Mudcrabs for Anger Management

To the Redguard named Kousei,

I guess it's just bad luck that my mood was not at its best when your note reached me. I did not receive it from a courier, as you expected. Apparently, your letter arrived when I was asleep, and my Housecarl took it in for me. That would have been fine, if not for the fact that she seemed to have taken a fancy to you, and delayed giving me the message. Oh, she said that she really intended to hand it to me in a while, but her apology didn't stop me from making her carry the bones and scales from the dragon we just killed this morning.

What's this? I don't recall giving you a note, Housecarl...

I read your letter with great interest. Yes, I do remember Helgen, and I think I even have a fleeting memory of sharing the line with you on the way to the chopping block. That experience is one that I will never forget. However, you got all your guesses wrong about my race. No, I am neither Nord nor Breton. My name is Kiya, and I was born an Imperial from Cyrodiil. I'll let this one pass, because I understand that I'm quite pale for my kin. You're not the first to have confused me for someone of a different race.

But the moment I saw you with Ulfric Stormcloak, I barely managed to keep myself from tearing your letter to pieces. I am not too fond of that man or the cause he represents. Just to see his visage in an illumination is enough to make my normally calm blood boil.

A Nord and a Breton, indeed!

To vent out my anger, I decided to go shoot Mudcrabs before even writing this letter to you. And I'll admit I did imagine you were the Mudcrabs. I have to give Calcelmo's discovery of that interesting Dwemer machine some credit. Thanks to your illumination, I already knew how you looked like before meeting you in person. That has certainly made it possible for me to see your face with great accuracy in every Mudcrab I slaughtered.

I also might not have sent any other illumination of me apart from what my Housecarl took while I'm on my Mudcrab killing spree. But on second thought, the helmet may prevent you from recognizing me, and thus any future correspondence would go astray yet again. I have included one of my more diplomatic-looking illuminations in this message, but I'm still enclosing this one as a reminder of what I could be.

And that's for sending me Ulfric Stormcloak's ugly mug in the mail!

Nonetheless, shooting down Mudcrabs served its purpose. Once my head had cleared enough to regain its rationality, I got to thinking that perhaps you did not send that letter out of spite. We have gone through the same tragedy in Helgen after all, and survived it. We both saw that dark Dragon. Therefore, I am now agreeing to meet you in Riverwood's Sleeping Giant Inn. I'll be there at sundown this Loredas, and I expect that you'll be prompt in your arrival.

All right, I'm calm now.

Be careful what you do around me, Stormcloak. I give you my word that I'll keep my bow and my fists to myself, but take heed. I may be giving you a chance to meet me, but I won't tolerate anything stupid.

Yours truly,

Kiya