Wishing You Were Here

Letter Two

Of Peachblossom and Clerks

New Hope

12 September, 462

Dom:

You intolerable tease. Are you attempting to trifle with my maiden's heart?

Because I can assure you, you will not be successful.

I am certain that, no matter your implications, this Devon will be able to find a perfectly normal, unattached, un-battle-hardened, and un-scarred (unlike myself) woman, who will be more than interested in cooing over his battle-scars and less occupied in running a refugee camp.

And you can tell the men of your squad to stuff it.

Since you mentioned the weather, yes, it has been cold. That is what tends to happen, the farther north you go. You do remember that we have been stationed at one of the northernmost points in Tortall, don't you?

We had an early snow here at New Hope a few nights ago. It really is amusing how a little snow can have the most interesting (and entertaining) effects. For instance, Neal. You see, the animals were slightly restless due to the bad weather, which was proved by Peachblossom's deterrence from his usual schedule. He bit Neal five times that day, as opposed to his usual agenda of two bites, one before dinner and one after. And then, as Neal was walking through the camp in the evening, he was assailed by snowballs thrown by refugee children excited by the first snow.

Ah, poor Raoul. Give him my condolences, and tell him that he should have known better than to challenge the Lioness. After all, what was he expecting, meek acceptance and a gentle thank-you? The entire realm knows the Lioness better then that. Tell my Lord that next time he tries to correct Lady Alanna, he'd best be sure that he can put a continent or two between them rather quickly.

And honestly Dom, your relatives can't be as bad as all that. After all, that infamous family charm has to come from somewhere. Both you and Neal have a certain…charisma, and I highly doubt that had you been raised among mad barbarians, as you seem to make out, either of you would have developed such appeal.

My theory is that members of your family have tendency to vex others with their sharp tongues, and that, in order to bring themselves back into favour, they develop an charming character to excuse discourteous or painfully straightforward behaviour.

To tell you the truth, it's very nice to talk to you, even if it our conversation is somewhat indirect. I can't help but feel slightly neglected occasionally, what with Neal constantly locking himself in his room and sniffing Yuki's letters hoping to get a whiff of her perfume. Not that I mind the fact that Neal is keeping himself occupied, letter-sniffing is preferable to refugee-harassing or children-impugning.

In the meantime, I've kept myself busy with the never-ending duties of a commander, but then, I don't need to tell you about those, since you yourself have often been faced with the same. Sufficient to say that, after this war is done, I hope to never see another progress report or supply register again.

I am constantly reminding myself that, should I ever be put in command again, I must buy a parcel of clerks and attach them to myself in some fashion so that I will never again have to take down a list of something or another.

One would think that with the official "ending of the war", there would be less fighting that would actually signify a, well, ending of the war. I am sorry to hear about Third Company's losses, and hope that the combat in your area will cool off soon.

Speaking of warfare, Numair Salmalín was visiting New Hope recently and mentioned that the peace talks with the Scanrans have been somewhat strained recently. Perhaps this explains the increased fighting that has been going on lately.

A small group of rogue Scanran foot soldiers attacked one of Merric's patrols a few days ago. In itself, this would be nothing to worry about, but the Scanrans had a shaman with them who wielded some sort of new spell that deflected our arrows and kept them from hitting the enemy troops.

Fortunately Master Salmalín has been able to work with Neal in developing a counter-spell that should eliminate their advantage. Both Neal and Numair constantly remind me that war-magic is not their speciality, but I feel fairly confident in their success.

And Dom, I do hope you realise how ridiculous it is for you to wish I was there with you. I'm needed where I am, though perhaps I didn't see as much of the principal fighting as you did.

And besides, if I were at Steadfast with you, what would I be doing there?

Steadfast has plenty of fine commanders, yourself included, and a single knight such as myself would not make much of a difference. I would rather be useful in a forgotten corner of the battle-front than useless at Steadfast.

Thank you for your letter, and I hope you find the time to write back soon.

-Kel

This chapter goes out with thanks to:

lena-jade, for her accurate correction. Your point has been noted and fixed, and hopefully next time I will check the spelling of names myself, instead of being too lazy to go fetch my copy of Lady Knight. :o)

and to

the eternity, for her brilliant and somewhat impromptu idea. I shall certainly have to do just as you suggested at some point in this fic.

A/N -I have come to realise that it is incredibly hard to write Kel in first person. Writing Dom was much easier. I suppose that's because Kel isn't quite as chatty as Dom. Or as flirty. Anyhow, this is my first attempt, so please tell me what you think. Have I destroyed Kel, or is she passable?

dreamerdoll, Here's more, it just took forever. I've just been so busy with school n everything…you know, it kills. But I've made a vow to myself to not let any of my stories die…hopefully.

daughter-of-faeries, Just letters, I think, for now. They might eventually make plans to meet in their letters, though… ::wink, wink::

PsychoLioness13, Yes, that was one of my favourite lines as well. :)

sno-leopard, No, it's just that people tend to be a bit more formal when they're writing letters as opposed to when they're actually speaking.

Darth Sissy, I might –have- to write more than 5 or 6, because I'm not sure I can fit in everything I intend to. So cross your fingers, and hope the plotbunnies attack me!

Wake-Robin, ::blushes:: Thank you!

Warrior of Tortall, I was going for a completely different aspect of the characters than we got to read in Tammy's books. Thanks for noticing!

Starlit Niphredil, I'm sorry I kept Dom waiting so long. But you know how my brain works. It doesn't.

This is probably a hopeless ploy, but if any of you readers have some extra time, would you mind looking up my story "Rapid Hope Loss" and reviewing it? It's desperately short on reviews, which makes me feel sad and insignificant. :( Yes, I know, I need higher self-esteem, but just…please?