Copy of a letter to the City Lord of Exabell, co-signed by the five Head Scholars of the Fallen Star Pavilion
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To: Gihan, City Lord of Exabell
This letter is a response to your previous request. While the scholars at the Fallen Star Pavilion understand your plight, it is with great regret that we must reject your proposal for us to delay the sending of our notice to the other cities "in order to give each City Lord a fair footing for preparation of Winter's Sorrow."
Travel by messenger takes time. It is the Fallen Star Pavilion's honorable duty to share our knowledge and findings, not hoard it. We send out messengers to all cities at the same time, with the fastest horses available, with the same predictions verified by each of the Head Scholars. There never was and never will be any intended slight for Exabell City — or any city — to receive news of IceMourne's predicted migratory path later than any other city.
As much as we would like to have all the cities be notified and begin their preparations for Winter's Sorrow at the same time, we find ourselves powerless to negotiate the physical distance between the Pavilion and your city. We sincerely urge you to reconsider withholding Exabell's allocation of academic funds for the Pavilion and to consider how that may affect our budget for fast horses and riders, which may further affect timely deliveries to Exabell.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
Head Scholar Dayton has elected to send along a copy of our latest (very much unchanged) map of the continent based on our recent understanding that you may be a man of visuals. She notes that if you would carefully examine it, you may see that the words "Exabell" and "Fallen Star Pavilion" are markedly further apart on the map than most other words.
Head Scholar Yuya offers a solution. It is her learned opinion that you could pray to EarthShaker with regards to this distance problem; changing physical distances is the dragon's specialty. She notes that while this is an option, it may prove to either be expensive or uneventful. Pray, but like all dragons, EarthShaker rarely answers.
We recommend that Exabell adopt preventative measures for minimizing the loss of life instead, even if preemptively declaring an end to Autumn's Colors causes the city to lose out on a portion of taxes.
Head Scholar Lauryn sends along her daughter's old copy of Basic Arithmetic to aid you in your continued struggle in reaching positive tax revenue numbers. Perhaps you may find the girl's illegible drawings in the margins particularly enlightening.
Head Scholar ZuanBing attaches a helpful list of Cities where City Lords with a history of taking from the public's coffers for their personal use also had a peaceful end to their rule. It will be the blank page. He assures you that while the list appears unpopulated, it is nevertheless, rigorously well-researched to Pavilion scholar standards.
May the light of knowledge shine from up high, and may your health find it time to rest.
P.S. Head Scholar Panmoru formally requests a recorded schedule of your bouts of gout and syphilis for academic purposes. He describes this study as "delightfully therapeutic."