7th Day of Distor

From Danakan

Apologies, it has been many moons since my last letter and what I can only describe as a disastrous visit to the capital. I am continuing with my journey and am currently crossing the Setir Mountains to the lands of the Delgon. But, while the mountain views of the Empire are awe-inspiring I find my mood heavy with what occurred in the once great city of Gar Loren. I had been most eager to meet with the Emperor but was utterly dismayed that after several nights of form filling I was to be fobbed off with a distant and out of favour wife! I should have thought that a representative of my noble birth and standing would be treated with more respect! I am the first courtier of my clan to travel to Gar Loren for many years and had, perhaps foolishly, assumed I would be greeted with much pomp and ceremony to better recognise the bonds of fealty we in the Empire share. To top it all off, my honourable travelling companion NuraKira Obal was actually invited to stand in the Emperor’s presence; that I should treated with less respect than a foreigner! Forgive me, but as you can tell this rankles me still. I cannot fault my honoured friend Obal for she was blameless and utterly unable to turn down the invitation despite her gracious gesture to do just that, but I would not hear of it. I can assure you that I am much relieved to be rid of the whole squabbling and pompous lot of them! But I digress… Following her meeting with the Emperor, Obal was granted a military escort out of the city. It was a small group of heavily armoured knights riding what I understand to be a rather magnificent breed of enuk. We were only with the unit briefly but during that time I saw very little of the captain. He looks very much to have come from the fair lands of Teral, but he showed little recognition of our common ancestry. He treated Obal with barely concealed dislike and seemed to treat us with an unpleasant level of contempt. They rode with us to the small town of Esonto where we slept, but as of twilight the following evening I was glad to see that they had left us behind. That was a few days ago and would you believe it we have now paid for passage aboard a boat! I never thought I would do such a thing, but we have made more rapid progress than I had ever hoped. The boat has paddles powered by beasts walking on a turntable but by swapping the beasts the boat can travel day and night.

Source: Chronicles of Anyaral