1255/6/21

Dear Tailiki,

I am so sorry to hear about your father, and about the ordeal you’ve suffered through. Your father’s trial and execution was in the papers here, too; I heard about it a few days before I received your letter, and was in agonies wondering what had happened to you and your mother, who were not mentioned in the Sderamyn newspapers. I wrote to one of the people I know at the Hureshan Bureau of Antiquities to see if he knew anything about what had become of you and your mother; if he can tell me anything about your mother or aunt, I will let you know.

I don’t suppose you received my last couple of letters. I’m enclosing volume eighty-seven, issue four of The Journal of League History, containing my paper, “Two Tenth-Century Sderamyn Cross-Dressers.” As you can see, I decided to focus it on Prosendra and Kyndisar. Let’s see, what else was in those letters that went awry? The Gender Explorers Club was recognized by the university, just before the end of the last school year. For our first meeting of this year, a week ago, we met in the same classroom where I teach modern League history, and we had three new people who saw our listing in the student handbook, or one of the handbills that Gedrikar’s uncle printed for us. So that’s going pretty well, I think.

I hope you can find a decent job soon.

Your friend,

Ftangu

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Eighth day of the seventh month, 1255

Dear Ftangu,

Taia has found me a job in a hotel, cleaning rooms. Being a rank beginner at Neshisum, I couldn’t get a job where I would have to interact with customers. But Rui says once I’m fluent in Neshisum, he’ll try to find me a better job. Or maybe I can get a better job within the same hotel, like at the front desk or the back office. I’m studying hard; the only book I’ve been able to afford with my meager first paycheck is a Neshisum primer for Hureshan speakers. I’ll have to wait until I can afford a Kosyan grammar and dictionary, and some time to spare from studying Neshisum, to puzzle my way through your paper.

I still haven’t heard anything about Mother. Sihao wrote to me via Tonadru, telling me that the police haven’t bothered him or Baedrun, but they haven’t heard anything about Mother either.

I don’t know if I want to stay in Neshinark long-term. Maybe once I save up enough money to travel, I’ll come live in Sderamyn. There’s nothing holding me here. Taia and Rui are nice, but I don’t know if I’ll ever be as close to them as I was to Ridra or Kenet – or you. But I suppose it will depend on whether I’m reunited with Mother, and whether she’s in any condition to travel after being in prison for some unknown period of time. Surely they must have released her by now if they aren’t going to put her on trial?

Your betrothed,

Tailiki

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1255/7/17

Dear Tailiki,

It seems that your mother and aunt were tried as well, though their trials were less publicized than that of your father and his co-conspirators. Your mother was found not guilty and released on the fifth of this month, and your aunt a few days later. My contact at the Bureau of Antiquities said he had no further information about where they had gone or what they had done after being released from prison. I’m writing to people I’ve met at Hureshan universities, and asking my colleagues to do the same, asking them to put out feelers and see if we can find anything.

Have courage. Things have been bad, but they are starting to get better.

Your friend,

Ftangu

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Twenty-eighth day of the seventh month, 1255

Dear Ftangu,

Thank you for your attempts to find my mother. Sihao wrote to me a few days ago, telling me that he had barely missed meeting my mother. She came to the museum when he was out sick, and asked after me. The curator on duty, who knew nothing about Sihao’s family hiding me and getting me out of the country, told her that I had quit months ago, and he knew nothing more about where I had gone. And hearing that, Mother went away without giving him her new address or anything. It is so very frustrating.

I have written to Ridra as well, telling her where I am and what all has happened, but I hesitate to write to Kenet. If her father were to read my letter to her, I fear that it may get her in trouble. Daodru is very loyal to the government and may not want his daughter to associate with the kin of traitors. So I just asked Ridra to tell Kenet privately, in confidence, and show her my letter at school, but not let her take it home.

I am starting to make some progress on learning Neshisum. I practice it every day with one of the other cleaning girls at the hotel, or with Taia in the evenings after work. Once I’m good enough at it to get a better job, I’m going to shift my efforts toward learning Kosyan again.

Your betrothed,

Tailiki

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1255/8/8

Dear Tailiki,

I haven’t heard from anyone about your mother. I hope your contacts have had better luck than mine.

Things are going reasonably well here with my teaching and research. I’m continuing to dig into the lives of several tenth-century gender explorers, looking for more evidence as to who influenced whom and why the movement seems to have suddenly ended toward the latter part of the century. Currently my main main focus is Sikona, who I think I mentioned in an earlier letter (though I’m not sure it wasn’t one of the ones that you never got). She was an archon’s clerk and a poet, and a friend of Prosendra. She may also be the link between Prosendra and Ftesen, a natural philosopher and Sdigrin’s mentor. It’s starting to seem like many of the documented gender explorers of the period were in the same extended social circle, though not all of that friend group were gender explorers. (Did I tell you I’ve started using “gender explorer” as a preferred term rather than “cross-dresser”? I suppose you must have noticed. One of the students in the Gender Explorers club came up with it, and I liked it enough to use in my paper, and probably in future papers on the same subject.)

Your friend,

Ftangu

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Tenth day of the eighth month, 1255

Dear Ftangu,

I’ve had a letter from Mother!

Not long after I sent my last letter, I got a letter from Ridra saying that Mother had come to see them after she was released from prison, asking if they’d heard from me. They hadn’t, of course; I was hesitant to involve Ridra in my problems until I was out of the country and fairly sure I was safe from further persecution. And even then… I’m afraid I procrastinated about writing to her, I was so busy studying Neshisum and working long hours. Well, anyway, unlike at the museum, Mother gave Ridra’s family the address where she’s staying. Ridra wrote and gave me the address as soon as she got my letter, and I wrote to Mother right away.

We’re not sure what to do. Mother is staying with Kiskai and Soska, two of the nobles of our court. Kiskai works at the hotel Father used to work at, and Soska works at a glove factory. Mother tried to go back to the consortium of schools, but they wouldn’t hire her again, so Kiskai and Soska have tried to get her a job, but the hotel and factory aren’t hiring right now. Taia and Rui don’t have room for another guest, and I don’t know if I could get an apartment here for Mother and myself on just my cleaning wages. I’ve advised Mother to start learning Neshisum, in any case, and told her I don’t want to return to Huresh. Mother was acquitted of treason, but if I go back, they’ll probably arrest me, and there’s no guarantee they’d acquit me just because I’m innocent. Rui says they might want to get rid of me because I’m in the direct line of succession.

She also said that Aunt Datai is living in a women’s boarding house on the outskirts of the city.

Oh, and she says that Taenash wrote and said that the publisher had canceled his book, saying it would be unwise to publish it when my family is in such disfavor with the government and the populace. He is going to try to find a foreign publisher, but who knows how long that will take.

Your betrothed,

Tailiki

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1255/8/25

Dear Tailiki,

It’s good to hear that your mother is safe. She would probably be safer out of Huresh, but having been acquitted of treason, she should be all right for as long as the current faction controls the government, and probably longer.

Yes, you should focus your studies on learning Neshisum for the moment. I don’t know if Neshinark has free education up to the lyceum level like Huresh. Have Taia and Rui talked about getting you into lyceum? In any case, you probably wouldn’t benefit from it until you’ve gotten decently fluent in Neshisum.

Not much of interest has happened here since my last letter. One new person has joined the gender explorers club, a second-year undergrad named Modisar, who doesn’t think he wants want to be a a girl but does like some traditionally girlish things, like sewing and crocheting.

Let me know what you and your mother figure out about your living situation.

Your friend,

Ftangu

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Ninth day of the ninth month, 1255

Dear Ftangu,

Nothing much has changed here. Mother has gotten a job at a department store near Kiskai’s apartment. She and some other women clean the place at night, after the salesfolk and customers have gone home. I am still working at the hotel. I’m making progress with Neshisum, but still far from fluent – I think it’s inherently more difficult than Hureshan or Kosyan, with a lot more verb forms and noun forms to memorize. I’ve bought a couple of Neshisum children’s books to help me practice, like the ones you gave us in Hureshan.

I don’t know if I can finish lyceum just now. Taia and Rui don’t have the money to pay for it, and I certainly don’t. Maybe once I’m fluent in Neshisum, I’ll be able to get a better-paying job and pay the lyceum tuition?

Your betrothed,

Tailiki

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1255/9/27

Dear Tailiki,

It’s easy to understand why you’re having more trouble with Neshisum. Hureshan is part of the same language family as Tupaskai, both descended from a common ancestor spoken just twenty-five hundred or so years ago. Neshisum, on the other hand, is part of another language family descended from a common ancestor of most of the languages spoken on the south coast. Kosyan is part of a family of languages spoken in the League and nearby east-coast nations, which Pydesen tells me may be part of a larger superfamily that includes some languages of the islands and some desert tribes’ languages – scholars aren’t agreed yet. But Kosyan is probably easier than Neshisum, despite both being from families unrelated to your native one, because it’s got fewer grammatical complexities to learn.

Speaking of languages, Pydesen has finally gotten his play in Old Kosyan organized. “Love Blooming on the Field of Battle” will be performed several times in the eleventh month, probably two evenings and one morning – that’s fairly standard for plays that aren’t extremely popular. I’m rehearsing my lines for it, which fortunately aren’t very numerous. I play a courier who brings news of the war at several points in the play. Pydesen is directing, and Tuilen is playing the main character, while Seridra is playing the leading lady. Dipredra is playing one of her ladies’ maids, the one with the most lines – she gives advice to the main character about how to woo her mistress. (When the play was first written, those roles would have been played by men in women’s clothing.)

The Gender Explorers Club have decided to do something to make themselves more visible. Using my research, they’re making up posters about several of the historical gender explorers and putting them up around the university and the tea-houses and restaurants near campus. Each poster has a portrait of the person (sometimes fanciful, as we don’t always have contemporary portraits of them), and a few facts about them, emphasizing their accomplishments and their gender expression. Then there’s some sloganizing, like “We’ve always been here,” or “We’re still here,” and contact information for the Gender Explorers Club in smaller print. I’m worried it might bring too much of the wrong kind of attention, but we’ll see.

Your friend,

Ftangu

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Twenty-sixth day of the tenth month, 1255

Dear Ftangu,

I am worn out. Last night after work I tried to pick up my Neshisum textbook and study, but I couldn’t make sense of the words. Then I tried to write to you and couldn’t think of a thing to say. I feel a bit better now, but still pretty bad.

Cleaning hotel rooms is so much harder work than showing people around a museum exhibit and explaining it; there’s a lot of bending over involved, and scrubbing wears you out like nothing I’ve ever done. And like you said, studying Neshisum is harder than what I was studying in lyceum or privately, before. I’ve been doing one or the other all day every day for months and I can’t stand it anymore. But I may not have to do it much longer!

I had a letter from Mother where she suggested that instead of her learning Neshisum and coming to live with me here, that we both learn Kosyan and save our money to move to Sderamyn, and be close to you. That will take longer than just saving money for Mother’s train ticket to Suinat and a month of rent here for an apartment, but it is a more attractive prospect, as I’m sure you can guess.

Could you start writing to me in Kosyan instead of Hureshan, to give me more text to practice with? Maybe dual text in Hureshan and Kosyan, at least for the first paragraph – I know I’m asking a lot, so don’t do that if you’re busy.

What does a cheap apartment big enough for two people cost in Sderamyn? Preferably in a neighborhood close to the university, but I understand the apartments near there may not be the cheapest, with students and faculty bidding up the prices. However much it is, I need to figure out how much it is in in Hureshan leptons and Neshineri marks. I checked and the cheapest airship fare from Suinat to Sderamyn is four hundred ten marks – a good bit more than I make in a month at the hotel. Train fare circumnavigating the continent is not much less, three hundred eighty, and it would take almost a week with all the stops in towns and cities along the south and east coast. So it’s going to take a while to save enough money. But I have something good to look forward to now.

Your betrothed,

Tailiki