**Hiretsukan sits in in a small room of the SandCastle in the light of a single lantern. The girls sit in a circle with him around the light as he sets his thoughts on paper.**

Will he return?

Since My Brother's Death, I have felt Sorrow, Joy, Fear, and now Uncertainty. My only family has passed from this world, yet he may return... My only Love loves me in return, and yet the one she was promised to may return...

Many souls bound in darkness may yet return to the world this week.

I know not which I fear More... My Brother or Taeliesyn Wynterfire...

Will he return?
And what will happen to me if he does?
H.
-Journal Entry 1 May, Hiretsukan

Rosalyn sits at her desk in her room, the only light being the lantern, the room looking gloomy in the limited lighting.

Dearest Journal,
Today is the day. This day scares me more than anything, I may put on a happy face in front of others, but inside I'm chilled to the bone. What do I do, I can't stay inside this whole week, I may be needed out there, there is no telling what kind of danger people could be getting into in this blasted darkness. I know that some would think me happy for this day as Neo can return to us, but sadly I'm not, I always thought I would be but I've moved on and I'm afraid to see him again,it hurt so much when he left. I'll have to talk to him of course, I just don't know the words right now.

And others that come back, I dread the thought that Nemesio will come back and I'll be re-collared, I pray that doesn't happen.....

Rosalyn Lovine
-Journal Entry 1 May, Rosalyn Lovine

::He awoke late today, the sun failing to beat on the draperies and urge him out of bed. Unthinkingly, he pulled the drapes open to allow light, then called himself idiot for doing so. He heeds Jane's advice not to stare at the ring round the hidden sun, for it can't be good for his eyes. He thanks her quietly as she lights the lamp on the bedside table, and its dull glow allows him to walk out of the room without tripping. He finds the handrail and begins the stairs, the house staff having scattered lamps here and there to cut through the shadows but hardly enough to go about routine household practices. He shakes his head, a sense of anger setting in. He uncharacteristically snaps at the children, tripping on one of the toys::

"Get the damned thing out of my way before I throw it away" is what's said, and the little ones look at each other, and they too get out of his way. He retreats to the study, slamming the door behind him, and cursing loudly as the candle that's in there extinguishes. He turns up the secondary small lamp in there and, after swilling some rye, writes in his journal. ::

I can't begin to describe what's going on. There's panic in everyone, I think, regardless of calm exterior. I have fears about this. I can see much danger in something we thought impossible happening..
Yet I can see much good as well. How many were stricken down in their prime, and how many, even if their best years were behind them..Like Mother..still had some living left to do?

::Taking a sip of his rye, he breaks into a cold sweat::

Marissa. My Gods. Her mother is with her now, her mother won't come back, that much I know. Merrick said this is only those who lived on the Isle and Died on the Isle. Marissa was the first :true: citizen here. The first born to the colony. I couldn't deal with it if she returned. It's hard enough looking at Mia and Alkane, seeing her in them. And what do I tell them, they lost their baby sister once, what do I as a father tell them if she returns?

Then their Grandmother..their Uncle..many friends..some of my enemies..My Gods. What is going to happen next. They're not allowed out this week, not even my Mairin. Things are far too dangerous and uncertain; even I don't want to venture out. I'll be going to Pleasuredome later, taking two guards with me. I rarely take bodyguards with me anymore..but I can't chance much right now. Scroll said that the door was :melted: off..Let me find out that damned Khalidan did it. That bastard.

Well, Journal, I won't waste any more lamplight on my ramblings. I have things to take care of.

--1 May Year Two, Sir Alterio A. Carazzi II
-Journal Entry 1 May, Alterio Carazzi

~after watching Alterio this morning, her uneasiness has only taken firmer root in her belly. She herself is seated in the nursery, Paulie held close in her arms, sleeping with his head resting against her breast, the rise and fall of her chest in time with his own breathing. Only a single taper is lit at her side, her open journal on the dresser nearby~

The darkness has come. As a child the eclipse frightened me, though it lasted only briefly. The idea that anything could blot out the eternal light of the sun, even for a short time, made my very soul quake. As I've grown, nothing's changed. The drapes are drawn...I refuse to even glance outside, let alone leave the confines of the manor. I'm terrified. How I hate admitting my fears... Complete blackness, night and day, is too much for me to bear. And the fear is increased tenfold by the magics afoot. I don't dare to think, not just now, of what is emerging from this darkness even now, as I write this.

I can even sense Alterio's tension...the line of his jaw taut. He's braver than I, and yet still the fear is there. When Alterio is afraid, there is truly something to fear, I've learned. The servants and the children move as silently as possible in the corridors, as though they might disturb some terrible phantom with their noise. It only adds to the eerie, ghost-like atmosphere that exists here. Paulie whimpers without me near, and will not sleep without my touch.

This miniscule light that I write by is little help, though I crowd near it to keep my slight grip on my courage. My gut is screaming an alarm, but I cannot define what it is I'm waiting for...watching for...guarding against... I can't bring myself to leave Paulie, even for a second. I have but one clear notion: this darkness likely will not lift when this phenomenon passes. But I will be sturdy to the last, for those at my side.

Jane -Journal 1 May, Jane Maichen Carazzi

**sitting in the late night air out on the balcony of her home, she contemplates what she's heard so much of recently. Troubled, she resorts to the one thing she has to vent... her journal.**

Will he come back? I dont know. I dont know if he wants to come back. Perhaps where he is is a much more beautiful place. Perhaps he is happy where he is. I dont know.

Does he still hold strong to the feelings he had for me? Do they drive him still, as they did while he was here? Or, does his unearthly body no longer care for matters of the heart?

I dont know.

Will everything; again; be upset by this influx of power released by the equinox? I dont know. Everything says it will be... everything will be upset.

::::shaking her head in her uncertainty, she dusts the page, leaving it beside the chair as she hears from within a cry. Christopher's having his nightmares again. She rises, rushing through the house to the child's bedside, sitting, as once she did with Thirlia, and brings him what little comfort she can, in such uncertain times.::::::

-Journal Entry 2 May, Lyrias Dreams

:::sitting in Christopher's room, likely as everyone else on the Isle with children are, she cuddles him, trying to comfort him until he gives in to a fitful sleep, then, lighting one of her sparse lamps, begins to write in her journal, staying near to Christopher's bed:::::

Well... the blackness outside mirrors only what I feel deep within myself. I cant let it show...Christopher depends on me. That would frighten him to no end.

The black of the sky outside is unnerving. Unnatural. It quakes me to the very core. What will happen next? What if my dead husband returns? Could I handle it? Would I be overcome with joy, or simply innundated with confusion?

:::at the normal little sounds of her home; the creaking of the walls, and the creaking of the floors; she jumps, leaving a long slash of ink across her page.

"Damnit! Stop! Your NO coward..." she admonishes herself as she again begins to write::::

What will come out of this darkness? Nothing good, Im sure. What could come out of such darkness other than things that shouldnt be?

::she sighs, Christopher stirs, and she leaves the journal on the floor, climbing into the small bed with the child, wrapping her arms securely about his small body, for his comfort as much as her own. Drifting off into an unnatural day time sleep, holding tightly one of the only beings keeping her sane.:::::::

-Journal Entry 2 May, Lyrias Dreams

::she rides her horse sidesaddle along through the jungle, nearly invisible in the darkness, save her long white hair... as the horse steps out from the trees and vines she examines her surroundings.. and smiles... it is as though the sun has been blotted out from the sky... and it's been thus for some time now.. she allows a smile to stretch from the corners of her crimson lips... slowly pulls out a small journal from her traveling case... and while still atop her horse writes, her letters well formed, with long sweeping strokes..::

ahh... 'tis dark
'tis as though the sun has been blotted out from the sky..
'tis the doing of the god's the people say..
oh the masses they moan and cry...
only the high and mighty could have created such a sight..
...behold it is the doing of the god's that has stricken away the light..
but the gods do not favor us so..
their grace and majesty does not so far advance...
no, 'twas not the god's of blasphemers and fools..
'twas the gods of fallen priests past...
'twas the artist...
though with their feeble mind.. they do not rightly know what it is they do...
though their senses are dull and their muscles are weak...
an inspiration, of the only origin they know...
their eye trained for aesthetics..
their hand automated by intuition...
by stroke of dumb luck, with some long and listless brush
has painted over the sun... allowing only darkness..
creating eternal night..
::she closes the book and returns it to it's case.. still smiling to herself.. she thinks.. 'perhaps I will like this place afterall...' and rides back into the jungle::

-Journal Entry 3 May, Lady Madison

:::waking slowly, she finds tears upon Christopher's pillow where she and the child slept the longest night through. Rousing Christopher, she sends him on his way to clean up and get ready for breakfast. Sitting on the edge of the bed, she closes her eyes for long moments, then draws out her journal, and begins to write::::

He was here... as close to here as he could possibly get. I can feel him still. I miss him.. I do. *she shakes her head, her eyes filling with tears at the rememberance of what He told her in the 'dream'* He is happy....that is all I could hope for....now... what do I hope for for myself?

I wanted him to come back...I did. But, I already knew he wouldnt be able to. I just had that feeling. I knew. I miss him with all my heart... :::wiping her eyes quickly with the back of her hand, she sends Christopher on downstairs to the kitchen to set the table as she finishes::::

I have Fin. He will be a great companion...but...*sighs* I dont know. Im so confused. In the dream Taelie told me to do what would make me happy. But, what Would make Me happy? I dont know..

::::shaking her head, she stands, tempermentally throwing the journal across the room in her frustration. The ink smears, and she stalks out, calming herself before she reaches the kitchen, preparing their breakfast::::::

-Journal Entry 3 May, Lyrias Dreams