Kaven grinned. "You just wait. He may like you now, but if he hears you insulting me, he'll... probably still love you," he admitted. "But when you meet Sisi, you'll have a rival for his heart, she adores him he's her baby."
He laughed at her jest and pulled a sheet of parchment out of his pocket. It was covered on both sides with his neat handwriting, full of news about his travels. He turned it over to the second page, which still lay unfinished, and began to read, running his finger under the words as he did so. It was an automatic gesture, picked up from his mother when she taught him to read.
"... That was when we got lost. Can you imagine, Equi and I in the middle of fields of snow, white all around us, no idea where to go! We were hopeless. But salvation came in the form of a snow angel.
Well, not quite your traditional angel. Zurna is from a family of nomads that live here in Hyoite full-time - if you can believe that anyone does so! I know how you feel about the cold. She turned up out of nowhere and led us to her home, where she and her family took us in. They are the reason that I am still here to send this letter to you. But there is more than that. Sisi, I have fallen in love.
I know you will adore Zurna. She is beautiful, so striking looking that she takes your breath away. But she is lovely on the inside too. She is gracious and giving, and thinks nothing of sacrificing everything to look after someone else. She has finally driven the demons out of my heart and next to her I sleep peacefully, because she is there. She gives me hope for the future and puts life into my days. And perhaps most tellingly, Equi is already fond of her.
I will be staying here over the winter, hoping to convince her to fall in love with me as I have she..."
He stopped here, just before the letter cut off. A deep blush had spread over his face as he spoke. He held nothing back from his sister, having no secrets between them, but he couldn't help but be embarassed reading the letter out in front of its subject.