Family Business

A letter has arrived at the Esch estate. There are flowers from nowhere near Europa pressed into the paper and it smells faintly of exotic spices.
 
Mother, Father,
I hope this letter finds you well. Peg and I are in Bharat right now, the holy city of Benares, where we have purchased a house. It's been a beautiful place to spend our time when we are here and has also served as an impromptu setting for a war council in the Magnificent Kingdoms. I am certain that you are apprised of the developing situation in the region. The armies of naga, the gigantic snake. It's all true and we are in it. As deeply as I was never supposed to be in public life, we are in this, fighting monsters and godlings.
 
I won't pretend, we are in danger, but the world is in more. You always taught me to work from the shadows, but life has outgrown that. Both Peg and I are famous here, as are our friends. In Eisen, too, it seems. Fighting dragons and fiends, saving lives and consorting with royalty, all of these things challenge obscurity. I suppose marrying the most distinctly beautiful woman in all of Novandria didn't help either, not that I would change that choice. All of that is to say that life has forced me to outgrow the shadows. I believe in the work and will continue it, but the original mask has slipped, and it doesn't fit any more.
 
Such an odd thing to have to apologize for denying you a wastrel son. I believe in our goals and will find other ways to accomplish our work. The stakes have grown so large for Eisen and the world that I have to walk the larger stage for a while. I love you and I believe in you. We'll find a way.
 
Your son,
Aloysius