Kinilan,

Your mention of being branded a traitor and expelled from your home in Hashan reminded me of a similar incident in my past. In my youth, I called Mhaldor my home, and the Maldaathi the House I was proud to train in. In these days, a group calling themselves the Qashar were rising in promenince, with strong ties to Shallam.

One month a man who became known to our lands as Haidar, the Lion, visited the eastern shores and made landing. His arrival drew a large crowd eager to witness his arrival and hear what he had to say. Finding myself in the crowd, I watched and listened on with an interest of reporting back anything worthwhile. It wasn't long before a whisper at my shoulder got my attention, from a newly promoted Troni by the name of Fyr. He mentioned that members of the Qashar were also present, and ordered me to return to Mhaldor.

Not wishing to be distracted from what was unfolding, I brushed him off and turned my attention back to Haidar. It was not long after, as Haidar made preparations to return to sea, that I received word that I had been branded a traitor to Mhaldor and expelled from the Maldaathi and Mhaldor, by your order. Later I would discover this was at the encouragement of Fyr, who had gone back to report that I was congregating and conspiring with the Qashar.

Despite my attempts to challenge the accusations, and seek clarification, I was met with silence. Eventually, I moved on and settled in Ashtan. Some years later it came to pass that Fyr had seemingly been little more than a spy for the East all along. I notice he has found his way back home to Mhaldor after all these years.

I say all of that to say this: I have known you for quite a many years. I have sailed alongside you and as part of your crew countless times, and once knew you to be a man of great ambition and pride. What you show the lands lately is not even a sliver of a shadow of that man. Your fixation on the past blinds you towards any attempt at forging a worthwhile future. You cling to bitter memories and attempt to paint over your tarnished past, embracing what you would have the realms believe a self imposed state of exile. You have burned so many bridges that now you protest and lament having nowhere else to go.

The company of your crew, enticed to endure your bitterness only for the coin it puts in their hand, does not seem to be serving you well. Who else would have you, after all? I am nothing if not an example of someone offered more chances that I have any right to. Having grown old and wise enough to accept that, I now make of my life what I can.

Perhaps you will one day do the same, but not if you continue to hold on to bitterness like a poison drunk you expect others to grow afflicted from.

Whatever reply your may inevitably prepare, I do not live under any delusion that my words will have changed your stance on anything. Be that as it may, I've said what I needed to.

Regards,

Sir Kresslack Matrose

Penned by my hand on the 3rd of Scarlatan, in the year 966 AF.