A Bit of Time

Jo'gharri, Eye of the Queen 2E 578

Excerpt from a letter to an unnamed acquaintance:

"...But in truth, the great forest of Valenwood was not as I expected. It was too humid, and the moisture in the air made my fur stick to everything.

Our mutual friend bade me to find you soon. You've been gone too long, traipsing around this great leafy hell and doing moons-know-what. The whispers say you're back in Elsweyr, but I say you're here, somewhere, underneath the giant trees and above these thrice-damned hoarvors and giant wasps and wild tigers and these Green Bosmer. Crazy little elves. I got chased out of an inn on the way here for ordering a salad, well within Elsweyr's borders! Foolishness.

But I digress. The soil is so warm, and these roots over my head look more like a window frame than a cage. I suppose I could stay here a while, although I'd lose my way when I got back up. The Bosmer don't have conventional roads, or really any roads at all. It's just forest, forest, forest, and not a single signpost or anything to tell you where to go. It's enough to drive one mad.

I've been working on my accent, too. Remember how you told me an Alabaster city cat's accent stood out in Firsthold? I've fixed it, mostly. If you heard me speak, you couldn't distinguish me from a Summerset elf, born and raised! I'm rather proud of that.

But I suppose it doesn't matter anymore. You've been gone for years, vanished into Valenwood, and now I'll have vanished too. Do you imagine our friend-

[There are several scribbles, as though the writer was trying to phrase a difficult idea.]

Oh, forget it. Nobody will ever read this anyways, least of all you. You've been dead a while, haven't you? I think I always knew that, but even the Queen didn't object when I wanted to lead search parties to find you. So how did you go? Covenant arrow to the throat? Pact blade through the heart? Both? Neither? I don't know. Did you?

I don't think I'm getting up. That senche did for me but good. I just wish I could've seen you again.

Khenarthi keep you, brother."

[The page ends here. The color and hand in which the letter was written indicates that the author penned it with a claw's tip, in his own blood.]