
Spoiler warning: 
Read this file only after finishing the map!














































Dear Mother,

    Well, there's a lot to tell you, and I can't fit it all into
one letter.  Dad's here; he's both very worried about you and your
safety, without the rings to keep him informed, and very keen to
see you again. He would have come to fetch you himself, but I
can't do without him here yet.

You know you told me about there being dragons in Karas?  The
stories are true; I've met them, talked to them!  Dad says I must
be the new Guardian.  All I know is that these dragons are sad -
chronic homesickness, would you believe!  But their home is
destroyed, which they themselves will never believe, and if they
go searching for it they'll only set the countryside on fire.  So
I tell them stories to keep them calm, and gather the scales they
shed, and as far as the Karasen are concerned that makes me a very
important person.

So they keep me here, and Dad had to stay here looking after the
previous Guardian, and now he's the only one who can translate for
me and the Karasen, and the only other one who can get anywhere 
near the Dragons.  I'm learning the language fast enough - in a
few months I won't need his help, and then he can have his first
holiday in many years.  I like it here; it feels like I belong
here, though I never realised what I was missing back in Grafelna.

I'd tell you all about getting magic lessons from a statue old 
Morris sent me, and now from a friendly Dragon called Kester, but 
you'd never believe me, so you'll just have to come here and 
meet them for yourself.

The two Dherbachuks I left Grafelna with will guide this messenger
to your house.  This is good, because no-one here speaks any
Grafelnan - though I hope the messanger will learn some on the
trip to reach you.  The Dherbachuks were disappointed that they
couldn't steal dragon-scales, but they will trade for them -
weight-for-weight in first-quality dyes!  No-one here can make a
bright dye; the town looks washed-out and grey-brown by comparison
with Grafelna.

The messenger has been sent to bring you to Karas Haven.  It will be
summer by the time they reach you; the trip through the mountains
should be easier then, and there'll be friends watching out for
you all along the way.  You can sell the villa - Dad (Lord Halon!
It seems unreal!) has a huge house here.  It needs only you to
make it into a home.  Will you come?

Love,
    Thomas.
