Dear Mom and Dad,

I know it has been a while since I last wrote, but I have been soooo busy lately! I thought that I would just have to deal with a few classes and stuff, but suddenly becoming the unofficial chosen one really eats into your time! Between my continuing quest to clean up Malistare's mess, trying to get that Proof of Grub's existence (Seriously, that whole Army of the Undead is a royal pain), and now a Wizarding Tournament popping up, I've hardly had a moment to just kick back and breath!

...Well, I guess that's what I'd like to say. But maybe the truth is a bit different. I really haven't thought about it much, but maybe… I was enjoying all of this? Maybe I have been afraid that this really is all just a dream and that it'll go away soon. And that I'll have to go back to my boring life in a world that now just seems so… dull. I guess, during all of that and all of those feelings, I sort of forced myself to… sort of forget, well, everything. Even, maybe, you guys. Like I said, it wasn't until my last quest that any of this had crossed my mind and I'm still trying to sort it all out.

You see, Hagan Shieldbreaker, a polar bear from a very Scottish (Or was it Irish? Or somewhere else?) World called Grizzlheim, was trying to teach me how to be a hero. I'm sure, if you've been getting my letters, by now you are in stitches if the Grizzlheim pun didn't get you there in the first place. Gosh, you guys always have had the weirdest sense of humor…

Anyway, he was having me go into some spooky graveyard as part of my trials as a sort of 'Are you brave or are you chicken' sort of macho stuff I saw on T.V. all the time. Granted the graveyard was actually haunted this time, but that's neither here nor there. I proved my courage, kicked their buts like every other ghost I've met. Of course, the bear wasn't satisfied, but I was fine. Just find the thing he needed, kick some monster butt, wash, rinse, repeat, rewind, be kind, etc…

Heh, then he started talking about how I need a heroic reputation. I think I had seen a dozen episodes about how the reputation has nothing to do with being a real hero, but even then I have a laundry list of bosses that should have done the trick! But nooooo, apparently stuff on other worlds doesn't count. So then he got started on the reputation spiel again, and I would have tuned him out if he hadn't started babbling about how the deeds of your parents affects your reputation. And how, being an outsider, no one knew you guys. It sort of, well, threw me.

Before I could say anything, he then had gone on about finding a solution to that. It apparently required going and getting some old war hero spirit to go and say that I'm a worthy heir or something. As he sent me on my way, I started feeling funny. Like I was sort of… cold, but not chilly. It sort of gnawed at me and no matter how much I tried to shake it off, it just wouldn't go away.

So then I walked through the graveyard again and ended up face to face with the guy, Yngvar Sharptooth. I had gone up and began confronting him about what I needed like I normally would, but this time my heart wasn't in it. I actually couldn't stop thinking about you guys. I couldn't stop thinking about how Dad was busy handling all of those accounts or how Mom was able to practically run a bakery every time a wedding or a bake sale came around or how you guys were just so busy all the time and how no one ever seemed to see you as more than an office worker or just another mom. All of that messed up my concentration and I ended up getting pretty beaten up. I was so distracted, I didn't realize I was losing until Sharptooth stopped our fight himself.

He seemed pretty upset and demanded to know why I was fighting him. I began telling him about my quest when he cut me off by asking me why I was dishonoring him by fighting him in such a distracted state. I tried to play it off for some reason, telling him that it was just a fluke and that I wouldn't be so distracted again. But the moment I had raised my wand, he started yelling at me again, insulted that I would dare try to challenge him if I wasn't going to put my all in it. Damn it! It's not like I could make these thoughts go away! And he just got more and more pissed off as I told him that it was none of his business that I was thinking about as we dueled. And all that did was he get him more and more upset the more I tried to get him to ignore it. And you know how I tend to explode when I'm all riled up like that.

So I snapped at him. I began yelling at him about how he wouldn't understand what I was feeling. About how he got to live in this awesome world full of magic all the time. About how he literally lived in a world that came straight from a fairy tale. About how he was a descendant of this awesome hero and how he never had to deal with people looking down on his parents like they were nothing. About how his parents never had any problems with their marriage or had to deal with the possibility that they may be fired because their boss hates them. About how they never got treated like garbage day in and day out and they never just stood there and took it because they were awesome heroes with wizard powers and that they could just blow them away instead of always getting yelled and screamed at and treated like they deserved to die just because of who they were.

And at some point I started sobbing. I couldn't remember when. I think it was right around the time I began telling him stuff about how his life was perfect. About how he wasn't taken away from his home. From his cushy life with his Mom and Dad and soon to be younger sibling. How he would never see his friends again because some wizard thought you had some sort of talent with magic when you were so clueless and barely understood what was going on even when people's lives weren't at stake. About how you wouldn't know whether you had a younger brother or younger sister because some madman was throwing a tantrum over the fact his wife died and was making everything a living hell. About how even if he could go back home, he wouldn't be able to enjoy because how could anyone go back to such a dull place after seeing such fantastic worlds?

And he just stood there, the entire time. Even when my knees had collapsed and my voice got hoarse. He just watched me as I had to constantly rub my eyes just so I could see what was in front me and he said nothing as I started hiccupping like Mom does whenever she gets all worked up. I don't remember how long he did that. All I know is that the next thing I knew, I looked up as he laid his ghostly paw on me.

"You're right," he said softly, which was shocking since I no one in Grizzleheim seemed to know what an indoor voice was. "I don't know what that's like. However, I do know what it's like to lose a family. To be happy with them, to jest and talk and whittle the hours away with them. And then, one day, to go home only to find out that there is no home to go back to. To know that everyone you care about is gone and that you'll never see their faces again."

And as I looked into his eyes, I realized what he meant, and how we felt. After that, I just cried. I know, I know, your tough little girl who wrestled with the guys at recess and would rather stubbornly hold her breath when she scraped her knee actually cried. And not just a fake cry either, but a real, solid one.

And I think… I think it really helped.

After a really long time, Sharptooth let me go. At some point, despite not being quite tangible, he had hugged me. For a few moments after that, we just sat there in that small corner of the graveyard, not talking or speaking or crying or anything like that. We just sat there and listened to the wind and the sound of insects and everything else.

"You should head back to your camp now," He had said softly. "Maybe tomorrow you will feel well enough to challenge me then."

I nodded and headed back to where Hagan was waiting. He looked like he was going to ask me about how it went, but something made him change his mind. I crawled up in one of the cots, which had been reserved for me since I had become a part of their group, and I went to bed.

You know by now that I had been having nightmares ever since that first night after my introduction to Ravenwood. Like with Malistare and the dragons and the skeletons that had been burned black. But last night it was different. I wasn't dreaming, per se. It was more like I was dreaming about a memory.

I remembered the time Dad's boss had come over for dinner when Mom was sick. You know, the one where we tried to make the food ourselves, but ended up making such a huge mess? Boy, I don't think I could tell who was madder, the Boss, or Mom.

But yeah, I was dreaming about that. About how Dad's boss kept insulting you and talking about how you had made those mistakes at work. He just kept going on and on about every little thing he hated about you until I got really mad. And then I yelled at him for being such a stupid meanie-head to my Dad just because he liked my Mom but Dad married her first. Then Dad had grabbed me and sent me to my room.

I never told you guys this, but I didn't go up to my room that night. I had actually hid behind the stairs and listened to what you had to say, dad. I was kind of disappointed when you had started apologizing for me and kissing up to him, even though the Boss guy not only began to say really mean things about you guys and me. The thing is, I wasn't really shocked by it at all, especially since you had been begging for him to allow you to keep your job.

But now that I think about it, though, I think I had missed a lot of stuff. Like how your fists had been gripping the table. About how every time he had bad mouthed me, you looked away so you wouldn't glare at him. And how, when he was finally leaving, you were shaking so hard you could barely turn the doorknob. I think I realise, now, that you were a lot braver than I remembered, letting him do that you rather than getting upset and allowing him to have an excuse to fire you.

When I woke up, I think I knew where I had gotten my courage from.

I went to face Sharptooth again soon after breakfast. He had been waiting patiently there the entire time, remembering things he hadn't thought of in a long time. When he looked up and saw me, a smile had crept across his face, like he knew I was feeling better. So we dueled each other and I, using my Charms, my charms, and a few good spells to the face, beat his furry butt faster than you could say 'Great Gliding Gammas!'

After I had won, he looked me in the eye for quite a while. Then, after a brief pause, he asked me what I was thinking about. So I told him. I told him about the man who had dealt with people looking down on him all his life. I told him about the man who had the courage to marry his high school crush even though a richer, more powerful guy had been vying for her too. About the man who weathered everything from hatred to war to spiteful bosses just so his wife and kid could have a good life.

I also told him about the goofball who would then go on to always make smiles on my pancakes. About the dork who practically cried whenever he tried to get me into this 'sci-fi' stuff and I called it lame. About the Dad who, every night, would put on the worst magic show possible just so that I'd have a few good laughs before I went to sleep.

Sharptooth grinned, showing some teeth that lived up to his name, and said how he had some tough competition if he wanted to be my ancestor. I replied with something about Dad's bathing habits (Seriously Dad, you smell really bad without them) and we just laughed.

And even though Yngvar said he'd be as proud of me as if I were his own kid, I don't think I'll ever see him as a parent. Maybe like Uncle Lester, but not like you guys. You're irreplaceable.

I think I'll stop here for now. I'm about to run out of scroll here and I don't know when I'll be able to buy some more. I hope that you've gotten all of my letters, but given that the spell that I'm trying may not even be able to find your world, I know that it may be a lot to ask for. But I really hope this letter gets to you this time. Because I really mean it this time when I say that I love you so much. And I truly do hope I'll be able to see you again.

With much love,

Destiny

P.S.: Please don't give my room to my little brother/sister while I'm gone. I want my posters and stuff to be exactly where I left them when I come home.