The paper she took was a random from the four papers she got from decoding. The date on it was Day 27th of month La Shrit of 3682. Viriya didn't know what date it was when she was reading the letter, but felt it was far behind.
Seeing the date, she was a bit intrigued. It was possible that some new information may surface.
It was written in an almost old letter style she remembered from her old life, but not as structured as that.
It started as,
"Hi, this is Udaya Khanti."
When she read Maam Khanti's name she was surprised, and wasn't at the same time. She and her family had known each other for a long time, maybe even longer.
She continued reading,
"Pannavo, I am trusting you to inform Kratshi about it. A direct letter might be worse for him now.
I am really sad to inform you Karush is no more."
Viriya had no idea who Karush was, but he might have been someone close to Kratshi. Maybe that was the reason of Kratshi's sad tone when they were talking about the Upavana.
Viriya continued reading,
"Karush is no more. I won't say I handled everything right. I wish I was near him then, I might have been some help.
When he was guarding the lake with the Palm of Her during the awakening day, some people brought a baby to sacrifice to their ancestors."
Reading that, she actively looked away from the letter. She hadn't had a smooth ride after coming here, but thinking of a baby? A baby to sacrifice was new to her.
She continued reading after some contemplation,
"Apparently their ancestors wanted a human to eat that time. When Karush went to stop them, he got pushed hard enough to get lost under the endless lake."
Remembering how close she had been standing to that water body just a few days before, she shivered more than she had in a long time.
"I am thinking of limiting the area slowly and making it so no living beings will be allowed as sacrifice. Not sure how well it can be implemented but worth a try.
Didn't ask you before, how are you both doing? And what about Mrek? How is he adjusting to a new environment? Or did you get any new name for him?
Take care of Kratshi and inform him gently."
After reading the letter, Viriya stared at it without thinking anything. Maybe it was some kind of mourning for someone she didn't know, or just not knowing what to do with that information.
After a little while she went to grab another letter. Seeing it had a date pre-dating the letter she just read, she stopped.
She wasn't really hungry but still she went towards the kitchen and got some dry snacks, like she had eaten on the first day here. Whether she was sad or not she wasn't sure. She was shocked, but not really sad for a person she didn't know.
She went to the first desk to check the calendar, with snacks in her hand. In the calendar, a week had eight days and a month had six to seven weeks. Viriya checked, it was Day 45th of the month La Shrit of the year 3727. The letter was dated almost exactly twenty to twenty-one years before, according to her counting in tens. It was older than Viriya.
Viriya had already guessed, but still, flipping through the calendar, it had eight months. She mumbled, "Eight, eight, eight. Eight is everywhere."
Months named as La Nlan, La Shrit, La Shrat, La Nilm, La Gurey, La Guros, La Kridh, La Mreth.
Then the weeks were Shras Ta, Chlat Ta, Bhret Ta, Nrash Ta, Prit Ta, Salis Ta, Lans Ta and Ranashi Ta.
She just guessed, or understood, that *La* meant month and what followed was the name. And *Ta* meant something like day.
The first and last day of the week were usually off days for most places according to the calander.
She headed towards her room to read the other papers or letters. First she once again looked over the first letter from Maam Khanti. Before, the line, "...what about Mrek? How is he adjusting to a new environment? Or did you get any new name for him?" hadn't caught much of her attention. She had looked it over among the other information.
But Mrek? Who was Mrek? Was it Makriva? Both did sound similar. Was he adopted? Did Viriya already know he was adopted but had forgotten among everything else? All these things and more lingered in her mind. But shaking it off and thinking, if it was Makriva or not, and even if he was adopted, nothing was really changing because of that, she didn't linger on it more than that. She just decided to believe that Mrek and Makriva both were same person, if not then not.
She started to read the second letter. It was dated Day 34th of month La Kridh of year 3676.
It was written by a person named Chirol, maybe a woman? Viriya wasn't sure.
She was expecting this letter to have a similar context to the previous one, but this letter was lighthearted. Not exactly lighthearted, more like a formal letter. It was addressed to Pannavo like the last one.
The letter was basically Pannavo's job acceptance letter at the Parira watch tower. He had gotten the job as a front desk worker.
Maybe along with his work friend Kratshi, if Viriya had to guess. Also maybe Karush?
It was good and all. Viriya took the third letter to read. She intentionally left the half-formed letter for last.
It was dated Day 43rd of the month La Shrit of the year 3727. It was from two days before, the day the professor had died at the University.
She started reading the letter. It wasn't from any single person. It was from Mraton Parira Watch Tower, addressed again to Pannavo. Viriya and Makriva had both been there a few days before.
She started reading the actual content of it.
"We've gotten to know your concerns. Hope your daughter is doing well.
Yes, a humanoid hybrid animal was located near Mraton. And yes, Blink of Time was used in an attempt to capture it, among some other artifacts."
Viriya had almost forgotten about the Octopus Werewolf that had nearly attacked her. Though it was dead before it could do anything. Viriya guessed the Pariras had killed it. She decided to read it through before coming to any conclusions.
"We will inform about these later in detail, to every watch tower, but here is the general information about it.
It originated in the forest and came towards Mraton. It went towards the scarred forest before we could capture it. At the end it ended up near the train your daughter was in. According to you, she had a pre-matured Palm of Her. Our hypothesis is that it was attracted to the Palm of Her. Because of the Palm of Her she wasn't slowed down then."
She had thought she would read it in one go, but she paused. She remembered she had dropped the jar with the flower. How was she still moving then? Maybe it was a residual effect of the flower?
"We are not sure if it is something natural or man-made. Most likely the latter.
The animal had a humanoid body covered with fur, and its limbs were wolf-like. The head of the animal was hard, despite its soft-looking nature. And from the back of the neck of the humanoid animal, slippery tentacles spread around.
It is identified as some extinct or almost extinct sea creature.
Not just this one, some other similar ones were located in other places. Another one was located in Mraton, far from the forest. It was like two humans tangled together. Also in Ramarana, in Narlis. And some were known by other authorities."
The place Narlis, that was a few train stops before Untashi, where they had eaten the kiranots. Maybe. Maybe not. She didn't remember the stop layout exactly.
Viriya was surprised, and also not surprised at the same time, that the Octopus was extinct or nearly extinct. She tried to match the letter with what she had experienced on the train for quite a while. Yes, both of them matched, but she hadn't seen any Pariras there.
And Ramarana, where they had been before, where she had heard the rumour about the two-legged horse and thought it was a newly evolved horse. Could it be possible that the animal mentioned in the letter of Ramarana was the same one?
While Viriya was thinking that, she heard a metallic clinking sound on the ground, slowly growing louder. Viriya snapped back to attention. She couldn't figure out what that sound could be. No one was even home.
Was it an intruder? Why would any intruder make any sound at all? Maybe thinking that because no one was home, they were just too confident?
Viriya quickly hid all the letters under her bed cover and slowly approached the doorway as the sound stopped and started moving towards her.
She hid behind the wall inside her room. Slowly she bent down and looked outward in the direction of the sound.
It was a metallic leg, the top part covered in big fur. Before she could analyze anything more, a bark nearly tripped her over. She almost screamed, as if something had just attacked her, but it wasn't a threat.
It was Ownad, a Mastiff dog; he was similar hight of Viriya. Whose one leg was prosthetic. How could she forget she had a dog with a prosthetic arm. Or leg.
After barking once, Ownad kept barking softly. Viriya asked him, "What happened? Hungry?"
Ownad barked a little louder than usual, as if he had understood what Viriya asked.
Viriya had eaten a little before, and she wasn't sure if Pannavo, her dad, had given Ownad something to eat, so she decided to feed him something.
Viriya went towards the kitchen. While she was out, the rain had thinned. It was still raining, but less. Viriya wasn't sure how long she had been reading.
In the kitchen, Viriya looked over what there was for Ownad, finally finding some pre-prepped meat. She started boiling it with a pinch of salt. Ownad stuck close to her legs, making it a bit hard to do anything. She just talked to him pointlessly, with pauses in between.
"You won't even understand what I am saying.
Are you hearing me?
Do you remember yesterday? What I talked about?"
She talked other similar things with Ownad, without any real meaning.
When the boiling was done, Viriya finally took Ownad's plate and put the meat in it. Ownad jumped on it like he hadn't eaten in his life.
Viriya stood next to Ownad as he devoured his food fairly quickly. Then, with Ownad beside her, she went to her room. After making Ownad sit to the side, Viriya took out the half-formed paper.
Looking at it, it had no date, or maybe it had one, but it hadn't formed. The date was usually at the top left corner of all the other letters. On this one, only the bottom diagonal part had formed.
From what had formed, Viriya could only make out some things.
It was addressed to Pannavo as well, and in the letter's context, Pannavo was mentioned. Something about Her Fingers, the word was just *ger*, cut off because of the half formation, but she could guess what it was from other context, like the body part.
And someone named Apostate Priest was bringing it very quickly, at the month La Shrit. No date was there, but the month was the same.
After reading it, she folded all of the letters separately and put them under the same hidden compartment as the decoders.
She wanted to see what was behind the door, so she took Ownad and went into her parents' room. At the plant-covered door, Viriya made Ownad purposefully rub against the dead concrete and wooden plants. As expected, the pressed ones broke down.
She noticed she had dropped some plants before, so if Ownad did it, it was a perfect excuse. She tried to open the door once more by pushing. She couldn't move it at all.
After giving up, she thought if she should look through the other boxes, deciding not to right then, she came out of the room with Ownad.
At the front gate a water-dreanched man was standing. It was Makriva who was standing there looking towards their parents room, from where Viriya came out of.