Tafel stared at the black envelope in her hands. It felt smooth, more like metal than paper. She pressed the edge of the envelope against her fingertip, but instead of the jabbing sensation she had expected, the corner of the envelope curled inward, flattening against her finger instead. There was a red wax seal holding the envelope closed, but Tafel didn’t recognize the image on the seal at all. It looked a bit like a root system, like the sender had pressed an uprooted herb’s bottom against the wax.

“You going to open it?” Stella asked. She was sitting on Tafel’s shoulder, leaning over to look at the envelope as well.

“Nope,” Tafel said and wielded the envelope like a knife. She jabbed it into the snot bubble ballooning out of Vur’s nostril. The envelope might not’ve been stiff enough to break the skin on her finger, but it was sharp enough to pop the bubble. “This is Vur’s, and I’m not a snoop.”

“Party pooper,” Stella said and rolled her eyes before flying back to Vur’s head. “You’re not even a little curious?”

A massive groan interrupted the conversation. Vur’s head lolled to the side, and his left eye, which was the one exposed to the air, cracked open. His eye rolled down until his golden iris was staring right at Tafel and Stella. Vur took in a deep breath through his nose and froze mid-inhale. His nostril twitched, and his eyes opened as he righted his posture. His nostrils flared and closed as he sniffed, and his gaze landed on the petrified rabbit standing on his bed. “Breakfast in bed?” Vur asked. “Thanks, Tafel.”

“Wait,” Tafel said and placed her hand in front of the whimpering rabbit. “No.” Vur blinked and closed his jaws, retracting his head which had been centimeters away from biting down on Tafel’s fingers. “I didn’t bring you this creature. It came through a portal with a letter.”

“A letter?” Vur asked. He glanced down and saw the snot-covered rectangle. Compared to his dragon-sized body, the envelope was quite small, so Vur’s body shrank, and his scales disappeared as he shifted back to his human form. He grabbed the letter and waved it, flinging the snot elsewhere into the room to be discovered at a later time by an unfortunate individual—or fortunate individual; dragon snot was quite valuable in certain circles. “Did Auntie send this? The portal is new.”

“Open it,” Stella said and took a seat on Vur’s shoulder. She leaned over to get a better look at the envelope, staring at it with wide eyes.

Vur flipped the envelope around before frowning. A second later, his finger polymorphed into a dragon’s claw, and he slashed apart the side of the black material. His finger returned back to normal, and he reached inside the torn envelope. He tilted his head and retrieved his hand before flipping the envelope sideways such that the opening he had created was pointing downwards. He shook the envelope a few times, but nothing happened. “It’s empty.”

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“Ah? Is this a prank?” Stella asked and flitted towards the envelope. She grabbed it and stuck her head inside, but it was as Vur had said: empty. Stella’s brow furrowed, and she tossed the envelope over her shoulder.

“Maybe it was an assassination attempt,” Tafel said and raised an eyebrow. “Remember how you used to get those? Someone might’ve put some sort of poison in the envelope. You should heal yourself just in case.”

Vur shrugged before casting a healing spell on himself. Then, he casted it on Tafel, Stella, and finally, the petrified rabbit that had accompanied the letter. Without warning, the rabbit sucked in a huge breath, making a squeezed wheezing sound as it did. “Oh,” the rabbit said, the word sounding more like an exhalation. “What a terrible dream.” It looked around and stiffened upon seeing Tafel, Stella, and Vur staring at it. “Who in the carrot skin peelings are you, and what are you doing in my”—a black item in the corner of the rabbit’s eye caught its attention—“wait. Is that? Was that…?”

Vur and Tafel glanced at each other as the rabbit stared at the black envelope. After a good few seconds of silence had passed, the rabbit slowly turned to look at Vur. Upon seeing Vur’s golden irises with slit pupils, the rabbit gulped and inched towards the envelope. It maintained eye contact with Vur the whole time as it slowly picked up the envelope and cleared its throat. “Are, are you Vur Besteck?”

Vur nodded.

“I, I have an invitation to the tower for you from a”—the rabbit glanced at the red wax seal on the envelope—“Mary Scathir?”

“It’s empty,” Vur said, pointing at the envelope.

The rabbit blinked twice, clearly not having expected those words as an answer. “Empty?” it asked and glanced at the envelope. “There’s not supposed to be anything inside…?” The rabbit blinked, and with one motion, it flipped the envelope on its side to inspect the hole that Vur had torn in it. “What in the actual…?” The rabbit’s head jerked upwards towards Vur. It aggressively jabbed the envelope towards Vur, torn side pointing at him. “Did you do this?”

“Ye—”

“No,” Stella said, closing Vur’s mouth by pulling his lips together with her hands before he could finish what he was saying. “You were saying something about a tower and being invited by Mary?”

“Well,” the rabbit said and frowned, bringing the envelope back towards itself. “Since the invitation has been damaged, it’s not valid anymore…, but if you’re capable of receiving an invitation, it shouldn’t be a problem for you to enter the tower through the front door instead of the back.” The rabbit’s ears perked up, and it nodded. “It’s settled then. What are we waiting for?” It gestured towards the ominous red portal behind it. “Let’s go!”

Stella turned towards Tafel. “Is it speaking the same language as us?” the fairy queen asked.

“I think it’s just a bit, you know?” Tafel said and pointed at her head with her finger before spinning her digit around in a loop a few times.

Vur cleared his throat and leaned over. He picked up the rabbit, despite its attempt to escape when it realized his intentions, and held it up to his face, making eye contact with it. “Explain things clearly.” Vur said and paused. After thinking for a bit, Vur added, “Or else I’ll eat you.”

The rabbit stiffened and shuddered. It nodded its head repeatedly. “Right, right, of course. I almost forgot the explanation.” It glanced around and shrank its neck down into its shoulder. “What, um, exactly do you need explained? I thought I made myself pretty clear.”