Leefo 1, 9666
Dearest mother,
The best and most peaceful of new years to you. (The humans have remembered, by the way — there are sparklers on and near the fountain in Bevin, and lanterns everywhere, and a banner with New Year greetings in English and D’ni.)
What a tangle of emotions is within me, to be here on this day! I have written to you before of the surface sect called the Jews, and how they recall their holy city each year: “Next year in Jerusalem.” This year… I am in D’ni.
And yet, it is not D’ni; it is a dead place, and I am among outsiders. Even the true D’ni have given up on this place, and fled to Releeshan, or elsewhere. It was once home to me… but no longer. It is the humans’, now.
Ah — perhaps Atrus was right; perhaps it is for the best — the thought of a struggle between D’ni and human for control of this place — a holy war, waged by fanatics like A’Gaeris — distresses me. I have, after all, been to Jerusalem — but no, it is not the same, not quite. I have no answers; I have only confusion.
Only confusion.
Your confused son,
Naron
