When Saf lands in King's City, there are always letters waiting for him. Teddy, especially, is a prolific correspondent even when he knows Saf isn't there to write back. He sifts through the pile kept for him by Clara (who has undoubtedly read them all in his absence, even though he can't see any breaks in the seals) looking at the various hands that have sent him news from home.
The letters are largely uninteresting, though he'd never ask Teddy (or Bren or Tilda, when they do write) to stop. They remind him of another place and another life, one he can't quite recall as easily as he could even a year ago. He has been in King's City and working with the Navy here for half a dozen years. Despite assurances he is not a wanted man, he has not gone back to Bitterblue City. He is, after all, not a wanted man.
There is a letter, though, from the Lady Queen, and he tests himself by ignoring it for the length of time it takes to take a bath (the joy of not smelling like the sea is its own incentive) and duck down to the kitchens to find a meal. She doesn't write regularly anymore, after he didn't come back to King's City for her first official ambassadorial visit to King Nash. He probably deserves it. It doesn't stop him missing her, secretly, in a bone-deep ache sort of way.
Her cipher is easy to break, when he does.
Acv, Gcddpyhw Wyttih. Nyax pil nilft sigu ki kxu sudugihp. K, R, K auht fimu. - Abcdea
Saf sits, rereads, and then throws it into the fire. There is no reason at all to go back to Bitterblue City now, and it sits heavy in his heart. He ought to have written more letters.