Afar and Alone
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A well written letter sent from Lantan to the land of Norwick.
To my beloved Melody,
I hope this letter finds you well and in good health. I've only just arrived in Lantan and already I miss you. Your body, your warmth, your touch, your voice… You. What a silly thing love is. Our relationship started as friends. We intended to keep it at that. And why not? We enjoyed one another's company. But Love, ever present, lingered in the shadows, waiting for the opportune moment to strike. I remember very clearly when that moment came. We were sitting at the lake south of Norwick. It was just you and I, relaxing after a skirmish with a small army of goblins. I undressed and slid into the cool waters of the lake, cleansing myself and my equipment of the goblin filth. I set my things out to dry as I continued to wash myself, and you saw fit to grab up all of my belongings. I couldn't help but laugh as I pleaded for my things to be returned. I remember the look in your eyes as you turned to run off, the youthful, innocent happiness that is such a rarity in these lands... And I fell in love with you.
Nothing since then has mattered. It seems that everything I do, I do merely to pass the time until I see you next. I once laughed at the notion of love. But now I see that I laughed because I longed for what I could never find. I suppose I should thank your beloved Sune, for now I have found what had always escaped me. You are beautiful, and I love you.
I pray you still think of me as our days apart turn to weeks, and those weeks to months. And I can only hope that you love me as much as the day I left. You told me so long as I trust and respect you, you would continue to hold me in your heart. I write to you, truthfully, that I trust and respect you as you are, for who you are - the woman I've come to love.
But that in no way nullifies what I said before leaving. If you are to fall for someone in my absence, do not feel obligated to stay with me. You deserve someone who can be with you, be there for you. And while I'll always hold you in my heart and in my thoughts, you may need someone who can hold you in his arms.
Oh, what I'd give to have you here with me now.. I regret this trip more and more with every moment that passes. But alas, my regrets are of little importance now that I've arrived in Lantan. I can only dream of the moment I return to you.
You once said that loving you is a brave thing to do. But it is loving you which makes me brave. You challenge me, you push me, and you love me. And with you, I become who I've always wanted to be.
Forever yours,
LudoA small space is left, with a quick message scribbled along the bottom.
I will do my best to write to you, my dear, but the delivery of such messages is slow, and the time to write is limited.
((This is the first of (hopefully) a small series of letters from Ludo to his friends in Narfell. While I'm unable to access Neverwinter Nights while I'm traveling in Europe, I may have some time online. Feel free to respond here, whether it be IG or OOC, and I'll do my best to write back! As it stands, I won't be home until July 16th, but that's liable to change. Wishing you all a healthy and wonderful summer!))
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The following words are written quickly, but at the same time, with a great amount of care.
Dearest Melody,
I've spent many nights thinking of what to write you. It's difficult, because amidst the constant flow of calculations and formulas being forced into my every thought, I can hardly manage a legible sentence. Needless to say, the instructors here have been keeping us very busy. Between trying to better my skills with a blade and fine tune my magics, I find myself exhausted every night. But at least there is hardly a dull moment around here. I'm just happy to have found a few free moments to write you.
I want to tell you so much, but I know to do so in words, and without you here, would be doing so in vain. You constantly flood my thoughts, despite my instructors attempts to push you aside. Of course, there are moments when I'm completely focused on the tasks at hand, but those moments are few and far between.
I anxiously and impatiently await the moment when I'll be able to hold you again. I miss you. I dream of you almost every night. I almost wish I didn't, for each dream is but a painful reminder of life without you. But I also know each is one day closer to seeing you.
You'll have to excuse my sudden sentimentality and sensitivity, as you put it, in the previous statements. But upon arriving in Lantan, I found that I have very little interest in women of the gnomish variety. So, in my best interests, I'm going to do everything within my power to hold onto you. Heh, and while all of that is true, my sentimentality is also in part due to how ridiculously in love with you I am. You said that I've become a permanent part of your life. I just want you to know, my love, that you too have become a permanent part of mine. I love you and miss you.
As you too have told me, live and do as you must. Feel no guilt for the things you do, and live without regrets. Enjoy yourself. I would never want to obstruct you from being who you truly are. Be who you are, and you will always have my love.
Forever yours,
Ludo Valens
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On a wonderfully textured and overpriced pieced of parchment paper, small bits of rose-petals still visible in the weave, the letter is written with a careful hand in red ink and perfumed with the smell of lilacs. It arrives fairly crumpled, and the scent has worn off after the long journey, but the intent remains.
Ludo.
Fairs winds blow across my trails.
They carry the scent of distance
And time, some lost instance
Only a memory , held by things
Wild and inhuman. How frail
And fragile such beauty sings,
Crystaline songs of snow on wings
Of bitter sweetness. My insistance
On remaining in such places
Means that I miss greeting new faces
But this Love within my heart springs!
And when those winds bring traces
Of such Far Away existance
I think of you.Laughter fills my ears, both others and mine.
Where joy abounds, what room for sorrow?
I trust never upon the coming morrow
Nor the impulses swift in my veins
But only on things sweet and divine.
I seek the places where Love reigns
And too eagerly with others I entwine
This Heart, This Body, This Fate of mine
As though without others, I am hollow,
A core lacking definition or substance.
But this path of least resistance
Led me to you. So how can I define
Those things that seem in vain?
I freely give, and bow to your loves' insistance.
And I miss you.Do what you must. Feel as you must. Live as you must. And know that I am still here for as long as Kelemvore ignores me.
Always with love,
Melody Jilles.
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Melody smiles as she tips back the bottle of wine to her lips, eyes still on the paper. Her feet criss-crossed in the air above her rear, she lays on her simple mat before her campfire, Romani brthren and sistren meandering near, but not too near. She reads the letter over and over until, at last, her heavy eyes close and she slumps to sleep, fingers inky from overhandling the paper and cheeks rosey with drink.