Dear Freya
The wanderer lay on his bed, focused. He slowly and precisely wrote the last words of his letter on his parchment. His eyes widened, and his jaw hung open in shock. He did it. He finally did it. "I DID IT!" Koga shouted from the top of his lungs. He hops from his bed, rushes out of the room, and runs down the stone halls. "ELFO! MIRI! WHERE ARE YOU—WHOA!" Koga went into the air and fell flat on his back. "Ooooouch…" Koga groaned.
Miri looked down at Koga. "We have to stop meeting like this," She told him.
"Tell me about it," said Koga. He hops to his feet. "But forget about that! LOOK! I finally finished it!
"Oh, that's great! Can I read it?" Miri asked
"No," said Koga, keeping the letter close. "It's only for Freya's eyes to read!"
Miri shrugged. "Eh, ok. As long as I don't have to clean up anymore bawled-up pieces of paper, I'm happy you finally finished your letter."
Elfo would peek his head around the corner. "Did someone call my name?" He asked.
"Koga finished his letter to Freya," said Miri.
"He did? Oh, that's great!" said Elfo. "Can I read it?"
"No," said Koga.
"What? Why not? I wanna see what you said!"
"It's only for Freya's eyes to read. Nobody else,"
"But I wanna seeeee!" Elfo attempted to climb up Koga's leg, but the wanderer grabbed Elfo by the back of his shirt and held up in the air.
"All I need to do now is get this letter sent off. Where does this castle keep the messenger birds?" said Koga, with a big smile. He places Elfo down, takes the letter and folds it.
"The messenger what?" said Elfo.
"Messenger birds. Do you guys not keep messenger birds around here?" The wanderer asked. "You know, birds trained to deliver messages to people?"
"Uhhh…" Miri scratched her head. "I don't think Dreamland has messenger birds…"
"Then…how am I supposed to deliver this letter—"
"I can do it!"
Koga flinches and turns around. Turbish, the short and chubby blond knight, stood there smiling at Koga. "It would be an honour to deliver this letter to your fair maiden, Captain Koga!" He bowed.
"Oh hell no," said Koga, stuffing the letter in his pocket.
"Aww, why not?" Turbish frowned.
"Do you think I'd trust you with delivering this letter, Turbish? You've lost your mind!"
"Hey, I can deliver a simple letter! I'm not stupid!" Turbish shot back.
That's when Mertz appeared. "Hey guys, so we're all just hanging around In the hallway, huh? What's the deal?"
"Koga won't let me deliver his letter to his girlfriend!" The blond-haired knight whined.
"She's not my girlfriend!" Koga protested, which resulted in Elfo and Miri giggling. They stopped and started whistling when Koga glared at them.
Mertz laughed. "Yeah, I wouldn't trust you with a bag of apples Turbish,"
"Oh shut the hell up, Mertz, you're not any better!" said Koga, placing his eyes on Mertz. "Last time I asked you to do something, you completely screwed it up!"
"Hey, I resent that!" Mertz retorted. "Name one time that I screwed up something that you wanted me to do!"
"Like when I told you to pick up the bucket of honey I got, and you held it upside down?"
"I thought it would stick to the surface of the bucket!"
"It's still a liquid substance, you dumbass! That's common knowledge!" Koga yelled.
"Well, it's not common to me!" Mertz crossed his arms.
Koga groaned and rubbed between his eyes. That's when Stryker, a pale man with grey hair and a grey beard, and Bolt, a black man with bushy black hair, joined in a conversation. "If it's a letter that you need delivering, Sir Koga, maybe one of us can be of service!" said Stryker.
Koga stared at them. "Uh, are you two new?"
"That's Stryker and Bolt," said Mertz. "They just got back."
"Stryker and Bolt—you mean the two knights who've been lost for six months?!" said Koga, in shock. "Yeah, you two are a hard no. Best trackers of the zog table, my ass!"
"What's all the fuss about?" said Pendergast, joining the conversation.
"Koga has a letter he wants to send to his girlfriend, but he won't let us help!" said Turbish in a childish tone.
"She's not my girlfriend!" Koga said once more.
"Not yet," said Elfo, smirking, causing Miri to giggle and Koga to scowl.
Pendergast let's out a gasp. "Koga has a letter he needs to send to his maiden?" He slams his fist to his armoured chest, making a loud BANG! "Koga! Allow me to deliver the letter!"
Koga narrowed his eyes at Pendergast. "You guard this letter with your life…"
"I will fight off the mightiest creature to deliver it to her!" said Pendergast, determinedly. "Even if it cost me my life!"
"Make sure you get the letter to her first before you die," said Koga, handing the letter to him.
"Of course, my friend!" Pendergast takes the letter and nods.
"Strawberries, check, grapes, check, bread, check—Oh goddamn Archie!" said Freya, placing her eyes on the freckled face boy named Archie, who had just dropped the carton of apples. Freya had her bright red hair let down and wore a sleeveless green tunic.
"Oh, come on, it was heavy!" Archie complained, placing the apples back into the crate.
"Here, let me help you, Archie," said the black-haired girl with a yellow eye named Sophie. She sets down her four cartons of apples, takes Archies, places them on her stack, and walks off.
Freya sighed. She picks up a bag of potatoes and tosses it to Archie. Archie lets out a gasp as he catches it. "That's lighter, Archie. Now hurry up and move along!"
"Y-Yes mam…" Archie slowly walks off.
Freya just shook her head and went back to listing off the trade. Just as she regained her focus, one of the town kids ran up to one of their friends and began shouting excitedly. "Hey, a knight just arrived in town!" All of the kids gasped and followed their friend.
"Did he just say that a knight arrived?" said Sophie,
"So it would seem," Freya replied, uninterested.
"You think we should go see what the knight wants?"
"Eh, you can go and see. I need to finish count—"
"Is there a Freya here? Anyone?" Pendergast called out.
Freya turned around. Pendergast was riding his horse through the crowd, looking for her. Three of the town's kids hurried over to Freya and surrounded her. "Freya, this knight is asking for you! Oh my god, are you going to get swept away, and we'll never see you again?!" said the little girl named Isabella with tears in her eyes.
"W-What? No, I'm not going anywhere!" Freya stuttered in confusion. She placed her glare onto Pendergast as he approached. "Is there a reason you trotted into our town and caused this ruckus?" She crossed her arms.
"My my, Koga wasn't kidding when he said you have long flowing red hair. Bright as a roaring fire and eyes as blue as the sky above!" said Pendergast.
"Oh, for the love of—wait…Koga?" The redhead's expression changed from angry to shocked once Pendergast said his name. "You know Koga?"
"Of course! He's second command of my squad at Dreamland!" Pendergast reached into the satchel, pulled out the letter, and handed it to him. "A letter from him!"
The kids, along with a few adults, let out an "Oooooooooooh" as Freya took the letter from Pendergast. Her face reddened with embarrassment at the instigating, and she shouted. "SHUT UP!" She turned around, ran into the headquarters, and entered her room. She closed the door behind her, and she panted. She couldn't believe this. Koga of all people—writing a letter—to her? She was so used to only seeing him once every—no, hardly ever. Some months would pass, and she thought she would never see him again. NEVER. And now, for the first time, he was writing to her. A letter that he had explicitly written to her. She looked at the piece of paper that read to Freya. She took a deep breath and exhaled. She could still feel the heat from her face and she brushes her red hair away from her eyes. She walks over to her desk, pulls out her chair and sits. She unfolded the letter and began reading the words in her head.
Dear Freya
Hey, it's been awhile. I think it's been a few months since I saw you and everyone back at Southwold. How are you? Are you doing ok? Oh my god, why am I writing like I'm speaking to you? Is this weird? Is this how people usually write letters? I hope I'm doing this right. Anyway, a lot has happened since the last time I saw you. I don't know where to begin. Well, for starters, I got tossed off a cliff and nearly died. But I'm fine! Of course, you know I'm fine. I wouldn't be alive writing this right now if I wasn't. Ok, I have to focus. So, I got tossed off a cliff by some guys who came to take Bean back to Dreamland. I got a cool scar on my left eye, though, so it wasn't too bad. This Big giant woman named Tess saved and nursed me back to health. She's pretty cool, I think you'd like her.
After that, I got better, got new clothes, travelled to Dreamland, and crashed Bean's wedding. I sliced the guy who tossed me off the cliff in two. Freya whispered, "Nice!" when she read that part. "And just like that, the King of Dreamland made me a knight of his roundtable, although I don't think of myself as a knight. At first, I was hesitant about it. I wasn't sure if it were something I'd do. But thinking back to it, I'm glad I did. I think being here in Dreamland has done some good for me. The downside though is that I nearly got eaten by cannibal twins, and I had to fight off a horde of giant bees to free Elfo. Oh, and Bean, Elfo and Luci annoy the hell out of me from time to time, and the knights I work with, besides Pendergast, are a bunch of dumbasses. And don't even get me started on the King. He smells and takes up so much hallway space. I think he waddles a bit too when he walks. And he's loud. It gives me a headache. I think this might be to exposition. I don't know when I should stop writing, but I will get to the point. And please make sure no one is around when I say this. Freya looks behind her before reading what Koga wrote. Once she sees that the ghost is clear, she continues reading. I miss you, Freya. There isn't a day or week, or month that goes by that when I think about you. I wish you were here with me. I want to return, but I need to be the best I can be before I see you again. I know it sounds stupid, but It's something I need to do. And when all is said and done, you're the first person I want to see the most. Please understand, and please don't be everyone back home I miss them too. I hope Pendergast can get this to you.
Koga
Ps. If Pendergast is still there, tell him to piss off and get back to Dreamland.
Feya giggled as he finished reading the letter. "You big idiot…" She sighed and placed the letter to her chest.
She placed the letter in the drawer and stepped outside. A bunch of the town's girls swarmed around Pendergast and giggled as he talked about himself. "And that's how we train to kill a dragon. I'm sure we're extra prepared now!" He laughed.
"Ok, Pendergast, off you go!" said Freya.
"Oh uh…ok, right! Well, I'll see you all around!" said Pendergast as he grabbed the reins. "I almost forgot! What did you think of the letter?"
Freya crossed her arms and looked away. "It was nice…" she whispered. "Now, piss off!"
Pendergast gulped as he snapped the reins and rode off out of town.
"Sooo…" said Archie as he and Sophie approached Freya. "What did the letter say?"
"Did he confess his love to you and asked you to marry him?" Sophie teased.
"It said if the two of you don't get back to work, you won't get any supper," said Freya sternly.
"Right," said Archie and Sophie as they hurried.
Freya sighed. She smiled a bit as she thought about Koga.
She would be rereading the letter tonight before going to bed.