[Legates Qari Alriyh and Marcellus Saenus]

[Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi]

[A letter arrives at the Palatial Pyramid, or in truth, two letters. Each a mirror of the other. A note at the bottom of each reflects that a copy has been delivered to the other. A purse in charity of some hundred dinar is also included.]


Qdim 2, IY 7787


Honorable Legates,

I write to you in the wake of one of the most terrible things I have ever known. The Battle of the Ashen Hills, or however we shall name it, will rank alongside the ruin of the Ringfall and the hellscape I witnessed at Hudifah's Caldera--the nightmare of it shall never be eclipsed, never be effaced from my memory.

Yet neither shall the heroism, that came alive in the worst possible circumstances, displayed by those who answered our Well's promise to the world. Most of those who departed past the Rampart Nusrum did not return with us alive. Some precious few we recovered, and bore their bodies with us, to take death masks and prepare great statutes. Tomes shall be written. Songs sung of their deeds. I shall write a history half-in-verse.

They will live through us and we shall measure our future deeds by their memory.


But they have not yet been honored as they should. The Twindari have conducted a rite upon the Graveyard on approximately Illul 31, but it was without state sanction. Let it be upon the Stele that a memorial for our valiant dead shall be held under the auspices of Ephia's Well. Let our population entire witness the full measure of the loss.

And let us delay no longer in rendering those honors. I urge the matter to your attention, in the name of Kula and all the wholesome Wheel, and offer my assistance in making it so.


Sincerely,

Acolyte Amelie Terrois

[Qari]

Dear Amelie,

Such has been discussed, and agreed upon the eve of Marcellus' return from the battle. The scribes are putting together an accounting of the survivors, the fallen, and the events of the terrible battle.

Names give things such as this weight, and remembrance. Perhaps you and the Balladeers can suggest a name for the battle, for the tales and monument to reflect the gravity of the event, and the losses suffered to secure our victory?


-Qari Alriyh,
Legate of the First Seat, Gold League