Chapter 59: Letter Received
A beautiful, fair skinned woman sat at her dresser, brushing her hair lightly.
The brightness of the noonday sun peeled into the room, giving it something of a golden glow as she stared at her reflection in the mirror.
Something suddenly appeared on her window pane.
It was a very bright object that seemed to resemble a bird, it slowly flapped its bright wings and dropped a piece of paper on the window pane.
After about two seconds it vanished in tiny flickers of light, leaving only the letter at the base of the window.
She clutched her chest and got up from her seat, suddenly uninterested in what her hair looked like or where her brush even was.
Her heart beat wildly in her chest as she damn near ran to the window.
She grabbed the letter and quickly unfolded it, revealing an all too familiar handwriting, it was the handwriting of her beloved son.
She started reading the letter:
_ _ _
Dear Mother and Father,
I received your letter a few days ago, though I only found the time to sit down and properly write back to the both of you today.
I will admit, I have read your letter more than once. And I miss you both so very much, it warms my heart to know you both are thinking of me everyday, As I think of you—
_ _ _
Tears began to roll down her eyes, she was instantly overwhelmed by the sheer joy of receiving a letter from her son, and was also glad to know that he was doing great all by himself in the vast world.
She read on, unable to keep herself from shedding tears of joy until she came to a particular line that made her freeze in her tracks.
"I am currently in the Ten Thousand Beast Forest."
She suddenly wore an expression of worry on her face, she remembered everything that Jacob told her before he left the castle, about how he reincarnated into their world and is supposedly an overpowered being.
Had he not shown her Jaran, she wouldn’t have believed a word of it.
"He’s just like his grandfather." The words escaped her lips without her even knowing.
"Always looking for danger, wherever it is—even if it doesn’t look for them, highly incorrigible." She muttered, annoyance showing in her voice.
She read on regardless, managing to calm herself.
She reached a line, "Mother, I am eating properly."
This line in particular made her scream for joy in her heart, she had been very worried about his eating habits and if she could, she would stuff his face with all kinds of food, but Jacob had never been a glutton, or a food person in general—hence her concern.
Rhoarin was the ’gob muncher’ of the family, he didn’t look much like it but he ate truckloads of food, whatever was available.
Because of his very athletic physique, they all wondered where all the food went, one of the mysteries of the Ironfell family.
Elena kept reading the letter until she finally got near to the end. As she read it, she felt as though she was hearing Jacob’s voice in her head, which brought her so much comfort.
"There are moments when the road becomes difficult, but whenever that happens, I remember home.
I remember Father’s lessons.
I remember Mother’s smile.
I remember the people waiting for me to return.
That is more than enough motivation to keep moving forward.
One day I will return to the Ironfell castle, and when I do, I hope to make both of you proud.
Mother, please stop worrying so much.
And Father, please stop pretending you are not worried at all.
We all know the truth.
Xenia says hello, she was really touched by you mentioning her in your letter, and she is having a wonderful time.
Love, Your son.
Jacob Ironfell."
Once she got to the end of letter, there was an endless pool of tears flowing from her eyes.
She grabbed the letter and held it close to her heart, sobbing quietly.
Not out of sadness or worry anymore, but out of satisfaction, for so long she worried about how he only child was doing in a world he had never interacted with before, and now she knew.
She knew that he was okay.
While she was sobbing, Rhoarin walked into the room.
"You won’t believe what the Maester told me today, these pe—" he blabbed on about his experiences when he suddenly saw his wife in a very emotional state.
He rushed over to her and put his hands around her.
"What is it? Why are you crying my dear?" He asked her in a worried tone of voice.
She turned to face him, tears flowing freely from her eye sockets, there was a visible trail of mucus from her nose to her lips.
"Surely not a single soul in this castle can make my Queen cry this much. Tell me what it is!" Rhoarin spoke again, his words sharper.
She said not a word, only handed him the piece of paper that had some tear marks on them.
"What is—" Rhoarin started, realizing the contents of the paper, he hissed and got up.
"Woman, you’re so emotional." He said as he walked over to the window, reading the letter slowly.
Elena got up and walked over to her dresser and wiped her face.
The room remained silent for a few moments as Rhoarin took in the contents of the letter.
When he was done, he carefully folded it and walked over to Elena’s dresser, placing it on the counter gracefully.
He crouched over and looked at the woman, who mirrored his gaze.
"I’m glad he’s okay." He smiled as he told her.
"Me too!" She screamed, throwing her arms around him.
The waterworks were back, gushing even more this time.
They spent the evening talking about their experiences while Jacob was in the castle, both the funny and unfunny moments.
Rhoarin had even forgotten about what he was about to tell her when he walked in.
