Dear Kemmin

Writers: Yvonne
Date Posted: 24th April 2024

Characters: Ketlyn
Description: Ketlyn writes a letter to her brother back home. Or tries to.
Location: Barrier Lake Weyr
Date: month 9, day 14 of Turn 11

'Dear Kemmin,

I wish you were here. I am excited looking forward going to Stand again soon and if a dragon picks me this time I'll come get you.'

Ketlyn debated throwing the half-started letter into Barrier Lake. Sun glinted off the grey water and an icy wind stirred her curly hair; the beautiful weather was a stark contrast to the dark storm gathering beneath her ribs. There was nothing she could ever say to her brother to make up for abandoning him like she had. The way he'd begged her to stay when she was Searched was a scar of a memory.

But leaving their cothold and her siblings and her useless parents meant she was finally free to do whatever she wanted. And it felt _so_good_ to abandon her responsibilities and make her own choices, and so awful knowing that Kemmin and her little sister Trisalyn had to pick up the slack in her absence.

Here at the Weyr, she had her own life... even if she was blowing it. Three Turns of Hatchings and she was still dragonless. Two Turns of Crafting and a full Turn as a Smith and she was still a useless apprentice.

She crumpled the letter into a ball. Then she smoothed it out again and ripped off the bit that she'd written on. No sense in wasting good paper.

'Dear Kemmin,

Will Mom and Dad let you come to the next Hatching? I have a good feeling about this one.'

Ketlyn made a face. Honestly, she had a feeling she'd be left alone on the Sands again. Inviting Kemmin just meant that he'd have to watch her cry after the Hatching was over. Again. She tore off the strip of paper she'd written on and started again.

"Dear Kemmin, and Trisalyn, and everybody,

I miss you all very much and wish you were here. Today in my Smith classes I was learning how to identify gems and got to hold a sapphire, a topaz and a bit of amber. And also some red jasper. We will start learning to cut gems soon."

That sounded like bragging. Ketlyn growled in frustration and tore off the top of the paper again. By now her letter paper was barely the width of her palm.

'Dear Kemmin,

I'm sorry...'

Her pen made an ink blot at the end of the 'y'. Ketlyn stared at what she'd written until it looked like a whorl of nonsense. Sorry. What did it even mean?

If she was sorry, she'd have Impressed a dragon already.

If she was sorry, she'd have given up and gone home by now.

If she was sorry, she'd have never left home at all.

Ketlyn crumpled up the letter a second time and withdrew a fresh sheet of paper from where it had been folded up in her pocket. It had been over a sevenday since she'd last written home and Kemmin and her siblings deserved a letter. Offering them a small glimpse of what life could be was the very least she could do for them. **You can do this,** she told herself. **It's just a letter.**

'Dear Kemmin,' she wrote.

Last updated on the April 26th 2024

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Dear Kemmin