i don't like surprises by Millimax | World Anvil

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Crownsday, 11 Sunfall 998 Y.K.

i don't like surprises

by Millimax

 i said i'd post later but medya's still snoozing and the news got worse so later is now
 after cazha introduced me to her maul i refused to be intimidated by it so we displayed it on the wall here in the h&h
 not as a trophy but as a reminder not to underestimate anyone's capacity and willingness to be violent
 sometime between leaving for fairhaven and coming back from xandrar someone stole it and left a note
 apparently our wards aren't warding enough
 
 back when leali read from the draconic prophecy there was one sentence that gave me a vision
 that's what was written on the note along with a single large flourished letter – "r" – which draws a clear line to the only person who knew of me before i knew of them
 raelvan
 that's all there was and nothing else in the building was missing or disturbed
 i won't even try to guess at his motivations but if he was trying to unsettle me
 he got about halfway there
 
 then there's the small pot of reedpaste
 i'd be happier if i hadn't been warned repeatedly that gifts aren't always as friendly as they seem here
 worse is that there's no indication of why krayg wanted me to have it
 but this morning i saw a design on the pot – a rose with thorns – exactly the brand of destiny of my great-grand-aunt "winter rose"
 she was lost almost two dozen years ago along with my grand-aunt "prim rose" and my granddam "signal flare"
 
 prim and winter travelled together as royally-appointed civil engineers and since flare was in the royal guard she'd escort them
 but the wilds of the everglow can be dangerous
 flare died trying to protect the others
 winter's body was never found
 prim was badly injured and took six weeks to return home ... but grief took her a year later
 i was only a yearling so all i remember is how it shook the whole clan and especially flare's daughter – my dam
 
 how did the tender end up with something that clearly belonged to winter rose? do they realize that i'm related to her? does krayg know anything about this?
 all this would be enough to trouble me but then there's the surprise message from the arcane congress saying my paper is "provisional-pending"
 on second read it seems they only need clarifications and fixes for one or two minor errors so it'll be fine but i did not need the additional stress
 
 last night i couldn't stop thinking about the quori and i needed to know if they were also the winter wolves
 and not just because that name is somewhat misleading when they don't look like wolves at all seriously why do we call them that in the first place?
 but it's not like i could just scoot back home to research or use the candle to write to dad because there would be no point
 what pony alive could know the answer?
 how would i even ask?
 
 as my great-grandsire cartwright would say "urgency is good soil for improvisation"
 there's a psalm i haven't heard since i was a filly that mentions selena's love for incense and chocolate and silver so i put a little of each in a bowl
 as medya drifted off i lit the incense and thought of what i'd ask the honored moon and how
 that's the first time i've ever actively sought audience with a god-princess
 she granted me answers
 and more questions
 
 i was at the edges of viljatown looking toward home
 the faces of the gods have always shone in the sky but the honored moon was supremely bright and large
 then i had a ... memory? ... of a time when the seasons stopped turning and winter overstayed for years and selene went mad and there was so much darkness
 and winter wolves
 and ponies with empty eyes that stared without seeing
 they sang without harmony but in perfect and terrible unison
 
 while the honored moon wasn't quite herself there were "dreamwalkers" who kept her memory and traditions alive for the day they could help her break free of the madness
 but until then home was safe because of the queen and the royal guard and the protection of the crystal heart that ... hides the everglow from the honored moon?
 and then i felt that the queen and guards were absent for some reason
 and the winter wolves in the distance were howling
 
 that's where the dream ended
 it seems clear that the winter wolves were and are the quori and they controlled us like they're controlling the swords of breland
 if zer' hadn't been there yesterday ...
 anyhow it looks like the quori are trying to do to this world what they did to thelanis and they must be stopped
 especially before they find the hedge
 i have to warn the queen so i think i'll send a sealed letter to my father and ask him to get it to her
 
 and now the final surprise
 i finally saw the newspaper from yesterday that medya asked me to wait until this morning to read
 here's the short form of yesterday's "breland ledger" headline story
 d'cannith jorlanna announced a patent on a "new magic process" called "augmentation" that can replace a grown limb with a forged equivalent
 does that sound familiar?
 ...
 if i write more i'll lose composure
 anyhow medya's up so it's morning run time

Continue reading...

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by 3 Armored Kittens · Prodromos v.1.1 - World Anvil 0.9.15.009 © 2017-2024 [en] | Anvil Time: 03:37, Apr 29 2024