Written By Tikva
Oct. 9, 2019, 1:35 p.m.(12/24/1011 AR)
Why are MULTIPLE PEOPLE paying heralds to shout their bizarre interpersonal drama at street corners?
Call for champions and be done with it! I'm very sorry but really you all look quite absurd.
Call for champions and be done with it! I'm very sorry but really you all look quite absurd.
Written By Tikva
Oct. 6, 2019, 1:10 a.m.(12/17/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Vanora
Thank you!
A poem is just a song whose melody I haven't figured out yet . . .
A poem is just a song whose melody I haven't figured out yet . . .
Written By Tikva
Oct. 5, 2019, 1:31 a.m.(12/15/1011 AR)
Gold and orange, scarlet, and brown,
To a crackling carpet tumbled down;
By night the naked limbs do reach
Stark and black til dawn's new breach;
The colors rain in falling leaves
As the autumn shows us all the trees
By lessons in the cool harvest season
How lovely it would be, when given reason,
If we learned the lesson before the snow
What beauty there is when you let shit go.
Let the dead leaves fall from your naked skin
And stand tall and clean of all within;
Strong and proud like a tree, and lovely, too,
When spring's green comes to awaken you.
To a crackling carpet tumbled down;
By night the naked limbs do reach
Stark and black til dawn's new breach;
The colors rain in falling leaves
As the autumn shows us all the trees
By lessons in the cool harvest season
How lovely it would be, when given reason,
If we learned the lesson before the snow
What beauty there is when you let shit go.
Let the dead leaves fall from your naked skin
And stand tall and clean of all within;
Strong and proud like a tree, and lovely, too,
When spring's green comes to awaken you.
Written By Tikva
Sept. 14, 2019, 11:25 p.m.(11/3/1011 AR)
Who are you? How do you decide what you are?
What mask have you? Is it the same beneath sun or stars?
With whose voice do you speak? What questions call your soul?
When you take a moment for yourself, from whom have you stole?
What eyes do you see, when you chance to pass a mirror's gleam?
Is the name I call the same as the one you'd say in your dreams?
Who are you, and who am I that asks?
What mask have you? Is it the same beneath sun or stars?
With whose voice do you speak? What questions call your soul?
When you take a moment for yourself, from whom have you stole?
What eyes do you see, when you chance to pass a mirror's gleam?
Is the name I call the same as the one you'd say in your dreams?
Who are you, and who am I that asks?
Written By Tikva
Sept. 11, 2019, 3:50 p.m.(10/24/1011 AR)
Everyone knows that other people's happiness is deeply annoying.
Particularly if you haven't had enough coffee.
No Oathlands duchies profited by me writing this.
Particularly if you haven't had enough coffee.
No Oathlands duchies profited by me writing this.
Written By Tikva
Sept. 3, 2019, 5:12 p.m.(10/8/1011 AR)
The Valardins really did throw a _tremendous_ party commemorating the harvest. The trip to Sanctum was terribly long for the children but they loved getting to see their father running around lost in a maze, and possibly (I'm not sure) running over Duke Cristoph's children in the same maze.
It was also the LARGEST PUMPKIN I have ever seen.
And possibly the best pie I have ever eaten? It was pretty up there, as far as pie goes.
It was also the LARGEST PUMPKIN I have ever seen.
And possibly the best pie I have ever eaten? It was pretty up there, as far as pie goes.
Written By Tikva
Aug. 30, 2019, 12:13 p.m.(9/28/1011 AR)
I am pleased as punch that Princess Sabella has chosen to return to her work as Voice of House Grayson. I'm sure that she and Liara will be the most splendid and glamorous team the House can have. Truly, our best foot is put forward.
Written By Tikva
Aug. 29, 2019, 2:46 p.m.(9/26/1011 AR)
TACKY.
That is the word I was looking for this morning.
I N C R E D I B L Y tacky.
That is the word I was looking for this morning.
I N C R E D I B L Y tacky.
Written By Tikva
Aug. 29, 2019, 12:20 p.m.(9/26/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Laric
Happy birthday to my dearest friend, colleague, and superior to whom I report, Prince Laric Grayson, Master of Questions.
For your birthday this year, I suspect you will receive a great many questions about other people's business, some paperwork you really don't actually want to fill out, a fragment of a truly harrowing mystery you wish you could forget, and at least one caller who is only visiting you so that they can scritch Sally's head.
I sincerely hope that you manage to find at least an hour for yourself somewhere in there. After all, you're getting close to 40, and you'll only get to be Laric for _one_ lifetime.
For your birthday this year, I suspect you will receive a great many questions about other people's business, some paperwork you really don't actually want to fill out, a fragment of a truly harrowing mystery you wish you could forget, and at least one caller who is only visiting you so that they can scritch Sally's head.
I sincerely hope that you manage to find at least an hour for yourself somewhere in there. After all, you're getting close to 40, and you'll only get to be Laric for _one_ lifetime.
Written By Tikva
Aug. 24, 2019, 5:24 p.m.(9/16/1011 AR)
I entirely disagree with Lady Elloise Leary's conclusions vis a vis the Abandoned and the prodigal and civilization; more, I have written so in these pages myself.
Yet she is my protege, a woman whose thoughts and creativity and spirit of scientific exploration I continue to foster amidst society as a whole. I suppose that may make a puzzle of the thing to some. There are many people with whom I disagree on many salient points that I still believe have a great deal to offer to society.
For example, I cherish Bliss Whisper as Radiant. I believe she is dynamic and her aggressive approach to the pride and dignity of her house is a fascinating alchemy upon the social welfare of our society. Indeed, when I served as Voice of Grayson, I was honored to consider her a friend and ally of my family.
But I do think she behaves sometimes in poor taste, so now we call for champions and have done.
I hope for her sake she is victorious in our duel because otherwise she shall have more than the usual number of words to eat.
Yet she is my protege, a woman whose thoughts and creativity and spirit of scientific exploration I continue to foster amidst society as a whole. I suppose that may make a puzzle of the thing to some. There are many people with whom I disagree on many salient points that I still believe have a great deal to offer to society.
For example, I cherish Bliss Whisper as Radiant. I believe she is dynamic and her aggressive approach to the pride and dignity of her house is a fascinating alchemy upon the social welfare of our society. Indeed, when I served as Voice of Grayson, I was honored to consider her a friend and ally of my family.
But I do think she behaves sometimes in poor taste, so now we call for champions and have done.
I hope for her sake she is victorious in our duel because otherwise she shall have more than the usual number of words to eat.
Written By Tikva
Aug. 23, 2019, 4:46 p.m.(9/14/1011 AR)
I have loved Limerance all my life and it is a sad day that vows are dissolved. I grieve for that sad necessity. Yet adherence to oaths requires not only the letter of the law but respect to its spirit. It pays no respect to the gods to stay trapped in a marriage that is treated without the respect of a holy union.
I rejoice at the return of Lady Elloise to House Leary. For those of you who think it a coward's path to seek the mercy of the Faith for release from a contract that has become intolerable ... you are making assumptions about what petty indignities a spouse must be willing to suffer beneath the station of her birth. Though I love duty and I love Limerance, I give thanks to the Dominus for releasing my protege from that indignity and will be donating the greater proportion of my allowance as a Princess of Grayson to the Faith for the next three months.
I believe under the circumstances it is a fitting tribute for me, as a Princess of Grayson, to go without a stipend for awhile.
I rejoice at the return of Lady Elloise to House Leary. For those of you who think it a coward's path to seek the mercy of the Faith for release from a contract that has become intolerable ... you are making assumptions about what petty indignities a spouse must be willing to suffer beneath the station of her birth. Though I love duty and I love Limerance, I give thanks to the Dominus for releasing my protege from that indignity and will be donating the greater proportion of my allowance as a Princess of Grayson to the Faith for the next three months.
I believe under the circumstances it is a fitting tribute for me, as a Princess of Grayson, to go without a stipend for awhile.
Written By Tikva
Aug. 15, 2019, 10:21 p.m.(8/27/1011 AR)
Having Princess Sabella and Prince Niklas back in the city to grace the dining hall with their brightness and energy has served as something of a restorative upon my spirits far superior to that terrible ginger cordial Imori keeps pushing at me.
Written By Tikva
Aug. 13, 2019, 1:23 a.m.(8/21/1011 AR)
When I met my first husband, he was one of the first Prodigals that I had ever really met. I was charmed by his energy, his delight in the world around him, his reckless boldness, his beauty. The tattoos frightened me because I had never seen them before. I never learned the words that his people sometimes used, because he said that Crownlands Shav was just smuggler's code, and there was no need, because his people weren't smugglers, and they mostly kept the tongue only to speak where outsiders couldn't understand; and he would never use it before me, because he always wanted me to understand, and feel welcome. So.
When I worked with the scouts of the Twainfort, I fought by the side of those Greenbloods and Greenwoods who followed Thesarin and Kelleth to House Riven. I found them each very different from each other. We guarded the woods around the Twainfort and we held the river against incursions from shav'arvani who hated us because so many of their tribe had bent the knee and joined the Compact, swallowed "false promises". All of them prayed to Lagoma for healing and knew the Sentinel for justice, and embraced the charity of Gild together, and kept oaths before Limerance. We were brothers and sisters of the same Faith, even as we fought each other to possess the wetlands surrounding the Mother. Those Abandoned did not follow our laws, but they knew our gods, and many of them fought in ways that gave honor to Gloria.
When Kelleth fell in battle, I was pregnant with his son. He died to the blade of an Abandoned, because he and his family bent the knee and joined the Compact, just as any other warrior who defended the Twainfort upon that field of battle.
The civilization that those prodigals brought with them when they joined the Twainfort was not the _same_ as the civilization of the Compact. They had carried their history and traditions for generations. I was an outsider and I tried to learn, but there is still much I will probably never know, or never understand. It was different but I must reject the idea that it was in any way uncivilized. They followed guest right. They followed the tenets of Sanctuary. They have always been faithful.
So ...
What does civilization mean to you?
When I worked with the scouts of the Twainfort, I fought by the side of those Greenbloods and Greenwoods who followed Thesarin and Kelleth to House Riven. I found them each very different from each other. We guarded the woods around the Twainfort and we held the river against incursions from shav'arvani who hated us because so many of their tribe had bent the knee and joined the Compact, swallowed "false promises". All of them prayed to Lagoma for healing and knew the Sentinel for justice, and embraced the charity of Gild together, and kept oaths before Limerance. We were brothers and sisters of the same Faith, even as we fought each other to possess the wetlands surrounding the Mother. Those Abandoned did not follow our laws, but they knew our gods, and many of them fought in ways that gave honor to Gloria.
When Kelleth fell in battle, I was pregnant with his son. He died to the blade of an Abandoned, because he and his family bent the knee and joined the Compact, just as any other warrior who defended the Twainfort upon that field of battle.
The civilization that those prodigals brought with them when they joined the Twainfort was not the _same_ as the civilization of the Compact. They had carried their history and traditions for generations. I was an outsider and I tried to learn, but there is still much I will probably never know, or never understand. It was different but I must reject the idea that it was in any way uncivilized. They followed guest right. They followed the tenets of Sanctuary. They have always been faithful.
So ...
What does civilization mean to you?
Written By Tikva
Aug. 8, 2019, 9:26 p.m.(8/13/1011 AR)
Motherhood creates you anew. Treasure your children; every moment is worth it.
They grow so strong, and bold, and fierce. Lord Tiber trains a little with the wooden sword, now, for all that he is still small, and Prince Asharion and Princess Lara are both so quick and bright, so full of their father's joyous spirit.
It is impossible to be weighted down when listening to their laughter. It is impossible to feel dread, or doubt, when I bury my face in their hair, and embrace them in both arms, and tell them I love them.
My children make me strong in ways that were unimaginable to me before I bore them. If I falter, still they shall lift me up, not with strength of arms, but with the certainty of their bright youth.
The will to hope is a powerful force that shall not be denied.
They grow so strong, and bold, and fierce. Lord Tiber trains a little with the wooden sword, now, for all that he is still small, and Prince Asharion and Princess Lara are both so quick and bright, so full of their father's joyous spirit.
It is impossible to be weighted down when listening to their laughter. It is impossible to feel dread, or doubt, when I bury my face in their hair, and embrace them in both arms, and tell them I love them.
My children make me strong in ways that were unimaginable to me before I bore them. If I falter, still they shall lift me up, not with strength of arms, but with the certainty of their bright youth.
The will to hope is a powerful force that shall not be denied.
Written By Tikva
July 31, 2019, 1:06 a.m.(7/23/1011 AR)
Honor is a sword in the hand to defend the innocent, bold and fierce and unrelenting.
Yet honor is also a vow upheld, dignity befit, the quiet certainty of integrity unstrained.
Joy and honor need not stand apart.
I sing to you, Gloria, for the courage of kindness.
I sing to you, Jayus, for the inspiration of bravery.
I sing to you, Vellichor, with words in ink upon the page, for the honor of legacy
Hand in hand we stand in the light of faith and smile upon the world for we need not defy with rage what we can greet openly with a laugh.
Sing with me of hope, you brothers and sisters of war.
Sing with me of courage, you artists who reach for new pinnacles.
Sing with me of history and the grace to remember all who have gone before.
Yet honor is also a vow upheld, dignity befit, the quiet certainty of integrity unstrained.
Joy and honor need not stand apart.
I sing to you, Gloria, for the courage of kindness.
I sing to you, Jayus, for the inspiration of bravery.
I sing to you, Vellichor, with words in ink upon the page, for the honor of legacy
Hand in hand we stand in the light of faith and smile upon the world for we need not defy with rage what we can greet openly with a laugh.
Sing with me of hope, you brothers and sisters of war.
Sing with me of courage, you artists who reach for new pinnacles.
Sing with me of history and the grace to remember all who have gone before.
Written By Tikva
July 25, 2019, 11:35 a.m.(7/12/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Saoirse
Consider it a compliment on your subtlety. If you were going to poison a pack of people, surely you wouldn't do it by inviting them over to drink something weird _in public_.
Written By Tikva
July 25, 2019, 12:09 a.m.(7/11/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Mikani
I am glad that what I wrote was some help to you, Lady Mikani, in amidst all the wagging tongues and all.
Let your actions be your words always; it is a good message to take. May you walk always in the light of Limerance. Your honor is inside you, not without. It does not belong to anyone but you.
Let your actions be your words always; it is a good message to take. May you walk always in the light of Limerance. Your honor is inside you, not without. It does not belong to anyone but you.
Written By Tikva
July 14, 2019, 8:42 a.m.(6/17/1011 AR)
I cannot speak against the existence of love matches for it would make me the truest of all hypocrites. But I will offer some friendly advice to those who find themselves in the uncomfortable position of defending their love match:
Don't. You chose your heart over duty. Accept that you did that. Embrace what has been done with the humility that it requires.
You are never going to be accepted as an objective voice on the talents and value of your love, for obvious reasons. You love that person. I am not objective on the subject of Ainsley Grayson and it would be ludicrous if I professed to be.
Marrying for love and accepting the mantle of responsibility for your new house is what you must do. You cannot stop tongues from wagging, because they will and perhaps they should. When the first sweetness is off your love match, as you negotiate the ongoing strength of your marriage and how you will fit in the long term, you will have the opportunity to produce proof to society that your sense of duty is as strong as your love.
You can't do it now. It won't work.
Just put your heads down and serve. In a few years, if you serve well, no one will remember why you wed, and nothing will stand to inconvenience you in the labors you do in fealty to your new liege.
Love is wonderful. If people will talk, let them. Talk will not hurt you if you are competent.
Don't. You chose your heart over duty. Accept that you did that. Embrace what has been done with the humility that it requires.
You are never going to be accepted as an objective voice on the talents and value of your love, for obvious reasons. You love that person. I am not objective on the subject of Ainsley Grayson and it would be ludicrous if I professed to be.
Marrying for love and accepting the mantle of responsibility for your new house is what you must do. You cannot stop tongues from wagging, because they will and perhaps they should. When the first sweetness is off your love match, as you negotiate the ongoing strength of your marriage and how you will fit in the long term, you will have the opportunity to produce proof to society that your sense of duty is as strong as your love.
You can't do it now. It won't work.
Just put your heads down and serve. In a few years, if you serve well, no one will remember why you wed, and nothing will stand to inconvenience you in the labors you do in fealty to your new liege.
Love is wonderful. If people will talk, let them. Talk will not hurt you if you are competent.
Written By Tikva
June 30, 2019, 5:51 p.m.(5/18/1011 AR)
DAME IDA HAS CREATED THE MOST ADORABLE HAIRPINS I HAVE EVER SEEN.
Written By Tikva
June 25, 2019, 12:07 a.m.(5/6/1011 AR)
So much of what we know about the last comes from the faithful recordings of our ancestors in journals much like these.
As a student of history, of story and song, who has often delved into the historical record, I find it altogether troubling when people are deliberately obscure and abstruse about whatever it is they mean.
Think not on those who read your words now and the attention of the moment, but of the students and historians of the future who comb through these journals we leave behind, desperate to understand and piece together what we lived and breathed and thought in 1011 AR.
As I comb through pages and pages of gibbering nonsense in my most recent investigation into the past, trying to find a glimpse of history in the musings and meanderings ... I am not saying that the detritus of life don't belong here, the romance, the errata, of course they do. But then there is something else again in an act of deliberate obscurity, an unkindness to our own future to which I must object.
Remember the holy purpose of these writings and keep your fiction to the storybooks.
As a student of history, of story and song, who has often delved into the historical record, I find it altogether troubling when people are deliberately obscure and abstruse about whatever it is they mean.
Think not on those who read your words now and the attention of the moment, but of the students and historians of the future who comb through these journals we leave behind, desperate to understand and piece together what we lived and breathed and thought in 1011 AR.
As I comb through pages and pages of gibbering nonsense in my most recent investigation into the past, trying to find a glimpse of history in the musings and meanderings ... I am not saying that the detritus of life don't belong here, the romance, the errata, of course they do. But then there is something else again in an act of deliberate obscurity, an unkindness to our own future to which I must object.
Remember the holy purpose of these writings and keep your fiction to the storybooks.
Please note that the scholars may take some time preparing your journal for others to read.