The White Ghost of Hart's Cove

1

.^^ Fort Styx ^^

— Teilen —

"Tei! You get those blueprints from the Archive district yet?" Diavol barked, breaking my concentration on purpose.

My sculpting knife slipped, and ruined the symmetrical lines I'd been making in the clay structure. I sighed, and scrapped the second leg of the bridge while he laughed. "They were given to the crew lead, Yes. Anything else?" I asked, beginning again.

He hummed sarcastically. "Uh... oh! Yeah, the Captain wants to talk to you. Dunno what about. Said it was important you see her at noon."

I paused. "You realize it's around four O'clock, Yeah?"

He grinned, shrugging. "Meh."

I growled at him, stabilizing my project, and then shoved him out of my cave/office, locking it magically. "You stupid child! What if it's a Structural Issue?" I hissed at him, and darted away as he blinked, shocked.

The door of the Captain's office swung open ominously as I approached, on slightly squeaking hinges. I suppressed the urge to fix it, and walked in.

"You're very Late." The captain hummed, reading a report.

"I received the memo from Diavol just three minutes ago." I frowned.

"Ah, Diavol... Yes, that makes sense. I'll have him reprimanded. Now, I have something for you, a Letter from the Chief of your clan, addressed to the both of us, but written in Runes. You will read it to me." She placed a fat envelope on the edge of the desk.

I frowned and opened it carefully. "Elf Runes... and Dwarf Runes? A code for me?" I murmured, and snatched a blank piece of paper casually, (forgetting where I was, and being reminded too late by her raised eyebrow,) and forged ahead awkwardly, translating first the Elvish, then the Dwarven, and discovered the message was simply halved between the two languages.

"Ah, here we go. It says-" she held up a finger, then pressed it to her lips slowly. "Oh, right. Understood, Captain." I raised a hand, and cast a net over the desk and my seat, so no one could listen or record anything that happened while it was up.

She nodded. "Impressive... we may have to reassign you to the Warmage Division... now read." She placed her hands under her chin, and stared at me.

"Ahem... Alright. It's addressed to you, actually, not me, though I'm mentioned with the rune for 'Translator'. It's from your father, the Councilman." I nodded.

She hummed. "Continue. Summarize, though, I hate how he rambles in letters."

I nodded and retranslated, capturing the main points of each section without really reading them, as I'd been taught. It was a good way to translate ancient, secret documents without ever reading them.

"Alrighty... It starts with pleasantries, of course, how do you do, how's the work, etc., and then there's something vague about grandchildren, your family-member's health, your brother in particular is recovering nicely from his wounds, and then it says it has an actual, very serious message, directly from the... the Elder Council themselves." I set the letter down slowly.

She hummed and picked it up, squinting at my notes. "You translated it into this... chicken-scratch?"

"They're Pre-Collapse Ent Runes, I use them for short hand, and for note-taking... and secrecy." I whispered, still shocked at the mention of the Elder Council, the actual ruling body of the Sky Castles, whose representatives came every few months to check on the Clans, and to give medicines and such grown in the higher altitudes, collecting food and Metal as recompense.