5th of Faelia, 1523

Dear Theo,

A year has passed since the war ended. A whole year and I'm still waiting for you. I didn't think it was possible to feel this empty, this lost. I've tried to be patient, tried to hold on to hope, but it's getting harder with each passing day. The village has moved on, but I'm still here, stuck in the same place, waiting for news that never comes.

I've stopped going to the village square every day, Ravi has taken on that duty and arrives like clockwork. But the silence remains, and it's becoming unbearable. I don't know if you're alive, if you're out there somewhere, or if I've lost you forever. I don't know how much longer i can take this,

Some of the village women have been urging me to move on, to accept that you might not be coming back. They says it with the kindest intentions, but it's a thought I can't bear to entertain. They too have been working so hard to move on with their lives. I don't understand how they can say this when some of their husbands and fathers have returned. The ones who have lost someone look on at me with both sympathy and pity.

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Lyra is the one I worry for more than I worry for myself. She is still lost in her own world, barely speaking, barely eating. She spends her days in the glade, waiting for something, someone. I'm terrified that if I lose you, I'll lose her too. How can a little girl be so broken down? I fear that this is all my fault. That I should have better at comforting, regardless of what I've been going through. She is young and understands more than I had thought.

I don't know what to do anymore. I'm trying to stay strong, to keep having hope but it's getting harder with each passing day. The silence is suffocating, and I feel like I'm drowning in it. What is the point in having ears when there is nothing worth hearing.

Please, find a way back to me. I can't keep living in this limbo, not knowing if you're alive or if I've lost you forever.

With all my love,

Nova