Soren sat on a boulder. Behind him stood a tent in which Claudia rested peacefully while her brother stood watch.
Yawning, Soren continued his mindless carving. Soon, he'd get to wake her to change watches. The night was cold, so he wore a furry, thick coat over his armor. The collecting heat that shielded him from Del Bar's mountain freeze also made him sleepy.
There was a whizzing sound in the air that alarmed the soldier and he stood, looking around.
An arrow flew past him, entered the tent and impacted close to Claudia's face, startling her awake.
"Wha-", she went, balking at the weapon, "Soren!?"
"I saw it! You okay?", he shouted from outside where he was looking around to see where the attack had come from.
Claudia considered the arrow, noticing how odd its front was shaped. "I'm fine! Come look at this! I think we just got a message from an elf!"
Soren ducked inside, eyeing her, "Uh, did that hit you in the head or something?"
The mage fiddled with the head of the arrow, eventually finding the latch that opened its maw, allowing her to extract the message.
She unfurled it and raised her glowing hand to read it.
"Looks like this was meant to go to Amaya, Sorebear. Her name's on this.", she then noticed her name in a different script, scribbled next to a note in a corner, "Hm. `Claudia, read flipside first.`"
She turned the page to find a shakily written paragraph.
"Ah, here. Hello Claudia, this is Callum. Rayla and I are far past the border in Xadia and the baby dragon just had some sort of fit. We tried to send this message to everyone we could think of who might be near the Breach, but couldn't reach anyone. This might mean that Ezran, Amaya, Gren and Corvus are warded against magic, not reachable by air or d-", she stopped short.
This was not how she had hoped hearing from him. She frowned.
"What's wrong?", Soren asked, placing a hand on her back.
"`Dead`, Soren. The next word is `Dead`", she said, collecting herself for the rest of the letter, "You and Soren are the only other people I could think of. I don't mean that to sound like an insult, but we didn't exactly part on good terms"
Claudia put down the letter and gave her brother a sad glance.
Soren shrugged his sheepish agreement.
"Obviously I don't know what you are up to. The last thing I heard was that you went to Del Bar to find your mom. I really hope that worked out for you."
Both of them now sighed deeply. It had not.
Del Bar was a big place and they had had little to go on.
"It's a lot to ask but we're not due back for another month or so and I was hoping to have some sort of news from home before then. If you do decide to go back to the Breach and there's still an armistice, find an elf named Helmond. He can get you arrows like the one we used to send this message and show you how to use them. By the way, if you were wondering if this is actually me writing, you should try eating some more peanut butter before doing your sky magic. Take care for now, and, in case you decide to go, thank you. Callum."
She snickered sadly, fondly remembering a time when they had been on better terms.
Even though it was her reading his words, it felt like there was a certain disappointment at their broken relationship in his literary voice.
Maybe, though, that was her own?
Claudia handed the letter over to Soren.
"You read the other side", she said, trying to control a powerful upset. The possibility of little Ezran being dead or in trouble really was a gut punch.
Her brother slumped to the ground, thinking. "Clauds, this is actually kinda good news, too."
"What makes you say that?"
"It means the step-prince's still kicking. I thought for sure he wasn't gonna make it when I saw them carry him off after that whole dragon-thing."
"You weren't exactly in good shape, either, Sore-Sore."
He scoffed, "No, but my eyes were working and my head was pointed right at you guys! I mean think about it, he's been over there for over, like, three months now."
Soren fist-pumped. "Unf! Yes! I'm such a good teacher! I taught him how to survive! Look how well he's doing!"
"I get it!", his sister said with a small smile.
He cleared his throat and started reading the other side of the letter, penned by a different hand.
"General Amaya. Zym had some kind of fit. Callum and I are worried something may have happened to Ezran."
His sister blinked. "Is this written by the elf?"
Soren shrug-nodded, "I guess? Looks like she doesn't write common script a lot. Anyway…", he continued reading, "Please let us know if you have an idea of what's going on. Our wounds are healing well."
Claudia interrupted him again, "Wounds?! As in, `more than one`?! What have they been doing?!"
"Duh, they probably have to fight all the time! It's elf land, right? Uh… ah. The oceanwave healer has helped us both a lot, mentally, and we've managed to bury the bounty hunter... ", Soren trailed off, a surprised frown spreading on his mien.
"What is it?"
"Well, uh, says here that Callum... offed... someone."
"What!?"
"...we've managed to bury the bounty hunter, Kel Ortis, who was killed by Callum. It's terrible confirmation but I'm honestly a little relieved she's dead, too. I was not looking forward to fighting her again."
"Oh man, that sounds really terrible! `Ortis` is a Del Barian clan, Soren, she was human! I hope Callum's alright. It took me a long time to get over killing-", she cut herself off, then continued, "those, uh, fluffy Xadian things. Destroying another human life is probably way worse."
She was not going to tell them how she had cured his paralysis. Soren would probably not appreciate the materials she'd used.
Her brother shrugged. "You do what's necessary, though. If some bounty hunter came after us, I wouldn't worry too much if I cut them up. It'd be their fault for messing with us."
"Yeah, but this is Callum we're talking about, Sorebear. He's not a soldier."
'He's my little weakling prince', she thought to herself, sadly.
"Had to grow up fast, the kid. Kinda the same with Ez", her brother frowned, then added quietly, "I guess we all did."
Claudia nodded and Soren turned back to the letter.
"Uh… fighting her again. I should also mention that we've met Helmond's family. If he's still around, you might want to let him know that they are coming to see him. Either way, we're making good progress, and even though Callum seems to have caught a flu, we'll be fine. We're all stocked with medicine. Please be well. Rayla."
"Yeah it really sounds like he's having a terrific time in Xadia. Augh! I wish I could've just been smarter at grabbing them! If I hadn't bungled so hard, he and Ez would be with us, safe!"
"Uh, Clauds…? If you hadn't `bungled`, Dad would've probably killed them. Or told me to do it."
She stared at him, frowning. It hurt to hear those words and to know that they were probably true.
"I mean, yeah, but if...", she sighed, "If we hadn't been so… aggressive with them, we could've come with. Helped them."
'Kept our dates going', the mage continued, in thought.
Out loud, she said, "What do we do?"
"I dunno. I feel like we owe them. Do you think we're close to finding something about mom?"
His sister shrugged. "So far we've been pretty unlucky. I'm not sure that's gonna change."
"Well, let's go back to the Breach, figure out what's going on?"
Claudia nodded, leaning for her bag to pull out her map.
"Hm. It looks like we could make it back to the breach in six, seven days. Five, if we really push it."
Soren got up from his crouched position and extended a hand in her direction.
"Let's push, then."