A sheaf of fine, milky parchment, enclosed in an emerald green envelope passes from servant to servant early in the night.
To Prince Caradoc and the Honorable Lord Merlin,
As representatives here at this celebration of our respective homelands, and in honor of endeavoring to come together in peace and amicability, I hereby extend an invitation to break your fasts with me in the gardens on the morrow.
Two hours after the sun has risen, I shall find myself in the Royal Gardens, quite near the blossoming apple trees and heavy rose bushes. It would honor and please me greatly were you both to accept my invitation so we may make more formal introductions among us.
I hope we may come together in friendship, and further deepen the ties between our great nations.
Most Sincerely,
Prince Bedivere of Mercia
Duke of the Wandering Cliffs
Dictated but not read for efficiency of correspondence.
A knight catches up with a quickly walking servant in the hall, flagging him down after shouting two incorrect names and one oath.
Just tell him:
Merlin, mate, you're coming to training tomorrow with the lads and I. Which lads? Oh, right. Uh, Leon and Galahad and Fred. But we're not in Camelot, so tell him we're starting at a normal sodding time, after breakfast and after the sun has risen and had time for a good stretch. We need his–your, right, sorry Dagonet, I know you're trying to write all this down–well, you don't need to right this–sod off. Fine. We need your trained eye to tell us when we're messing up. Also, I fear we may break a law or two if left to our own devices all together.
Love,
Gwaine
A piece of silky stationary is primly placed into a plain envelope, clearly addressed. It passes from servant to servant until it reaches, finally, its intended recipients.
Dear Merlin,
It would delight me if you would accept an invitation to lunch with the Ladies Fara and Lady Eloise of Nemeth, along with Sir Bors of Gawant. It appears each of you five have something in common with one another, and I believe you capable of getting along famously.
I hope to see you at luncheon in my quarters on the morrow a candlemark after-noon.
Most Sincerely,
Lady Lian of Nemeth
Dictated but not read.
(Post-Script: Merlin, dear, please join me. I know the Ladies Fara and Lady Eloise, and found myself in a position wherein I had to invite them, the two of them being some kind of distant relations of my husband's. They are marriageable young ladies, and looking for suitors, but are some of the most dull young ladies I have had the displeasure of knowing. Please save me from them, and in doing so, collaborate with me in learning more about this Duke Bors for our mutual friend. Most sincerely, your friend Lady Lian.)
A neatly folded note is shoved beneath a door, to be stumbled upon by a perplexed servant several hours later.
Dearest M,
I'm afraid we will not have time to truly talk until after the feast tomorrow. Please join me for tea afterward, so I may take your council. I will be in attendance upon invitation at a luncheon tomorrow hosted by our hosting monarchs. Most of my fellow royals shall also be in attendance. Before that, however, Princess Elena invited me to exercise some horses together, and afterward I am to have tea with Prince Caradoc and a few ladies from different courts.
May the gods have mercy on my fatigued soul.
I shall see you tomorrow at the Grand Feast, and afterward to debrief. Sleep well, my friend, and please do your best to not get into any more fights while we are here.
Love,
G
A note is shoved beneath the door with little ceremony.
Dearest and most beloved Guinevere,
It appears we are in similar boats. Dagonet thought it fit to accept several invitations on my behalf for tomorrow. I am to break my fast with the princes Bedivere and Caradoc, then attend training with several knights, and then have a luncheon with Lady Lian, two other people, and Sir Bors.
May the gods have mercy on both of us.
I promise no such thing, but will as always endeavor to do my best by your wishes, highness.
Sleep well. Enjoy your stuffy lunch and stuffier tea. I will see you at and after the feast on the morrow.
Thoughts and prayers,
M
A note is tucked into a leather pouch, nestled among fine game pieces. The handwriting is familiar to the reader, and sparks a smile upon seeing it.
Dear Merlin,
Abrytan is a wonderful game. I think it is one you will enjoy, and certainly one you will quickly become proficient at.
Here is how Abrytan works: the game has two players. A coin is flipped at the beginning, determining who will play which color. The green team has ten pieces, one of which is the King, four of which are the Knights, and five of which are the Pikemen. The red team has fifteen pieces, five of which are Knights, and ten of which are Pikemen.
The board, as you can see, is mutable. You can place down rivers, mountains, forests, all of which slightly change how far each piece can move. Green sets up their pieces with the goal of protecting the King. Red sets up their pieces with the goal of capturing the Green King.
Pieces are won and lost by using a movement to capture your opponents' piece. You can move more than one piece into a space. If green has two pieces in one space, but is overtaken by three red piece in one place, the red player may remove two of each player's pieces, leaving only one red piece. If a square has equal pieces, a dice roll is used to determine the outcome of the move, with the higher roller winning the Skirmish. Knights are worth five pikemen.
I invite you to play with me sometime. I will delight in teaching you, and I am sure, delight in beating you as well, though you are no doubt a quick learner. All you must do is send a note, and I will happily take you through your paces at your desire.
My heart rejoices at once more being among friends. Sleep well, and enjoy all Nemeth has to offer, my friend. You deserve it.
Most Sincerely,
Princess Mithian
A stark white parchment, covered in looping and stately writing, is tucked into a cream-colored envelope and delivered on a silver platter to a door in the Visitor's Wing. A thoroughly perplexed-looking servant holding a duck accepts the letter, but refuses the silver platter.
Dear Lord Merlin of Ealdor and Camelot,
First and foremost, I must sincerely and ardently apologize for having made an introduction to your honorable self via writing and a letter rather than in person, as decorum demands. It is a stain upon my honor to have done so, but found that waiting much longer to make your acquaintance was even more unforgivable an act.
I am honored to be on even the periphery of a proper introduction to your lordship. I have heard many a great thing about yourself and the company you keep, not the least of which comes from my aunt, her highness the Queen Annis of Caerleon herself.
I beg of you to consider forgiving my transgression in introducing myself in writing, and beg of you further to consider making my acquaintance in person. Perhaps after the business of the Grand Feast is concluded–obviously with much merriment and celebration as is befitting such a fete–you would grace me with your presence so we may take in the air together.
Once again, I beg your forgiveness, my lord, and hope my forwardness and abandonment of decorum be not such an offense to you that any earnest pleading on my own behalf falls on–and, I must say, if it does, it would be rightfully so–deaf ears.
Your friend in arms,
Your devoted servant,
And most sincerely,
Sir Kay of Caerleon
Earl of Tarling
Elsewhere in the castle, a piece of parchment is carefully enclosed in an envelope, sealed, and sent off with a servant to a messenger. The messenger promptly mounts his horse and tears off into the night.
Dear Mighty King Lot,
I pray and wish and dearly hope this letter finds you well, your highness. No doubt Essetir is flourishing beneath your dedicated and wholly correct attentions. Though I hope this letter does not bother you from much greater concerns, I write as directed of the developments in Nemeth so far, and my successes already in this foreign court on your behalf.
I was greeted personally at the steps of Nemeth's castle by King Rodor, Queen Adelain, and Princess Mithian themselves. It is a testament to your strength, wisdom, and righteousness as a leader that they showed such respect for one so lowly as myself. It is only in connection to you that I am ennobled in their eyes, and any attentions paid to me upon arrival were surely meant for you.
King Rodor took me aside personally to speak of the witch who still so plagues our lands, and who you have successfully routed into foreign territory through your wise strategies and our country's strong army. Of course, I praised your acumen and forethought, as well as your successes in driving Morgana from our lands, to which the king was rightfully receptive.
The princess seemed impressed with my countenance and bearing. That, along with her deep-held desire for a stronger alliance between our two flourishing countries, leads me to believe that the odds are in my favor in competing for the princess's hand.
I dare not trouble you any longer with such paltry reports, your highness. Rest assured that I have borne myself with the utmost nobility and honor, and will make certain of a successful diplomatic mission to the lands of Nemeth on your behalf.
Yours in arms,
Duke Pellinor
A plain yet sturdy note is wrapped lovingly in an envelope and sent along to a messenger, who places it in his pack and waits until first light to depart the city.
My love,
We have arrived in Nemeth. I am grateful, exhausted, and lonesome without your arms around me keeping me warm and making me feel so loved. Only three weeks apart, and yet my heart aches for you. Did you know that we have never been apart for so long before? The knowledge exists somewhere in my chest and in my bones, and it feels wrong, yet I cannot bring myself to journey home again. Such an act would be selfish, would it not?
How do you fare in Camelot, so far away from me? How is our city and our people? How are you, my dearest one? Are you sleeping enough and eating well? Is George driving you insane? Are the knights better or worse behaved without Merlin? How about without Gwaine?
I love you and miss you terribly. It is only the thought of our diplomatic goals that keeps me here in Nemeth, and the desire to do right by our oldest and dearest friend.
You will not believe the trouble Merlin and Gwaine have already gotten into. Merlin almost got into a brawl on the behalf of his manservant–yes, you read that correctly, my dear, his manservant–in front of every assembled court just this very afternoon, not hours after arriving. He did, however, act with honor, and successfully managed to diffuse the situation by cornering the brute in a surprisingly effective social maneuver.
Gwaine, on his part, has half the ladies in every attendant court fawning over him already, and then became irretrievably–though not sloppily–drunk at a private dinner hosted by Princess Mithian and her friends.
Whatever am I to do with the two of them? How do you manage to keep them in line? It seems while they do not bring out the worst in each other, when left to their own devices their capacity for mischief and scheming and troublemaking knows no bounds.
At least we can be grateful that it was Merlin who almost got into a brawl on the first day and not Gwaine, right, my love? Otherwise, everyone in attendance would be walking around tomorrow with purpled eyes.
Please write soon. I count down the days until I am in your arms again.
Love,
Guinevere
Two young ladies busy their servants sending messages back and forth across the hallway. This is the last folded and hurried note of the night to pass between them.
Eloise,
So it is decided, then. We shall indeed attend the luncheon hosted by our esteemed great-step-cousin Lady Lian. I must admit, Lord Merlin looks rather dashing, does he not? Perhaps tomorrow, I shall focus my efforts once more on the lord, and you on the duke.
You may be asking yourself, Why, but Fara, shouldn't you, as the elder cousin and the longest on the market, as well as the most marriageable, be courting the duke? And you would likely be correct, cousin. However, Lord Merlin did look most dashing. And, after all, what better to excite the attentions of a duke but invite the attentions of another gentle and honorable lord? Not to mention, a lord so well-known and well-loved as the Lord Merlin?
I bid you a good night, cousin, and sweet dreams. Perhaps one of us shall catch a duke tomorrow, or otherwise a very well-respected advisor.
Love,
Fara