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kittenwylde [2013-08-19 02:40:50 +0000 UTC]

(Never mind checking the Journal. I'll just put each entry with its attendant image. Makes better sense that way. So here's the first entry into her new diary.)

Hello, my name is Linnae. I'm from a place I'd rather not name, and today I have arrived in my new home. It's a rather filthy, decrepit old tower, but I'll get it fixed up soon enough.
So. About me. All diaries are curious about who's writing in them, right? Well, like I said, I don't want to talk about where I came from. Suffice it to say the place is filled with intolerance and rigid rules.
I grew up in a nicely privileged situation. My father had a decent estate, and because he expected me to do what proper girls of my station do and grow up to manage my husband's estate, he had me educated. So I know what a lot of people don't. Namely, I know lots of words, and how to write them down, and how to read what I've written. I'm incredibly grateful for my father's foresight, although if he knew to what use I'm putting the knowledge he made sure I have, he'd probably kill me himself.
When I was a little girl, I discovered something about myself. It's a rather uncomfortable subject still, as people where I came from have a fearful intolerance of those who harbor such a secret, but I'm not in that dark place anymore. I've come out into the real world, where people such as I are welcomed, and gifted with musty old towers in hopes that we'll stick around.
Even here, in the privacy of my own new diary, I'm having difficulty committing what I am to paper. Proof, in the form of a written record, that I, Linnae of Woodgarth, am abomination.
Enough. I am a mage. Or I will be, when I learn how to control and use this power I was born with. When I was a little girl, I had a great terror of the monsters lurking under my bed in the night, and I used to make great leaps to get into or out of bed, that the monsters could not reach me. And then, one night, I had to piss terribly bad, but the monsters were dreadfully active. I could here them down there, rustling and sliding about, all scales and slime and claws. They were afraid of light, but I had no light. The night candle had blown out in an errant breeze. But I had to piss, and I was too well-mannered to just do it there in the bed. I wished so hard for a light that one came. What a relief! Clearly, some kind god, probably not Soph who watched over the land of my birth with a stern glare, had taken pity on me and sent the light so I could get to the latrine with no difficulty. But in the morning, when I told my indentured maid about the miracle, she looked so terrified it scared me half to death. She told me never to do it again, and never to tell anyone at all what I'd done, or I'd be burned as a mage.
Mage.
Terrifying concept, for a person from my homeland.
So I kept the secret hidden so thoroughly and well I can still barely even talk about it today. And when I grew up enough to be threatened with marriage to Vikos of Elk Grange, he of the sallow skin and breath like a rotten eel, I took my secret and ran. It took me days of sneaking about and hiding to reach the border separating my homeland from the real world, the outside world where sin and depravity are the rule, where heretics and mages walk freely. I'd rather be alive and free out here, in this fantastically strange land, than trapped into a marriage with someone whose personality has always set my teeth on edge.
I arrived in a small fishing village perched on the shore of a very large lake three weeks ago. Some of my jewelry bought me food and a new-to-me roughspun tunic, a very practical garment for life in the forest I find myself in now. The villagers advised me to go further into this land of the Seven Kings, far away from the possibility that someone might come seeking me. So I did, and a hard journey it was, too. Being the daughter of a landed gentleman, I never engaged in much physical activity. The long walk has left me sore, freckled, and blistered. But the town of Evenwood welcomed me with open arms. It is a prosperous town, located at the crossroads of two major trade routes, and the people are friendly. I used the last of my money purchasing an item in the general store that just may change my life forever. It is a book, titled simply "Magic Theory and Practice." At first glance through the book I saw incantations, herbal concoctions, and exercises for which I have no name as yet. The book is beside me right now, with the candlelight dancing across its worn leather cover, daring me to open it before the time I chose of tomorrow morning.
Simply purchasing the book caused a massive change in my life already, because the storekeeper asked if I were a mage. The resulting discussion led to my taking possession of this tower, a fact which still has my head reeling.
But enough of this babbling for now. I will detail my arrival in the tower tomorrow, when I have bright daylight to write by, and I will be a different person, securely on the road to mastery of the arcane arts.
Goodnight, diary.

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Kerya-Alexis [2013-06-11 05:51:11 +0000 UTC]

Interesting light and shadow!

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