The next few weeks went by relatively fast. The royal family announced Cobal and Diana’s engagement at a massive party, where nobles from around the country were invited. It didn’t escape Cobal that a group of nobles – mainly the ones who were on good terms with lord Darsivan Meduer – seemed unhappy about the news, but no one would dare openly complain. After the worst of winter passed, Diana left for the Peninsula to start planning things out. Cobal received three letters during this period. One from Salandra, which stung a little bit considering the situation. She was doing well and planning a trip to Tas’Irkan to meet up with Grac and his family, and learn about their culture some more. She was very excited to go, and had even garnered a small research team to accompany her, all sponsored by Lysa Drant. Her work with Cobal and Mana had impressed the senior librarian enough to give her more responsibilities than she had before. She hoped he could visit by the time she published her studies on the Irkan culture. Cobal couldn’t help but smile at reading about her progress. She was so passionate about her work that he almost felt jealous. He wrote her back about his own adventurers and included that he was now engaged to Diana. For a little while he hesitated to include this part, but he figured she would hear about it soon enough anyway.
The second letter he received was from Eliana, who informed Cobal that Bartew had been spotted on a ship sailing north, and they were chasing that ship down, but it might become tricky considering they were heading to relatively unfamiliar waters. She would continue to inform him about their progress.
Lastly, another letter appeared from Mirgia. He finally explained a little bit more about what happened to him in the time they were separated.
Dear Cobal and Mana,
How are you faring? After some turbulent events I am fine. Took some pretty bad damage to my leg, but the healer says that with enough rest it should recover pretty decently. Still, I doubt I’ll ever be as swift as before. During out unplanned adventure, Kimi and I discovered some pretty bad things going on that I am hesitant to speak about in a letter, so I will save this for when we meet in person. I am currently traveling south from the capital in Severanti – where we made a short pitstop – and towards Milinia. I hope we can meet up in the city, but I understand if you are busy. The only thing I will share is that there is something being unearthed in Severanti that might shake the world at its core. I’m sure Dionil can help us figure things out, and I hope to get Mana’s thoughts on things as well, considering this involves her. We parted with Ferla and his crewmembers a while ago, but Kimi and I are still together with some new friends. I hope to hear from you soon.
Mirgia.
Cobal closed the letter after reading it out loud to Mana. “So what do you think?”
“Well, we were heading that way already, but that does worry me a little bit. If Mirgia discovered something important during his stay in Severanti that could change the world, why did Abu make absolutely no mention of it. What is he scheming and how involved is he in all of this?”
Cobal shrugged. “I suppose there’s only one way to find out, right?”
Mana nodded. “I’m very happy that we get to speak with Mirgia – assuming all goes well – before heading to Severanti. His knowledge on what might be going on there will be vital.”
“And we get to see Dionil again. It’s been well over a year.” Cobal smiled. “Bit of a different energy going into it, but that’s appreciated.”
“Well yeah, I’m sure you won’t start a fight this time around.”
“You might,” Cobal replied.
“Why?”
“Well, you’re one of their council members now and you haven’t exactly done much work in their name, so you’ll get a stern talking to.”
“Do you think so?” Mana immediately looked worried.
“I’m just messing with you, it’s more a honorary title. But in these strange times, it might not hurt to establish what you can and cannot do.”
Mana nodded before letting out a deep sigh. “If I knew being a hero involved politics I never would have become one.”
“You never had a choice.”
They both laughed. “We’ll leave in three days, by the way,” Cobal said. “We’ll pick up Cassandra in Ravadier, give our regards to Guthir and then head to Miranji. We should be in the forest around the start of the new year, giving us the better part of a year to get everything in order in Severanti before heading back for my wedding.”
“Sounds good.”
Quick little note at the end of volume 4. I will talk about these things more in depth in a future post as well, but I am changing a lot of the story/letters surrounding Mirgia and Ferla. I wrote some of those letters without having a clear plan for what they would do during their absence, and now that I’m planning on actually writing their story, I need to make sure it all fits. I also want to eventually write a more satisfying ending to this volume, but as you might have noticed, I’ve been struggling a little bit lately, and writing a conclusion – albeit not as extensive as I would have liked – felt like a good way to give myself a break and prepare for writing volume 5, which will tell Mirgia’s story. More on that later, I hope you enjoyed volume 4 and I truly, really appreciate everyone who reads this story. It’s been so much fun writing it, and I have many more ideas for it, and volumes worth of content, I just need to streamline the first four volumes first! Thanks for reading!
Opal Kaharis 