The Letters of a Knight to His Master

[Ioannes]

A series of letters written but never sent, by Denain le Jonquille to his master, Selsi.




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Beloved Selsi,

O master I write to you out
of shame. For I have not bee-
-n forthcoming of the entire
truth. For I have told you th-
-at I am, or was, a knight.
But I have been reminded a t-
-ruth in my travels with your
Sister Amelie of Kula.

When I arrived to the well
it was a knight I embodied
but that honour has never be-
-en bestowed upon me. The De-
-nain who fled the Peerage W-
-ard was no retainer, no knig-
-ht. I was a boy of twelve su-
-mmers. A boy training to be-
-come a junior archivist of rig-
-hteous and good service to t-
-he King. For years I did not
recall my youth but your sist-
-er in exacting wisdom saw t-
-hrough me my past when I
spoke of my illuminations.
She knew me then for the arc-
-hivist I was meant to become.

So I will tell you why I am
so full with shame. my mast-
-er was swallowed in the noth-
-ing and I was a boy scared a-
-nd alone. But the lady I have
told you of came into my life.
She was no noble maid I was

pledged in honour protect.
No. She was much like me, a
child, an orphan of the Ward.
For she served in the vale and
polished the cookware for Lord
Norbert Velstra. Her name was
Alieanor and I loved her dearly.

We took solace in friendship
in those frightful days as the
drill became our hope and salv-
-ation. I recall still Elizabetha an-
-d her speeches from those da-
ys. But when we came upon th-
-e great mountain and Lord Ber-
-nard and his noble Glittsmen
laid down their lives to the las-
-t, Alieanor and I were lost to
the tunnels and by some mirac-
-le emerged late, but that cinq-
-uefoil host was none to be found.

There that we came into lig-
-ht was not the Sultan's great l-
-and but elsewhere. Eight long a-
-nd grueling years we were los-
-t wandring. Eight long years d-
-id I recall the Ward and the st-
-ories I read. I became a knight
for her, Selsi. For Alieanor.
But no matter how I tried, fa-
-te stole her from me. and in d-
-ying breath she bequeathed in
new purpose, you.

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