23, Letters

Before Ayya knew it, her free days were over and she was sitting in aari Magath’s office, getting her next assignment. 

“Well done with your first assignment,” he said.

“Thank you.”

“I enjoyed reading your report. It’s unfortunate that there was no other way to deal with the wolves, but sometimes this is the only solution. It’s a hard decision to make, and to have to make it on your first assignment. Impressive. But I think we will place you on letter duty for a while. It will give you an understanding of what forms the basis of our department. Follow me,” he said, and got up from his chair. Ayya followed him as he walked through the sanctum. They came to a room just off the main entrance. The room had a long counter and behind it shelves filled with letters. Two aari stood behind the counter and smiled at Ayya and Magath as they walked in. “This is the mail room of the sanctum,” Magath explained. “This is where all letters that are going into the sanctum ends up. Kremil and Therass here do the first sorting. They sort the personal letters from the official letters and make sure the personal once get delivered to the recipient.”

“Hello, nice to meet you,” Kremil said.

“Hi,” Ayya replied.

“Your job will be to pick up a stack of letters from here. They will be official letters sent from all over. Your job is to read them and categorise them into one of three categories; letters we can resolve by responding to them, letters that need a visit from an aari, like the mission you just came from, and finally letters that require the council or the lady’s involvement. You can work at you own pace, but it is good to not let the letters stay unread for too long. When you are done with your stack, you come here and are given a new stack. You can take your first stack with you now and we will go to your office, where I will explain it in more detail.”

“Okay,” Ayya said, nodding. She was handed a stack of letters, and she and Magath made their way to her office. She invited him in and put the letters on her desk as they took their seats. 

“This book outlines how categorisation should be done. It’s not that complicated and I think you will get the hang of it quickly. But to make sure you don’t feel confused or left out at sea on your own, I suggest we have a standing meeting at the end of the day and we can go through the letters you have worked on,” Magath suggested.

“That sounds good.”

“When you have categorised a letter, you will need to act on it. If it’s something we can solve by writing a letter, then you may do so if you feel that you have the knowledge. If not, send the letter with a prospect to the head of the area you think will help the sender.”

“Okay,” Ayya said.

“If it’s a letter that will need a visit, put it to the side and sent a prospect with them to me when you are done. If it’s a letter you think the Lady or the council needs to know about, send it immediately to the Lady. During your training period, you can just come and find me and I will look at it and then we’ll send it to the Lady,” Magath told her.

“I think I can do that,” Ayya said.

“I’m sure you can. It may feel like tedious paperwork, but it is the backbone of our operations and it’s a good way to get an overview of the work that we do,” he explained. Ayya nodded. She found it quite exciting to get to read the letters. She had always been driven by the want to help people. This was at the core of that. Ayya would get to read the requests of those that needed help. Magath left her to her new work, reminding her that if she needed help, to ask. Ayya got lost in the letters. She found that most letters were asking for advice. When should they plant the crops for next year? Would the winter be harsh? Was it a bad omen if a sacred tree suddenly had ivy growing on it? Could St. John’s wort cure melancholy? The questions were endless. She discovered that about eighty percent of the letters could be solved by writing back. Ayya answered those she felt knowledgeable about, the others she made a note of what area they should be sent to and placed inside the folded up letter. The stack of letters she thought should go to Magath were small, and she hadn’t received a single letter she thought needed to go to the Lady or the council. When Ayya met up with Magath at the end of the day, they went through the stack of letters she had with her. He checked the answers she had written, checked if her assessment was correct and if he agreed with her choice of area. 

“Excellent work, Ayya. The only one I may have a comment on is the one with irrigation questions. Maybe it should be sent to the agricultural area, but I think it’s equally right to send it to aquaponics. You can send it there and see if they will accept it. If they return it, send it to agricultural.” Magath told her.

“Thank you, I will do that,” Ayya said. 

“You have kept up a good speed for a beginner. Did you have any issues?”

“No, there were a couple of things I needed to research a little to get a grip about. But nothing I can’t handle,” she answered. 

“Good, then I can assume you don’t have any objections to continue with the work for now?”

“No, no objections, I would like to continue,” she said.

“Then I’ll let you go. Please send the letters to the appropriate area and then you can take leave for the day. I’ll keep the letters that were for me,” Magath told her.

“I will do that. Have a nice evening.” 

The following days, Ayya worked on the letters. She got into a routine of picking up a stack after breakfast in the mornings, doing the preliminary sorting before lunch and then do eventual research and answering the letters she could answer in the afternoon before going to Magath and going through the letters. On her fourth day, Magath told her she no longer needed his supervision, but that she was always welcome to ask him questions if needed. He also reminded her she was responsible for her own schedule, but at least one day a week should be a free day. Beyond that, it was up to her.

Two weeks after Ayya had started her new task, the news came that the Lady would return home the next day. Ayya was excited to have both her father and Tenac back home. She wanted to know everything about their journey and she had so much to tell them in return. The next afternoon, Ayya and her mother were standing at the river field waiting for the group of riders and aari. As the group filed into the river field, Ayya smiled as she saw her father on the coach box on the white carriage, and Tenac on Addon was hard to miss. Tenac was the first one to walk over to them.

“Welcome back,” Ayya said with a smile, holding out his mark to him. Tenac pulled out her necklace from below his tunic and handed it to her.

“Thank you. Have you been back for long?” he asked.

“Almost three weeks. You took your time getting back. I even had time to visit your grandfather,” she told him.

“You went out to the clan all by yourself?” he asked, frowning.

“Oh, don’t be all worried and broody. We can visit them together as well. They will be here for at least a couple of more weeks,” she said. 

“That’s not the issue. You could have ended up being hurt going across the grass lands alone.”

“Who went across the grass lands alone?” Of course, her father would choose that moment to walk over to them, Ayya thought.

“Ayya,” Tenac replied.

“What?” Kopa looked from Ayya to her mother like he expected them to answer who had come up with the crazy idea.

“Now calm down, dad. It wasn’t that far. I was on Estrela and if something had happened and I didn’t arrive in time, they would have come looking for me. I’m a good enough rider to handle something like that.”

“Yes, you are,” her mother agreed. Both men huffed and at that moment, the two of them looked almost exactly alike. Bettina let out a giggle and put her arm around Ayya. 

“It’s no wonder,” she told her daughter. 

“No wonder what?” Ayya asked.

“When you know, you know,” her mother said mysteriously and continued to giggle. “Come on now, stop sulking and give me a hug,” she then told her husband. Kopa’s face relaxed, and he pulled her into a hug. When he let go of Bettina, Ayya was next. Ayya relaxed into her father’s hug. She loved his hugs. 

“Are you coming home with us?” Kopa asked Ayya.

“Of course I am, me and mom are planning a welcome home dinner, all your favourite things. And -I want to tell you about my mission, and hear about yours,” Ayya told him. “Do you want to join us?” she asked Tenac.

“It would be lovely, but I think I will head to the barracks and sleep for a day or two,” he said. Ayya nodded, he looked tired. “But once I’m awake again, I’ll send you a note so we can plan a trip to the clan,” he suggested.

“I like that plan. Now go and get some rest,” Ayya said.