You have your team stand down until wave three is getting ready to move up and retire to your quarters. That note is irritating you, and you sit down with your pseudo-dictionary and get to work on it. The first thing you do is transcribe the runes onto a clean sheet of plaspaper, well spread out so that you can make notes between them. After triple-checking your transcription, you tuck the parchment original away, just in case. The next step is to lay out what you thought it says without checking your reference materials, as a way to help learn the language just that little bit more. The first and last lines jump out at you as a salutation and signature respectively. You make some marks, separating those runes from their fellows.

'joy/greeting Wanderer.

Something something gift given to someone, someone, and self. Sadness at inability something something.

Singer/song changer/changed and older/oldest something.'

This also cleans off some of the possible contextual references. With the first line only being two runes long, and taking the second to be 'Wanderer', which is what Ariavari referred to you as, then you now have:

'(joyful?) Greetings Wanderer.

Something something gift given to someone, someone, and self. Sadness at inability something something.

Singer/song changer/changed and older/oldest something.'

You skip to the last line and consider it. Five runes, grouped in a two-one-two pattern. You flip open your pseudo-dictionary to the conjunctions section on a hunch and reference the single rune. 'And', most certainly, which makes the other two pairs of runes to be names. Pseudonyms almost certainly, as most Eldar names that you have read (a tiny handful) tend to be single elaborate runes. Perhaps these are simplified names? You start on the first pair, checking your pseudo-dictionary and looking at literal translations first. 'Song (parts of)' and 'change / changer / changing'. This causes you to sit back and think over your previous meetings with Ariavari. When you conversed, it was always in low gothic, the common language of the Imperium. Perhaps she had translated and stylized her name when she introduced herself? An aria is a part of a song, and -vari might mean 'various' or 'changer'. It's a bit of a stretch, but not implausible with a bit of poetic license. If so, perhaps she signed this note with the re-translated version of her name so that you might have a chance of recognizing it? You pencil it in and check over your work.

'(joyful?) Greetings Wanderer.

Something something gift given to someone, someone, and self. Sadness at inability something something.

Ariavari (lit. changer of song parts) and older/oldest something.'

You then start looking for the translation of the last rune in the last line. 'Older/oldest' clearly refers to whatever the rune means, and it probably refers to Anai, which means that 'Anai' is definitely a modernized, abbreviated and/or translated version of her actual name, probably so you could actually pronounce it. Which would make this rune-combination more descriptive of Anai's name or nature than being a literal rendition of her actual name. You heart jumps into your throat as you find the unknown rune. 'War-soul.' Well, given Anai was clearly a combatant that you didn't want to mess with the one and only time you saw her in action, that might be apt. You pencil it in and look over your work so far.

'(joyful?) Greetings Wanderer.

Something something gift given to someone, someone, and self. Sadness at inability something something.

Ariavari (lit. changer of song parts) and Old(-er? -est?) War-soul (Anai?)'

Now for the body of the missive. It looks to be two sentences, but could reference material that came before it in the note, so you start with the first sentence. Two of the runes are the complex name- or title-form ones, similar to 'Wanderer', but it’s the rune that is rather close to 'self' that draws your attention. On a hunch, you check the 'modifiers' section of your pseudo-dictionary, and find the matching add-on marks for you/your, which would make the rune translate as 'yourself'. That's a rather low gothic construction, which would indicate that Ariavari intended to make this note as easy to translate and comprehend as possible for someone with a low-level grasp of the Eldar language like yourself. You turn back to the other two name/title-form runes and start looking them up, as they will almost certainly not be modified by other parts of the note. The first one works out to 'Starseer', and the second to 'Bluetoung'. You shrug, pencil them in, and start looking for the first two runes from the sentence. You find them in short order, add them in, and look over your work yet again.

'(joyful?) Greetings Wanderer.

Pray/Please accept/take (the) gift (we?) give to Starseer, Bluetoung, and yourself. Sadness at inability something something.

Ariavari (lit. changer of song parts) and Old(-er? -est?) War-soul (Anai?)'

That only leave one sentence left, and you think you have it half-translated already. You dig through your pseudo-dictionary with a will, eager to claim this scrap of knowledge. You recognize the formatting of the note now, a simple 'sorry we couldn't make it' apology. Your effort bears this out, and you look down at your handiwork.

'(joyful?) Greetings Wanderer.

Pray/Please accept/take (the) gift (we?) give to Starseer, Bluetoung, and yourself. Sadness at inability (to?) meet (you? you all?) again.

Ariavari (lit. changer of song parts) and Old(-er? -est?) War-soul (Anai?)'

You make a clean copy of the translated version of the note, dispose of your scratchwork, put away your pseudo-dictionary, and head out to see how your team is coming. Mu'randa is snoring away, her wargear already racked neatly and ready to go. Jace is in an animated discussion with Rex, complete with waving arms and mechadendrites. If you had the slightest idea what they were discussing you might stick your nose in, but they are chiriping away at each other in Techna-Lingua. You leave them be to check in on Yasha.

You knock and Yasha bids you enter her small compartment. It's not much bigger than yours, but you do notice the Wards etched into the metal inside and outside. Instinctively, you know they are intended to disrupt and defuse warp energies. Yasha probably doesn't need them, but if it makes everyone else in the general vicinity feel better, then it's a small price to pay. "I think I got the note translated properly."

Yasha raises an eyebrow, inviting you to continue without a word.

You hand her the clean copy for her to study. "Foreign language aside, it’s a fairly standard combination of gift-note and 'sorry we couldn't make it'. It did mention myself and two others by titles, so I was wondering if the boxes had any marks or indicators on them. If I had to guess, 'Starseer' probably refers to you, but I have no idea who 'Bluetoung' might be."

Yasha purses her lips. "Well... I did poke at the boxes some, and got a touch singed doing it. nothing to worry about. One of them opened up easy as can be, but the other two have some kind of psychic lock on them. Only going to open for the person for whom they are intended, if I had to guess. If your name is on one of the boxes, I guess we can find out by having you open one of the boxes."

Yasha leads the way to a small folding table. One box sits apart from the other two. A small burn mark mars the cheap particleboard of the tabletop, presumably where Yasha got 'scorched'. You reach a hand out for one of the boxes and pick it up. It is made of lovely red mahogany, with a simple set of thumb notches and no visible hinge. You eye the other two boxes, trying to spot a difference in them. One is a red cherry, while Yasha's is red oak. You shrug and try the latch. It pops right open, and you gasp at the jewelry inside.

It's a pendant on a silvery-chrome chain. But what a pendant! An intricate flattened ball of knotwork in green and white of that same ivory-bone material. Your eyes pick out dozens, hundreds, of individual threads, all woven into a breathtaking pattern. But as you trace them, it quickly becomes apparent that there are only two threads, one each of green and white, woven seamlessly into a pair of entwined never-ending loops.

Yasha lets out a low whistle and pulls out hers from beneath her robes. The knotwork pattern is the same, but the coloration is anything but. Where yours is a delicate green-and-white, Yasha's is a bold crimson-on-heartblood. You take the pendant from the box and put it about your neck beneath your tunic. You leave the box with Yasha's, and head off to collect Mu'randa and Jace before the third wave departs for the core of the Malignus Maximus.

Mu'randa is well-rested and eager to go, but Jace looks worried. You let Mu'randa take the lead with Yasha to check in on him. "Whats up?"

"Maybe nothing, maybe everything. Rex is less-than-happy that we're working with the Deathwatch and the Ordo Xenos."

"You think he will cause problems?"

"Unknown. Unlikely, given how much of a stickler for the chain of command he is. Which is probably why the Ordos panics his kernel so much."

"Did you happen to ask him about the Golden Butterfly?"

"No, why?"

"The last time we saw that ship, Simo put a full broadside right through is Warp Engine. If Rex was on it..."

"Ah. Well, he showed no signs of Corruption or Mutation. On the other hand, he has loosened up some..."

"How much of that is the fact that you can now pull rank on him instead of being a subordinate to vent discontent at?"

Jace blinks in surprise. "Possible. Also possible that working within the Explorators, away from resupply and with only his own ship's resources to call upon, has filed away some ill-machined edges."