Kaelanae Aia Estmiil, born to Aelyina Aeia Estmill and Korseil Barst, granddaughter of Councilwoman Aelyrionelle Estmiil, is 24 years old, having lived all her life within the sealed confines of Kaer Gurdan. She has in just the last few years come into her own abilities as a troubadour, following in the footsteps of Grandmama Aelyrionelle. Much to Grandmama's disapproval, Aelyina did not have the abilities to follow Aelyrionelle as a troubador. Furthering Aelyrionelle's disappointment, Aelyina married Korseil, a simple wool gatherer and became a spinner of yarn and a weaver of cloth. Aelyina was Aleyrionelle's only child and Kaelanae is her only grandchild. Kaelanae was raised to be independent and to form and hold her own opinions, even from a young age. Her parents, having close ties to the agricultural side of the Kaer, raised Kae to have a love and respect for nature. She, however, had little interest in sheep. They were stupid and smelly. She liked well enough the yarn and the cloth her mother made from their wool and liked sheep well enough as long as she could think of them from a distance.

Incidentally, she had an avid interest in how plants grew under the tender ministrations of the crop workers and gardeners. Plants interested her so much because they and the sun that feeds them were the main staple difference between living underground in the sealed Kaer and living aboveground as they once had done, as the legend said. Her interest in plants stemmed largely in part from her insatiable curiosity for history, stories, legends, etc. She wanted to know about the surface, the sky, the plants up there, the ground up there, rain, storms, the ships that could fly, bodies of water so big you couldn't see the other side, the ships that traveled on water, animals that she had heard of but never seen, languages, instruments of which there were no examples in the Kaer, anything and everything.

This curiosity had been growing in her since adolescence. At first, bedtime stories and schooling was enough. But as she grew older she felt a pull, a need, to learn more, to know more. This was how her parents and grandmother at first suspected that she had inherited the troubadour skills. She also had a knack for singing. Where she had once sang silly nonsense songs just to hear her own voice and practice language, she began to sing everything. She would make up songs to sing while working in the crops. She would sing her history lessons to herself. She would sing to herself as she performed chores. This was the second clue she was bound to follow Aelyrionelle as a troubadour.

While she was sneaking off from Korseil to watch the crops grow, she met a young human who was a crop worker. His name was Emmit. He, while he had little interest in crops or watering or hoeing, had interesting stories to tell her about his family and would listen intently to her stories about her family and genuinely seemed to enjoy talking about the things all the children learned in the school. They became fast friends and were soon sneaking off together from work shifts and chores to adventure in the dark nooks and crannies of the Kaer. Emmit had a knack for sneaking, that is, hiding and walking quietly so that they wouldn't be noticed as they shirked work. He taught her how to do this so that as time passed she became good at it as well. Nyssa, Emmit's elder sister and a member of the council, discovered Kae's interest in the crops and worked it out so that Kae was assigned work duties twice a week tending the crops. The time Emmit and Kae spent together and the trouble that everyone believed Emmit enticed Kae into was met with the same disapproval from Nyssa as from Aleyrionelle. So Nys reassigned Emmit's work duties elsewhere to try and keep the two youngsters apart and out of trouble. She was not proud of Emmit, and likely would have preferred to sweep him under a rug if she could. Since she couldn't, she put his physical brawn to work at every demeaning task she could.

Kaelanae was excited when Grandmama came and told her that she was destined to be a troubadour. But she quickly realized that she was expected to go live with Grandmama to receive her lessons and conform to what Grandmama thought, just to leave her self and her life behind as though they never existed so that Grandmama could make her anew. When this became clear, she rebelled and refused at all to take lessons. She and Grandmama had a contest of wills, until Aelyina and Korseil intervened and orchestrated a compromise. Kae would officially live with Grandmama and take lessons with her, but Aelyrionelle would have to accept that while Kae was her student and she the teacher, Kae was her own person and would keep her own opinions until such time as Grandmama offered evidence that would convince Kae to change them of her own free will. Also, Kae was free to come and go as she pleased outside of lessons. The compromise was tense at first. Aleyrionelle was used to getting her way and persuading others, as was Kae. However, over the months the two settled into their roles, student and teacher. Kaelanae proved an apt pupil at music, instruments, voice, acting, and history. She proved an unwilling pupil at some of Aleyrionelle's most favorite subjects: etiquette, deportment, and proper behavior. She also proved adept at sneaking away, often with Emmit, from the particular lessons that she found to be boring and useless.

Much to the displeasure of Kaghan, Kae and Emmit frequently explored abandoned buildings, construction and destruction sites, caverns, caves, tunnels, mines, anywhere the slender Kae could squeeze into or the muscular Emmit could force entry. Kaghan understands well enough that children will be children, but he sees it as his particular duty to keep the people of the Kaer safe from all dangers the earth around them may present and it irritates him to see the two so frivolously flitting around where dangers may lie.

The Festival before last, Kae was honored with replacing Aleyrionelle with the duties of the Legend telling, that is the annual recital of the creation of the Kaer and of the Warrior or Stone. Kae performed exceptionally well, considering she had only been taking lessons about a year at that point. This year they have planned an even grander performance between the two and the Kaer should be quite pleased with the honor two troubadours can do the Legend and the Warrior.

Teayu 13 1434TH

Grandmama did a strange thing today. Strange for her, at least. She said we will not have lessons again until I can answer a question. She asked me what I want to do as a troubadour. I told her that I wanted to sing and play the flute but she shook her head. I don't know what she wants.

Teayu 29 1434TH

It's been over two weeks now since I've written in here. Grandmama used to harp at me about keeping a journal, even though paper is to be treasured and taken care of. But she hasn't said anything to me lately. True to what she said, we haven't had any lessons. I thought at first she must be joking. But she is serious. She has even stopped trying to foster ettiquette on me.

Borrum 17 1434TH

I've been thinking about what Grandmama wants me to tell her and I think I'm beginning to understand. I still think it was very strange for her, but I've been watching all the adepts, her especially, listening to them talk and do things. I think she wants me to tell her what I want to use my talents and abilities to do, to accomplish. I don't know.

Borrum 30 1434TH

I went to find Grandmama yesterday. I told her I wanted to answer her question. I told her that the way I saw things, the future exists only because we think of it. The present exists only because we see it. The past exists only because we remember it. I want to keep the past alive by knowing it and sharing it. History, legends, everything. And I want to share it in a way that makes people happy. I want to share it through music, not just with words and books. She looked at me for a while without saying anything. Then she said, "I didn't expect an answer so soon, but I see you've put a lot of thought into this." She smiled, one of her rare smiles when she seems so much nicer than she acts. "That's almost exactly what I once said." Then that was it. She went off to do other things and today we started with lessons again. I'm still not sure I understand completely, but I'm beginning to. I'm beginning to understand a lot.