My heart is still pounding

Something...... happened.

Which is a bit ironic, since I just told you nothing really happens, haha.....

But, uh, someone came down here. Someone I don't know.

I've set up a sort of trap along one of the tunnels you have to walk through to get to where I am. It's not much of a trap, honestly, just some rope and a bucket and things, but it make one hell of a loud sound when it's set off. That's the purpose, to alarm me to someone coming.

C is pretty good at dodging the trap by now, but even they sometimes set it off. When that happens, however, they always, always, call out that it's just them. This time after the alarm... nothing.

I'm immediately on guard, of course because someone is coming here?? No one is supposed to come here, I'm not supposed to be here, I am a fugitive and no one can see me. So I hide, something you'll recall I've been very good at since a kid.

A man walks by me, a big, burly man. At least I assume it's a man, the Cordalian gendertypes are pretty easy to differentiate most of the time. But that's not the point, the point is, there is a big, mean looking dude in the catacombs and I don't know who he is or what he's looking for. Me? Maybe? Him shuffling through my stuff would indicate that. Luckily I don't keep much in the room, there's just the godawful cot really, since everything else I own is little enough to keep with me at all times.

He looks over the cot, around the room. He doesn't notice me. He moves onto the next tunnel. I decide to push my luck and see what he does. If someone is looking for me I need to know. He does the same in the next few rooms; looks around, inspects the random shit that's lying around. He doesn't seem particularly enthusiastic about anything he finds, but I only get glimpses of his face, so it's a bit hard to tell.

Eventually we loop back around to the main area I spend my sad life in and he looks into the last room. Big mistake on his part, 'cause that's where the soot dragons roost. The mama is immediately on the defensive, hissing and spitting at the man, who takes a startled step back before grunting something in a language I don't speak and shooing at them with his hand. The mama stands up to her full height, completely ready to throw down, growls at him and snaps her teeth.

He mutters about "waste of time" in Cordalian and then leaves. The mama stares after him for a long while, and when she finally relaxes, I know he's gone and I can finally breathe again.

The mama and her hatchlings have been keeping me company since then as I've been writing this letter to you. The keep trying to nibble at the corners of the pages, so I apologise if there's tooth or soot marks on the paper.

I'm still a bit shaken about the whole thing, it's not been that long since it yet, but I needed to get this written down now while it's still fresh in my memory. In the end I didn't find out know who he was or what he wanted, but I am quite concerned now... It They know I'm here...

I just hope he doesn't come back.

~Mal

Keeping a schedule is difficult

I'm sorry I write so sporadically, but I have very limited writing supplies and, well... not much happens here, frankly. You'd think that being a fugitive would be constant danger and action, but it's mostly just me, walking around the sewers, trying to find something to occupy myself with. There is... not much. But I have made friends with a family of soot dragons that have a roost around where I sleep. They're so small compared to the ones in the royal stable, of course, but it's at least a bit familiar, which... Well, I really need that now.

On a more positive note, C managed to find some of the letters I sent (thought I sent) you before. So I thought I'd tack one to this letter, so it would have at least some substance.

I promise, I'll try to have more of a schedule, so you won't worry. So you know I'm still fine.

~Mal

~x~

Hi! It's almost midsummer, can you believe! Sorry I haven't written in a bit, but things have been a bit... hectic around here.

You've probably heard some things. Most of it is probably not true. I'm just saying, rumours get sometimes a bit out of hand, you know how it is. I don't think how much I'm allowed to tell you, y'know, since it was almost a national crisis and the powers that be might want to keep it somewhat under wraps, but yes, there was an assassination attempt at the Coming of Age Ceremony. Nobody died though, it was thwarted of by some of the Riders.

They were so cool though! I'm so happy I managed to see them. There were two of them, the Captain and the New Kid. The one that started midyear last autumn. I've told you about her, she's the one who's always so nice to me even though I'm just a stablehand. Anyway, there was a lot of magic involved and a big dragon showdown and it was all very cool holy shit!

And it could've been really bad, it would've been very bad, but it wasn't! So it was cool.

I... I'd rather not think about what would've happened if the Riders hadn't been there.

Anyway, there was a big thing after that, as you can imagine, the whole palace-- rather, the whole city was in chaos for a bit, but it was calmed down. And then there was an investigation and that I definitely can't tell you about, and some officials were moved around and the Riders got a new tutor, which is pretty cool I guess. He seems like a nice man, though I can't help feel like I've seen him before... But anyway, then there was a huge award ceremony and they gave the Riders and other people who helped medals for their amazing deeds or whatever.

But yeah, as you can probably guess, we've been pretty busy over here. It's fine though, because it's almost midsummer and midsummer is always a blast, and the New Kid even invited me to spend it with her friends! It's gonna be fun, can't wait to see what kind of traditions they have over here!

I've been lying to you a bit, I'm sorry

Alright, it appears that it is at least somewhat safe to tell you some things. The previous letter I sent you was a sort of a decoy, to see if They still had a way to intercept my letters. But it appears They don't. For the moment anyway.

Most of what I've been telling you has been true; I am a fugitive (falsely accused!!), I am stuck in a safe place under the city (can't tell you where, exactly, for security reasons) and there are a few others who are in similar situations. There is no one called "Lil" and there isn't much in the form of resitance. It's basically just me, and a friend who is my only contact to the outside world. I don't think it's wise for me to tell you who they are, so I'll just call them C. They're the one who's been bringing me food and other supplies. Honestly, I'd probably be dead without them.

You're probably wondering what on earth has been happening these past weeks... Well, I befriended the wrong person, I guess. Which is a bit unfair, because I don't think she's a wrong person, she's a great person, actually, but she just got mixed up in some real big shit, and that meant a bunch of people she knew got dragged in as well. It wasn't her fault, I don't think, she's always been such a good person...

The worst part is, I don't even know what she got involved in. I just know that one day she was hailed a hero (you know, after what happened at the Royal coming of age, you've probably heard the news) and the next the whole army was basically after her and then she hopped on her dragon and fled the country. It was a big deal, they launched a huge investigation, interrogating all her Rider friends and the palace staff and the DRA staff... and then I wake up one morning to a bunch of guards burst into my quarters with a warrant for my arrest and I just freak and blast them with a freezing spell.

I didn't mean to, it was purely instictive, but that's the point I knew I'd fucked up, so I just grabbed whatever I could and ran.

I ran into C behind the stables and I almost blasted them too... Well, actually I did blast them in my panic, but they managed to deflect it like it was nothing. I've never seen so much raw power, but that's beside the point right now. They saw I was running and paniced and desperate and we've known eachother for ages so they realized I hadn't done anything, that what had happened to her was happening to me and they helped me leave the palace grounds undetected.

I've been hiding out ever since, and they check up on me every few days, keeping me up to date on what is going on. The heat has died down a bit, and C says I could come out for a little while, to get some fresh air, but I haven't had the guts yet. Some of the other folks who live in hiding do go into the seedier parts of town occasionally, so I guess it might be safe, but...

There's just so much what I don't know yet and I am terrified.