[NOBLES] A Letter from Hamid to Zolf

This letter was sent to Zolf by Hamid following the events of RQG 96 - Behind Closed Doors:

To my good friend Zolf Smith,

I hope this message finds you well. We didn't part that long ago, but I must admit, to me it feels like it has been months. So much has happened in that time, I pray that your journey has been less eventful.

I hope it is not arrogant to presume you saw the news of the events in Prague. You may still have been in the city when they transpired. As you can imagine it has been terribly difficult dealing with the death of my sister, as well as Sir Bertrand. We now find ourselves in Cairo, and I have joined my family in mourning. I know you will not be devastated to hear of Sir Bertrand's passing after how things ended between the two of you, so I will not ask you to sympathise on that front. I hope you know that you would always be welcome to rejoin our mercenary group if you ever felt the need to do so.

I am sure you will forgive me the indulgence, but I renamed the company once you passed operational control to me, we are now known as the London and Other London Outstanding Mercenary Group. We have taken on two new partners as well, Grizzop and Azu, paladins of Artemis and Aphrodite respectively. They are, naturally, a pleasure to work with, though I must say, their attitudes to religious matters are much more stringent than your own. I suppose that is a risk of working with Paladins.

I must confess I have missed your guidance and advice, there has been an awful lot to deal with. I encountered a past paramour of mine in Prague once the business with the Zombies was over, and her new fiancée is also a past acquaintance of mine that I will admit to having no positive feelings about whatsoever. I am uncertain I handled the situation as well as I might have, and I am sure your presence would have been a great help. Once we arrived in Cairo and the funeral had occurred it also became apparent that there was quite a difficult situation underway with my eldest brother that no one in the family had been fully aware of and I'm afraid I mishandled it badly, and only made the whole thing worse. Sasha's one time employer was tangentially involved and seems to remain somewhat interested in us, hopefully his interest will no longer include yourself since our parting, but just in case please be mindful and look after yourself.

The other matter that I wanted to draw your attention to is the status of the ex-council at Prague university. It seems the entire raft of senior figures may have been part of the same organisation as certain members of your own family and our generous air captain from the flight from Paris. I will say that I was rather disappointed in their behaviour, whilst I am sure they felt they did their best for their students in the past regardless of their wider political positions, to flee without any consideration for the future condition of their pupils or their institution rather than accepting any consequences to their actions shows a disconcerting lack of moral fibre.

I don't know if your plans still incline you to investigate further the connections that your family may have had, but I hope you will bear these things in mind. I am sure you will ultimately do the right thing, despite your struggle to have confidence in your decisions I do feel that you, and we, made the correct judgements in the vast majority of cases, even if we were overhasty on occasion.

Please do get in touch if there is ever anything I can do for you. I remain, as always, your friend and servant.

Hamid Saleh Haroun al-Tahan