Larissa's diary

[cellio]

December 27 (Friday)

The people here in Oakhame are great! Liandra's mother, who turns out to be in charge here, is very friendly, as are Seamus and many of the others. I can see why Liandra speaks so fondly of Oakhame.

Hmm, if Liandra's mother is the ruler here, then Liandra must be royalty too. That's pretty neat! I had no idea that we were travelling with someone important -- and she's so low-key about it, too.

Before we got here a letter arrived from Brion, which Lady Mairead was kind enough to hold for me. Brion said that things are well back home and that Tobin was probably going to leave; he wrote this letter a while ago, because when we talked to him last night Tobin had in fact left. Brion also said in the letter that he thinks Pelor has "something special" in mind for me; he did not say this last night. I wonder what that means. I'm glad he didn't say it to Prolix, though -- it seems like something that should stay private.

He also said that Jehan is still a little unhappy about Prolix's ham experiments. Oops.

Speaking of ingredients, today we went out looking for the various herbs we need for the pearl charms. Most were not a problem, but the dragon's heart was a poor crop this year, seeming to have withered in the ground. I asked if dragon's blood could nourish dragon's heart, and Turok agreed to give it a try. He did in fact succeed in causing some to grow fresh, but it took a lot out of him.

And why was the dragon's heart so unhealthy? Apparently the forest is sick; the unicorn that Liandra recruited said so. It's been this way for "a few moons", which coincides with the pools of sick slime we've seen. Healing the slime works; poisoning it causes crops to die. So something in the land is sick, but we don't know what.

The unicorn -- Liandra and Kyle went out this afternoon looking for a unicorn who might be willing to help with the pearls tomorrow night. (The recipe calls for the mix to be stirred with a unicorn's horn. It doesn't say the horn can't be attached to the unicorn.) They found one, and it was being chased by two unnatural monsters. They fought the monsters off, and the unicorn agreed to come tomorrow evening in thanks. I'm looking forward to meeting him! I thought unicorns were myths.

While they were off doing that, Turok was spending time talking with Seamus about Kotara-nar, and he got quite a bit of interesting, cryptic information. I spent the day making a protective cloak for Kyle. I only saw Prolix briefly, and he was writing in his spellbooks at the time. Later, he told me, he scried Lord Yvon, but didn't learn anything.

I asked Turok what he had learned about Kotara-nar. The sword needs to return to "the gorge of fire" to gain its full powers, but he doesn't know what those powers are. They're probably pretty impressive, as Kotara-nar was apparently made by Agon! The sword is fueled by "dragon's flame", which I suppose fits with the legends of Agon, and it is waiting for a "proper hand" to wield it. (I hope Turok is that proper hand, as I can't see him giving the sword up.) Seamus was also able to determine that it swallows up other magic, which we had already observed. I like to think that this last bit validates the rest of the legend, but legends can be funny sometimes.

December 28 (Saturday)

Prolix scried the emperor today. I didn't expect this to work, as the best we can do is a likeness on a coin, and how good a likeness is that? But surprisingly, he succeeded on the first try.

The results, however, are disturbing. Near as Prolix can tell, the emperor is rather thoroughly dead, and has been that way for months. He saw a bedchamber, and no one else was in the room. It looked like the body had not been disturbed in quite some time. His face was contorted, so he did not die quietly in his sleep.

Most of Oakhame was busy preparing for the festival today. It's going to be quite some party! I'm told it will last a few days.

Liandra and I, and her mother, gathered together the ingredients needed for the charms, so we would be ready when the moon rose at sundown. Lady Mairead gave Liandra a third pearl to use, which was awfully generous of her.

Almost exactly at moonrise, the unicorn appeared. What a fabulous creature! It spoke with Liandra, and then it stirred the mix in the challice. We used the silver challice that Liandra got from Nithelin, and of course all the herbs we gathered yesterday (including the special dragon's heart).

The recipe said that the pearls might glow faintly if all has gone well. Faintly! These pearls glowed bright as the moon, and it wasn't a passing thing! They're still glowing. This surprised Lady Mairead and Liandra as much as it surprised me. We thanked the unicorn and he vanished. (I had been hoping he would stay for the party, or at least a little of it. Liandra had made a special platter of food for him.)

I have made a few magic items before, but nothing like this. The magic of these pearls is amazing. I guess we had good circumstances -- not just any silver challice but a magic one that enhances healing; not just any unicorn horn but an actual unicorn participant; not just any full moon but the solstice full moon. And perhaps there is something special about being in Oakhame as well.

Now I am going to go off and join the party.

January 1 (Sunday)

The festival has been wonderful so far. Music, food, fun -- everyone here is having a great time.

At midnight there were toasts. Seamus called Lady Mairead the "soul of Oakhame" she in turn called him the "mind of Oakhame". Then Seamus toasted the emperor as the "heart of Agondre", and those in our group exchanged awkward glances. I think Seamus noticed, but I'm not sure. I don't think anyone else did.

(And from the way people were treating them at the party, I think Lady Mairead is in fact a queen and Liandra a princess. I do not get the impression that Lady Mairead owes any fealty to the duke of Tergia. Oakhame seems independent, and self-sufficient. The druids must be pretty powerful as a group, to be able to carve out a piece of the land and make their claim stick.)

Later Seamus played a beautiful song for us about Therion's last song. According to the song, Therion and Elys' went north to the "caverns of Laryn" while Renard went south to Cardior. (South to Cardior??) In the caverns, Therion sang a beautiful lullaby about his love for Elys', and the song put "the world" to sleep (including Therion, but not including Elys' because she had plugged her ears). We don't know what happened after that, or what Renard did in Cardior. I get the impression that Therion's song was a delaying action to help Renard. I presume that Renard was doing something in Cardior that was meant to stop the Cataclysm, but if so he obviously didn't succeed. (Or, more frightening, perhaps he did and it was meant to be even worse.)

Ok, so let's see what we know here. In a cavern in Draneken Renard left a note (and stash of stuff) for Therion. Renard had been with Elys', who had already departed. Renard also spoke favorably of Dorl Tavyani, so this was before Elys' went there (or, more precisely, before Renard heard the results of her visit). Perhaps she was on her way to Dorl Tavyani when Renard wrote the note, which gives us a possible date. (We know from Dorl Tavyani's journal that Elys' visited him.)

According to the song, Therion and Elys' were together and Renard had presumably been with them, though maybe not. It sounds like Therion, Elys', and Renard were all together, and that Therion and Elys' went to Laryn while Renard went to Cardior, but if so, then that would have had to have been after Renard wrote his note, so why didn't they go and get the stuff he had left for Therion? If it was before -- if Therion sang his song before Elys' and Renard were in Draneken and before Elys' went to Dorl Tavyani -- then Elys' must have not told Renard about Therion's fate. She eventually told someone, though, because the bards have the song. So I think the letter must have been written before everyone went north, but I don't know why it was still there for us to find.

Well, we don't know what happened to Renard or Elys', but we know that Therion went to sleep in the caverns of Laryn and never woke up. It's also apparent that it was a magical sleep, so maybe he's even still there! (Or maybe when the world woke up and fell into the Cataclysm, so did he.) I wonder if we would be able to find these caverns, and if so if we would find answers there. The "gorge of fire" that Turok wants to find is also way up north, so maybe.

I asked Seamus if he had any idea where these places are. He thinks the caverns of Laryn are northeast of Cardior, but couldn't be more specific. And Tergia is currently at war with Lescap, so we'll have to be careful if we try to go there. We should see what we can find out about Cardior and Renard first.

We didn't talk at length about plans -- there's a party going on. Maybe tomorrow or the next day we will be able to talk more with Seamus.

As sunrise approached, I got ready for my own holy day. (I'm glad I had some instructions from Boniface, as I never paid enough attention to Brion back home.) I found a clearing with an opening to the east where I could be alone, and took out my holy symbol and the torch of Pelor, there to wait for sunrise.

As the first rays of sunlight appeared, I stood and held up the torch above me, catching it in the sunbeam. I then recited the prayer that Boniface had taught me, about the rebirth of the sun and healing and the splender of Pelor. I felt a warm glow radiating through my entire body, and I don't think it was just the regular warmth of the sun. There was something more there. I've never felt anything like that.

I stood there for a while in the light, waiting for the sun to rise higher into the sky. Boniface didn't say anything about this, but I got the feeling that I should stay within sunlight as long as possible today. Once the sun rose high enough to shed its rays on the main area of Oakhame, I walked back there and sat down at a table in the sunlight to write this. I should be tired from staying up all night, but I'm not. I think I will put this away now and enjoy more of the party.

January 1, addendum

I did manage to stay up all day and well into the evening.

This afternoon Lady Mairead, Liandra, and Slade gathered together for some ritual, and now Slade can talk! He also seems to be intelligent, and a little stronger and healthier than he was. This is amazing! Even Hrolf was impressed, though he says Slade isn't as smart as he is. But then, Hrolf would say that either way. Fortunately, Slade doesn't speak owl.

This was apparently a birthday present for Liandra. Oops, I didn't know it was her birthday! And she had small gifts for all of us, too. I will have to find or make something nice for her. I have a nice silver bracelet that I bought in Kozel'sk and haven't worn yet; I bet she would like that.

This evening Prolix scried on my family for me, and we were able to communicate (with him acting as intermediary, as with Brion). Mom seems to have gotten over the fact that she's not going to arrange a big wedding for me (with a mate to be chosen by her, of course); it sounds like she's starting to work on Maria. Good for both of them. They could both use the distraction.

It's a little hard to tell by the way they act, but it sounds like mom and dad might actually be proud of me. Proud -- after berating me for years for being a misfit. That is a pleasant surprise.

We also talked with Seamus and Lady Mairead tonight. Seamus did notice our reactions to his toast last night, and Prolix told him what he learned from the scry. Seamus was obviously disturbed by this. He doesn't know what to do, and he doesn't even know who the heir to the throne is. (There was some joking around that Turok could be in line for it. At least he's a dragon, or partially so... that's got to count for something, right?) We all got the sense that this news shouldn't be spread around just yet, though.

Someone mentioned Lord Marius, and Seamus reacted positively. He said that Lord Marius is fiercely loyal to the Gastreyr, though perhaps less loyal to his own family. It sounds like we can trust Marius with the information about the emperor, so we will try to contact him tomorrow.

Turok must be really drunk; he and Seamus and Kyle were sitting around the fire this evening and they were speculating that if Turok is half-dragon, he might have some other dragon characteristics, such as immunity to fire. Kyle somehow convinced him to place his hand in the flame, and sure enough, the fire didn't damage him! Fascinating. He declined to experiment with my fireballs, though. Phooey. No one ever wants to help in the pursuit of science.

January 2 (Monday)

At Turok's request I've been studying Kotara-nar, and today I asked Liandra to let me watch her cast her flame-blade spell while I watched magically. My theory is that the new senses I'm getting from the sword are related to fire, and if the blade flames I'd like to figure out how to trigger it.

As it turns out, though, Turok got an idea from his conversation with Seamus last night, and today he took out the sword and breathed on it. Sure enough, it burst into flames. That makes sense -- dragon's breath for a dragon sword.

I told Turok that he has to learn to control his fire, though -- that he's immune to fire doesn't mean that anyone else is. So we spent a while talking about fire safety and the theory behind magical fire -- the invisible tie to the fuel supply, and so on. It looked like he was really trying to understand, which is a change from the past. He asked me questions about controlling magic in general, not just fire. Hmm, I wonder if he could be taught. I don't know how to teach him to see the magical forces that I can see -- and you have to see them before you can manipulate them, never mind what those bookworm wizards, who almost never get out of the ivory tower and into the real world, say -- but it's possible I could teach him to look at the world differently, so that he could see them on his own.

Tonight Prolix contacted Lord Marius by scry (he's been pretty lucky with that), and told him the news about the emperor. Marius would like to keep this quiet; we told him that we told Seamus but no one else. I think he would have preferred if we had not even told Seamus, but I think it's safe. And we certainly can't ask Princess Liandra to keep this from her mother! We also told Marius about the song of Therion, and asked for news of home. He said there have been more attacks, too numerous to list, and Duke Leopold is still sick.

January 3 (Tuesday)

The party was still going strong last night, though it's winding down now. These druids really know how to party! And I don't think I've seen Liandra so happy before.

This afternoon she and I were discussing the pearls, specifically their distribution. We agreed that we should return Lady Mairead's (now-enchanted) pearl to her, but when we tried she told Liandra to keep it. She said something about how Liandra currently needs it more than she does, and maybe things will be different when Liandra returns to Oakhame to lead. So Liandra is the heir to the rule of Oakhame, as I had suspected. Wow! I wonder how soon she is expected to return. Lady Mairead looks pretty healthy, and I know she wouldn't want to keep us from our current quest.

I'm starting to wonder what we will all do when all of this is over -- assuming, of course, that all of this does end, and that we are somehow able to stop the Cataclysm from returning. Suppose that, somehow, we do set things right -- or fail, but survive the attempt? What then? I suppose our group will split up then -- Liandra will come back here, maybe with Kyle. Prolix will lock himself in a library or something, and I'm not sure about Turok. And I'm not sure about me. I can't go back to Shepford; it would just be too awkward now. But I'd like to settle down somewhere, and I'd really like it if it were with at least one person I actually know reasonably well. Oakhame is lovely, but doesn't quite seem right for me long-term -- though Liandra and I have become good friends, so I strongly suspect I would be welcome. Oakhame doesn't seem quite right for Turok either; I wonder what he'll do and whether our paths might continue along together for a while. I would like that.

January 4 (Wednesday)

I received the new markorl box today. It's lovely! Now I can begin the enchantments. And Seamus was able to help me with that other matter today.

A message came from Boniface today. They succeeded in learning a little about the dragon statue. But the message is cryptic: "Agondre festers at Agondre's heart". Well, I suppose if the emperor is the personification of the empire then that's literally true, but is there more there?

The messenger also mentioned in passing that a caravan is forming to go to Durgam's Folly. We want to go there, so I think we're going to try to join this caravan. We'll probably leave tomorrow for Kozel'sk and meet it there; the odds of the caravan coming to Oakhame are low.

Today I wrote a letter to Brion, which I will try to send from Kozel'sk.