Dashyl's Quest

“Oh, dad.” Dashyl said, putting his father’s journal back into his travel sack and smiling. Fretly had dozed off on Soern’s bed while Dashyl was reading the journal entry. His friend seemed at ease even in a stranger’s bed. Dashyl had always felt comfortable in strange places with his father and having Fretly with him had the same effect. He looked around the small, one-room hut. The furnishings were spare, a rudimentary kitchen and dining area along one wall, with the bed and a floor to ceiling shelving unit on the opposite wall. Other than that, the hut contained a few chairs, a table and a trunk.

Dashyl stood up and went to look out the window next to the door. The window, other than the teapot and cups, was probably the cleanest item in the hut. He could see far down the road in the direction of Anchorwatch. He didn’t know how far away it was, but it couldn’t be too far. The afternoon shadows of the trees that lined the road grew longer, but that was the only change that Dashyl noticed other than the small circles of moisture that his breath made on the glass.

“I wonder when he’s coming back,” he said out loud. Fretly stirred on the bed and rolled over, mumbling something. 

Dashyl sighed and turned away from the window. The boy crept over to the trunk. It wasn’t locked. He glanced over his shoulder at Fretly and knelt down in front of the trunk. After a few moments, he lifted the wooden lid and peered inside. Papers filled it. Dashyl picked up a little stack. They were messages written in the Sidrani Symbolic writing that he didn’t understand. The only thing he recognized about them were the delivery stamps. Apparently, most had been delivered by igwaza runners. A couple in his hand were delivered by trinket owls, but he didn’t know from where. He didn’t recognize the stamp locations, they weren’t from any Legion controlled lands. The boy rummaged through the trunk, picking up stacks of paper and thumbing through them. Towards the bottom, he found a stack of messages written in the Sarion tongue. Intrigued, Dashyl sat on the floor and began to read.