16 Ashan 721
He had a lot of friends throughout the islands but he'd spent little time in the smaller villages so his information coming from them was less reliable. His 'friends' could get in and ask around but everything would be second hand at best. With Isabella in the wind because of the trial, he couldn't recruit her to help out with the settlement or to gather information on the war. He knew it would have been a bad idea to bring her in such close proximity to Elisabeth but mages were powerful and Haven had lost its strongest one. After reading each letter, Balthazar would hold them over a small candle and watch them burn away into ash- the words permanently written in his memory. He had no reason to keep them, but he did keep some things. Yeva had sent him a beautiful gift while he was imprisoned. It arrived at his house in Scalvoris and was moved to Faldrass when he was sent there.
The stitching held memories that Balthazar immediately recognized. He'd have had to be a fool not to connect the dots to the image she'd created. The eruption- one of the last few moments before Balthazar made a decision that would change everything. He left. If he'd stayed, maybe she'd have told him about Rharne, maybe he'd have been there, and maybe he could have saved her. But he did leave- the people he'd told to tell Rand never did and he paid the price for it. Now the world felt so very different than it did then. Smaller and larger at the same time. There was so much to see and Balthazar was just not allowed to see it.
A commotion outside signaled the arrival of the ship with the Order's man.