”the space cauldron”
not expecting a reply! Just like. Didn’t know how else to convey this succinctly lmao

assuming this came via rhysi but didn't actually ask liz so if not: some other way similarly


The letter, dispatched through a decidedly non-magical messenger, comes in the very unromantic and informal medium of a few sheets of lined notebook paper, written in a neat, legible hand in ballpoint pen, and folded around a length of sweet-smelling red ribbon woven with gold and white flowers.

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Quote:

Commodore Lyndin,

Thank you again for your kind assistance to me, and for allowing me to call on Rhysi for continued help and communication as well.

You will, I hope, forgive me for the delay in my report back to you. Your warning not to waste the battery made me reluctant to attempt using it until I felt more confidence in being able to do so effectively, and while I continued to learn more about energy on my Wonder, I set it aside.

Recently, however, I achieved that strengthened bond with my Wonder that we talked about. It feels strange to say that so plainly, like I'm recounting passing an exam or having a tooth pulled, but there it is. During the course of this, I experienced an extremely brief surge of what I suppose must have been some of that energy, which allowed the previous Garde to briefly interact with me through the medium of a shared dream. This, although lasting only seconds, gave me some confidence in your theory, and in my own that sleep exists somewhere between living and death. Some time after this I decided to trust in my newfound abilities - it is a strange sort of thing, but I'm sure you already know quite a bit about it - and deployed the battery with the item I alluded to, and took the extra precaution of doing so in one of the energy-rich areas Rhysi detected.

The battery appears to be depleted, but I am pleased to say that the experiment was a success. In the medium of a dream, the man in question was able to experience corporeality again for something around an hour, at an estimate. In every respect he appeared in the dream to be like any living person would be when using the same item. When he awakened he was returned to his usual state, but with full recollections of the dream - again, as a living user would be.

Furthermore, whether it was the use of the battery (which I believe) or some other means, the item itself appears altered. I have not yet again been able to repeat the experiment, but it feels to me as though I possibly could, even without a second battery, get the same results. I believe it might now be possibly drawing from some source of energy within itself that perhaps drains and cycles, as the item was fully unusable for some time afterwards, but did not feel - apologies for the vague and unscientific wording; unfortunately a great deal of being a Knight seems to boil down to intuition and gut instinct - permanently depleted, and as of a few days ago was apparently fully capable of its original function once more. I will let you know whether that changes.

Your surmise that the Wonder itself holds energy unevenly appears to have been backed up by Rhysi's work here. The most concentrated places were mostly ones I might have guessed, but not all of them. I'll be devoting more effort to the latter places in the following weeks to see if that yields any interesting results, and will let you know.

On a more personal and less clinical note, thank you, and I send you his gratitude as well. You have extended some measure of comfort and relief to a very good man who has for centuries felt himself beyond the reach of either. It is all I ever wanted for him, and so it has been a real measure of comfort and relief to me, as well. When we talked I called hope an awful thing, and it is, but it feels much less awful to both of us now, and we have you to thank.

Dreaming of being alive, maybe, is not quite the same as living. But it’s more than either of us could have expected, and I can’t help but think that maybe it suggests that there is some sort of conduit that could be made use of for future work. If that is the case, I hope that this information can be in some way useful to you in your efforts.

The enclosed is a silly little thing, but it was made partly as a way, I think, for those who have done us a service so that we can express our gratitude, and so I'm sending it along with all of mine. I wish I had more than that to give, and if I ever can, please let me know. I am happy to share what information or help that I can.

Gratefully,

Joyeuse Garde