From: Billy Haymaker Haymaker Farmhouse Brightwood To: Sara Haymaker Sylvan College of Arcane Warfare Ocean’s End Dated: 20.01.2023 Delivered: 20.02.2023

What the f!!?

In torpor for a month? What did that piece of sh** do to you?

And not telling the rents is a really bad idea honestly. They did a lot to make this “adventure” possible for you. They aren’t joking about being asked to give you over to the county as a storm speaker again. And yes I understand that you hate the idea and I understand why. But look at it from their perspective. It would have kept you out of the army just as well, with some money on top and without you being hundreds of miles away from us, doing crazy stunts like this. They put your wishes before their own and they even dipped into their savings for this harebrained scheme of yours. They have a right to know what’s going on.

And before you yell at me, yes I will keep quiet, but only if you send me the complete and non-redacted injury report at the end of the month. If you don’t I will tell them everything. Including the full story of Harvest Festival 2019.

And I want you to continue writing me the full and unabridged version of what you get up to.

Someone ought to know what’s happening with you. Especially when you write things like “I won an argument” but need to spend a month in the infirmary while the other guy walks away with just two broken fingers. Honestly do you realise how delusional you sound? I am worried for you. I might go grey prematurely if this keeps happening and you know how much the girls love my hair. Don’t do this to womankind. Please, please think about telling our parents the truth. It will definitely be better for everyone in the long run.

Your extremely worried brother

Billy

From: Haymaker Family Haymaker Farmhouse Brightwood To: Sara Haymaker Sylvan College of Arcane Warfare Ocean’s End Dated: 20.01.2023 Delivered: 20.02.2023

Hey little one,

Please stop getting into fights. We know exactly what you mean by “argument”. It was the same when you were three and cursed the Hacker boy with propulsion winds. It was cute then, but you are an adult now. It is time you learned that it doesn’t always matter whether you are right or not, especially when you are up against nobles, who will make their own rules and then break them however they want. I (Mum) know I am a bit of a hypocrite about this, but I never wanted you to inherit my bad temper or worse conflict resolution skills. It is nice when your children emulate you, but sometimes we wish you wouldn’t pick our worst traits for that.

That being said, we are damn proud of you. Sticking up for yourself is hard enough at any age, but when you can do it so young and without any support in a foreign place far from home it is doubly impressive. But please at least try to pick your battles a bit. Sometimes it is okay to walk away and let the other person be. Especially when they are being an idiot. That’s enough of a penalty in most situations.

Speaking of being proud, six skill levels in a month is amazing growth, it’s nice to know that this trip is working out for you. We don’t like it, but we can hardly argue that this was the right decision if those are the results.

We had our own run in with the Hacker family yesterday. Mister Hacker isn’t too happy that none of our two children were part of the town conscript batch, while his only son was. We don’t blame him, but he is making noise, alleging bribery and generally trying to spread misery around. Apparently he tried to get an investigation started at the last town meeting - the one we skipped - but thankfully we still have some friends on the council so it got downgraded into a simple inquiry.

His idea was to send for you to come home and take over the “essential” spot on the farm, so your brother can go fight. I am not sure why he thinks any recruiter would prefer a [Tree farmer] over a [Weather witch], but he seems pretty set on the idea that fighting is men’s work. Or he hates his nephew enough that he wants him to marry you so he can get the farm if something happens. We have a mind to agree if he ever comes asking, just for the fireworks. Anyway he was talking a lot about “fair share” and “civic duty”, but we aren’t that worried. We can handle it. Don’t mention it in your return letter, we don’t want Billy to worry. He is shouldering enough at the moment. He is certainly earning himself a nice present for his 17th.

While we are talking about Billy… We do know that sneaking around your parents is a time honoured tradition, but why you would choose your brother as a partner is beyond us. We love that kid, but sometimes you’d think he is part fairy, the way he is almost physically incapable of being clandestine. We won’t pry into whatever super secret thing you wanted to tell just him, it’s ok if there are some things you don’t want to tell your parents, but don’t think we’re old and blind yet. We’ve known both of you your whole lifes, you can’t fool us.

We understand your busy schedule and the fact that you are away from home for the first time, but still, one letter per month is not sufficient. We will allow it this time, but don’t think you will get away with it regularly. We are your parents and we want to know what’s happening in your life. We are still being asked about you taking the storm speaker position at least once a week. Don’t think that is completely off the table!

Uncle Reinhard sends his regards, we had him over for dinner yesterday and he is as boring as ever, but family is family.

We love you

Mum and Dad

From: Sara Haymaker Ocean’s End To: Haymaker Family Haymaker Farmhouse Brightwood Dated: 23.02.2023 Delivered: 01.03.2023

Hey older versions,

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

I am sorry for the long wait, I will definitely write more frequently from now on.

Or I will as soon as I get to Firstfall, my next destination. I got myself passage on a ship there. If you have never heard of it, you're not the only one, it is a kind of regional neutral ground for the merchant companies about six days west of here if you have a decent navigator. It is the only biggish port in a region called “The Unchartered Waters”. As the name indicates, by law no merchant company can have exclusive rights for the territory. It was apparently some sort of experiment set up by King Syldor IV back in the 19th century who was wary of the powerful merchant houses. But since all the decent navigators get snatched up by them, it was only a partial success/complete failure. The four big players just divided it up amongst themselves in an unofficial deal and are preventing anyone else from doing business there. Since the islands in the territory are also sparsely populated if they are inhabited at all, have nothing of real value to offer and the local storms and currents are downright vicious they are mostly being ignored by everyone and there are even some stretches left uncharted. Can you imagine? Uncharted places in 2023? I almost didn’t believe it myself, but the College library confirmed it. Now before you think that’s the only reason I am going there, there is also an interesting quirk within that law I mentioned. Because the territory is supposed to “develop naturally as the winds of fate and the free will of freer men decree” there’s no conscription in the territory. I am sure at some point our glorious wannabe emperor will correct that oversight, but for the moment I think this might actually be the perfect place for me. No conscription, a relatively small community, few rules, plenty of need for my vocation and even opportunities for exploration? It’s almost too good to be true. I’ll soon see for myself. I should get there on 06.03. and I will have a letter pre-written and ready to be sent as soon as I land.

Give Uncle Reinhard my best.

I love you guys

PS: I almost forgot, but I did promise you the latest version of my Records didn’t I?

Name: Sara Haymaker (No title) Age: 19 Level 145 Vocation Weather witch Path: The oncoming Storm Passive Skills: 60 Active Skills 85 Aura of Unease 17 Curse crafting 31 Weather foresight 14 Storm calling 15 A Witch’s brew 11 Rainbow’s end 15 Green thumb 7 Wind magic 12 Herbalism 6 Weather magic 10 Knife handling 5 Mists of Doom 2 Perks:

Dedicated

(From reaching level 128, upgrades at level 1024)

Unlocks at level 256 Unlocks at level 512 Feats End of a hundred rainbows None None

[Mists of Doom] is the new skill I mentioned. It basically creates an area of mist in which lightning strikes arc around randomly. It looks fantastic! And it gives me another defensive weapon. That should make you all worry less. Anyway, this has now been officially the longest Postscript ever.

So goodby again,

Sara

From: Sara Haymaker Ocean’s End To: Billy Haymaker Haymaker Farmhouse Brightwood Dated: 23.02.2023 Delivered: 25.02.2023

Hey Billy

Calm down, Healers always make it seem worse than it is/going to be. And this is the College of Arcane Warfare for crying out loud. The actual students get hurt worse in almost every training session. The same healers that treated me reattached a head a couple of months back without a hitch. I was really never in any danger and most of my injuries got fixed within a couple of hours. It was just the lungs that were a bit trickier and they didn’t want to waste any of the emergency supplies, so they did it with Skills only. That’s why it took so long. But here is the full report, not because of your threats, but because picturing your face all green made me smile.

Patient: Sara Haymaker Payer: SCoAW (Standard B3) Injuries: Broken ribs 5,7 Bruised ribs 2,6,8,9 Contusions Chest and upper back Concussion Slight External burns: Face, Right shoulder, Right arm, Right hand Internal burns: Mouth, Lungs

Destroy that sheet after reading!

If you show it to anyone I am going to electrocute your precious hair until you go bold.

Read the family letter, I can actually do it now. I love you too btw.

And yes I do realise I got absolutely destroyed by that moron, but only because I didn’t expect him to go complete psycho on me. Next time someone gets graby I’ll be sure to incapacitate, not just escalate slightly.

If you happen to come across Mister Hacker in town, maybe mention that I have only become more unhinged. Apparently the ass is making a stink about you being declared essential. He might need a little reminder about what I did to his brat in playwatch. That should make him think twice about whether he wants me home so soon.

Btw, I bribed a captain from the Carlstown Company to let me stowaway on his ship. Is it still called that if the captain knows about me? Anyway, as long as I am nice and quiet in my little section of the crew quarters and the company agent doesn’t catch on, I should be in Firstfall in six days. Well, I’ll get there regardless, but if he does catch me I’ll have to spend more money on yet another bribe. And who wants that, am I right? I hope you're proud of my thrifty ways. After all, my travel budget is apparently of grave concern to you. Sorry for tacking this part on like that, but I almost forgot about you being all grown up now and wanting to be informed about things.

All the best

Sara