Letters to Gwyn

[Costin Dracula]

From: Vis. Costin Dracula
New Sighișoara Manor
Greater Wallachia
Antares 4

To: Gwyn Locksley

Locksley Hall

Nottinghamshire, England

Earth

Early Summer

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Dear
Esteemed
Honorable

Gwyn - 

I hope this letter finds you well. It was surprisingly difficult for me to determine the location of a postal office here, because aside from my fathers' penchant for old things at our own home, most things on this planet are fairly advanced technologically. No one here sends physical letters anymore, which I find quite sad, as there is something distinctly satisfying about putting pen to paper and committing your words to the physical realm. I also suspect that there might not be a way for you to view digital correspondence in your realm, so that is yet another reason I have chosen to communicate with you in this fashion. 

How has your summer been thus far? I know we have not been away from school for long, but it is strange to have no contact with people at the school after seeing them every day all year. I must admit, I also have very little to amuse myself here at home with my fathers. You have shown me things that I have become interested in, but we have no lightsabers or archery or any of those other outdoor activities here (I do not think my parents are overly interested in such things). 

Have I ever spoken to you of my home? Antares 4 is an ideal place for vampires to reside for several reasons. It is the fourth planet from our sun, and the tilt of the planet makes some portions of the planet uninhabitable, but up here in the northernmost region, the temperature is hospitable to life and our days are short, both of which are very much to the liking of vampires. We also have three moons, so our long nights are well-lit and even the human occupants of the area conduct business and recreation late into the night (also to the liking of vampires!) My father (the one whose name I share and am considerably less fond of, if I am honest) has lived here for centuries, and has a strange, somewhat symbiotic arrangement with the humanoid locals. 

I can tell you more details of any of that if you are interested, but I fear I will bore you if I go on too long, so I will leave it at that for now. Please write back if you are inclined to do so, and tell me of your summer plans, for I am certain they must be much more interesting than mine. 

Sincerely,
Costin

[Gwyn Locksley]

From: Gwyn Locksley
Locksley Manor
Nottinghamshire, England
Earth

To: Vis. Costin Dracula

New Sighisoara Manor

Greater Wallachia

Antares 4

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Dear Costin,

My sincerest apologies that I took so long to reply, but I hope that the package I enclosed well makes up for any tardiness. I was absolutely appalled to hear that your homeland is severely lacking in outdoor activities so took it upon myself to craft something that I thought perhaps you could find some solace in. Hence the lateness of my reply. Just because your home does not have these activities at the present does not mean that it never can, yes?

You are correct that I have no access to digital communication here so I am very glad you sent me a letter. I have not heard of your planet so I presume you have all means of communication you could ever want. Is that what people do for fun where you live? Digital things? Since they do not sound like they are too fond of the outside. Or training. Or sports. Or fun.

I do not think I would like to live in a land with so much darkness, I find sunlight to be invigorating in a way that nothing else can quite match, but I can see why your family would prefer it. You have not told me much of your home except to complain about your father and how they deprive you of what you feel entitled to, so I would very much like to hear more about it. What sort of recreation do your people conduct that is so well suited to night time? And are your fathers the only Vampires or are there others?

Summer here can be tedious at times. We usually visit our friends in Camelot, something I always very much look forward to, so there is that, but this year is different. Everything is different now that Richard is here. I do not know if he will accompany us. I hope he does not, but I feel mother and father will ensure that he does. But the less said about him the better.

Besides the Camelot excursion I will do my usual training and hunting, and I suppose I will be subjected to several gatherings that I would much rather avoid. They are not like the parties of Tintagel with the unique costumes, magic, and entertaining people. Here they are stuffy, the company stale, and the dresses I must shackle myself into incredibly uncomfortable. The way I miss shorts and tank tops.

I do hope you enjoy your gift and that I hear from you again soon.

Your friend,
Gwyn

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_{(Accompanying the letter is a large package containing a hand carved yew longbow and half a dozen arrows)}

[Costin Dracula]

From: Vis. Costin Dracula
New Sighișoara Manor
Greater Wallachia
Antares 4

To: Gwyn Locksley

Locksley Hall

Nottinghamshire, England

Earth

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Dear Gwyn ~

Please accept my most ardent appreciation for the gift. It has been a source of entertainment I had not anticipated having this summer, and I am greatly indebted to you for sending it. Until its arrival, I had been spending the time in my kitchen trying to invent new recipes, which was not going poorly, but it does get a bit tedious after a while when there is nothing else to do. I hope that by the next time you see me in the flesh I will be a somewhat more competent archer than I am today. 

The people of this planet do a great many things for fun - they generally do not let the darkness (or lack of sunlight, really, because the moons provide plenty of light for most activities) stop them from their recreation. There are snow sports up here in the north in the winter, and down south, where the weather is more inhospitable, there are indoor resorts for swimming and various forms of debauchery.

I must agree, though, that now that I have spent time in the sun, I have learnt to love it and I do miss it now that I am away. It is strange how things arrange themselves in that fashion. 

My fathers are the primary vampires in this region. There are other vampires, I have heard of them, but they generally only come together for large gatherings for vampire business (which I am not privy to). I think that if there are many vampires in one location, the food becomes scarce, so they tend to live in smaller groups spread out over a larger distance. In our region, the local humanoid population is aware of my fathers, and my fathers are generally able to avoid killing anyone because there is enough supply of blood that they are able to take what they need and then allow it to replenish. I will not bore you with the affairs of vampires, though, as I am sure that is not a fascinating topic to you. 

I hope that you are able to visit the friends in Camelot without Richard plaguing you with his presence. I know how troublesome it can be to have a person continually arriving in places you do not want them to. I am curious about the dresses you find so loathsome - perhaps they are long enough that you could conceal knives under them?

Please let me know how your visit to Camelot goes, I am anxious to hear whether Richard embarrasses himself. 

Fond regards,
Costin


P.S. I intend to send you a gift as well, but I am currently going through my fathers' collection of antiquities to find something appropriate, as you are quite unique and I do not wish to send you something pretty and useless.

[Gwyn Locksley]

From: Gwyn Locksley
Locksley Manor
Nottinghamshire, England
Earth

To: Vis. Costin Dracula

New Sighisoara Manor

Greater Wallachia

Antares 4

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Dear Costin,

I am very pleased to hear that you are enjoying your gift. I loathe to think of how your swordsmanship will deteriorate over the summer without our lessons as it sounds like your fathers will be of no help, but archery is much more suited to individual training so at least you will not get lazy in my absence. Cooking is certainly a useful skill, though not one I have been too fond of nor keen to learn. I prefer hunting over cooking. Though I suppose it does not help that food here pales in comparison to many of the delectable dishes I was introduced to at Tintagel.

At least you have snow sports in your world. Have you tried any yet? Hockey looked like it would be great fun and quite a good workout, so I would vote for that, though there is probably a certain thrill to downhill skiing. Again, both solitary sports.

As much as I do hail the sun, we do get quite a lot of dreary weather here. With so much rain perhaps that is why I appreciate the sun as I do. Clearly you understand that sentiment now. I propose that when we return to Tintagel we take the first sunny day away from classes and spend the entire thing out of doors.

I suppose it makes sense that vampires would spread themselves out to reserve food sources, and it is a relief to hear that they avoid killing people to live. I cannot, though, fathom why humans would live in a land where they knew they would be prey? Unless they offer themselves willingly, which is even more confusing. Is it a religious thing?

The dresses are certainly long enough to conceal many things, but they are not very conducive to running, and ladies are expected to ride side-saddle, which is not very efficient. There are many layers and so much access material it’s all rather bothersome, and those are just every day issues. It is all much worse when we attend the parties here.

We are set to leave for Camelot next week, so if you do not hear from me for some time it is not because I’m ignoring you. Remember to keep your bow arm straight and to hold your position even after you’ve released the arrow.

Until my return,
Gwyn

[Costin Dracula]

From: Vis. Costin Dracula
New Sighișoara Manor
Greater Wallachia
Antares 4

To: Gwyn Locksley
Locksley Hall
Nottinghamshire, England
Earth

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Dear Gwyn -

I hope that by the time you receive this letter, you have had a successful and not overly terrible time with your family in Camelot. I hope Richard will behave himself and you are able to have at least a moderately enjoyable time despite the dresses and riding sideways (which is indeed a wholly inefficient way to ride a horse or any other beast). I may try some of the snow sports, but I prefer to keep away from the more dangerous ones. The last thing I want is to break my spine in three pieces skiing downhill and die there in the snow and end up without a mortal life or an immortal one.

I very much look forward to our day skipping classes and spending time in the sun; perhaps I can make up for all the time here spent away from it. I may as well enjoy it while I am mortal and do not have to worry about it incinerating me.

To answer your question about vampires - from my understanding, there is a certain sort of high that comes with being bitten by a vampire. I don’t know why, and I have never experienced it myself, but many people seek it out, and claim to enjoy it. Obviously it is inherently risky, though, because vampires have been known to lose control and fully drain a person even if they did not initially intend to do so. There is also something of a trade-off - my father would not allow anything catastrophic to happen to his food supply, so as long as they are providing him with what he needs…I suppose they imagine that he will protect them from other terrible things that come along.

I know you must think at this point that vampires sound like the most wretched creatures, and I must admit, there are aspects of it that I find less than appealing myself. But immortality would be the greatest gift, I think, and the ability to fly, to never fear harm at the hand of a mortal being, those are all appealing

But in the grand scale of things, I think I can spare some time to enjoy myself while I am awaiting my immortality. I have time to see the sun, to learn to shoot, to wield a sword (I too hope I do not become too rusty at it over the summer, and ask that you have patience with me if we return and I am back to my original clumsiness).

Please let me know how the trip to Camelot goes - at the very least, I will be here to listen if you want to talk about how dreadful it was.

Your friend,
Costin

[Gwyn Locksley]

From: Gwyn Locksley
Locksley Hall
Nottinghamshire, England
Earth

To: Vis. Costin Dracula

New Sighișoara Manor

Greater Wallachia

Antares 4

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Dear Costin,

I have just returned from Camelot, and while it was not as carefree and enjoyable a time as it has been in the past, Richard did not entirely ruin it. I will come back to this later in my letter.

I suppose I can understand the point of view of your people who offer their blood for protection. People do strange things when afraid or desperate, so I suppose if they feel it will protect them and those they love it is a small price to pay. I can also sort of understand the pleasure seekers as well. It sounds like a strange thing to derive pleasure from, but the thrill of risk and danger can be intoxicating.

I do believe life as a vampire sounds wretched, but not solely because to live they require the lifeblood of others. You say immortality would be the greatest gift, but to me a mortal life, a finite one, is much greater. Everything has so much more meaning when time is short. What happens in a hundred years when you have traveled and learned and seen all you desired? What challenge and pride is there when you can easily obtain whatever you want or do through enhancements you did not work to hone yourself? What of the people you love? Will you be content to watch everyone you care for, be their friends or even artists you enjoy, grow old and die while you remain young?

And what of the little things? You seem to have a newfound love of cooking, and from that I must surmise that you enjoy food and take at least some pleasure in it. Another great loss once you change, along with the blissful feeling of the sun warming your skin.

But I am sure you have considered all of these things exhaustingly, so I will not continue to harp on about them. Instead I will close this letter with two things: a challenge, and an offer. My challenge is this: for this next year at Tintagel, I challenge you to stop awaiting your immortality and let yourself truly enjoy the pleasures of life. I will even be your guide if you will allow me.

As for the offer: if you wish a temporary reprieve from your somewhat bored existence, you may visit me here. If you agree I will tell you of my journey to Camelot in person, and give you some in person training with your bow so you may better learn on your own for the remainder of the summer. Maybe we will be lucky and there may even be some sun.

I hope to hear from you soon.

Your friend,
Gwyn