Mail carriers. Quite skilled in themselves, able to travel over rough terrain and through almost any storm, but this carrier wasn’t an ordinary carrier. This carrier was a ninja. Tayler didn’t recognize the sender due to him being masked, but the ninja’s attire was definitely that of her old school’s dress code. Jarek never sent her mail because he didn’t feel the need to waste money on her, and she didn’t know many other people who would go out of their way to write to her, much less one that would send a ninja from home.

She gripped the unopened envelope tightly in both hands. This wasn’t good. The message was a high priority letter, being sent to her by an elite shinobi, due to her not actually living in any one place. The way they would have tracked her was probably through different tavern residence records, but still doing a lot of searching themselves. It wasn’t always a foolproof method of relaying a message, but it was the most effective way to get a hold of someone who traveled a lot, and was a ninja herself. Who knows how long this message had been traveling before it finally fell in her lands, it could have been written months ago and only just now found its receiver.

She looked back up the crowded street where the young mail carrier had disappeared just a few seconds earlier. She bit her lower lip and uttered a short prayer. Her finger slide across the opening and broke the seal. A small, folded sheet of tan paper fell into her hand. She removed the twine and unraveled the parchment. Her eyes widened. There was no mistake; this was definitely a letter from home.

Dear Tayler,

I have some unsettling news. Jamous Grey hasn’t returned in nearly two months from one of his research trips. He promised to return in two weeks. (You know how precise he likes to be, there’s no doubt he would have returned exactly two weeks later) This has many of students here worried, as well as half the staff. There’s some speculation that he may have been captured by someone he may have known in the past, someone he hasn’t said much to us about before but told us enough to know he would do something like this. We don’t know his name, but it’s just a theory anyway, Jamous has made many enemies in the past. Please, we need your help tracking your uncle down again. His trip was overseas to the same land you set out for to find your brother, Jarek (hope you find him soon). You’re closer to his last known location than any of us. You may be near enough retrace his steps to possibly figure out what could have happened to him. He went to the ruins of a refugee city called Shale, one that wouldn’t be listed on a normal map. It was roughly one hundred kilometers south of a city called Brayre. Any decent city should have a map kiosk with a map showing to Brayre. Just measure the hundred kilometer distance and Shale should be near that location. Please, Tayler, we need to get him back or else the entire school will have to close down. Don’t forget everything he has done for you, don’t disappoint us. Bring your uncle back.

-Uriah Klems and the students of Grey Academy

By the time she finished the letter, her eyes were clouded with un-fallen tears, held back by stubbornness. Jamous missing? How? He was the highest ranked ninja in the entire academy. Heck, he ran the academy itself! He was her guardian and helped her grow into the person she was, he was like a father to her. How dare Uriah think she’d forgotten what he’d done for her! That ass! Mr. Klems even pretended to care for her search for Jarek. She crushed the paper in her fist, but quickly slowed herself down. No, she shouldn’t get angry at Uriah. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. It wasn’t Uriah’s fault. Tayler unfolded the crumpled letter and tied twine back around it, slipping the parchment into her belt.

***

It didn’t take her long to find a map kiosk. However, it did take her a long time to find a map that listed the city of Brayre. It was an older map, but everything should still check out quite fine. She found it odd that none of the newer maps listed the city.

Brayre wasn’t too far south. Hitching a ride on a caravan or renting a horse could get her at least that far before nightfall. All she would have to do is find merchants who dealt with Brayre, which shouldn’t be hard considering the town was relatively close by therefore good for business. She’d merely have to bribe the right people, and then begin her journey.

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Tree | Styx