Chapters are going to become increasingly longer starting tomorrow. I won't be releasing two a day, though.

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"The traveler's notes" by Lasley Guinness. Second edition. Published in 9629.

Chapter 1 "Introduction"

Page 5

  "Not many know, but modern calendar was developed by Ancients far before their fall and is one of few inventions that survived the Cataclysm and are still reminding us of our mysterious ancestors. According to this calendar one period consists of 12 turns 36 days each. Six days is a week. Six weeks is a turn. Since no one knows what exactly period is it since the beginning of times, we begin our count from the day the Cataclysm was officially ended. Almost ten thousand years have passed since sentient beings set their foot on the surface again. Many magnificent countries, cities, buildings and pieces of art were created by our hands since that day. I have taken it as my goal to visit all of them and let you, my readers, to experience all the wonders of our world together with me."

  It's my first birthday today and if I was to say something about past year it would be "BORrrING". You have no idea what kind of agony being a toddler is. Experiencing new world sounds good, but it takes only so much time to get used to sounds, smells and insides of the hut. Six turns of boredom is what follows and there is not much you can do during this time. Let me make something clear before I go on, toddlers don't talk not because they don’t know language or don't have self awareness. They don't because they just can't. In this world, at least. Something was wrong with my vocal cords and my tongue was too big for my mouth. It's shameful to say but I was drooling whenever I didn't pay attention. And there was a problem with my teeth which started to appear only recently. Now I have two canines sticking from my mouth and drooling became an issue again. I want to cry.

 So, what was I doing? Of course I trained my locomotive abilities as the only meaningful action I could possibly do. You would laugh seeing a toddler move his arms and legs like a turtle that fell on its back and can't get up. My mother did...I've been giving her stomach aches with all my activities. I couldn't train all day long of course, toddlers stamina is close to zero after all. Falling asleep was my solution at first, but as time passed by I needed less and less sleep. At some point I started to make sounds to attract my mother's attention. She would come and feed me, talk to me for some time or at least make funny faces. Expressionless idiotic face is my favourite by the way, she is so adorable when she does it.

  I also was making sounds just because I could. I tried to imitate beasts and birds outside to kill some time and gave my mother even more reasons to laugh. She would take me outside once in awhile and this strolls were the best, but short. At some point I noticed that she is alarmed and keeps away from other beastmen while with me. Figured it has something to do with instincts. Is there an instinct that makes you overprotective? I wish I could stay outside for longer...

 I played with my ears and tail, which was fun. As time flew by my roof started to slide for real and I took interest of toys. By toys I mean two fancy dressed dolls, male Barney and female Jessica. They are nice fellows and were friends since ages. Barney has some issues and claims to be pyromaniac but I've never seen him blow away anything. Jessica likes him but he's a dense bastard who fails to notice her advances. I used to scold him and give advices to Jessica until the whole thing went too far. An interesting fact: fear to lose sanity is stronger than boredom. In the end Barney married Jessica and they went for eternal honeymoon to the corner of my bed. Having nothing to kill my time I spent next hours and days in meditation. In my previous life I thought meditation is an extreme form of laziness. Now that I tried it myself I have to tell that meditation teaches patience. Patience was exactly what I needed.

  I managed to crawl when I was six and half turns. Time runs awfully slow in here, I think days are at least four hours longer then on Earth. Words can't express feelings I had. I keep remembering a scene from a film where a torturer asks Mr. Walles if he has something to say before his death. His piercing cry "FREEDOM" made it through eternity with me, as I do not remember everything from my old life, only general fragments and random details. Mother was also delighted and let me crawl all over the place. There wasn't much to explore though. Furniture, rolls of leather, dried bundles of plants and stuff. Few interesting things I found were leather armor which my mother makes for sale and hand-drawn map with two continents and major mountains, rivers and currents but without names to them. Not that I could read anyway.

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  Surprisingly, I managed to walk at eight turns. It seems like walking on your two is easier when you have a tail to keep balance. According to my mother I was faster than other children for one turn or so. I continued my training with new vigor since that day.

  Let's get back to present. Today is the big day for two reasons. First, my father is going to return from expedition. He's coming back before summer monsoon to stay with us for four weeks. Mother did not say much about him, but her words were warm and she was always smiling while speaking about him so I think he's a nice person. The reason for his absence was something like "tracking slavers in Rizza Kingdom" if I understood correctly. I'm still not good with language since I don’t have means to self study. That brings us to second reason. Today I'm going to speak my first words. The timing is just fine. Hopefully mom and dad won’t freak out too much. I need to keep in mind that toddlers don't speak with difficult sentences. I'll go with short words, one or two syllables.

  So, right now I'm sitting at the table and mother feeds me juicy pieces of meat. It's a thick steak fried for sixty seconds from both sides, soft and bloody, just like I want it to be. My taste preferences changed a lot since my teeth started to pump out. Mother says my stomach is gonna hurt if I'll eat too much veggies, so meat diet must be a race trail.

"Don't chew too fast, sweetie. You don't wanna choke, right?" She says. KNOCk knock. "Oh, who might that be, Akilla? Who is here to see you? You wanna see?" She tries to keep her sentences short so I could understand. All this baby talk is cute. I think I'm gonna miss it. I start to laugh to show her I'm ready. She nods, fluffs her hair, breathes out and opens the door. Is she nervous?

"Oh, darling, I missed you so much." she practically jumps in his arms. "We are eating now. Try to not scare her, ok?"

"I missed you too, love. Show me my baby princess." Says he as he enters the hut.

  Well, what can I say? The moment of family reunion left me defenceless. He's not bad. Tall and strong, black hair, black rounded ears and tail, just like our chief has. But he has a lot of scars all over his body. Some are from claws, some from blades. Most of them are old while some are fresh. As he comes closer I see his soft smile and mischievous look in the eyes. He lands on one knee near me.

"Hello baby girl. It's nice to meet you. I'm your father, Grawen." He says. I just can’t resist his expectant look and put my hands on his head. His ears are funny.

"I've brought you something." He slides his hand in a pocket and lures a small leather ring. It's finely decorated with patterns and pictures of animals. With quick movements he catches my tail and puts the ring on it. Oh, so that's an accessory for a tail? It' so nice of him. He does know how to please a lady.

"Happy birthday, Akillah." He tries to sound calm and confident but I hear slight trembling in his voice. He's so silly. I think now is the time...

"Fa...papa.." I say. As soon as I'm done I shove both my tiny hands in my mouth and start drooling. It's an act of innocence. No one will suspect me of being too smart for my age when I drool all over my hands.

"Did you hear that, Galena. I think she said papa just now."

"I...I don't know...it’s the first time she has spoken. Akillah, baby, say papa again. No, say mama....ma...ma"

"No" I shake my head. Teasing them is going to be fun. As they keep trying to lure few more words from me I start to remember my past life. Would I end up as a loner if I had parents? Probably not. I'm glad I met this two. Today is a really special day. I spent the rest of it sitting on my father’s lap and listening to his stories.