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Registered: 12-2005
Location: Ottawa, Canada
Posts: 111
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posticon Wolf Boy's Apology


Conal was learning. He had hunted the quarry of knowledge across the wilderness of the printed page for days. Before that, he had studied humans as they went about their daily lives. He had practiced their mannerisms and their idioms. He had learned of the many concepts, many of them lies, that they used to keep their society functioning. The human, he realized, was a cunning animal. They used deception on themselves just to get by.

His experiment with the librarian had been more painful than he had anticipated, but he had learned what he wanted to know. Yes, the librarians were above the laws of men. Yes, they could attack people in the streets and be considered in the right for it. And yes, they taught control of magic, but not control of the self. His near death over a calculated rudeness was surprising, but it fit with his research on Andrunese society. Now, he had to hope he could repair the damage to his ability to dwell among the humans, by their own methods. The well crafted lie.

He had only the man's first name from the halfling who had witnessed the brutal assault, so he put as much skill as he could muster into the calligraphy of that name, to make it seem noble, artful, and stylish. He chose some of the finest velum he could buy from the trade guilds for his letter of apology. It was snow white, crisp, and had a fine spiderweb of blue-tinted cracks just under its surface that made it exotic. The ink itself was mixed with juice from crushed apple blossoms, rotted in the forest underbrush, to give the letter so faint a perfume that a human nose would not notice, but would be driven to happy thoughts of the autumn, and rest.

Noble WYLIE,

I write to you sir, with a heart made heavy by the depth of my own rudeness. Points of philosophy aside, by so casually dismissing your perspective, I did you a grave disservice, sir. Please permit me to offer my humble apology for the injury I did to your heart that night, and if I may, to explain my disastrous choices, that you may be sure I shall never repeat them.

As you may be aware, sir, there is a growing body of malcontent within the city. Perhaps you are not, in which case by pointing it out I may yet be of some small service to the library. As I have been frequenting the halls and warehouses of the trade guilds, seeking honest work to apply myself to, several drinks were bought for me by those who voiced an opinion which in hindsight, strikes me as Wyrmcult propaganda. Your noble institution was compared to a mere guild by several workers, who voiced opinions ranging from an unfair imbalance of power, to criminal allegations to the common practice of the librarian to wear masks. I fear that my mind was dulled by drink, and the words of jealous laborers when I spoke ill to you, and I have since rectified my misconceptions. Should you seek an understanding of these men and their taudry opinions, several of them have voiced an invitation to me to meet them at a derelict townhouse in the northwest corner of Avendel's central main district. I would not go there, for the neighborhood seems to be falling into the poverty I hope to escape.

You are a rational man, a scholar and a gentleman. I am a mere woodsman trying to better myself with an education in worldly matters and commerce. While I am beneath you sir, it comforts me to know that you will understand the reasons for my fallacy. It would be an honour sir, if you would deign to find it in your noble heart to forgive a wayward but now corrected citizen of our fair empire.

Sincerely,

Conal


The boy wiped off his quill and set it aside to inspect the letter. He had a dictionary from the Lexiconniseur open to look up a few of the more difficult words he had selected, and was puzzled to learn that "Sincerely" meant "without wax". An odd idiom he would have to look up another day. In form, the letter fit several in novels he had read, lending itself to the literary mind as without malice. He even feigned sadness as he wrote it, in case some divination saw his face later as it was being penned. It was a perfect letter of apology in all ways save one: he did not mean a word of it. Best of all, it passed blame to a den of criminals who sickened the city anyways.

He left the letter at the Blue Moon, paying fifty krown to have it given to Wylie ten minutes after next he came in.

---
Creator of A Tale of Bone and Steel.

Cloak and Dagger
2/22/2013, 3:03 am Link to this post Send Email to ExplodingRunes   Send PM to ExplodingRunes
 
Delusionist Profile
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Registered: 02-2013
Posts: 4
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Re: Wolf Boy's Apology


[A reply is left with the Feather-brushes. Neatly written on crisp white paper.]

Conal,

My, oh my. For a simple woodsman who desires an education you seem to have ALL THE ANSWERS! I trust this has been a valuable learning experience for you. But, if you feel your education is incomplete I have so much more to teach.

With love,
Wylie Wyndham
Journeyman of the Imperial Library


Last edited by Delusionist, 2/22/2013, 6:11 pm
2/22/2013, 5:52 pm Link to this post Send Email to Delusionist   Send PM to Delusionist Blog
 


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