The Letter

"Kiera! Wake up!"

Kiera lazily cracked her eye open to let in minimal sunlight as she looked up at her little sister excitedly shaking her with a brown envelope in her hand.

"Is that the letter?" Kiera suddenly woke up. The moment she had worked up to all her life was in front of her nose as she jolted up and snatched the letter out of the small, pale hands of her sister.

"Gimme that." She held the envelope on her lap, all the blood rushing out of her face. She shivered as if a sudden frost had swept over her as she slowly tore off the red wax seal.

"What does its say?" Alfie peered over Kiera's shoulder in anticipation.

"It says..." Kiera slowly pulled the folded crisp parchment out of the envelope, prying it open. "Dear Mrs Tiaesti, you have been selected for the Vraelgaard Elite Unit. Please report with your citizenship, arms licence and magic authorization forms to the Royal Court of Vraelgaard within the next three weeks for initiation..." She sat dumbstruck and stared at the letter. Her eyes lit up like a flame from the dying embers of a campfire.

"What does that mean?"

Kiera turned to her sister, a smile slowly growing on her face.

"I'm in!" Kiera tossed grabbed Alfie by the armpits and scooped her up with ease and swung her around in a circle. They both fell on the bed dizzy and laughing, savoring the moment.

"I don't believe it..." Kiera took a couple deep breaths and jolted right up. This was the moment she had trained her whole life and now, she had to work harder than ever to impress the superiors.

***

"So. The elf made it." A voice called out from a dark corner of a small dining room dimly lit by a single candle. The room was strange. it had a single table, half of it round while the other half was square. It was worn out with cracks on the legs and rope holding it together. Around the table sat 4 men in red, silk uniforms with rows and rows of golden medals lining them like rows of soldiers. They turned to the fifth in the dimly lit corner, not surprised by it.

"How long have you been here, Selkath? You know you're not meant to sneak into government meetings like that." The tallest man stood up and walked over to the small, timid looking goblin who sat against the wall.

"I've been here long enough to understand. Relax. The king sent me." Selkath continued to sit in the corner of the room, almost avoiding the light. "I better head off. I'm hungry."

The candle blew out as a slight gust of wind blew across the room as the the candle sparked again a moment later. There was no sign of the goblin as the man sat back on his chair and sighed. "We need to do something about that Goblin."