Journal Three

Entry 190

Spider Moon, Day 15

Year 1881

I took this position three-and-a-half years ago. I remember how anxious I had been. Making one wrong decision could have failed my people, as I would no longer be an individual, but a leader. Over my tenure, I learned to love my responsibilities. There is an indescribable satisfaction in knowing that you are the source of others' prosperity. 

I felt none of that satisfaction or hope for the future today, however. Tenants of the Sky Father have gotten bolder over the recent years, but the disturbing degree their plotting reached today wasn't something I had ever believed possible. For decades, they had been conspiring in Lyridon. As the only Sky Country that migrates over the Central Continent, it is the hub of trade, education, and diplomacy - thus the perfect place for members of the cult to hide their identities and mingle with the most diverse population I know. They successfully infiltrated the supply train that connects all of our colonies - I had even been friends with a few! I strike their wretched names from my memory. May there be no trace of them, their names lost to the river of time, denied the very legacy they sought to take from us. I will hold no remorse for tomorrow's trial, and may Noreidahe have no mercy upon them. 

The carnage of the train wreck... It's all I've been able to think about in the hours since I led my forces to the neighboring settlement to assist my cousin in subduing the Tenants. Vidanya Sparkes, a beloved friend and the lead engineer of the supply train, was lost in the struggle. All of her work into the train's cycle system and planning the most efficient route to reach all of the settlements, only to die at the hands of people who want to eradicate magic for the rest of the world. I am ever grateful to my dear Elysia for organizing the homemakers of Storm Cloud Colony to aid the loss of the Sparkes family and the others who'd lost loved ones in the tragedy.

Moreso, I am grateful that my son was safe at home this morning. In my efforts to mitigate the threat of the Tenants, I came across a family on the way to Drazgkar, the next stop after Storm Cloud Forest. Eltha, the Elven mother, was a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield. A fierce wielder of flame with a pile of charred Tenants at her feet. Caspkar, the Dwarf boy, was not yet old enough to grow his own beard, and kept a clear head as he helped children, elderly, and injured to safety. He informed my search-and-rescue team that the most damage had been done to the central cycler car, and begged us to discover what had become of his brother, one of the cyclers, and of his niece, who'd slipped away shortly before the initial attack.

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We did indeed find both his brother, Orik, and his niece, Dulsie, in the central cycler car. Orik had died protecting Dulsie from a spear a Tenant had thrown, but he was too slow for her to walk away unscathed. A deep cut stretched from the bridge of the child's nose to her right ear, though our healers say it was a clean cut and she should make a good recovery, even if the scar will be permanent. Two years younger than my own son, the poor child couldn't have known what was happening. In pain and having suffered a great trauma, her magic turned volatile. It is thought that this reaction is what killed most of the people in the compartment. Though this is the most severe I've personally witnessed, this kind of incident is unfortunately not unheard of. Children's magic may not be as potent as an adult's, but their lack of control over their emotions can sometimes result in severe outbursts that harm them and/or others around them.

Our healers have decided to modify her memory of the events for now. Usually, they would reintroduce her memories overtime through several therapy sessions, but...even with this method, how would she live with herself? It is easy for me, an adult looking in from the outside of the situation to recognize that she is not at fault. She could not have changed any part of this situation. But for her? Will there ever come a time when she can understand that? It is up to me to authorize her treatments as the Lord of the Village, but I do not have an answer. I don't think anyone does. Perhaps I will come to one in time. For now, the family will stay here. Eltha is in no condition to travel, having sustained potentially life-threatening injuries. Caspkar and Dulsie will stay in my manor as long as they must. I can hear Aeran babbling to his mother this very moment about how excited he is that he gets to share his room and his toys with "his little sister". Elysia has yet to get a word in to correct him, but let him think it. Perhaps it will help the girl adjust.

A more sobering thought, though. Will Aeran one day lose me the same way Dulsie and so many other children on that train have lost their parents? Will he be burdened prematurely with all of my responsibilities? My father still lives in the village for me to consult at my leisure. For the first time, I see my father's guidance as the luxury it is. And how would Storm Cloud Colony cope, then? Sobering questions that I should have asked long before mortality hung so heavily over my head. With hostility from the Tenants rising, I cannot afford to slip back into the comfort of thinking that we are too small and isolated for the dangers of the world. Everyone is vulnerable. 

Lord Evras Willows