Cyfric!
I'm glad to hear everything went so well! It's a pity I couldn't be there for it, but even if I'd had more notice I'd never have made it back home in time. I would have loved to see her in that dress, though. I know mum always wanted one of us to wear it when we got wed, she always said that it'd make her proud to see one of her daughters in the same one she wore for her own wedding. Guess she was expecting it to be me, but there you go!
No, there's no danger of me getting married anytime soon. Put that thought out of your head and tell the resident harpy that the "good man" she wanted to sell me off to was anything but! She really should choose her friends better, but hey, a woman trying to trade her sister-in-law like a shank of prized beef is a pretty self-explanatory case. Yes, I know you love the stuck-up wench, but I certainly don't and I'd take it as a kindness if you'd ban her from inks and parchment. The amendments she makes to your letters are really beginning to get up my nose. Next time you decide to teach her a "useful" skill, would you please make it something truly helpful, like how best to lie in a barrow for eternity? Or how about how to keep her snooty and officious opinions to herself? I'll get wed when I choose to whom I choose, not to some random stranger who she happens to think would be a good match for me, thank you very much! And no, I'm most certainly not coming home anytime soon, so you can tell her to stuff those thoughts of selling me off to that goatherd where they belong.
Ranting about your oh-so-adorable wife aside, I managed to track down father. He doesn't want you to know this and doesn't want the others to find out either. He gave some selfish and self-righteous spiel about it being for everyone elses good, he's caused enough pain and so on. Whilst I agree that he's certainly hurt us all more than enough, I'm not about to let him get away with it that easily! If he thinks for a moment that I'm going to lie to you all just to make him feel better, then he's more of a fool than I remember!
He told me why he left us, started telling me about what happened here to give him such a bad name. I believe him for the most part, but I can't shake the feeling that he's holding out on me. There's something he hasn't said, something he doesn't want me to know. One way or another I'm going to find out what it is. Either he can tell me or I can do my own digging, but I'm not just going to turn around and go back to Rohan like he wants.
Might be angry with the old goat - in fact I'm downright furious with him! - but he's still our dad, Cyfric. I still remember all those times he used to sit us on his knee, a big goofy grin on his face as he told us stories, and all the times he's bring us back little presents to try hiding the fact that he'd gone out to battle again. Remember that little painted horse he brought for you that time? And those polished round stones that Eradric loved so much? Remember how brightly mum used to smile when he came back from his "business trips" and the way he'd try to hug us all at once, even though we were too many for him to get his arms around? He's changed. I can see that. But that man we knew, that man who raised us, he's still in there somewhere and I'm not giving up until I find him again.
Oh, and yes, I did punch him. He deserved it.
Cyre.
