The Gwilly Letters (and their replies)

(Arriving in Impresk on Marpenoth 9th, 1377)

My Sweetest Ashara~

How I do miss you. Marinelle is a good companion but her ways are still a mystery to me. As confusing as some of you humans may be, dragons are more so.

I know I could talk to you through the medallion. Marinelle has told me that I could. I just wanted to write you a letter. It just seemed like a better idea. Besides, you can read this letter over and over and it will be like I’m with you every time you read it. Yes, I think this letter will be wonderful!

How is Romen? I hope you are teaching him everything he needs to know. Don’t forget his lessons in fire safety. Those are very important. It’s best to learn these things while you are still young, you never know when you might need such skills.

We have come across a few goblins (and their relatives) in our travels. They nearly faint at the sight of my sword, Illwhaylellynee*. She is a mighty treasure that I will guard my whole life! I have been given the most wonderful sword in the world.

I have been making wine for Tomar and Marinelle. I am still stumped as to what it takes to make a dragon drunk. I will keep experimenting, though. I was able to gather many wonderful ingredients for my wine over the summer and I quite think I’ve improved my recipe. Maybe I shall send some to you and Elric soon.

Your little friend,
Gwilly

*Illwhaylellynee is one of the pixie words that means "to party". Specifically it means “a celebration in honor of the smiting of many enemies”.

The priestess sat at the large mahogany table that dominated the meeting room, amidst stacks of books and a stack of correspondence from temples around the Realms. Normally she'd be spending her afternoons at the temple which was currently under construction in Impresk, but with the flurry of labor being done before the winter weather brought construction to a standstill, she found that accomplishing her work from home was much more productive. Well...at least while the older children were napping...

Ashara expected the bundle of letters that arrived this week as they did every week, but she could not have expected to be reading the tiny, flowery script from a friend whom she missed so dearly! It had been over a year now since they'd seen or heard from Gwilly. Thankfully only the name of her magical sword was written in pixish and not the entire letter! Though she'd have to ask Elric about the meaning of that name later, she was fairly certain it had to do something with joke or party. Not that it was a difficult guess... Seemed like a full third of the pixie language dealt in some way with those two concepts!

She stared incredulously at the parchment for a moment as a warm smile spread across her face.

"This is from your Aunt Gwilly," she said to the infant cradled tightly against her chest, " Do you think we should try using the medallion?"

Thalion blinked his large, hazel eyes up at his mother and mirrored the smile he saw on her face. That tiny smile could always make Ashara forget the worries she held in her heart for her son, and grinning all the brighter she leaned in and kissed the shock of thin, white hair covering his head. The fourth Everdawnling was just over six months old now. In spite of the inexplicable shaking fits he would occasionally fall into, and his frail, sickly appearance, he was a happy boy. She thanked Lathander for that!

The priestess rose from her seat and with child and letter in hand, headed toward the bedroom where the medallion had been stored safely away with the Scepter and 'Plan B'.

"Greetings, Marinelle!", she said both telepathically and aloud after slipping the chain over her head. "Might I have a word with our little pixie?"

Gwilly was elbow deep in a pot of little potatoes that she was preparing for a stew when Marinelle called her name. It wasn't often that the beautiful dragon requested her presence so the pixie knew something was up. Perhaps some goblins needed smiting. Gwilly wiped her hands on her shirt and reached for Illwhaylellynee, Ichthassa* and her quiver. She always had them at the ready, just in case...

As the pixie flew toward Marinelle she noticed the great lady dragon had a smile on her face. She was holding the medallion that allowed them communication with the Everdawn's.

"It seems as though someone wishes to speak with you."

Marinelle placed the medallion in the pixie's hands. "Just remember, all you have to do is think what you want to say and they will hear you."

Gwilly blinked twice at Marinelle. She had never used the medallion before. "Oh..." she said in a slightly bewildered voice. "Thank you."

Then the pixie focused on the medallion. I'm not sure how this works, Gwilly willed the words into the medallion. Marinelle told me just to think and you would hear me. It sure is a shiny little thing... Hello? Is someone there?



*Ichthassa is the name Gwilly has given her bow. It happens to be the feminine form of the pixie word "seeker".

The priestess' eyes began shining with bridled tears when she heard the pixie's voice enter her mind.

"Gwilly, it's Ashara!" she said excitedly and somewhat unnecessarily.

Sitting Thalion down on the bed, she propped him up with pillows so he could sit upright. It was a milestone that he should have already reached but the tiny boy still hadn't the strength to manage it on his own. The colored blocks that he was presented with held little interest compared with his mother's voice, so Ashara continued to hold the conversation with the pixie both telepathically and verbally.

"I just received your letter, and I'm so glad to hear that you're doing well! We really miss you over here, Gwilly... Any chance you three will be in the Impresk area any time soon? All the children ask about you every time they look through those picture books!"

Gwilly's eyes lit up when she heard Ashara's voice in her head. It had been a long time since she had heard that familiar voice.

Ashara wrote:Any chance you three will be in the Impresk area anytime soon?

Um... I'm not sure if we'll be back that way anytime soon. We've traveled a fair ways and we haven't settled down yet. I decided to start cooking. How's Romen? And Elric, how is he? Everything is alright in Impresk, isn't it?

The pixie's brow was furrowed in concern for a moment but it quickly brightened. They could more then handle themselves back home.

"Cooking!" Ashara grinned and tried to keep the concern out of her voice and thoughts, as she pictured EVERYTHING being braised, basted, stewed or flambéed in pinana wine! "I'm looking forward to trying some of your recipes!

"Romen is quite well... And yes, we've had the fire safety discussion a number of times now," she laughed. Those talks started right after he and his sister 'somehow' set fire to the chairs in the meeting room... "For the longest time after you left, he thought you were playing Hide and Go Seek with him! He'd run around the house calling your name, thinking you were just flying around invisible again... Rather heartbreaking! He'll be happy to see you again!

"We also have three other children!", Ashara snickered with a shake of her head. It was no secret that Romen was Gwilly's favorite, and in fact she had a terrible time simply remembering the NAMES of the other children. "Arturo, Me'awen and now Thalion are also eager to see their Auntie Gwilly!

"As for Elric... Well...," she sighed softly and brushed a finger along Thalion's cheek before continuing. "We've had a rough string of months here, but he's keeping busy and doggedly optimistic as always!"

After the incident with Alagian and more specifically the deaths of the two youngest students of Salk-Sirra, Perrimar and Talgan, Elric decided that he needed to take a firmer approach to teaching his students.

A more... Eldorath-like approach...

It was difficult for him. He didn't enjoy purposefully causing them pain or treating them coldly and impartially. There were many evenings that he'd confided as much to Ashara, but he knew that he hadn't been doing them any favors by taking it easy on them. He wanted to ensure that his students were well prepared to defend themselves and others if the situation arose! If that involved a few broken bones from time to time, so be it.

That responsibility would have been hard enough, but then...when Thalion was born... To be honest they were just getting over the shock of it. Working to pick up the pieces and deal with life as it came at them... As they always had. There were still no answers to their son's condition, and no solutions presented themselves, neither mundane, divine or arcane.

He was a happy boy. Happy and loved. Ashara repeated that to herself over and over every day, and while she knew Elric was managing to cope by throwing himself headlong into his training, they didn't actually talk about it much. The pain and concern was still too raw and with no ideas and no answers, any discussion on the matter would just cause each other more hurt.

"What of you, my friend?" she asked eagerly, hoping to hear some good news. "Visit any exciting places? Any major or minor merrymaking going on over there?"

Gwilly's small pixish heart so accustomed to joy, ached with sorrow as Ashara spoke about her children. She missed them, especially Romen. That sweet little boy with his mischievous grin was her favorite, though she still had love for the other two... three? Ashara had mentioned three others. That was one more then the pixie remembered. So, there was a new baby in the Everdawn house. Gwilly wondered if he (at least she thought it was a "he") would be anything like Romen.

Romen. Ashara said he had searched for her long after she had left. She hadn't even told him goodbye. The pixie shook her head in an attempt to dislodge such thoughts from her brain. But no amount of shaking could get rid of the sorrow that wore like a callous upon her heart.

The pixie directed her thoughts toward Ashara once again.

Umm... yes... merry making. There has been some of that. And traveling. A lot of traveling. There was a short pause.

Oh, I think I forgot something... I, um, have to go...

Gwilly looked at the medallion imagining her friend's sweet smile miles and miles away. Goodbye, Ashara.

The pixie's lower lip was trembling ever so slightly as she put the medallion down and put her hands back into the pot of potatoes. Her heart was full of thoughts that she didn't truly understand. With a vehement sniffle Gwilly resolved to make the best stew ever for their dinner that evening. But even her enthusiasm couldn't shake the sorrow she felt in her heart.

And much to the pixie's dismay, Tomar felt that it was the worst stew he had ever eaten. As he put it, "All I can taste is salt"

Arriving in Impresk on the 29th of Tarsakh, 1378

My best, most brilliant Ashara,

The winter months are long, cold and dark. Lately, I have tried passing the time by drawing but all my pictures are filled with darkness. I have tried to draw the things I love, the ones I love, but all I see are shadows reaching, ever reaching... The only thing that is able to chase the shadows away is a crude picture I drew of you when you first taught me to sketch. Those memories are like a dream. I cannot remember what your face really looks like anymore, Ashara.

(tear drops begin to stain the paper)

I'm... so... afraid... I've lost... my joy in killing goblins. I do not wish to be merry but pretend to for the sake of Tomar and Marinelle. They need a little joy... but I have none left to give. I do not sleep well. Illwhaylellynee has lost her luster. I have never felt like this before. I don't know what to do. I feel like I am drowning... I am an embarrassment to the pixie race and I should have my wings cut off.
Oh Ashara, please help me make the gray, tepid, tasteless mess go away! I am no use like this. Where did I go?

I'm losing my mind. I don't know who I am anymore...

Lynaya Gwillumette

After reading it through a second time, Ashara set the letter down on the small writing desk and turned her eyes to the window, listening to the heavy spring rain rap soothingly at the glass. At least it should have been soothing... Between that and the steady breathing of the half dragon sleeping at the other end of the room, she should've been able to drift into sweet unconsciousness about an hour ago but there had been too many things vying for her mind's attention and sleep wasn't at the top of that list. Greengrass Festival preparations, reviewing construction schedule reports and the labor and material budgets for the cathedral, correspondence from various priests, as well as the upcoming meeting with enigmatic Sunlord Daelegoth Orndeir, de facto leader of the church of Amaunator... Sleep wasn't even in the top ten.

The tone of pain and desperation in her dear friend's letter however, swept all other responsibilities from her mind for the time being. She'd spoken with Gwilly a few months back after receiving her last message, but not wanting to worry her, the pixie had assured Ashara that everything was fine. Now it seemed that wasn't the case at all, and she was very concerned indeed...

The priestess had never heard the usually joyful pixie so...despondent. Gwilly'd managed to get through Dagadar and Calimport with scarcely a crease in her beautiful brow, but Kaimelithil had shaken her as it had shaken them all. Ashara was just now beginning to see how deeply that hurt ran. Tomar and Marinelle being as notoriously reserved as they were, she wondered if the trio had ever allowed themselves the healthy exercise of discussing the tragedy that had been the fall of Kaimelithil. Gwilly likely wouldn't have brought it up in fear of causing the dragon princess more pain. How she wished she could comfort her friend in person!

Ashara rose from the small chair and after grabbing the next best means of communication from the dresser, she blew out the lantern and quietly left the bedroom. Medallion in hand, she paused in the hallway on her way to the planning room and on a whim, turned the opposite direction, heading up the stairs to the roof.

The dull glow of the moon could occasionally be seen through the clouds that hurled fat drops of smacky rain down at the burgeoning town of Impresk and against the upturned face of the priestess as she sat on the bench near the shine atop the Champions' House. It was a mild and cleansing rain. Sure, she'd be soaked to the bone after this conversation but perhaps her own pervasive concerns would be drowned out by the sensation so she could more clearly focus on her beloved friend's needs. The planning room was filled with so many memories that sometimes it was difficult to concentrate.

After a quick prayer for wisdom, Ashara sent her thoughts through the magical medallion and out...somewhere...to wherever Elric's mother and her two companions might be.

"Greetings, Marinelle... I hope I'm not disturbing your rest, but if it's possible I'd very much like to speak with Gwilly."

Marinelle wrapped the cloak more tightly about her small, elven frame. A frigid wind ripped at the thick material, endeavoring to tear it free from her hold, but her iron grip easily withstood the driving force of nature. Blowing snow blended the featureless white plain with the bright stars of the darkened sky, blurring the distinctions between the two. Truly, they had journeyed to the farthest reaches of Faerun, yet, even here, evil would seek them out.

If it could find Kaimelithil, then nowhere was it safe to hide any longer.

In so desolate a land as the Great Glacier, perhaps it is safe to rest, at least, she thought, eager to convince herself of the notion's validity. Her eyes lingered on the man pushing boldly through driving wind and frozen snow, unyielding in his search for any kind of shelter. Though he would never admit it to her or anyone, the knight required respite from the endless travails through forever-changing climates. It will kill him, she pondered sadly, but he will go to the grave without complaint. His is a just and true heart.

And a fatherly one! she permitted herself a brief smile. As they traveled north and east through the Cold Lands, Tomar had demanded that she purchase a cloak of thick fur to shield her from the biting air. "I can barely feel the cold," she had protested, but her knight had insisted all the same. "Here," he had replied in his typically dour manner. "North, the extremes will become unbearable, even for your elven flesh. Wear it when the need arises." How thankful she was now that he had persisted then. The temperature dropped so low in the Frozen Land that normal flesh and blood could not endure it for long. Had she taken her true form of steel and scale, no amount of wicked weather might touch her, but a dragon moving so openly throughout any land drew attention, and such attention could prove deadly to any or all of them.

Marinelle turned her focus to her second companion: the small pixie with a stout heart known as Gwilly. Gwilly flew a short distance beside Tomar, as unlikely a friendship as ever could exist in the Realms, but with each being wholly fond of the other. Never had she known anyone capable of making the stubborn and stern knight smile until this little one had come into their lives, and she thanked Lathander at the breaking of every dawn and Selune at the advent of every moon for the pixie's presence! In some ways, she believed, Gwilly's antics revitalized her long-time friend. More surprisingly, the two seemed to agree on a great deal of subjects and decisions! On most days, all she need do was look at the pair conversing when suddenly she broke out in a fit of giggling. Never before had she witnessed two individuals so completely different in appearance and stature, yet so absolutely similar in heart and purpose!

As pivotal to Tomar as Gwilly had become, however, she saw the importance of the former to the latter, as well. Perhaps more so with each passing month. The pixie maintained her typical optimistic demeanor for all to see, but Marinelle sensed that all was not right with her diminutive friend. Something ate away at the fae's insides, and the pixie had no comprehension of how to deal with it. As a dragon, she had a nose for smelling out such emotional turmoil.

The unexpected summons broke her away from these contemplations, while putting a warm smile upon her countenance. "Blessings of the Morninglord be upon you, daughter," she replied, removing the medallion from around her neck. "You could never be a disturbance to me, no matter the time of day. As ever, it is a pleasure to hear the warmth of your voice. A moment, and I shall acquire her for you."

"Gwilly!" Marinelle called, holding up the medallion for the pixie to see. Her voice easily penetrated the howling wind. "Someone wishes to speak with you!"

Handing the communication device over to her small companion with a reassuring smile, she moved forward to tell Tomar their adventure was over for the night. Before he could protest, she removed her cloak, stepped away, and grew into the mighty steel dragon that was her birth form. Rending a deep gash in the snow-covered tundra, Marinelle curled up around it to give her friends a few hours respite from the savage elements.

Gwilly tugged at the magenta cloak that hung on her slender shoulders. The cold was more cunning this winter then it had ever been in all her one hundred and twenty years. The frigid fingers of winter found their grip and held her tight no matter how she wrapped herself in the warm fabric. The pixie looked out across the miles and miles of snow and ice and wished for once that she were in the sweaty belly of Calimport before the great disaster. The stink of a certain minotaur would be comfort to her nose in all this cold.

Certainly the lack of joy in the heart of the pixie didn't help the fact that she was cold to the bone. She felt like there was a bottomless pit in her chest, or like someone had roasted a chestnut and then stuck it, piping hot, in the middle of her heart where it only continued to grow and burn.

Gwilly was trying to distract herself from the ache in her chest by thinking of which story from her childhood she should tell Tomar this evening when she heard Marinelle's voice over her shoulder.

Marinelle wrote:"Gwilly! Someone wishes to speak with you!"

She turned to see the dragon-elf-lady holding the medallion out toward her. Grabbing it, Gwilly murmured her thanks and watched, wide eyed as Marinelle transformed into her true body. Seeing Elric's mother as in her dragon form never ceased to amaze the young pixie.

"Hello?" Gwilly whispered with some hope. "Ashara? Are you there? Did... did you get my letter?

"Hello, my dear friend!" Ashara pushed a few strands of dripping hair over her ear and smiled sadly at the tiny voice she missed so much. "Yes, I just read your letter... The pain and darkness you describe sound all too familiar, and I'm very concerned!"

It was all far too familiar a description of how Ashara herself felt after waking from the Curse. For months she tried dealing with it on her own. The crushing darkness, the nightmares, the despair... Quite unsuccessfully! No, there had to be an outlet for all the horrors that were witnessed. Either that, or lose yourself in them.

"Tell me, have you had a chance to talk to Marinelle and Tomar about all that happened down there in Kaimelithil?"