Homesickness

It has been many months since I saw my homeland and I suppose I have been a little homesick. After a while, you lose something. I can still feel the cool mountain air, the smell of the grass and trees, the singing of sweet birds in the air. I can still recall the smell of the dormitories, that pine tar soap smell that the soap over here can't quite replicate. The food that is just right, the people you can easily speak to, the all these little things seem to get lost in amongst the reality of everything else.
 
This all comes into clear focus in Overlook. We made it to the kalashtar district in Sharn after an eventful morning where we went to meet with Terfel's friends in High Walls when we were attacked by ridiculously polite kidnappers working for some skinless person. It is rather disturbing since some of them seem to ahve been coerced to be there and then some exploded. Which, to confirm, was not meant to happen. I didn't cast the spell and neither did Warden. It appears they have been injected by some "skinless man" with this volatile liquid. Some seemed to be quite content to play the part of a kidnapper and some seemed to be in a strange fugue state, quite unsure how or why they were there. It is clear that there is something going on - perhaps related to the dragonmarks? It's the only thing we can think of that sets Terfel aside from the rest of us. That and his duty in the last War may have influenced it. That being said, the kidnappers themselves were Cyran so why would they attack their own veteran? It doesn't make sense and this skinless person certainly does not help. Naturally, we dealt with the kidnappers as best as we could. Warden managed to calm one of them down enough to allow him to run. With this rumination on my tactics, it makes me start to wonder if what I am doing is correct. That all this fire and flame is not as well aligned to the Path of Light as it should be. A change is required, perhaps. And it is with the good grace of il-Yannah that I have that ability to change and given a perfect opportunity. However, I am getting ahead of myself here.
 
We made our way over to Daine, Lei and Pierce. Terfel briefly left to discuss with Terel - he should be able to help those poor people who's meager possessions have been damaged by the kidnapping shenanigans. Warden dragged over one of the intact corpses and started to examine it to determine if he could deduce anything with no avail, unfortunately. However, we have managed to get a lead on the matter from Terfel's friends. Daine - the one who was in a coma before we arrived due to an earlier attack - told of the kalashtar who assisted him. Lakashtai. The name is still meaningless but at least it brought us to Overlook. Daine also produced a green crystal that wasa left at his bedside table. Interestingly, only I could feel the emotion trapped inside. The fear. The sadness. I cannot understand why the others cannot feel it. It doesn't make sense. It is hardly hard to hear. I suppose it must be related to my psionics. Still strange.
 
Regardless, Daine also mentioned that he initially met Lakashtai in something called The King of Fire which is some sort of gambling establishment. I don't quite understand what would draw a kalashtar to such a place but I suppose if you grow up in Sharn, it would be less strange. It seems to be a place that grows over you, like moss over stones. Whatever differences the places, the people have - these all soften over time, blurring and blending together. There are still some very distinct places, do not misinterpret my understanding but the blurring is important. Life in Sharn is a gradient - still far too many enjoying a very blessed life whilst ignoring those starving below but still. It does worry me slightly that there is likely a Riedran outpost somewhere in Sharn. We have barely scratched the surface of all that Sharn has and they may be out there somewhere. It is a little unnerving but if Overlook can exist happily then perhaps my concerns are unfounded.
 
We were about to depart for Overlook when Warden told us about his 'friends'. Druids - by all accounts - can also speak to animals. I daresay whatever spell Warden cast that allowed the rat to speak in the common parlance is rather impressive. The rat was delivering a message on behalf of that academic who we saved, the one with the abherant mark. I am glad that she is safe. Strange way of delivering a message but I suppose if these marks can upset people so much then it makes sense to do this instead of hiring a messenger or writing a letter.
 
Eventually, we made our way up to Overlook, the brutalist buildings with shining windows. The buildings seemed to radiate something that I had not felt since landing in Khorvaire. A calmness. A serenity. A clarity. It is like when there is a constant noise you eventually get used to and you only remember what living is like without it after being immersed in it again. My bolstered mind soon found a sticking point in black herons. They were periodically over Overlook, like umbrellas towards a rain I could not sense. Warden and I looked at each other, obviously perturbed. Herons, these Black Herons seem to be an omen of the Daelkyr, of the people who took my friends and family for...whatever Dark purpose. Could they be here, in Sharn? I know Warden has advised his stones have got cold in High Walls but we are far above them and on the other side of the city. Warden cast his magic to speak to them but all I could hear was strange loud squawking. By all acounts, the herons were not moved to speak to him and a seagull helped himself to the rations Warden was trying to coax the herons to chat with him.
 
The commotion brought out the locals. A kalashatar smith came out and asked if we were alright. Terfel advised he was looking to see if he could get a halberd made from the crystal in K'zzal's maul. Serendipitously, Nevchaned was able to assist. Warden, Dax and myself decided to head to the community hall. They had started guided monastic training followed by a guided meditation. I was embarrassingly rusty at this - I used to carry out such steps and meditations frequently, daily sometimes. I suppose I have transferred much of my training into specifically mediation only, usually through the process of writing. This, in itself, is useful. To read back on the failures to learn from the mistakes and to read back on the triumphs with softness. To see how I change in relation to my friends and vice versa. The world is increasingly complicated and this provides some sembelance of thought. It has been so refreshing to walk the same steps again, to take familar breaths and movements. Dax and Warden did well from what I saw. Maybe not the most elegant of movements but for people trying this out for the first time, they did rather well. Warden certainly appreciated the guided meditation, almost feigning to breathe. Perhaps it is something we could do at camp to help everyone clear their mind of the noisy world and it's noisier problems.
 
We were about to start to eat when Terfel presented me with a crysteel mace. It is beautiful and will definitely come in use in the future. He advised that the maul was not salvegable but he managed to snag himself a new halberd regardless. I will need to make up this kindness.
 
The food was nostagalic. If I closed my eyes, I could be back in Adar again. Strange to think I would miss so much a place I was yearning to leave for years. I suppose that is how it works. You miss home and that is not a bad thing. At least I can go home. Terfel and Dax cannot and I am not sure whether Warden has a home at all. Unless he lived in the woods back in the Marches? It makes me determined to assist, to build somewhere that everyone can call home - beyond petty squabbles, beyond politics, beyond needless suffering. New Cyre could become this place.