Letter from Yisha:
Dear Shalinde,

When you receive this letter, I will probably already have left the forests of the Wildenlands. I'll probably regret my choice by then, but you know how impulsive and curious I am. This time, however, my curiosity has led to bigger consequences than ever before. One of those consequences may be that we won't see each other in a very long time. When I heard that the merchant train that arrived a few days ago in our village would head for the south, towards the countries of the "City Dwellers", I made up my mind. I really had had enough of our village shamans thinking they know what is best for me. And I just couldn't resist finally getting the magical knowledge of those City Dwellers.

I am very ashamed of leaving you behind like this. I remember when we first met, that bully of a Beagen having locked me up again in a small cavity, even though he knows that I am terrified for such enclosed spaces. When you were finished with him, though, he swore by the Gods of the Elysium that he would never hurt me again in any way. I am afraid that, now, I can never repay you for that. I am very deeply ashamed for that.

As far as my claustrophobia is concerned, which is not very common to foxes, and also the strange fact that I, a Vixen, have grown up in a Wolf tribe, with Wolves as my foster parents, I must say that I have never been really open about my past. I will tell you now what knowledge I got from my parents, and what remembrance I have from my own past.

My father (stepfather) found me in the ruins of a small lone house east of the Wildenlands when I was a very young cub. He had no idea what had happened there, but he things it might have been a raiding party of the tribes inhabiting the western Rothos mountains. I remember sudden loud noises, and my mother (I hardly remember her) put me into a small secret hole int he floor, where my parents had some valuables stored. The stone lid was too heavy for me to lift by myself. A little while later, I heard screaming and other loud noises. I remember very clearly that I was terrified, not daring to move. After a while again it got silent. Too silent! A few minutes later I began to get afraid again, and started knocking at the lid and screaming that I wanted to get out. But nobody came, and I started to get horrified, screaming louder and louder, banging on the lid until my paws were bleeding. Then I sat down and curled up miserably, whining myself to sleep in the dark. After waking up again, I felt hungry and thirsty, and I started knocking and screaming again until I could do so no more, and finally curled up again. I constantly repeated this circle, but every time the knocking and screaming decreased, the times I lay curled up got longer and more frequent. As time went on, the hunger and thirst became unbearable, and I started to get weaker. I hardly remember how long I was locked up there, it felt like years to me, but I do remember the increasing number of haunting dreams and vision I had of being surrounded by cold, tight walls, which were drawing nearer and nearer. By the time I was so weak I couldn't even think straight anymore, a time I can hardly remember, scraps of sudden light were shining into my prison, and then a bit fox was lifting me with his huge paws. Well, I thought he was a fox, but he was so huge and had a weird smell. After that, I only remember being reared by my Wolvish foster parents. But, as you well know, my dear friend, since then, whenever I see a small enclosed space, I remember those horrible walls, sliding tighter and tighter.

The rest of my past, you are more familiar with. I started getting interested in the Mysterious Powers at my seventh or eighth year, to the horror of my parents, both of whom were explorers and practicants of the powers of Atavism, members of the the exploration group "The Howlers". Well, you know them, of course. They wanted so much that I would become like them, a member of The Howlers. The other members of The Howlers were sceptic though. How could a fox, from a species unable to howl, join them? Living in a wolf tribe for most of my lifetime surely left its marks. In a burst of anger, I released a howl so loud and frightening, vibrating through everyone's bones, that The Howlers were nailed to the ground for at least a minute, and well, you of course heard it, everybody in our village and the villages nearby heard it too, and you know what happened. From then on, I was refused membership of every Atavist group. As you know, this also caused my parents to be banned from The Howlers, and they punished me severely for that. I still feel for them, even though I think I was not at fault. Luckily, my parents saw that they couldn't keep me away from the Shamans and the Mysterious Powers. From my sixteenth year, I started to get conflicts with them, as you often noticed. They kept teaching me tricks found out long ago, of which the technique still remains, but the knowledge of the Powers which granted these tricks has been lost for ages. And whenever I told them that we should focus on reviving this knowledge, they thought I was insane, and would never bee a good Shaman. When I finally told them that the City Dwellers probably have much more knowledge than they, they banned me from the Shaman Guild too. I must lear to keep my muzzle in control, I guess. Nevertheless, they asked for it.

And now, having no future at all in this tribe, I decided to use the next opportunity to travel to the lands of the City Dwellers. I can only hope that I was right, that the City Dwellers indeed have the knowledge of the Ancient Powers. Oh, Shalinde, I will feel so lonely without you. Please forgive me for abandoning you. I hope it will not be for nothing.

May we soon see each other again!

Yours dearest,
Yisha