Farewell to those I have loved and hated

To all those whom I have known, served, and fought with or for:


With the ravages our countries have suffered, the time has come for me at last to take my long-overdue leave, and return to Vorlorne to help in the rebuilding of my home city.

My stay in Travance was never meant to be a permanent one. Indeed, if my mission here had not been of such vital importance, I met have left soon after my arrival, disgusted as I was by the lawlessness, foolishness, and disregard for order and civility I found here. But I did stay, putting off my return home far longer than I should have, for I found here a land and a people unlike any other, a place where I could serve and better myself alongside others with far more noble and lofty goals than my own. Ours -- and I say 'ours', for though I was born of Althowine, as we were all of us begun elsewhere, Travance has truly become home to each and every one of us -- is a land of wonders and heroes, of uncanny courage, fortitude, and wisdom, regardless of whether the person who bares those virtues be foul or fair. That is why, although it pains me to depart at this time, I know that the Barony is in good hands, strengthened and cared for by its subjects, nobility, and defenders, in whom exists a strength that can be found nowhere else on Arawyn, a strength that laughs defiantly in the face of the greatest evils, a strength that makes the gods themselves sit up and take notice.

You all of you know me as a woman of few words. Perhaps you think me dour, unfriendly, standoffish. It is true, that I put my duty before all else. I make no apologies in this, for I am how the gods and circumstances made me. But I put quill to paper today to express my love and respect for each and every one of you, and to confess my everlasting admiration. And also, to confess one, great truth:

I shall miss you all.

I do not know when I will return; Althowine is distant, and the destruction far-reaching. Perhaps I will return as early as the Spring, and will look on this eloquent goodbye as an embarrassing display of sentiment. On the other hand, it may be a long, long while before I return, if ever, and I would not have these things remain unsaid.

I have little use for the gods, and view them with skepticism, but I wish now the blessings of every God and Angel upon Travance and all its peoples. Health and prosperity to all, long life to Baroness Hartwoode.


Eternally in Service to the Barony,

Once Apprentice to Kiellor Reign
Once Lieutenant of the Baronial Guard

Now only
Ehlenathelasa Blacktree vel-Althowine