From: Sara Haymaker Ocean’s End To: Haymaker Family Haymaker Farmhouse Brightwood Dated: 24.13.2022 Delivered 02.01.2023

Hi Mum and Dad,

Everything is fine here. The bastards took one look at my Records and almost laughed themselves silly. Then they offered me a job as an administrative under-assistant. So yes, your plan worked. I admit it. Happy now? I’ll be staying on for at least a month and I’ll try to get a more permanent position, but I don’t have much hope there. Most positions here require a dedicated vocation. The only reason I even got this far is because of the incredible short staffedness the college has atm and the fact that these noble kiddies can’t wipe their own bottom’s without help.

But I have a plan of my own this time. I don’t want to say anything concrete yet, but don’t worry, I have everything under control.

If you want to send a reply, it will have to go to the college for the time being. I don’t want to afford a post box in town, so be careful and use code if necessary. The old man Harvard was right, they really do copy and archive everything written that ever enters or leaves their walls. Apparently the proper college members can’t even nip out and send stuff from town, because of some restriction from their vocations.

The archives are absolutely mental. My “superior”, a junior research assistant named Bubbleface, (Mister Farsicj) took me down there yesterday and the catalogue alone fills up a hall so big you could fit the entire farmhouse in there. With stables included probably. The archives themselves are even farther down, within a spatial pocket behind dozens of safety measures and time locks, to ensure us mere mortals will never defile them (we’ll see).

Don’t worry too much, I am still flush, nobody has tried anything and as long as I am employed here, no mutton shunter will bother me. I am too important now. I am after all a part of the big bad college of war.

I hope everything is going well for you guys. Berta should have had her calf by now, how did that go? How was the harvest? How was the last town meeting? Did Mum create personal rain clouds again? Is the village very empty without everyone? Are you guys and the rest of the family in good health?

I can almost see/hear your shock about these questions from here btw. It is really quite silly how the mundane turns interesting by absence and distance. I should write a paper about it. If I do I’ll send it to you.

One more thing. Please make sure Billy doesn’t spend all his time on the eastern meadow. I would like a nibling one day, but not while I am away and out of wedlock as you oldies would say (I mean him being married, not me obviously, just in case you got your hopes up there).

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Give my regards to the people, my thanks to the earth and my dreams to the clouds.

All of which just don’t feel the same here. Not to say I miss you or anything like that.

Your loving daughter Sara

PS: Happy Changeover - It is so weird, not being able to tell you to your faces

From: Haymaker Family Haymaker Farmhouse Brightwood To: Sara Haymaker Sylvan College of Arcane Warfare Ocean’s End Dated: 04.01.2023 Delivered: 07.01.2023

Daughter,

Please write more promptly next time. Your father worries.

Be respectful of your supervisors and work hard.

Careful, diligent and humble is the Brightwood bee

for which our town is named.

Us simple folk can’t always see the threads our betters weave.

Don’t think that you're brighter than everyone, just because it was true here.

Do everything you are told and you will end up with money, safety and few problems.

Anything else is secondary, including your vocation and levels, if not your happiness.

Rash growth might seem beautiful for a while, but steady growth yields hardy trees.

We didn’t go to the last town meeting, the village feels deserted even out here.

Still your mother found a reason for a small personal raincloud.

(Your brother and the Cutter girl actually)

Have you spoken with the administrators about options after your current job?

Options like staying at the school even in a more menial role?

We know you wanted to study magic so you could better perform your duties for king and country. (But this way you would still be contributing and as parents we want you safe above everything.)

Love and happy changeover

Your family

PS:

Everyone is fine, apart from the sniffles. Your mother still claims that her cold showers keep all of us healthy in the long run, but apart from her insanity we have no cause for complaint.

PPS:

Berta and her calf are included in “everyone”. Your mother says you would assume so anyway, but I (Dad) thought it should still be said. Sometimes I think you like that daft cow more than us.