I wonder if Mairin would not be safer with our father. This island reeks of death, danger, and apathy. At least were we home once more, she would be guarded by such protections that few could penetrate. The entire empire would die for her life if Father deemed it so. And she would be given the best of everything.
She knows of the danger here. She can feel it in the air. I see it in her eyes, which are so cloudy of late. I worry for her. She seems so lost and confused, asking me if she's asleep as she stands before me, wide awake. She'll stare at absolutely nothing for hours on end. She forgets the time, and she's afraid of sleep. Three times now she's been late to dinner. What do I do for her? Does anyone even notice? Care?
The sharken, giants, and dwarves have attacked the isle. We're to remain in the manor, I to oversee any who will be helping with domestic concerns while they are here. There is no guarantee that our resistance will be successful. Mairin mustn't die, but shut up in this place we are merely caged bait. I don't trust these people. Who is to know that there will not be betrayal within? I can easily see such occurring.
Unfortunately I will be unable to run with my blessed sister. So small and fragile is she, she would not go without a fight. And she is too heavily guarded, as are the premises and the beaches. I trust that Sir Carazzi will do everything in his power to see to her safety. However, I will remain tight to her side, and will lay down my life in the most torturous way possible to save her from the clutches of any peril or death.
Journal Entry: 23 February, Felina of Lyndette
*stopping from the daunting task of packing her belongings to head towards Carazzi Manor, she finally can take no more emotional distress, and flings herself upon her bed in tears, letting the emotions of the past few days come spilling out...after the tears subside a bit, she carefully reaches for her journal to commit her thoughts to parchment.*
Dearest Journal,
By all that is holy, I swear i can take little more before collapsing. This Isle, it is my home, and yet i nae feel safe here any longer...
First the fight with Marcus, then the fire in the bazaar, Attrei and Grey leaving, the Giants and dwarves taking me hostage, beating and enslaving me, Then treatning us to leave the Isle as they say it is rightfully thiers, Lord Neo's death, Attrei and Greys shipwreck and possible death from a sharken disease...
I do nae know what i am to do, Once an Isle i felt safe upon, could quite possibly be the death of me. Do I leave or fight? what good can i do in fighting, I am nae good with sword, I am quite diminished in strength as it is.
I am quite scared. These are the most horrid creatures i have ever set my eyes upon. I fear this is nae a joke, they WILL kill us if we stay.
These creatures have only given us 7 days..7 days to vacate what they feel is theirs..where would I go? and do I even want to leave this place. Some will depart I am sure, and i can nae blame them in a way..who would want to risk sure death by staying upon a Isle infested with creatures of nightmares. I have nae anywhere else to go, and i do nae wish to leave the place i have come to call home, and my friends and family with it. Eyas, and Ros...the closest things i have to that..I wonder what they shall decide.. Ros, bless her soul has just lost Neo, and then finds out of attrei and Grey...
Eyas..he has lost his family, the only family he had left. My heart bleeds so for them both..I can nae find the right words to help them from their grief. I myself wonder of Anastasia, mayhap she is back at Achethe safe from what plagues us here on the Isle. Ros has shed so many tears of late, i swear the lady has naught any left. She feels all she gets close to, are surely fated to death.
Eyas, has now lost his family, he feels he is the only left and has no one to turn to. My word, how do i explain to him, that i love him more then life itself, and while i cannae replace what is lost, I shall be his family from now on, if he allows me to. (glances around her manor, the one she so painstakenly had built and furnished)
My home is here, my friends and family are here, my life is here...I shall stay and fight for what its worth. This Isle has given me so much, it is only fair that in its time of need, I give it back whatever it is i have left in me to give...even if that entails loosing everything or everyone dear to me...including my life...
(writing one last sentence before resuming packing for her and Eyas)
Dearest Isle, ye give us much...but your payback is nae without high interest...
Charquin
Journal Entry: 24 February, Charquin
::She closes her eyes for a moment, then begins writing, at a hurrid pace.::
It has been about one day after I walked towards the dome, and seeing what I truly thought I'd never see on the beach. Such a large group of...well...enemies. Right now, I can think of no better word for it. Eight sharken, eight dwarves, and a giant. Oh Khlamar, I truly hope I would never have to see a giant again for the rest of my natural life. I have fought Sarken, been witness to the dwarves being out-witted, but a giant almost killed me when they attacked the pleasuredome. It feels like a life time ago.
:: She rubs her neck, feeling tense since Friday night, due to the events. After a moments thought, she began writing again::
The sharken themselves are a worthy advesary, but with this alliance, we are in more trouble than we ever had been before. This is a time for unity, though I don't doubt if I wallked into teh dome now, someone would be bickering with another. If people are truly talking about leaving, then they don't care as much about this island as some of us do. I have risked my life for the island and its people before, and am willing to do it again. My only regret is that I allowed myself to become rusty in the areas I am going to need.
My only hope is that we can come up with something before Friday evening, when out time is up.
Truly, Lina
:: She sprinkles a bit of sand on the ink, allowing it to dry, then closes the book. She busies herself the rest of the night knowing she will be unable to sleep.::
Journal Entry: 24 February, Lina Metallium
Eyas' Log
The time draws near when the colonists will be forced to decide how much they truly care for this isle.
Last Friday, after a brief conflict with eight dwarves, eight sharken, and a giant...we have been "generously" given two options. Leave, or be killed. I hear talk of some leaving...and have read plans for a last stand. Usually, I would be compelled to do as I have always done. Run. Thieves are not generally known for their courage, or abilities to fight.
However, I did say -usually- I'd run. For as long as I can remember, I've traveled from town to town...thieving, finding trouble, and fleeing, leaving a trail of dead in my wake...I cannae say I've enjoyed this life, but it's the only one I've known. Well, I'm always willing to learn. I've run for far too long...I'm tired of running. I've finally found a home worth fighting for...worth dying for. I'll be damned if I give in to threats for me to leave it now.
And Attrei...Grey....my only family left...the family I found here...now they are gone. Dead? Diseased? I know not which of these they are, nor do I think it does matter. They are no longer what they once were, and so they are gone. I am alone again. Nae, I dunnae think I can convince myself of that. I have Charquin...I have the support of a few close friends...and the support of others not quite as close...Well, I'll not let the sharken take my family and not know my wrath...
So what is left to do? Wait...plan...prepare...I've been fortunate enough to have only faced giants and dwarves now. I know of the sharken...they will be trouble. Hell, they have been trouble enough by themselves. With giants? With dwarves? Well, I've always been one to charge into impossible odds if my pride leads me in such a direction...So it has been decided. I will fight. For the isle. For the colony. For my family. For my love. No matter what the price, I will make sure this isle remains in our hands...
Journal Entry: 24 February, Eyas Hawk
Preparations
**A massive stone book is dragged out of its hiding place openining to a clear sheet of stone she begins to scribe using her claw**
Well it seems once again our residence on the isle is threatened, I am going to take nearly all the stores I have gathered here to the carazzi manor, food is nae a problem for me I can always hun. Paper quills, ink all tae's supplies I will take aswell just like they asked, If he were here I know he would help anyway he could, if I find his stash of gold i will take some of that aswell, I know he wont care. Well this is going to be a be alot of trips I spose I should get moving
**closes the book and places it back in its hiding spot**
Journal Entry: 24 February, Azorah
A Time for Diplomacy: A Foolish Fight
~she sits down in her home, alone in her study, her uncle and cousins preparing for sleep in rooms upstairs, as various midgets hurry around the house, making preparations~
Upon my arrival, I am much dismayed at plans that are being made. The word of war is on the wind, and it makes me cringe. Against sharken, dwarves, and giants, such a fight would be foolhardy. Indeed, what reason do we have to oppose them? I believe that, technically, this *is* their island, and we *are* intruding. We just never truly understood before, because they fled from us.
The sharken attacked, and we pushed them back. We did not know why they attacked. It was self defense. The giants did the same, but those we simply relocated without harming them, to save our lives when they would not negotiate. Now, though, they are giving us our ultimatum, which means that we have passed through all of their obstacles, and now they've no other choice with us but head-on battle. But it also means they may be willing to negotiate.
From what Hestia tells me of what occurred last evening, it was stated that they went into hiding from us, the new colonists, because of what the last colonists had done to them. So indeed, it was not *us* that they fled from, but rather what they thought we might do. This is a card we may be able to play. *We* are not *them*, them being the previous colonists. I think we have proven as much through our mere resilience. However, I dare not even suggest that we play that card before I can talk to Merrick or Quajinx and figure out exactly what the whole story was with those previous settlers. There may be more to it than most are aware. I like to be well-informed before going into diplomatic negotiations.
We can easily be sited as being in the wrong. We are no natives here. We settled here, on land that may indeed be rightfully theirs, without asking them. Of course, that was because we hadn't the faintest that there *was* anybody to ask. We know now, and it would be wise to right that wrong. But are not the elves natives here too? Perhaps I am mistaken. Another question to put to the Pryces. So many thoughts and plans...
The first step is to talk down hostilities. It is very doubtful that any of the opposing races will be willing to settle into peaceful negotiations when our side, the trespassers, are raising arms against them as we speak. Ridiculous! But so many already have the fire of war in their eyes, and I fear it may all be too late to do this the right way. I cannot fight a fight brought on by ourselves, though I will heal the fallen as best I can. Hopefully it will not come to that. I sense some tension in the air though, some hidden vendetta somewhere, but I don't know what it is or who's involved.
If we are able to enter into negotiations, it would be wise to have representatives from the colonists approach the leaders of the natives *before* Friday. It is unlikely they will be so eager to talk on the day they are fired to have us exiled or dead.
Ridiculous way to attempt things. And so I will speak with the Pryces and Alterio and see what can be put forth. I will attempt in earnest to contact that sharken that I met so long ago, the one desperate to breed the sharken from his line. He may have some sway with his kind, or, if it comes down to it, may find some to help us in the fray. Indeed, I am setting the sharken as the largest problem. I have seen the look in their eyes, a lust for blood, that goes beyond any intelligent reasoning, simply driven by an urge to kill and feed. That is, those that are mostly shark and less man. The dwarves and giants, I think may be open to reasoning. Which is why I am keeping my sights on them as the key to this entire thing. Especially the dwarves. They, I think, will be the easiest to speak to. Boss said The Syndicate means to meet with the giants...I wonder about him. I don't trust him entirely. I've seen a glimpse of how his mind works and it makes me wary.
If negotiations can be arranged, we must find out from each leader of our opposition what it is that they value. With this information, we can work to make our co-existence sound profitable to them. If we can maneuver to that end, which I believe we just might accomplish if we can slide into negotiations to begin with, then we might sway them to allow us to remain after all, signing a peace treaty of some kind. This would be very valuable to all sides, I believe. Balance upon the island instead of constant fear of ambush or massacre as we've been facing from the beginning. However, this time we must hold to our end of the bargain with an iron fist. We've been remiss in such in the past.
I believe I will send Hestia to Carazzi Manor if she wishes, as she was invited. She'd be safe there. I could send Nathaniel with her. As for Treyman and Ashling...I think I should keep them by my side. We will be near enough. We'll stay in the cottage. As for the midgets...I think I may keep them near as well, but if things start looking poorly, and a fight seems on the horizon, I may be forced to send them away. They've been through enough already.
I pray Paul isn't angry with me. I had to come. My heart aches for my son, but he is in the best hands possible. I also hope with all that I've got that this doesn't come down to a fight. Have the colonists forgotten the might of the giants? The destruction they cause still haunts my nightmares, as does my flesh being rended and torn by sharken jaws. How can they think to fight these things without first exercising every other possible option they have available to them? It's insanity! Sweet Khlamar, bless us all, for we are in greater peril than we have ever faced before.
Jane S. Maichen
~she dusts the journal entry, then leaves the study to go to her bedroom and see to her canaries, midgets following her down the hall, clutching fearfully at her hands~
Journal Entry: 25 February, Jane S. Maichen