At War

||13. The Thirteenth||

Thursday, XXXX

Dear one, I must confess, our latest correspondence made me wonder how foolish I was. Of course, only you will think of something like food while coming to fight. But you are right. In any case, my near empty list does need an update, and what can be better than trying out all the new dishes of places we visit. However, it would appear you have forgotten one little fact, we are not precisely supposed to enjoy killing people, and this is not a vacation. Nonetheless, I realize that your days of training make you feel like you are moving out to some adventure, but I assure you, the only thing we are doing is walking miles and miles. In fact, if I walk any longer, I fear I would be capable of walking the whole earth without pausing a single time to take a breath. I suppose it could not be too bad an idea, however. Next time we actually find a place that is more than rubble and broken houses, and the people trust us to be their saviors and not killers, we could try stopping to catch a little meal that is not, in fact, beans. Taki tells me that my bucket list is the most ridiculous one he has ever seen, but then he should remember he is thirty-nine and I am but nineteen. Honestly, do people have no regard for age nowadays?

We've been walking and walking and walking and walking. I think I have already ranted a lot about it. But you see, I have not yet run out of steam. I miss home so much. We were so lucky, sweet one, we had food, a roof over our heads, mothers that cared for us, and even good company. Here I hear stories of people that come from miles and miles away and they have such terrible, terrible lives and sometimes, just sometimes, I feel that this war is worth fighting. Not always, just sometimes.

I do not wish to ask this of you, but I will because I am not a coward. Well, I am, but let us not talk of that. How are you settling in? How is the basic course treating you? Have you yet learned to pick up a gun? I wish to ask you so many things and I wish to see you once again so dearly. I wonder, sweet one, what made you come on this way into this muddy carpet of blood and gore Instead of living your beautiful married life with your dear one. I will not lie, I resent the one you married, but I can tell you, that this person is your true North. You ask me, how do I know, how do I speak with such surety? I know because the way you look at each other in the same way I look at you, and the way you treat them is the way I treat you, and I know you have found your North Pole because in you I have found mine. It is all types of wrong. How fondly I think of you, even though I know I should give up. Yet every time I see your face in my mind's eye, I think of that little kid I knew, the one that was compassionate even to mice, righteous in beliefs, and honorable of word. I would tell you so many things, but I fear those days are now past. The best I can do, now, is hope that you get your true dues, for there is none like you in bravery and righteousness, and honor, and that all the fools that die on the battlefield see the true strength and determination locked in your fragile body. Heh! You hated being called fragile, remember?

Sincerely yours,

The Soldier.