A Lifelong Undertaking

Dear River,

 

                It has been raining here in Whispering Oaks for the last week, but the rain does nothing to remove the loveliness of the Imperial Estate. I have been here for little over a year now, and I must tell you brother the Estate is like nothing I have seen before in my life. The whole time I have been here at the Estate I have not left its walls to visited the city be on it. There is no need for me to do so, you must understand because everything in which anyone would need is already within the walls of the Emperor’s home. The markets here inside the walls hold the greatest supplies of any item you would desire for and many squirrels from the outside world travel just to shop at the Imperial Markets.

                But unlike those squirrels who wish to spend their acorns on goods, I have seen the better parts of the Estate. The Imperial Guard, those highly trained Knights (which there are only four-hundreds of them), live on the Estate grounds in houses for themselves and their family if need be. Along with them lived most of the Court as well and then there are the blacksmiths, cooks, traitors, and any kind of craftsquirrel you wish to find. They live all here, never needing to leave unless they wish too.

                I have found, the Emperor will walk the streets and halls of his home freely, and it is not uncommon for anyone who is visiting the Estate to run into him. At first, when I would come down a hall or step out of the door to find myself staring at the smiling Emperor, I would freeze with fear. I had no idea how to act in front of him other than to bow, but over time I have become more friendly with him. We have spoken at great lengths about the novels and poems which we both loved. I dare to say we even had a few debates over the matter of which is the more unrated Bards of our Realm. My vote still stands as Rohan Cloaksong, and if you haven’t read his work, then I implore you to do so.

The Emperor is a well-read squirrel to the point you can often find him in the halls of the Oak Library. I am sure the love for stories comes from the Royal Bard himself; after all, he made sure the Emperor from a young age found a deep love for reading.

                I have become friends with the Emperor; although, I say that lightly. He seems to be able to recall most of the names of the squirrels who live within the Estate or are seen in the Palace daily. I have been doing my training with Gulydin Songleaf the Royal Bard for the Courts which has led me to roam the Palace most days. On the days I am not with the Master of my Rank, you can find me among the books in the library. It is as I have a dream, if not better than those dreams, the library seems to have an endless among of books for me to read. I could live for thousands of years and still couldn’t read them all. I hope when I go to Avalon it is simply a library.

                My time to step into the light of Avalon has not come and let’s prays I still have time yet because I have been tasked by the Emperor to write a great book. He wishes for me to add my voice to the long line of books on the history of our Realm. I had no choice but to agree to this undertaking, but between you and me, I fear as if I’m greatly inadequate to write this book. I am no historian by trade, but the Emperor has seen the great love I have for history in my writing. He simply asked me to add my voice to the story of us, not to re-write it all.

                It has given me a great work to do with my paws. I have a meaning to my life again, I guess you can say, and for the moment, it has set the loneliness aside. My dearest brother I still dream of her every night �"I cannot bring myself to write or even speak her name, and I miss her dearly, but the work has taken my mind away from her death. It truly is a great blessing to have something worthwhile again to live for. I thank the AllFather nighty for the task.

                This also has led me to something unique, I get to read all these books about creatures, myths, and other histories less known to the Realm. Many of these Under Histories, as I have come to call it, is impossible to verify as true but I do enjoy reading about them none the less. What I mean by Under Histories is those stories spoken normally among town folk or tales about subjects few wish to be discussed openly but nevertheless are equally, if not more, important to the Realm then the Ture History.

                I am not adding the Under Histories to my book for the obvious reasons, but I have finger you might enjoy learning about some of these unique tales. I shall be trying my best to write letters to you about what I have found hidden in these books or the Estate itself, and I hope you greatly enjoy them. I’m not sure what I will find here, but I’m sure we will both enjoy it.

                I must be going soon, the candles are burning low, and the monthly dinner with the Emperor is tonight. I’m sure there will be many Bards there to sing and recite poems to the joy of us all, but I wish you and the lovely Mary were here with me along with the children. If you tow can find the acorns, please travel to see me. I can make arrangements for your whole family to stay on the Estate with me if need be. The Emperor would not mind seeing my family with me for a time. If you cannot make to Whispering Oaks, then I beg you to write back to me as often as you can. I know you have a lot of work to do in Thornwood, but I would still love to hear back from you soon. Give Mary a kiss from me and a hug to everyone else. Tell them I miss them deeply from the bottom of my heart and until next, my dearest brother …

 

Your brother,

Brain Redtales

(1425)

Author's Note

Writer’s Note: I have been working on the history of the Realm for a while now and wanted to show you guys a little of how I do it. I like to write letters and have brought that love into my work. I hope you will enjoy it as well. I’m not sure how many letters I’m going to write but we shall great a good amount out of this book.

I’ll try to make this short for the both of us, but I feel, I need to add a little context to my stories on here. All the stories I post on this website are what I call “break stories.” They are either stories I go to when I get stuck in long from novel or stories, I write to explore a world. So, what does this mean? It means I enjoy these stories, but I don’t put everything into them. So, why am I posting them? A fair question and the reason I’m posting my stories on this website is to have fun, to show you my growth but most of all to give you a little taste of the worlds I work in. What does this mean for you? It means you can judge the work as you wish and by all means help me with plot, characters, and building the world, but I ask you to ignore grammar problems as best as you can and the style in which these stories are written. My page on here is my sketchbook and you guys get to see all the rough, nasty parts of my writing.