To Kowser, on the topic of your past.
From: Arthur
To: Kowser Dear Kowser, How are are you? I am very curious about what it’s like to live at the Keep, and am doing some research to see if I should visit. Is that a good idea? Is it safe? You live at Wullferg Keep—where did you live before that? How did you get your medical training? What does your typical day around the keep looking like? Are there any pets around? If this letter comes off as suspicious, please forgive me. The world is a tad insane right now, and Wullferg Keep seems like a perfect place to hole up for a while. Suggestions? From one wolf to another, A. F. |
From: Kowser
To: Arthur You ignorant little fool. Visit Wullferg Keep? Never. You haven’t the slightest idea what it’s like here and I pray you never have the misfortune to find out. Wherever you are--and however insane it is--is far better than the hell I live in here. Which of course is why I even bother responding to you. Misery loves company, and though I can’t give you any dirty details on the Keep, at least I can answer your other questions. (Which no one seems to ask. Or care about, for that matter.) I lived in the Argorr Valley Pack before I came to the Keep. It’s considered the most civilized pack in the forest--besides the Keep. (Which of course is no longer true with what’s going on here.) Argos Valley is a proper village. I started out as a healer at an unfortunately young age. All Fulvragers were required to since apparently it’s our “Lupa given path” or some brekshie like that. I hated every minute of it and would finish my work as soon as possible so I could go study with the Uombrarr. They were all being trained as priests of the Nameless One. Glorified executioners, really. Yes, they did other things. But I was mostly interested in hunting down criminals. But for some reason, my act of flying through my work was seen as a love of medicine. I don’t know what idiot thought that. Probably my uncle. Well, when Wullferg Keep was looking for a new apprentice for their current healer (Eleef Waymen. Lovely woman.) I was recommended. I’m pretty sure my pack just wanted me gone. I had a tendency to slip things into food that shouldn’t be there. Poisoning the spring water didn’t go over well either. Or stabbing the Alpha’s son. (But he was an argufule and deserved it.) Anyways, I got carted off to the Keep before I even had a chance to think about running away. And let me tell you, sneaking around in the Keep is much harder than sneaking around in a little village pack. I was caught. My typical day has a lot of time devoted to trying to fix Rowan. So far no luck but I don’t have much else to do. I might spend some time in the garden or the library. Now that Emily’s here I’ve been spending a fair amount of time making sure she doesn’t get eaten or have another mental breakdown. It’s very entertaining. In between other tasks, I--well, the best way to say it is that I ‘check’ up on the rest of the pack. Just… see how things are going. What they’re doing. What they’ve seen. I throw in some subtly worded corrections. Definitely no threats. Ever. I mean just because I could ‘accidentally’ mess up at a critical time when someone needs urgent medical aid doesn’t mean I bring that up. And no, no pets. Unless you count Fisk. He’s like an annoying intelligent parrot. Never shuts up. At least he can be entertaining sometimes. Watching Caimdon stress out over him is fun. But no real pets. Just a handful of cows and chickens. I want to get a cat, but Oberkon would tear off its head and hang it by its tail somewhere where we’d be sure to bump into it. Again--don’t visit the Keep. This place is best left to the wolves. Kowser |