Written By Lora
Aug. 23, 2020, 1:04 p.m.(11/22/1013 AR)
Relationship Note on Celeste
There are many variations on that notion, on the rise from ruin and leaving the past behind save as the blood-soaked ground in which to grow a new garden. I hesitate yet to call this a triumph, but it clearly is not a tragedy.
It certainly will be glorious.
And by it I mean your armor. Of course.
Written By Lora
April 24, 2020, 1:10 a.m.(3/3/1013 AR)
No, a series of parties. I've already set the wheels in motion, already chosen the color of the ink for the invitations. It is now just a matter of finding the right alchemist.
Written By Lora
Feb. 4, 2020, 5:32 p.m.(9.304363425925926/11.04435185185185/1012.6920302854938 AR)
Relationship Note on Josephine
I thought instantly of you. I wanted you to see it, to listen to it, to see what story it might tell you. But I cannot.
It's a dark world after all.
Written By Lora
Jan. 18, 2020, 11:13 a.m.(8/3/1012 AR)
Relationship Note on Josephine
A few months later I became her patron. I nominated myself when she began to search for one, little thinking she would choose me out of any number of the city's luminaries. But she did. The Velvet Box was in the Lyceum ward then, and I spent so many hours in her shop and beside her hearth. True to her word she taught me the basis of jewelcrafting; she humored my desires, and proudly sold a few of my designs alongside her own magnificent work.
She had the most beautiful heart. She was kind and wise and generous beyond all imagining. She was my mentor and my dearest friend, and now she is gone.
I loved her, and have lost her, and now my heart is broken.
Goodbye, Jo.
Written By Lora
Nov. 28, 2019, 11:05 a.m.(4/12/1012 AR)
It's a world of darkness, a world of tears,
There's so much that we dare, but it's time to beware,
It's a dark world after all.
Though the wild winds blow and the tempests howl,
And through all your dreams does a dark thing prowl,
If we hold the light we will make it through the night,
It's a dark world after all.
Written By Lora
Nov. 4, 2019, 3:57 p.m.(2/20/1012 AR)
I didn't understand it then. I thought it was a waste of the time it took to make the journey, and the cost of the vessels, nevermind the potential for catastrophic consequences if something went wrong.
I understand it now, and I promise...
When we are ready, we will burn the ships.
Written By Lora
Oct. 26, 2019, 12:16 p.m.(2/2/1012 AR)
Relationship Note on Dante
Written By Lora
Oct. 20, 2019, 9:15 a.m.(1/18/1012 AR)
Relationship Note on Ruslan
It breaks my heart to know we were not there when you needed us most.
How do we set it right?
Written By Lora
Oct. 10, 2019, 10:27 a.m.(12/26/1011 AR)
I pray that I am wrong.
Written By Lora
Sept. 15, 2019, 12:47 p.m.(11/4/1011 AR)
Surely if a thing quacks like a dog, it must be a dog.
Written By Lora
Sept. 7, 2019, 10:57 a.m.(10/16/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Esme
Written By Lora
Aug. 7, 2019, 3:44 p.m.(8/10/1011 AR)
Why? Do we not have the luxury of composing our thoughts on paper? Are we not afforded an opportunity to review them before they are added to the record, preserved for posterity? Should we not all take an extra minute to ensure that every word so captured is worth the ink it costs to add it, one after the next? After all, everything that is here may one day be read by someone. This very entry might be pulled from a book a thousand years from now by some industrious scholar looking to answer some question, who might, from these words, draw some profound edification.
No.
Close your eyes. Think of love, or loss, or life. Think of something that floods your heart with sunlight, or something that shatters you and makes you weep. These are not careful compositions of memory, but rather raw, unfettered fragments of existence that have lodged in the corners of your mind like weeds taking root in fertile ground. They surely are not all fit for white journals, but neither should what makes it here be carefully cleansed from all hint of the emotion behind it.
Someday someone might wonder what duty feels like, or whether it is worth waking up before the sun to taste the dew, or if dreams ever hold power beyond showing us the secret wishes of our hearts. Maybe it is impossible to accurately describe these things, but some have come very close.
Written By Lora
Aug. 2, 2019, 10:40 a.m.(7/28/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Dante
And why is it that when they return all those things are suddenly forgotten? They're swept away like dry leaves in an autumn wind come to scour away the dust and cobwebs and suddenly that place is full again, as nothing had ever been missing. Only missed.
Written By Lora
July 27, 2019, 12:51 p.m.(7/16/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Josephine
I will always remember sitting with you at the forge when the world changed, when we lost something and gained something. Perhaps we might've become friends under some other circumstances but that brief moment, that fracture of darkness and despair like the occlusion in some splendid gem, created something unique. Though it may've been forged in sorrow it has become an effulgence of joy.
You are an excellent protege, an incredible guildmaster, but a far better friend.
((The lower half of the page is criss-crossed in little black bird footprints, which become increasingly lighter as the ink runs out.))
Written By Lora
July 18, 2019, 7:37 p.m.(6/26/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Tyrus
Not her weight in fruit.
Do you have any idea what so much fruit does to a little bird?
Please. Stop.
Written By Lora
July 18, 2019, 1:29 p.m.(6/26/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Tyrus
Finer minds better versed in animal husbandry than I could surely fill pages about the proper ratio of feed to work required to keep something as small in proper shape. Impromptu buffets of berries (and nuts, and seeds, and muffins) far exceed that, and there is nothing I can do to persuade her that she ought to be eating less and doing more, especially when she is so taken with her admirers.
Loyal and devoted though she might be, I must ask you to cease and desist, or at least exercise some restraint. Surely you have more self control than a wren.
Written By Lora
July 17, 2019, 5:34 p.m.(6/24/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Tyrus
I hadn't. Then Wendy met a certain driftwood Prince of Thrax and now she's becoming quite round.
Written By Lora
July 8, 2019, 10:20 a.m.(6/5/1011 AR)
There may not be another chance.
Written By Lora
July 3, 2019, 4:16 p.m.(5/24/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Calista
But this? I think it might at last be more than I can bear. But he would've wanted it.
How can I say no?
We do not choose the paths that lie ahead of us; we can but decide which to follow, seldom knowing where it might lead. Betimes we learn from looking back, but the future is uncertain and the plans we make today may tomorrow be what brings us into ruin. But living forever at the crossroads, paralyzed into indecision by potential, is no life at all.
This is why we have hope, isn't it?
It's a dark world after all.
Written By Lora
June 21, 2019, 10:44 a.m.(4/27/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Josephine
Please note that the scholars may take some time preparing your journal for others to read.