is Bogumila, who could be kind of like a daughter.

(Bundled with the letter is a statuette carved from a tooth. It is of an ozrut woman with short, stubby horns on her forehead and a mohawk that drapes over one side of her head. She’s holding a ewer at waist level and she seems to be flatter than the usual depiction of ozrut women. Her leg is hooked to interlock with another statuette, but unfortunately appears it will be a poor fit since the other statuettes weren’t available when it was made.)

(It was a heavy hand that penned this letter, such that the words indent the page, even with the feminine flourishes to the script. It was discovered buried in Govannon’s capacious baggage, tied with a few strands of very long black hair. When opened, a handful of dried blue petals spilled out.)

To my dearest, my only love,

I am a difficult woman. I have been told so many times, vituperatively or not. My venom has never been for you, but you were perhaps reminded of this fact in the past days spent in proximity with Bronislaw.

We are different kinds. This consideration was never a barrier to my feelings, now or in the past. But I am not so love-struck as to ignore the obstacles to the bliss I pray we long to share.

And yet, with you I have never been scorned. You ever provide all such things as a woman should expect when she offers herself to a man. I live this offer to you, and only consummation eludes us of necessity.

Cruel fate coupled to the ways of women and men dictates that what I give is deferred, while your gifts are showered on me. It is for such cause that worry stings me: could you forget me for lack of a sampling?

Therefore this letter and my promise goes with you. Return to me, my love, whenever you may. You shall find me pliant, yearning, and more importantly, blindfolded. Come, bind my eyes, my hands, whatever you wish, for I am yours.

With love felt most keenly, Elzbieta

(Thus far the sending stone has only ever muttered and shook and it was never clear if this was Deadhouse actually rambling unintelligibly or something else. However, in Sildech his voice came clearly.)

Weal and woe, beloved of He
A golden snake slithers to Jade
And a dark cloud across the sea
Deadhouse remains your servant
Command me