Sister Red Earth,
I hope this letter finds you well. I apologize that it’s been so long since my last letter. I’ve been...rather busy, of late.
First things, first. I wanted to tell you that Brother Mishkwaki is back among us again! He hasn’t been very forthcoming about what his personal business was. All he really said on that, if it means anything, was that he was finally heeding something the birds had been chattering to him about for some time. It sounds strange to the casual observer, but after some thought, I think I know to some extent what he meant. We shamans often talk of whisperings on the wind speaking to us, or promptings of the Spirits directing our thoughts, sometimes urging us to action. Perhaps this is how he experiences such things as a druid. That doesn’t tell me much about what he was up to, but that’s all right. I’m sure at some point he will be more than willing to share that story, and it is something I am merely curious about and won’t press.
There was one thing he did say that I thought was telling, though. I don’t remember his exact words, but he suggested that what he had experienced had changed him (presumably for the better). I found that...encouraging, actually. Anyone who’s handled a lump of clay for a long time can tell you that it becomes very difficult, if not impossible, to mold and shape it once it has dried and hardened. Similarly, I have seen and heard many a time of people becoming hardened--set in their ways, as it were--with age. They would rather leave a flaw uncorrected, or remain complacent with a good quality that could become better. Whether the change Brother Mishkwaki spoke of was righting a wrong in his life or taking something good in it and making it better, I do not know. Either way, his willingness to do that in his old age is a sign of great wisdom.
After conversing on this for a time, he then expressed his gratitude for my handling of things (quiet as they generally were) in his absence, and asked if he could have the mantle of patriarch for the Ishnu Por Ah, as you had originally desired of him. I agreed, and so it is his now.
He’s already busy at work, moving the Lodge back to its....wait, did I even tell you about that? Well, maybe Sister Kickfeather said something to you about moving the Lodge to another location. After some thought in considering her suggestion, I decided to do just that, moving everything to one of the larger buildings on the main rise in Thunder Bluff. That is how it was for some months, but Mishkwaki is already getting everything back in the old lodge. Oh well..it doesn’t bother me terribly. My effort in moving it was done in a very gradual manner, such that it never at any given time was any grievous burden to carry out. So, everything’s all back in the old Lodge again, or at least is on its way there.
....It’s rather...impeccable timing on Mishkwaki’s part to ask the mantle of me when he did, when I think on it now. I’ve been awfully busy in Pandaria, helping the cause of the pandaren across the land where I could, establishing trust...and it’s all taking a toll on me. I am weary, and my edge (so to speak) feels a little dulled, and my judgment growing more fallible. In the numerous battles I’ve been in, I’ve been having more recent close calls that have proven unnerving for me and even more so for Karoa. We have both felt a growing need to just get away for a time, to rest, reflect and renew someplace where the cares of the world cannot touch us. Mishkwaki’s request for the mantle of patriarch at such a time, I feel, was a sign that this is something Karoa and I need to do, not simply yearn for.
So, expect me--or us, rather--to go away soon for some days. I don’t anticipate it will be for very long. We’ll be back before you know it, refreshed and ready to lend our aid again!
Spirits watch over you,
Brother Kaeevanrash
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