Letter to Mistress

Love,   Many years ago, you told me you would count the days until receiving this letter. Now we can count, together, the days until duty does not call for us in different lands.   I miss you, and I did not realize the ache in my heart until I got to see you, ever so briefly. But I am safe, well-attended, and loved here. I have collected yet another family (how many families will I amass for myself, in my lifetime?) and they are a ragtag group I’m sure you would approve of.   I have another student (unexpectedly), who is bright and curious and so eager to learn. She is the daughter of an innkeeper and I am secretly quite pleased that there is no formal academy for her to attend. I wouldn’t want to have to handle the politics of her duelling other students...   The way she fights with her sword and her magic reminds me of someone you called once. She is so talented but so, so young. Humans don’t live beyond their first century...everything they do is so rushed, so anxious to capture life before it slips away. Even if I were to spend half a century here, it would be a drop in the ocean compared to our lives together.   The other human in my group is a Fatespinner. He was taught by Thalien. The threads that that man would have arranged to have a trained apprentice waiting for me after he’d passed...The magic of fate is powerful but somehow I am thankful to only have to deal with my own blood. It’s hard to misinterpret my own sacrifices, but I imagine misinterpreting fate could go rather poorly.   Seeing my path for what it is now, I know it couldn’t have gone another way. Still, I’m sorry that one of the sacrifices on this path was getting to be near you. I trust that you are protected and as competent as ever, but nothing is truly at peace while we are apart. We could end all the wars on both sides of the Barrier and still not rest until we are together again.   Some people may say they love mysteries, but I’ve had quite enough of them for one lifetime. I want nothing more than to resolve a centuries-old conflict on both sides of the Barrier, and be united with you again. Is that so much to ask from the world?   Heiassa