[S] The Merigold and the Ava'rr

—

To the editor of ll’e etai’sse, a newsletter I have held dear ever since I was a boy -

I have thought recently that you have failed to properly gauge the importance of your fantastical public transportation, so here I will readily assume you know nothing and tell you all about it, for my passion stretches as far as the tracks themselves.

One would wonder, why the Undine had even sought to develope such a strange and flamboyant method of transportation, when their ah’rii, the mechanical automatons within the sky, serve them well day-by-day. One could theorise that it was simply to disallow a ‘commoner’s’ perspective to be placed upon the nobility of the Undine, who traverse the wilted plains in their own fantastical steam train.

Then, however- how could you explain the steam train erected simply for the sake of the commonpeople? Could that have then been said to be the grace of Nobility?

No matter how they came to be, it stands certain that there are two trains that operate on the tracks that slice through the steel cityscape. Those two have been aptly named, albeit unofficially - the ‘Merigold’ and the ‘Ava’rr’. While the Merigold is fit for regality, coated in bright-green paint and lined upon its plating with gold hemming, the Ava’rr is a bit more barebones in its design. In terms of their differences, the Merigold could be called an ‘artful sculpture’, and the Ava’rr a ‘beast of steel and steam’.

I wonder then - that even in their grace, was it purposeful to keep the status quo? Is the divide between King and Commoner appearance alone?

I digress. Sometimes my mind would wander, and I forget my main point of contention - the train system of the Undine.

To talk more of the differences between the ah’rii, the mechanised automatons, and the steam trains would better serve to underscore my points. Never once would you have seen the feet of a nobleman grace the belly of the building-scaling beasts. As simply as it could be put, the ah’rii are very incautious in their approach to travel - reckless, wild, and rough. It is not a very ‘comfortable’ way to travel the city of steel, to say the least. Why would anyone expect this much of a nobleman? I think at its core, that it was one of the main interior points of the motive, disregarding public perception.

My fascination with the steam train’s of the Undine are not founded in their complex, wonderful designs and machinations, but rather the meaning they have when applied to the social dynamics of the Nation as a whole.

I know well that you will not care for this letter, and it may just meet the warmth of your hearth. I know that you care not to share the world’s truth, but rather your own. I think wholly, that is the part of you I respect most, editor of the narrative.

Regardless, I hope you will give my words some thought.

With dearest regards,

- Stellan Hemingway.