'Sindra Et Selius,

I hope this letter finds you in good health, and that your studies have come along nicely. As your sponsor, I understand it has been long since I have last corresponded with you, but the times are now complicated, as you must surely know with the tumult in Riviera.

I reach out to you knowing that you have found a position in the Farmer's Guild of Riviera. I understand it is a guild that you have found great fondness for. I do not wish to take that away from you. Rather, I wish to help you as a sponsor should.

Thus, I seek audience with you and your guildmaster, but bring no more, for secrecy is a gift that spoils when shared among many. If my words ring appealing to you, then know that by the light, all is known."

"Very interesting," said Li as he put down the letter. He inspected it again, noting how utterly plain it seemed to be. It was made of the same thick and coarse, cheap parchment that regular papers in Soleil were made of, belying the tales of velvety and silken luxury usually attributed to the elves.

He traced a finger along it, noting how its exact formatting and length seemed to match that mass produced for most documents related to the city's bureaucracy.

"Looks like the sender wanted the letter to be nondescript. To fit in."

Sindra nodded. "It was sent personally to the Farmer's Guild, specifically to me, but its stamp indicates that it was penned and shipped from Soleil."

"Montagne," noted Li as he eyed the stamp, a symbol of three mountain peaks clustered together. "Still quite far from here. Considering that the sender wanted to keep this from getting attention, they must have used a regular roc to send it. Meaning this was penned almost two weeks ago."

"And yet, the letter implies it knew of the circumstances of war that besiege us now." Sindra put the feathery end of her quill in her lip, absent-mindedly nipping on it with her feli fangs.

"The sender, do you know them? Because it seems evident the sender knows you," said Li.

"Yes, I do. If the letter is to be trusted at face value, then the sender is my sponsor Cicero. A senator of the Republic."

"Sponsor?"

Sindra paused to find a way to explain herself. "You see my family name, it has an 'et' before it. That indicates we are newly inducted citizens of the Republic. Thus, we will have a sponsor, an elven nobleman, attached to us that teaches us the ways of elven society. To 'civilize' us, as they would say. My family's sponsor was Cicero, a senator and lawpseaker."

"I see, and do you find that there would be good cause for Cicero to reach out to you?"

Sindra scoffed. "Quite a ridiculous notion. Cicero taught me all the ways of the quill and paper since I was a child. He believed me his prized pupil and wished for me to become his concubine so that I could fully become a Republic citizen and take over his seat in the senate.

I seized no little amount of his coin, his seals, and practiced hours and hours to forge his writing. With those resources in hand, I made my way down South. I should say I am perhaps the woman he least wishes to see in this world."

Li nodded to Sindra, noting that though she spoke with faint hints of disgust, she was still focused, entirely unperturbed by her past. If anything, she was immensely mentally strong, capable of shelving away the pains of the past almost entirely.

"That does beg the question as to how they found you and whether this is bait. It sounds to me that you may have made some enemies."

"Cicero does not make his personal affairs known to others. I doubt he has dredged up some mercenary or assassin to track me, and if he did, there are far better ways to kidnap me than this. No, I do believe this is a genuine invitation, and as to the matter of how I was found, we are not exactly hidden from public sight, no?"

"That you are correct about," said Li. He was still a little unused to how large scale the guild's operations had become and how they would have been at the forefront of all news in Riviera with their meteoric rise in influence. "An interesting thing to note is that all mail was frozen since the city's lockdown, and yet, this came to your desk today."

"A good point," said Sindra as she furrowed her brows, thinking. "Then the letter was hand delivered by one who was rounded up during the lockdown. I should believe, then, that whoever wishes to meet us is right here in the city."

"If they can slip inside the city to send this letter, then I see no reason they cannot slip back out," said Li.

"A fair point, and yet, my intuition does disagree. Call it a familiarity with elven manners. They like to see their matters run through to the end. Personally, if needs be."

"Then will you take up this secret invitation?" asked Li.

"You are included in it too," said Sindra. "But yes, I am of mind to. I do not sincerely believe the offer of aid listed in the letter, but it is no ordinary event to receive such a letter from the Republic. Something greater must be brewing in the shadows."

She paused, frowning. "And, if by any small chance, it is related to my family, I should like to know of it."

Li could understand her. He realized now that his comment of telling her to write back to family was likely a barb at her side. She could not write back, for she was, by all intents and purposes, exiled, and who knew what ramifications her actions had for her family back at home.

"Regardless of what the matter is, if you wish to go, then I will go with you," said Li. "I too, am curious about the elves, and in the case that you ever encounter a dangerous situation, well, I would not want to risk losing my Master of Coin."

Sindra's tail swayed from side to side, and she nodded curtly. "Great thanks, Seer."

"Though I don't see instructions to meet, nor is there any return address for the letter," said Li.

"Ah, this." Sindra took the letter and walked to the corner of her cubicle where a lantern flashed. She held the letter dangerously close to the flame until it caught fire. As the fire creeped up the letter, it did not reduce the letter to cinders, but instead merely burnt off a layer of paper, revealing a sturdier, fireproof layer underneath.

On that layer, there was a rudimentary map of Riviera, and marked at an inn on the Northside was a gleaming blue dot.

"By the light, all is known. Clever," commented Li. "I thought that was at first a comment about worshipping the light."

"The elves have long since abandoned the faith of the light, reducing it to a faith in token name only," said Sindra. "This method of hidden lettering is prominent among elven spies in the South, at least from the documents I have managed to read from Cicero's desk, and the code 'by the light, all is known' does disguise itself well here in Soleil."

"Still, an inn?" said Li as he scrutinized the map. "Judging from the location, its one of the wealthier inns meant for visiting merchants or noblemen. Not exactly a place I would imagine spies to be hanging around in the dark."

"I do not believe this is a spy for the very same reason," agreed Sindra.

"Then do you have an idea who it is?"

"That, I do not," she said with a slight shake of her head.

"Then," said Li. "We'll find out now."