The Long Expected Post

My Dearest Kendrah,

Please, please, forgive me for not writing sooner in your time of distress! I hope Aragorn has passed on to you my deep sadness and disbelief at this most unfortunate occurrence. It is a difficult situation, on the one hand delighted for you and Legolas and on the other, saddened by the turmoil and unrest caused by this breach of vows and the real world. I’m certain Mithrandir would have something wise and comforting to say, but I am speechless.

A great deal has happened since the end of the New Year’s festivities. I finally got all of those noble guests to go home! They trickled out of the City a few at a time over the whole week following the closing party. Now I understand why Eowyn was so aggravated about being left behind all the time. After a week of standing on the City wall waving goodbye by shoulder was killing me! That, combined with all the needlework I had to do while entertaining Gladders and behaving in a suitably lady-like manner, led to some sort of repetitive stress disorder and made me all numb and sore at the same time. Ioreth, that old bat from the Houses of Healing, diagnosed it as an imbalance in some humour...blah, blah, blah, too much bile or something! She ordered me to apply warm cloths to draw out the evil humour, avoid activities that caused the imbalance for at least a fortnight and drink a tea of willow bark three times a day. I took this to mean get a heating pad, stop waving and crocheting and take some aspirin.

It also meant I couldn’t type, hence the lack of writing, or almost worse, balance the books from the month long party! It’s difficult enough to do spreadsheets on parchment with a quill, and as you know from scrap-booking experience, almost impossible to write legibly with a fancy pen when you hand hurts! I’ll be sorting out that accounting mess for weeks! Faramir has been sending heralds around trying to collect receipts from everyone, but you know how the royals are...the rules don’t apply to them. Now Imrahil wants travel expenses reimbursed! I told him we would cover either room and board for his horses OR mileage, but not both! He doesn’t seem to get it. And does he have receipts? NO! He claims it is because most of the innkeepers were illiterate and couldn’t make one out. But did he a log of his expenses? No! Faramir is not pleased either, he knows how much Dol Amroth collects in taxes per year and thinks it’s petty for Imrahil to want money back in the first place! What happened to the good old days when your princes just did stuff because you were their liege!

All right, enough venting. Now that I am recovered from my “humour imbalance” I promise to write more regularly. If Leggs keeps getting on your nerves, Faramir has offered to take him hunting to get him out of your hair for a while. At this point, Faramir is looking for any excuse to escape the bookkeeping!

Take care. I hope to see you soon!
Your Affectionate Friend,
Corwynne