Miss Kii Kalira,
Greetings from San d'Oria. This is Jenare Richille. If you remember, I promised to write to you after coming back home from Windurst. I decided not to be too late with it, so here is my letter.
Belated Valentione's Day greetings! The day flew by largely unnoticed for me, father and I did not arrive home until yesterday. Hopefully your Valentione's was more eventful than being confined on an airship. As amazing it is to see the scenery fly past, the airship is still a small space to spend a day on.
San d'Oria is as it always is, it never really changes. New buildings are built, old ones crumble, but the spirit of the city is always the same. It is more noticeable after spending some time in a city like Windurst, which always seems to be abuzz with something. At least that is the impression I have of it, having spent slightly less than one week in the city. Is your impression of it different?
I wished to write something meaningful in this letter, but it appears I am not capable of more than senseless chatter. But I think it will do for a first letter. I hope you will decide to write back to me, I will be looking forward to it. Whatever you decide, hopefully you and your sister are doing well.
Respectfully,
Jenare Richille
The Doll Festival was almost over. It wasn't celebrated too much in San d'Oria, due to its Windurstian flare. Nevertheless, you could always see signs of it around the city during the festival, although not as many signs as for some other festivals. Jenare leaned on a railing close to the docks and look out to the sea, humming. It was set out to be a fun evening, for he was waiting for Vera Nedaurant, a friend of his. He wondered if he was supposed to be calling him a girlfriend, that was what some of the other boys called girls they were regularly going out with. He smiled, feeling a bit guilty. This wasn't exactly behavior for a proper elvaan youth, the two of them were certainly old enough that they probably should not be keeping in contact for too long without him introducing himself to her parents. But he did not have too much experience with a situation like this, so continued with Vera's suggestions. They hadn't known each other for too long, for one. Perhaps in several more weeks.
He turned his head distractedly, looking around. Then he paused. Was that not her, at the square to the right? He looked on, raising one's voice in a busy place like this wouldn't be too useful, not to mention that it wasn't too polite to shout. The blonde girl was dressed up in a pretty child-like dress, fresh green in color. She seemed to be with an older man dressed all in black, laughing with him. Finally she turned enough for Jenare to see her face - it indeed was Vera. He did not recognize the gentleman with her. Perhaps a relative of some kind? They seemed to know each other well.
He watched as the two laughed and talked together. He was most likely dropping her off, sometimes the streets were not safe for a young girl. Especially dressed like that, she was bound to attract attention. Jenare nodded to himself. A wise precaution. But it would not do to interrupt their goodbyes, so he waited, smiling in anticipation of the evening, dividing his attention between the pair on the square and the sea in front of him.
He waited for what seemed like a small eternity, but was more likely only a few minutes. Then the black-coated gentleman left, and Vera headed towards Jenare, where he was waiting at their promised place. He straightened and walked ahead to meet her.
"Jenare! Good afternoon! Did you have to wait for long?"
"Not at all, I have just arrived myself." She did not have to worry herself over making him wait, there was no point in that. He smiled down at her, and she smiled back. Jenare thought she looked rather good in her childish little dress, even though it might not be exactly suitable to wear out about with people. She most likely hadn't realized it, so he would just have to look after her then.
"Shall we go then?" Vera smiled at him brightly in response and took his hand.
"Hi, guys. Missed me?" Endahren Merchell's cheery voice cut through the general hubbub in the port. It was a busy festival day. The people were cheery due to the Harvest Festival celebrations, but some work still needed to be done. Workmen were loading cargo below at the dock, and behind them came the sounds of celebration from the close-by popular pub Rusty Anchor.
General mumblings to the negative came from the four boys gathered in the alley. It didn't mean that they hadn't felt the lack of Endahren's presence, it merely meant that they did not like admitting it to his face. Triene felt like shaking his head. Sometimes, he wondered why he hung around this crowd. Although Endahren was nice enough when he didn't try too much, he supposed. Not to mention...
"I have stuff for you!" He waved around two bags that obviously included some goodies. The Merchells were by no means poor, and had a habit of supplying their children's friends with some goodies at festival times. Not too many of course, just enough to remind the children where they could get more, and pay for them this time. That's how father put it anyway, and Triene supposed it could be true. Nevertheless, he would never turn down good candy, that would be a complete waste.
"What have you for us?" It was Gell - or Gellenneu, father always said he was too familiar with people who would one day be his potential customers.
"Bubble chocolate!" was Endahren's cheery answer. Everything about him seemed cheery today. And true enough, when Triene looked at the bags more carefully he saw they did not quite appear to be bound by gravity, but floated more this way or that according to Endahren's movements. They weren't in any danger of floating away since the fabric of the bags weighed them down enough, but if left alone a piece of bubble chocolate was quite liable to float away in the next breeze. "A lot of it! Mom said to ask you to take some home, too, for the little ones. I suppose we could eat all of it by ourselves, too, but she would hear about it...so no eating too much, alright?"
Several protests came from the boys, but they promised not to eat more than their share. Sometimes Triene thought that if Endy told them to run in the way of a freaked out chocobo, they'd do it too. Nevertheless, he agreed with the other boy's words. The bags seemed big enough, and Jenare might leave him alone for the evening if he brought home candy. Sometimes, having a younger brother could be so tiring.
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