Written By Josephine
May 19, 2019, 11:44 p.m.(2/19/1011 AR)
The nattering doesn't stop. Refuge in my home serves me well, though it means I trod through the blasted snow. I have taken up someone to reside with me. The Blessed Brigida. There's something odd about an Archlector residing in a home, but she takes refuge the same as I and at least we can sit about the table and talk about the young things flitting about the city. I'll have to see to a garden properly put in the back now that someone is there.
I wonder if people will make rumors now? Unlikely. They have better things to gossip about on their lips that two elder woman.
I wonder if people will make rumors now? Unlikely. They have better things to gossip about on their lips that two elder woman.
Written By Josephine
May 14, 2019, 6:50 p.m.(2/8/1011 AR)
Abominable stuff that falls from the sky. Things ache, there is no surcease in the chatter from the vault. I finally have a break from the fever that plauged me. Winter. I am thinking of enduring a journey by boat back to Lenosia. Or giving in to Demetria and her constant nattering to go to darkwater and that pond or well they have.
Written By Josephine
May 7, 2019, 3:10 a.m.(1/21/1011 AR)
Three days.
I haven't left the forge save to the market to find the things that I needed and do my fiduciary duty to Saik as I promised. It's like a fever that has gripped me. The snow around that forged it, hateful as that abyss damned stuff is. Demetria's chiding at me about the cost. But when have I worried about the cost when it comes to these specific things.
If i'm relegated to forever walk with a cane, then by the Gods, I'll make one how I damned well please and the Prince of Stories has gripped me swiftly and harshly and bent me to his will.
Beware errant ankles is what I say.
I haven't left the forge save to the market to find the things that I needed and do my fiduciary duty to Saik as I promised. It's like a fever that has gripped me. The snow around that forged it, hateful as that abyss damned stuff is. Demetria's chiding at me about the cost. But when have I worried about the cost when it comes to these specific things.
If i'm relegated to forever walk with a cane, then by the Gods, I'll make one how I damned well please and the Prince of Stories has gripped me swiftly and harshly and bent me to his will.
Beware errant ankles is what I say.
Written By Josephine
May 2, 2019, 5:46 p.m.(1/12/1011 AR)
The snow can just go back up north. I took one look outside my shop and that was that. I'll be sleeping in my forge this night, no matter how much my leg will complain. I'm not making it across town to my home. I don't think I could even see my way to the Hundred cities or even Saik tower. No break from this noise tonight I suppose.
Written By Josephine
April 28, 2019, 11:07 p.m.(1/4/1011 AR)
And the snow starts. Horrifying stuff. Almost enough to make me want to go back to Lenosia. Instead I hide in my forge. The snow can't reach me in there.
Written By Josephine
April 28, 2019, 11:02 p.m.(1/4/1011 AR)
I would imagine that perhaps someone who recently got a gelding from a dancing contest could possibly name it after the one who assisted them in winning said contest.
Or naming it Jewel. Jewel and Oswald. I quite like the sound of that.
Or naming it Jewel. Jewel and Oswald. I quite like the sound of that.
Written By Josephine
April 25, 2019, 3:34 p.m.(12/26/1010 AR)
Relationship Note on Luca
Dear boy, I was wroth with you.
I suppose that I shall not be any longer. You did have a way of making me smile even on my most pain riddled days.
You'll be delighted to know, that the scarf is out and being worn. Not because you're gone but because the weather demands it.
I suppose that I shall not be any longer. You did have a way of making me smile even on my most pain riddled days.
You'll be delighted to know, that the scarf is out and being worn. Not because you're gone but because the weather demands it.
Written By Josephine
April 21, 2019, 10:22 p.m.(12/18/1010 AR)
Exhausting. Utterly exhausting.
And yet, not done. The sheer amount of individuals who have turned out. But then, this is a life changing pot that has been put up. What will those who take it home do with it?
I am sorrowful for those who will not be taking it home. But no doubt this will provides stories a plenty around home hearths and taverns, the tales of those who ran, caught, fought and flung themselves off rooftops.
Tomorrow though.
Tomorrow.
And yet, not done. The sheer amount of individuals who have turned out. But then, this is a life changing pot that has been put up. What will those who take it home do with it?
I am sorrowful for those who will not be taking it home. But no doubt this will provides stories a plenty around home hearths and taverns, the tales of those who ran, caught, fought and flung themselves off rooftops.
Tomorrow though.
Tomorrow.
Written By Josephine
April 18, 2019, 2:16 p.m.(12/12/1010 AR)
Lord Dante Fidante has exceptionally sturdy ankles.
They make a satisfying thwack when struck by a cane utterly and completely on accident no matter how well deserved.
Not even a tear.
I was impressed.
They make a satisfying thwack when struck by a cane utterly and completely on accident no matter how well deserved.
Not even a tear.
I was impressed.
Written By Josephine
April 18, 2019, 1:36 p.m.(12/12/1010 AR)
They won't shut up. They have shifted from talking to me about what they wish to be, what they don't, how to put them, cut them, set them. The noise is bearable but I could tune them out before. An easy enough thing to have learned to do over the ages.
It's so hard.
They are so excited.
They have thawed.
Who are They?
It's so hard.
They are so excited.
They have thawed.
Who are They?
Written By Josephine
April 17, 2019, 3:20 p.m.(12/10/1010 AR)
So many sturdy ankles in this city.
Written By Josephine
March 28, 2019, 10:39 p.m.(10/26/1010 AR)
Relationship Note on Jeffeth
Whether you meant to or not, it's far too late and each apology you layer upon the other does little to increase any sincerity.
Get yourself to a Whisper boy, not to the nearest station to write a white. I'm not interested in any more apologies no more so than I was interested in the first one. You want to make it up? Go learn a little at the hand of Bliss Whisper. She learned how to turn a sows ear into a silk purse and match it to every outfit and set of jewelry. You ask her to explain to you how it looks when you try to knocked down twenty thousand silver and claiming that you are poor in coin as you are trying to get Alaricite, while wearing and wielding Diamondplate, Alaricite and Star Iron. When I have your names in my ledgers buying Alaricite and diamond plate in the past and nary a complaint about the price before.
I do not need nor want anymore of your apologies. Actions boy, not words. Actions got you to Knight commander, not pretty words for the benefit of all to see in the whites. What you wrote may not be what you intended but it is what was reflected and portrayed. A braying boy who tried to guilt and boss an old woman into selling her ingot of metal for prices that you felt better suited your sensibilities, as opposed to what they were actually worth.
In fact, as I write this from my forge, I have an idea to prove your sincerity and sorrow at your folly. Go spend an hour or two or even three within someone forge or shop. Find someone willing to let you swing their hammer, or pass some needles through fabric, or mix some scents, work with some wood. Go spend a few days sweltering over a forge to make something, or spent a few hours in the market with Master Gilroy since he took pity on you and your damp eyes, and see how easy it is to procure goods at a price that allows you to pass on savings to the customer but still make money. Gain appreciation for what you wear upon your body, and cart about with you, or sit upon, sleep upon, eat and drink.
Then go spend a few hours within Gild's shrine and thank him for our marketplace and the people in it that allow you the privilege of procuring these goods at below market, to serve Gild as you do and how you do. Go to Jayus and thank him for the inspiration that is bestowed upon those who will fashion your Alaricite into something beautiful and inspiring upon the battlefield. Go then to Gloria and thank her for the opportunity that she affords you, to wield the inevitable weapon that Alaricite will be, or armor, into battle and that it protect you and afford you the opportunity to return home to those you call brothers and sisters. Go to the Queen of Endings and thank her for this turn upon the wheel and for granting you this chance at life to do what you do so well. To Lagoma, and offer thanks for the countless Mercies who heal you and the opportunity for growth that this incident will and does afford you. To change, for the better.
Go then to the Shrine of the First Choice, and thank Skald for the choices that you have in the market, and Vellichor for the knowledge that allows countless smiths and crafters to do what they do from knowledge that has passed on. Visit all the gods for a few hours and reflect.
Then when you're done. When you've shown contrition that would make even Sentinel nod in approval, go collect charcoal from Lagoma's shrine and deliver it to the crafters who work hard. So that they make take the change that has visited upon the bright lady's shrine and use it in their forges and fires, to make beautiful things and find encouragement and spread the faith's light across the city.
Then, and only then Sir Bayweather, will I accept your apology. That and when a Whisper tells me that you've learned your lesson and won't be casually tossing about how you can get something cheaper from somewhere else like it was last weeks stockings.
I tell you what boy. Have them send the bill to me, since you apparently are a pauper. I'll cover that bill out of the kindness of my heart.
Get yourself to a Whisper boy, not to the nearest station to write a white. I'm not interested in any more apologies no more so than I was interested in the first one. You want to make it up? Go learn a little at the hand of Bliss Whisper. She learned how to turn a sows ear into a silk purse and match it to every outfit and set of jewelry. You ask her to explain to you how it looks when you try to knocked down twenty thousand silver and claiming that you are poor in coin as you are trying to get Alaricite, while wearing and wielding Diamondplate, Alaricite and Star Iron. When I have your names in my ledgers buying Alaricite and diamond plate in the past and nary a complaint about the price before.
I do not need nor want anymore of your apologies. Actions boy, not words. Actions got you to Knight commander, not pretty words for the benefit of all to see in the whites. What you wrote may not be what you intended but it is what was reflected and portrayed. A braying boy who tried to guilt and boss an old woman into selling her ingot of metal for prices that you felt better suited your sensibilities, as opposed to what they were actually worth.
In fact, as I write this from my forge, I have an idea to prove your sincerity and sorrow at your folly. Go spend an hour or two or even three within someone forge or shop. Find someone willing to let you swing their hammer, or pass some needles through fabric, or mix some scents, work with some wood. Go spend a few days sweltering over a forge to make something, or spent a few hours in the market with Master Gilroy since he took pity on you and your damp eyes, and see how easy it is to procure goods at a price that allows you to pass on savings to the customer but still make money. Gain appreciation for what you wear upon your body, and cart about with you, or sit upon, sleep upon, eat and drink.
Then go spend a few hours within Gild's shrine and thank him for our marketplace and the people in it that allow you the privilege of procuring these goods at below market, to serve Gild as you do and how you do. Go to Jayus and thank him for the inspiration that is bestowed upon those who will fashion your Alaricite into something beautiful and inspiring upon the battlefield. Go then to Gloria and thank her for the opportunity that she affords you, to wield the inevitable weapon that Alaricite will be, or armor, into battle and that it protect you and afford you the opportunity to return home to those you call brothers and sisters. Go to the Queen of Endings and thank her for this turn upon the wheel and for granting you this chance at life to do what you do so well. To Lagoma, and offer thanks for the countless Mercies who heal you and the opportunity for growth that this incident will and does afford you. To change, for the better.
Go then to the Shrine of the First Choice, and thank Skald for the choices that you have in the market, and Vellichor for the knowledge that allows countless smiths and crafters to do what they do from knowledge that has passed on. Visit all the gods for a few hours and reflect.
Then when you're done. When you've shown contrition that would make even Sentinel nod in approval, go collect charcoal from Lagoma's shrine and deliver it to the crafters who work hard. So that they make take the change that has visited upon the bright lady's shrine and use it in their forges and fires, to make beautiful things and find encouragement and spread the faith's light across the city.
Then, and only then Sir Bayweather, will I accept your apology. That and when a Whisper tells me that you've learned your lesson and won't be casually tossing about how you can get something cheaper from somewhere else like it was last weeks stockings.
I tell you what boy. Have them send the bill to me, since you apparently are a pauper. I'll cover that bill out of the kindness of my heart.
Written By Josephine
March 28, 2019, 2:03 a.m.(10/25/1010 AR)
Relationship Note on Jeffeth
Sir Jeffeth Bayweather,
The fact of the matter is thus. You wished me to reduce the price of a piece of Alaricite from two hundred and twenty thousand to two hundred thousand, and then to see to garnering my services to gather more Alaricite and for at vastly cheaper prices. I politely rejected your request, stating that I needed to make profit off the metal in question and that the price was set at two hundred and twenty. I do run a business after all and I do have to make a profit, no matter how small and at two hundred thousand, it would be a pittance of a profit.
You error and egregious at that was to counter the firm price with a statement that your brother, Sir Andry Bayweather to whom I have worked with repeatedly on occasion within the market and to on commissions, gets them for far cheaper than that and still makes a profit. That perhaps we do not know the same merchants. The insinuation in this, dear boy, for you are a boy still to me, is that I should have sold you that piece of Alaricite for the price you wanted it for, and subsequent pieces for cheaper and forgo a profit. Because your brother has sold previous bars to you for far cheaper. Because you have coin in hand.
We are not family nor are we friends. Sir Jeffeth, Knight Commander of the Knights of Solace. You were potentially a client, I am a jeweler of the highest order in this city and in this compact. My time is money, my skill whether it is sweet talking a vendor down to a reasonable cost - and two hundred and twenty thousand is far superior a price to the three hundred thousand that you would have to pay if you spoke to them yourself - or fashioning that metal into a pretty bauble, has worth. So much worth.
Now, if you had not replied with such callous disregard for my time, my skill and my experience by stating that you could so easily get the pieces from your brother and with that, that your brother was superior, even after I offered to take resources in trade as well, I would have offered to let you split the payment up in two like I have done for others, or had the ingot on credit with payment over time. I would presume that one such as you would be trustworthy enough to take it on credit and pay it off in a timely manner.
But the subsequent letters did not come off as truly apologetic. They came off as someone called out on boorish behavior, disrespectful who got caught trying to throw his weight around and was trying to pass it off as nothing. Oh goodness indeed. Oh goodness repeatedly. What your brother, as I said in a letter, gave you is called the friends or family price. In which you sell it to friends or family at cost, or even at a loss, because they are family. Rarely, is such done for strangers. Most certainly not for something that can take a great deal of time to get a perfect and unflawed piece of rare metal.
My suggestion Sir Bayweather, is to seek out one of the cities beloved Whispers, and perhaps with regards to your elevated station and responsibility, you might seek out how better to express yourself as you have so confessed to being poorly educated in the nuances of. I might recommend the lovely Radiant Bliss, the most lovely Juniper Whisper to whom I personally endorse, or even the former Radiant, Selene. Should you find that you don't wish to burden those experts, that you seek out the Marquessa Samantha Deepwood, or the Baroness Regent Lucita Saik or any other of the noble rank who are known for their skills in not offending those that they wish to treat with and choose their words with caution. But word of advice. Do not quibble over their prices, do not tell them that you could get the lessons cheaper from the Empyrean. It might not go over so well either.
Rest assured, in a few weeks I will likely be over this, I don't treat my grudges like pets and water and feed them. Ina few weeks I will have removed your name from the lists behind the cases of those who are not permitted entry or the privilege of purchasing my works that I have spent a lifetime learning to create. In a few weeks, Sir Bayweather, perhaps your brother will return from where I have no doubt, he is doing his knightly duties and he can procure for you, those precious ingots and at the price more agreeable with your pockets.
Or, you can simply procure the ingot already up on the brokerage, at the price that I have set it for. Or the price that others have set it for. The price that our time, our skill and our experience have deemed it worth selling for. For those of us who spend our time bringing you and others cheaper goods, are well worth the price that we mark it at.
Or you can simply procure it from the market at full price. Your choice either way.
The fact of the matter is thus. You wished me to reduce the price of a piece of Alaricite from two hundred and twenty thousand to two hundred thousand, and then to see to garnering my services to gather more Alaricite and for at vastly cheaper prices. I politely rejected your request, stating that I needed to make profit off the metal in question and that the price was set at two hundred and twenty. I do run a business after all and I do have to make a profit, no matter how small and at two hundred thousand, it would be a pittance of a profit.
You error and egregious at that was to counter the firm price with a statement that your brother, Sir Andry Bayweather to whom I have worked with repeatedly on occasion within the market and to on commissions, gets them for far cheaper than that and still makes a profit. That perhaps we do not know the same merchants. The insinuation in this, dear boy, for you are a boy still to me, is that I should have sold you that piece of Alaricite for the price you wanted it for, and subsequent pieces for cheaper and forgo a profit. Because your brother has sold previous bars to you for far cheaper. Because you have coin in hand.
We are not family nor are we friends. Sir Jeffeth, Knight Commander of the Knights of Solace. You were potentially a client, I am a jeweler of the highest order in this city and in this compact. My time is money, my skill whether it is sweet talking a vendor down to a reasonable cost - and two hundred and twenty thousand is far superior a price to the three hundred thousand that you would have to pay if you spoke to them yourself - or fashioning that metal into a pretty bauble, has worth. So much worth.
Now, if you had not replied with such callous disregard for my time, my skill and my experience by stating that you could so easily get the pieces from your brother and with that, that your brother was superior, even after I offered to take resources in trade as well, I would have offered to let you split the payment up in two like I have done for others, or had the ingot on credit with payment over time. I would presume that one such as you would be trustworthy enough to take it on credit and pay it off in a timely manner.
But the subsequent letters did not come off as truly apologetic. They came off as someone called out on boorish behavior, disrespectful who got caught trying to throw his weight around and was trying to pass it off as nothing. Oh goodness indeed. Oh goodness repeatedly. What your brother, as I said in a letter, gave you is called the friends or family price. In which you sell it to friends or family at cost, or even at a loss, because they are family. Rarely, is such done for strangers. Most certainly not for something that can take a great deal of time to get a perfect and unflawed piece of rare metal.
My suggestion Sir Bayweather, is to seek out one of the cities beloved Whispers, and perhaps with regards to your elevated station and responsibility, you might seek out how better to express yourself as you have so confessed to being poorly educated in the nuances of. I might recommend the lovely Radiant Bliss, the most lovely Juniper Whisper to whom I personally endorse, or even the former Radiant, Selene. Should you find that you don't wish to burden those experts, that you seek out the Marquessa Samantha Deepwood, or the Baroness Regent Lucita Saik or any other of the noble rank who are known for their skills in not offending those that they wish to treat with and choose their words with caution. But word of advice. Do not quibble over their prices, do not tell them that you could get the lessons cheaper from the Empyrean. It might not go over so well either.
Rest assured, in a few weeks I will likely be over this, I don't treat my grudges like pets and water and feed them. Ina few weeks I will have removed your name from the lists behind the cases of those who are not permitted entry or the privilege of purchasing my works that I have spent a lifetime learning to create. In a few weeks, Sir Bayweather, perhaps your brother will return from where I have no doubt, he is doing his knightly duties and he can procure for you, those precious ingots and at the price more agreeable with your pockets.
Or, you can simply procure the ingot already up on the brokerage, at the price that I have set it for. Or the price that others have set it for. The price that our time, our skill and our experience have deemed it worth selling for. For those of us who spend our time bringing you and others cheaper goods, are well worth the price that we mark it at.
Or you can simply procure it from the market at full price. Your choice either way.
Written By Josephine
March 27, 2019, 12:07 p.m.(10/24/1010 AR)
Someones ankle is getting rapped.
Written By Josephine
March 27, 2019, 11:32 a.m.(10/24/1010 AR)
I quite delight in being told 'but I get it cheaper from so and so.
Do you now?
Then go there instead, or pay the price my time commands.
Do you now?
Then go there instead, or pay the price my time commands.
Written By Josephine
March 22, 2019, 11:36 a.m.(10/14/1010 AR)
You know that you have found success in the city when a lord pays your heftily just to take his letter, then again just to hear his request and then twice more to see what he wants made.
Flattering.
It worked.
I do hope the recipient enjoyed it. The poor northerner braved my forge in the heat of summer and sat near to the point of fainting to see it made. Well worth the commission.
Flattering.
It worked.
I do hope the recipient enjoyed it. The poor northerner braved my forge in the heat of summer and sat near to the point of fainting to see it made. Well worth the commission.
Written By Josephine
March 20, 2019, 10:56 a.m.(10/9/1010 AR)
Relationship Note on Joscelin
Pearl spit.
Though I admit the Seliki's have some of the best pearl spit.
Greedy little bastards.
The pearl spit. Not the Seliki's.
They pair so well with Iridescite and they sit like a moon in star iron.
Though I admit the Seliki's have some of the best pearl spit.
Greedy little bastards.
The pearl spit. Not the Seliki's.
They pair so well with Iridescite and they sit like a moon in star iron.
Written By Josephine
Feb. 18, 2019, 5:25 p.m.(8/6/1010 AR)
There is a profound sense of joy in seeing two people in love. Not lust, love. In it's varying forms. Standing in front of my cases and pouring over this and that. Then the one surprises the other, and then the other surprises the other and the next you know, you're ordering them to go walk across the judgement green like two birds in love and make the young things jealous with what they see.
IT makes me miss Pieter. And his armor at the dinner table.
IT makes me miss Pieter. And his armor at the dinner table.
Written By Josephine
Feb. 15, 2019, 5:52 p.m.(7/28/1010 AR)
There is a profound sense of joy that I am filled with when I am called to create something that will be placed upon the finger of another when they are asked to bind their hands. Noble or commoner, I care not. These pieces? These are pieces that the whole of my heart is thrown behind and I confess, perhaps they get filled before others. Wedding bands are such personal things, so unique. I like to hear the story of how they met, to know how the one will ask the other. To take the personality or the desires, and make something truly unique. The embodiment of them as a pair.
Congratulations.
You have some of my finest and favourite work upon your finger. Now to stop rubbing my thumb upon my own wedding band. It never quite goes away, that longing. I am grateful for the time we had. Do take care of them up there. Till one day I join you. Till then, I've more things to make for more people to give to those they love. Even if it's themselves.
Congratulations.
You have some of my finest and favourite work upon your finger. Now to stop rubbing my thumb upon my own wedding band. It never quite goes away, that longing. I am grateful for the time we had. Do take care of them up there. Till one day I join you. Till then, I've more things to make for more people to give to those they love. Even if it's themselves.
Written By Josephine
Feb. 1, 2019, 6:15 p.m.(6/28/1010 AR)
It has been a few weeks and the few offers that ushered in with offer of patronage were considered. Considered just as long and carefully as I had when it was Lord Grady. There's something to be said to finding someone who make no demands of you save that at some point, you board a ship so they can show you their home.
The idea is not appealing.
And yet, there is a promise of being shown the mines and all the shafts belonging to the family, to temper that horror filled image of a ships deck and the water around.
There's something to be said too for selecting a patron not so high within the noble hierarchy. Which is not to say those who were were immediately struck. It is decidedly more a choice of how well we will align with one another. The expectations. Coin does not cross my mind, I make enough of it as is. The demands to place their requests before all others does not interest me, or the limits to whose goods that I can procure my supplies from and the like, do not interest me either.
In the end, it was a shared history. She is my past, and I suppose, in a way, I am her future. Strangely enough. A shared wound, a shared history, a shared grief that slipped out some time ago when we least expected it.
And a rose to seal the deal.
And so while I bid farewell to Lord Grady Deepwood and wish him the best on his journey and will remain ever at the service of the Deepwoods should they have need, I turn my - to borrow a phrase from my sailor sons - sails to Tor. To the Fidantes.
This rose sits in my forge, in a glass vase and I smile at it. Would that it sang like the gems and metals. I imagine it would be a quiet joy. I bid hello to Lady Lora Fidante. Let us see where this takes us.
The idea is not appealing.
And yet, there is a promise of being shown the mines and all the shafts belonging to the family, to temper that horror filled image of a ships deck and the water around.
There's something to be said too for selecting a patron not so high within the noble hierarchy. Which is not to say those who were were immediately struck. It is decidedly more a choice of how well we will align with one another. The expectations. Coin does not cross my mind, I make enough of it as is. The demands to place their requests before all others does not interest me, or the limits to whose goods that I can procure my supplies from and the like, do not interest me either.
In the end, it was a shared history. She is my past, and I suppose, in a way, I am her future. Strangely enough. A shared wound, a shared history, a shared grief that slipped out some time ago when we least expected it.
And a rose to seal the deal.
And so while I bid farewell to Lord Grady Deepwood and wish him the best on his journey and will remain ever at the service of the Deepwoods should they have need, I turn my - to borrow a phrase from my sailor sons - sails to Tor. To the Fidantes.
This rose sits in my forge, in a glass vase and I smile at it. Would that it sang like the gems and metals. I imagine it would be a quiet joy. I bid hello to Lady Lora Fidante. Let us see where this takes us.
Please note that the scholars may take some time preparing your journal for others to read.