[TetrisLover225]

Hey Khanh,


Good to hear you’re still hanging in there, stinkbrain. By the time you get this you should be well past the newborn stage so congratulations! You survived the worst! And now maybe you now love your own little loin fruit. Ok, I'm sorry. I mean, I think it's ok to not love your baby right away, especially if your wife leaves you over said baby. It sounds normal, right? Sort of. Just take care of her. I think she will just creep up on you one day, like a disease or an old man in a bar. Sorry. The wee baby Thao is not a disease. But hey, what I mean is you somehow love me, right? So it should work out the same way.

Sorry about that last bit. Some time passed since I wrote it and I don't know, I thought about scratching it but maybe it'll help. Just feeling, I don't know. A little unloved lately. No big reason... Just drama, I guess. I don't know, Khanh. Everyone here is tough to be friends with. Just when I think someone's a friend, they shut me out big time. Maybe they're uptight, but I'm starting to think the problem's me. Maybe I trust too much. Maybe I try too hard. That's what this one guy said, the one who's always talking about the girl he likes. And he reminds me of you a lot, even though he's an Xitian. I don't know. Is it possible to be too friendly? It sounds like a stupid problem to have, right? Especially when, I don't know... I'm not trying. I'm just being me.

And the whole Cottonbum, Destroyer of Realms thing didn’t work out for long, too. He hated me so I had to give him away. You know how it is. Once you give something a name, it becomes hard to just kill it or let it brave the wilds with a bum leg. Unless you name it Tuan, of course. But it’s in a good home with the pretend dad, at least I hope. I haven’t visited yet because I’m only allowed to visit in “reasonable” hours, but you know, he promised not to eat her so it should be fine. And I didn’t end up singing that song to the girl I’m seeing yet. I had a scare about how serious things were getting and I guess now is just not a good time for grand romantic gestures. So I guess I’m not going to sing it for a while… but thanks for the input. I miss writing songs with you: there’s really no one here to bounce lyrics off of. No one has the creative juices. Trust me, I tried.

I'm ok, I swear. It just sounds bad because I don't know, it's a letter! When I put all the bad news together, it’s just going to sound depressing, no matter how I put it. Speaking of depressing, and song writing: I thought maybe we could write something together over the letters! You know, something we could do over time. It could be fun, and I don’t know. Your last letter was actually… kind of poetic. I kind of drafted some of it into a song for you, which I’ve sent over. What do you think? Maybe it could help you process stuff. I don’t know, I got reminded of all the break up songs I wrote in that one phase I had recently, and it was helpful for me. So maybe… at least try it?

Anyway, everything else is good. There’s a fair in town and I’ve mostly been messing around with it. Also trying to make this kite with the instructions pa sent over. IT’S HARDER THAN IT LOOKS. And well, this is probably going to sound random, but have you heard anything about dragons in the mainland over where you are? Just answer the question, Khanh.


Love,
Perfectly Keen Lien

[TetrisLover225]

Hey Khanh,


Sorry I haven’t been writing. It’s not that I don’t like you or your letters or the adventures of the wee baby Thao, but you know. Honestly, I’ve tried writing this letter maybe thirteen times but I keep screwing it up too much. Fourteenth time’s the charm.

So dragons. Dragons are a thing. That’s why I asked. But you already know that. But did you also know that’s why I didn’t write until now? Because I don’t know, I guess I was waiting for you to say something before I did. It’s hard to explain. I met some people who just came over from the mainland and they were talking about dragons being a thing, and no one, including me, believed them. And we thought they were crazy. Can you blame me for not wanting you to think I’m crazy? I mean, you already think that, but there’s only so much crazy everyone can handle before someone’s sent over to fetch me. By the way, thanks for refusing to fetch me. I’m assuming they asked already.

No one was killed in our attack, apart from the livestock. A few injuries and messed-up houses, but the real problem is the farming fields and again, livestock. The town is doing rations and I don't know, everywhere around me someone is doing something. Hunters hunting, guards making a shelter, the only carpenter in town working her ass off on repairs. Miners are getting any ore they can for trade since we lost the fields. My best friend is working on a new bell and even the tailor said she was swamped with orders.

I don't know where I'm going with this. I guess I kind of want to help, but I've got no idea where to start. I know, right? Me, actually doing work. I don't know. I've offered to help here and there. One time the guard captain and me picked peaches from an old tree in town, and the tavern keeper asked me to go foraging, but for some reason getting a hold of people who could help forage is really hard. Guessing it's because everyone is so busy. So all I can think of doing is writing pa. And maybe doing something goofy like a treasure hunt so everyone can get their minds off of stuff. Wish me luck?

I'm really glad to hear you and Thao and everyone else is safe. Please stay that way! Let me know if I can do anything to help. But help is still not guaranteed, haha.


Love and best wishes,
Lien, Writer of the Esteemed Letter Fourteen

P.S.: I mean, I suppose dragons are a good reason to not send me a birthday gift. But only if dragons are a good reason to not send you or Thao anything, too. For current, future, and past birthdays. Oh, the struggles we face.

[TetrisLover225]

Pa,


I don’t know how to say this so I’ll just say it:
Hey pops. I got a dragon problem. Think you can come help?


No, Seriously,
Lien

P.S.: Don’t bring Tuan.
P.P.S.: Town could use a merchant and maybe someone who can cook and forage. Ask Khanh for details.
P.P.P.S: Ma or Khanh can come but I only have two spare beds at my place. Also there’s still Xitians here so that means no grandma if ma comes.
P.P.P.P.S.: Send Ma my love if she’s not coming.

[TetrisLover225]

Khanhie,


Sorry for doing the thing where I don't write again. I'm sure you have a vague idea as to why, you know, what with pa and his silly hat existing in my vicinity now. I actually realise that I missed him. I missed his cooking and the way he gets so confused by me. Don't tell him I said that, though, because it's all I missed about him.

We've… Kind of made up. The first couple of weeks he kept following me around and I just hated it. It was like suddenly I couldn't be myself and have normal interactions with everyone because he was watching and ugh. You know how it is, Khanh. He's our pa but there's so much he doesn't know about us, and it’s like you don't want him to know just in case he doesn't like it. Like the time Mai had the miscarriage. Or me with… I don't know, name literally anything I've done while out here and asked you to keep it a secret.

So everything was tense until it blew up because I suddenly decided to go on this scouting thing. A local chemist wanted some dragon samples because, well. He’s like an extreme version of Tuan. Needs to know everything? It doesn’t matter. That wasn’t why I went. Remember a few letters ago, I talked about this guy who wanted to become an Xitian for this woman he loved? And then that woman died? Well… I hadn’t seen him in a while. I was getting worried, but I figured that he’s the only hunter we have nowadays, he’s probably really busy. But then the Elder mentioned him, and… he’s dying, Khanh. From all the nether he put in himself.

It’s really scary. This might sound stupid but I thought the first person I’d have to deal with dying would be grandma, and that wouldn’t happen for maybe 10 years if we’re lucky. I just… I don’t know. I didn’t know what to do, Khanh, and I still don’t know. But if that wasn’t enough, when I went to see him, he told me he was going to try to feed himself to the dragon. Poison it using all the nether that was poisoning him. Some kind of poetic and heroic way to go out. The Elder was in on it. He didn’t want me to tell anyone. I’m not gonna lie. I cried a lot. I got really mad that he was doing this, that he was keeping it a secret, that I was supposed to keep it secret because… I don’t know. He was asking so much of me. Khanh… this guy has a way of making me feel like I’m a kid. But not in a bad, patronising way. More in an eye-opening way.

So I went for him, I guess. I wanted to be there for him, even if it meant I had to watch him die. I think… dying alone kind of sucks, and I mean physically alone. But I couldn’t tell pa, of course. Not just because it was a secret, but you know. I didn’t want him to know how much I had gotten into while out here, in case he didn’t like it. It’s stupid, right? I’m a grown woman, sort of. I can at least take care of myself, but all he sees is what he wants to see. Lien the wild one. Lien the shallow teen. Lien the deadbeat loser. So there was an argument, a huge one, and I left anyways.

We didn't talk for forever but you know. I saw two-too-many dead bodies (I thought you closed your eyes when you died), and my friend backed out and made it out alive, but it was too too too close. That whole thing, I'm not dealing with it well Khanh. And everyone is noticing, even him. It kinda stinks because I came here so everyone would stop talking about what a mess I am but it's inescapable, I guess. So one morning I woke up really early and just couldn't sleep again so I stepped out to watch the sunrise and work on some tunes. And he followed me, Khanh. We talked for hours and somehow we didn't scream at each other. I told him that thing about how he only sees what he wants, and I told him all the stuff I told you that I asked you not to tell anyone. Fuck, I even talked about my love-life for a bit. I think it was a real eye-opener for him, but I think it worked out.

That’s not to say I didn’t learn anything about him, either. Did you know grandma on his side killed herself? And that’s why Loan and the others had to raise him? Which is why you and Tuan had to raise me? Because they all thought, hey, siblings can raise each other ok, so let’s leave it to them. It weirds me out that you know, Pa has been our pa for forever, but I didn’t know about this.

So there you go. Two pages of writing to make up for not writing. Including the story of how I made up with pa. But not including how I used a stink bomb on a dragon. Or how the town doctor slapped me. Just kidding, I included some pictures because I got lazy. You know how they say, a picture is worth a thousand words?

*The next few pages are some hand-drawn doodles depicting the previously mentioned events. The quality is amatuer with stick figures and arrows explaining what things are supposed to be.*


Love,
Lien

[TetrisLover225]

Khanh,


By the time you get this, I'll probably will be the one giving it to you. Or pa will give it to you and I'll jump out at you.


BOO,
Lien