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Essek,
Apologies for such a blunt salutation. I’ll find a better one in time, as this is to be the first of many letters. I hope they find you well, if they do.
I don’t know what I expect from this, how often I’ll write you, or if you will ever read these words in time.
I’ve put them in my own version of shortcode, but if you understand these words, you are already aware.
I had thought, before, that letters are written to be read. Perhaps it was a foolish, selfish hope that made me think that.
But for so many years, it kindled my spirit, Essek.
In the times I was so close to ruining every chance of seeing a tomorrow, I held onto it despite my burned and bloodied hands, so I cannot fault the thought.
I know you will not think poorly of me to admit this.
I visited my hometown, a lovely little place and barely a speck on a map in comparison to yours, and happened upon this book in the local shop. Its dimensions are exact and its weight somehow matches perfect, and by now I know better than to scoff at coincidence.
I have no grand plans to share with you here, no charted future, no expectations or purpose beyond fixing things I know I can in the present.
But old habits die hard, so here we are.
Or here I am, I suppose.
There’s a bit of a chill breeze today despite the almost-spring sun. This book is rather pretty under the light.
I do hope to hear from you again.
I will be here when you are ready.
Caleb Widogast
Essek,
I have made it back to Zadash again and am with Beauregard and Yasha. It’s very nice to be around them and, as I’m sure you can imagine, they are still giving me quite a hard time (in their loving way, of course) about our field trip.
I have gathered you don’t seem quite keen on displaying things so openly around the others, so rest assured they have received no confirmations nor denials about anything. I think you’d enjoy watching their attempts to figure things, though.
Neither of them is as sneaky as they seem to think.
I keep looking over my shoulder expecting Beauregard to corner me and ask outright, but she hasn’t yet, so I think I’ll remain entertained for quite some time.
In all honesty, I am still unsure how to figure things. Then again, perhaps it is not an endeavor to work through alone. Some concepts, such as this, are best puzzled with multiple minds.
Eventually, maybe.
We’ll see, won’t we?
Caleb Widogast
Essek,
I have counted the pages in this book and there are exactly 328.
Wouldn’t it be quite fun if I could fill it with a year, entries no longer than a page?
Or, maybe a day per half-page, a front or a back, and stretch this one out to two years.
It seems like quite a challenge, a test of skill with untrained muscles, for I am no writer despite my experience with letters.
I could attempt to transpose my spellbook shorthand into shortcode, which would be helpful if I ever needed to save space with longer entries.
How hopeful that is, don’t you think? To have so many words to share?
And that would make things interesting for you to untangle.
Yes, that will do just fine, I think.
Challenge gained, challenge given.
Once a day, Essek. Mark my words.
Caleb Widogast
Essek,
It is another day, the first day of shorthanded shortcode.
I must say, it is very entertaining to look at, garbled and such at a glance, but wholly legible as I write and read. Something tells me Beauregard would hate to look at it, but she knows I have my ways.
Maybe I’ll throw in the cypher too, a triple-layered encryption. Or maybe that’s too much for a little puzzle. No, nonsense- where is the fun without challenge.
Regardless, this current method would make carrying a spellbook even easier by shortening annotation, really slim it down.
I suppose you wouldn’t need to worry about that with yours, though.
If I ever need to make another new one, a secret one, this could very well be the method.
Of course, if you can read this, then you would be able to read that.
A little presumptuous on my part, but I think that would be alright.
Caleb Widogast
Essek,
I believe you are aware that I typically write before bed, able to look back on the day. Today was utterly unremarkable, save for one part.
The sunrise was very lovely, pinks and golds and blues, so said Yasha. I only ended up noticing the violet proceeding, like a twilight in reverse.
I have no favorite color.
What have you done?
Caleb Widogast
Essek,
Jester has been very cryptic in her sendings about you, so that gives me some hope with whatever your plans may be. Things would be dire if she were straightforward instead of teasing.
She did mention her mother, though, so that leads me to believe you are thinking of traveling to Nicodranas? There is, technically, a Mighty Nein-accessible circle there with our wizard friend. We seem to collect them, I now realize, and I get the sense that you and Yussa would get along.
Stay away from the Happy Fun Ball if he offers, though. We don't have space in the schedule quite yet for another jailbreak through the plane's time dilation. (This is a joke, we would help as we can.)
May all go well, Essek.
Caleb Widogast
Essek,
Jester’s puzzle seems to be falling into place, and she mentioned you may be in need of a method of prolonged disguise.
Luckily, you have very clever friends with very good connections.
Beauregard’s mentor (that will certainly be a conversation, should you two meet again) has means of procuring exactly what you may be looking for, no strings attached, on the condition we run some errands for them. A very small price to pay for something so generous, I'm sure. She and Beauregard have something of a friendly tiff going over filing methods and notation standards, and it's been very fun to watch.
That said, we should be able to drop it off with Jester in Port Damali sometime in the next few days.
I don’t know what sort of timetable you are looking at, but I hope this will suffice.
We will assist as we can should you need anything else.
Stay safe, my friend.
Caleb Widogast