Dear Lani

The faint light from the candle illuminated the walls of the room in the inn, casting strange shadows on the wooden walls. With each of Randy’s movements and his scrawling handwriting painting the page with words he’d long left unspoken, the shadows danced with vigor. The rest of his friends had long since left to spend a night on the town, purchasing things they guessed that they’d need in the near future. It seemed as if their journey was coming close to an end, after all. It’d be best for them to overprepare than not be prepared at all.
So, when he heard the door creak open, he couldn’t help but raise a bushy eyebrow in surprise. Without looking up from his work, he greeted the person who came in with a small smile. “Pretty warm tonight, huh, Siriun?”
“Eh, I’ve had worse,” she huffed, flopping down on the absurdly fluffy couch opposite the desk in the room.
“Is that so?” Randy chuckled. “I’d expect you to be out with Lani and the rest of them right now, especially since Lonan is no longer here, erm… How did you put it? Cramping your style?”
The two sat in silence for a moment, Randy’s pen scratching away at the paper in front of him. Tonight was short story night for him - he’d written a poem to send to his daughter yesterday, and figured that she’d appreciate a nice story instead. His friends always seemed to enjoy his stories a little more than his poetry, anyway, so it worked out.
“What’re we gonna do about Lani?” Siriun finally asked.
“We?”
“I mean, I guess just me.”
“Well, it would be nice if you clarified some things for me, then, because I’m still not quite sure what you’re talking about.”
“Oh, y’know, she’s just…” Siriun gestured in the air with her hands, great sweeping motions that would be guaranteed to knock out anyone stupid enough to get near her. “Perfect? She’s so strong, like, emotionally and stuff. I dunno how she does it. And she cares about everyone so much, like, who does that? And then she’s just…” More sweeping gestures. “Y’know?”
Randy turned to look at his companion, gears turning in his head. “I don’t suppose I know exactly where you’re coming from, Siriun, but I think I understand the basis of your thoughts. You’re smitten with her,” he deduced, punctuating his thoughts by pointing at her with the feathered end of his pen.
“Don’t put it like that!” she shouted, bolting upright with clenched fists. But the red in her cheeks betrayed her words.
“I was a detective for more than 10 years. I like to think that I can put two and two together…” he laughed. “For instance, do you really think you’re sly when you look at her at every given moment? Or how you sometimes get hurt on purpose just so you can get bandaged up by her?”
“S-shut it, pops!” she stammered. “There’s no way I’m that obvious about it!”
“Ah! So you admit it!”
“I… HEY!”
Randy was laughing loudly now, his voice echoing in the room. Meanwhile, Siriun was still standing, her face getting redder by the second. After a few seconds, Randy finally stopped laughing and smiled at the Cappold calmly.
“It’s alright. I think I’m the only one that notices these kinds of things, anyway, so your secret’s safe with me.”
“It better be…” she muttered through gritted teeth, flopping backwards onto the couch again. “You’ve got experience with this kind of stuff, right, pops? After all, you said you’ve got a daughter and stuff, and you don’t strike me as the kind of person to, y’know. Leave their partner or something.”
The detective shook his head in response. “I took Winifred in off the streets when she was little. I’ve never married anyone, or wanted to for that matter. So, I believe that I’ll be rather unhelpful with your little dilemma.”
“Gods damn it…” she cursed. “Can you at least read over this, uh. Thing. I dunno if it’s any good, or if it gets the point across super well.”
The Cappold reached into one of her shirt pockets, produced a crumpled up piece of paper, and handed it to Randy. He unfolded it, flattening it out on the desk he was sitting at and got to reading, expecting it to be something long-winded and well written. Instead, he was greeted by five words written with so much pressure that they’d dented the paper.
Get out of my group.
Randy read the words over and over, trying to find a way to politely convey that no, they didn’t get the right meaning across at all. Siriun waited in front of him, arms crossed.
“Well?”
He scratched his beard, still trying to find the right words before speaking. “Well… You’ve definitely got a good start, here…” he began, voice laced with uncertainty.
“Gahh, damn it! I knew it was bad!” She shouted, putting her head in her hands.
“I didn’t say that! Siriun, look at me,” Randy rose to his feet and put a hand on her shoulder, bending his knees until they were both eye level with each other. “You’ve written lots of academic papers before, right?”
“That’s so different from writing letters, though… I’m no good at this kind of stuff.”
Randy shook his head. “That’s where you’re wrong. Why not try rewriting this with a little more detail? For example, try to tell her what you like about her. You did a spectacular job of that with me earlier, after all!”
Siriun finally pulled her face away from her hands, looking at the man in front of her through her mop of hair. “I guess I can try… Do you have extra paper?”
He smiled that warm smile of his as he pulled out a completely blank sheet of paper and handed it to his friend. With that, Siriun sat down and began writing.
-
“THERE! That should do it!”
Siriun’s shout caused Randy to jump, his pen skidding across his paper for a few minutes and leaving an inky trail. He glanced over at her as she slid the piece of paper towards him, words etched deep into it. He was surprised that the table hadn’t been dented as well.
“Read this and weep!” she said with a grin.
Dear Lani,
I have a small confession. Forgive this pouring of my heart.
I cherish Firan’s outskirts, where we first met. Off to a good start.
The moment I clapped eyes on you, I knew you were going to be a pointy friend. Recently, I have begun to regard you as much more than just a pointy friend.
My feelings for you intensified when I saw you joking in the moonlight. I was further wowed by your tremendous loving skills.
You have lips like tiny peas and the prettiest face I've ever seen. When I look at you, I just want to comfort those tiny pea lips and caress that pretty face.
You're so special with your cool ways. The way you handle your journey shows great sensitivity and diligence.
I know that to you I'm just a hot goblin but I think we could be happy together.
All my love, BabeMagnet69
Hm.
“...BabeMagnet69?” Randy asked, raising an eyebrow at Siriun.
“You gotta figure out pen names for this kind of stuff, right?” She reasoned.
He scratched his head. “Normally, people only do that if it’s remotely possible to be anonymous. I’m not sure of how much luck you’ll have with that in a group of six people, two of them being fine young men who clearly aren’t remotely interested in Lani, one of them being an old man, and one of them being someone who left without telling any of us where they were going.”
“...Ah.”
Siriun looked into her lap with a weary sigh, tapping the end of her pen against the desk. Randy looked at her, worry evident in his eyes. “I know you’re good at writing, Siriun… I’ve read your papers. I think that you may be overthinking this a little.”
“I dunno, I just… This has to be perfect,” she murmured.
“Have you considered telling her how you feel face to face?”
She held the pen in front of her for a moment before chewing on the end of it, deep in thought. “Well, yeah. But I’m not the type to tell people how I feel. Sure, I may be loud, but I don’t like being that open to people, y’know? It’s different.”
“I suppose that makes sense,” Randy said, reaching for Siriun’s pen and taking it out of her mouth. He turned it over in his hand and tried to hide his discontent with the bite marks on it. “Most interesting. I never would’ve pegged you as someone who feels that way.”
“Mm…” She hummed her agreement and leaned back in her chair. “You think that letter’s salvageable, though? I was kinda proud of some o -”
The door flew open so quickly that it bumped up against the wall with a thunk, revealing a breathless Lani, her striped sleeves rolled up to her elbows and her jacket tied around her waist. She took a moment to breathe before looking over at Siriun, a bright smile adorning her face.
“Sorry if I interrupted something!” she quickly apologized. “Siri, there’s talk of fireworks downtown, and I thought you might want to come see them with me!”
The Cappold looked from the letter, to Randy, to Lani, and back again. Randy looked at her with a small but warm smile and nodded, causing Siriun to practically shoot out of her chair in excitement, beaming with happiness.
“Do I?!?” She ran to the doorway to meet her friend, the chair she’d been sitting in falling to the ground from how quickly she’d left it. When she reached the doorway, however, she paused, looking back at Randy one more time.
The two waved to each other wordlessly, both of them smiling at each other knowingly before Siriun ran off.