Dear Diary 26
July 26th 2009 23:48
Dear Diary,
Evelyn rides at the front with us. We talk, but there is sometimes little to say; she does not speak of her past, before she was captured. Her family lay forgotten in some secret part of her heart, and she does not let them out from there. They are no longer a part of her life. I can see her sadness, and I know she is scarred forever by what has been done to her, but she holds her head high and rides forward as though none of it has happened.
She asks me now about my past, and why should I deny her the knowledge? And so I answer her questions about the Elvish lands. I told her of New Elorian, describing to her the buildings there, the library, the mine. I told her that I had spent most of my life studying there; once a year, for the first few, traveling to the port town, or traveling into Appollinia. That I studied there for fifty years before becoming a teacher-for I had to wait for my predecessor to die. Elves do not die quickly, and rarely retire from teaching; but he was already old when I was born.
I told her of my friendships with various noble Drakor and with the King of Appollinia; with Tylandell, who I had forged a friendship with very quickly. We had met once, both visiting the port town, by pure accident. He had been sent to perform an errand for the King-for there were few men as trusted as Tylandell, and this is still the case-and I was loading ships with trade goods to the Elves back on our old continent-our original homeland.
Tylandell asked me where to find something; I did not at the time know how important he was, for I was only fifteen at the time. I told my father that I would return in an hour. There was plenty of work to be done, loading the silver from our mine onto boats to be sent to our people. I would be back to help with the last of it-for now I had to show Tylandell around the city.
For, though this place had started a town of a hundred Elves, it had grown into a great city over the centuries, as more and more Elves came to this continent. The city, being sister-city to Elorian, is named Valurian. Mostly the city was built upon trading between the mine of New Elorian and the people with their goods from back home. For although only a few thousand remain there, they have much more territory and many more farms. Preserved food goods-preserved by powerful magic-are sent in our direction, and our silver is sent in theirs.
I showed Tylandell that which he sought, a certain store where they sold ingredients in magical spells as well as instruction books. These were the days when men held magic almost as powerful as our own; that has begun to change, and their magic runs somewhat weaker, but it is no worry to my people. Tylandell thanked me greatly, took my name, and discovered that I lived in New Elorian. He told me that someday soon he would visit me there-at the time I did not know what this meant, truly, for I had no idea he was the King's advisor.
Back to the present. Evelyn herself has great magical power. I have been teaching her to use it, and it is quite interesting. Not very many humans have magic-one in three hundred, perhaps-but those who do have it running powerfully in their veins. Their power is not as great as ours, nor was it ever as great as ours, though for a time-from the time of the first King until around a century and a half ago-their magic was close.
It has begun to fade, somewhat, from humanity. Fewer are born with it and it is somewhat less powerful. This is to be expected. While we Elves are born magical beings, and it has always been this way, there has always been a certain type of ebb and flow with the human magic. It fades and then it comes back into strength. It comes and it goes; now it is going. In six or seven centuries it will most likely be returning.
During these phases, when the magic is low, humans begin to forget altogether how to use it; and when it returns at its highest strength, they are found fumbling around, confused. So we teach them, each time, or at least we did the once before that this is recorded in history, how to properly use the Gift they have been given. And they remember, until it fades once more and the centuries go by in which no living man has true magical power.
Evelyn never knew she had the power. I don't know why not-it should have shown itself long ago-but perhaps it simply never mattered in her family, to have the power or not. I don't really know why she was never aware, or why she was never taught to use it to her full advantage. If she had known how strongly it runs in her veins two years ago, she could have quite easily single-handedly destroyed those bandits with magic alone.
If it was not war time, and we were not exhausted from the fighting, devoting all of our strength to the physical, we could have decimated their force in mere seconds. But we must save our strength, and using magic of that calibre will exhaust us further. We must have the energy left to face ambushes in the night.
And so I teach her what I can without utterly exhausting myself. My body aches from the long days of riding and fighting which do not cease. Late tomorrow night we will reach the border fortress; tomorrow morn I will ride Starlight there and back to my group. The Shadowmare can make the journey very quickly. I will inform them that we are to arrive. When I gallop on Starlight I feel as though I am flying, not riding; the rest of the time the aches show their ugly faces.
Tomorrow night we will arrive at the fortress and we will eat a good meal and then sleep. I will take a long, hot bath, the first I have been able to have in quite some time, and then take tea with Shalorin and our new companion Evelyn... and then sleep.
For now, I must sleep, for tomorrow will be a long day of riding.
~Alaendril
Evelyn rides at the front with us. We talk, but there is sometimes little to say; she does not speak of her past, before she was captured. Her family lay forgotten in some secret part of her heart, and she does not let them out from there. They are no longer a part of her life. I can see her sadness, and I know she is scarred forever by what has been done to her, but she holds her head high and rides forward as though none of it has happened.
She asks me now about my past, and why should I deny her the knowledge? And so I answer her questions about the Elvish lands. I told her of New Elorian, describing to her the buildings there, the library, the mine. I told her that I had spent most of my life studying there; once a year, for the first few, traveling to the port town, or traveling into Appollinia. That I studied there for fifty years before becoming a teacher-for I had to wait for my predecessor to die. Elves do not die quickly, and rarely retire from teaching; but he was already old when I was born.
I told her of my friendships with various noble Drakor and with the King of Appollinia; with Tylandell, who I had forged a friendship with very quickly. We had met once, both visiting the port town, by pure accident. He had been sent to perform an errand for the King-for there were few men as trusted as Tylandell, and this is still the case-and I was loading ships with trade goods to the Elves back on our old continent-our original homeland.
Tylandell asked me where to find something; I did not at the time know how important he was, for I was only fifteen at the time. I told my father that I would return in an hour. There was plenty of work to be done, loading the silver from our mine onto boats to be sent to our people. I would be back to help with the last of it-for now I had to show Tylandell around the city.
For, though this place had started a town of a hundred Elves, it had grown into a great city over the centuries, as more and more Elves came to this continent. The city, being sister-city to Elorian, is named Valurian. Mostly the city was built upon trading between the mine of New Elorian and the people with their goods from back home. For although only a few thousand remain there, they have much more territory and many more farms. Preserved food goods-preserved by powerful magic-are sent in our direction, and our silver is sent in theirs.
I showed Tylandell that which he sought, a certain store where they sold ingredients in magical spells as well as instruction books. These were the days when men held magic almost as powerful as our own; that has begun to change, and their magic runs somewhat weaker, but it is no worry to my people. Tylandell thanked me greatly, took my name, and discovered that I lived in New Elorian. He told me that someday soon he would visit me there-at the time I did not know what this meant, truly, for I had no idea he was the King's advisor.
Back to the present. Evelyn herself has great magical power. I have been teaching her to use it, and it is quite interesting. Not very many humans have magic-one in three hundred, perhaps-but those who do have it running powerfully in their veins. Their power is not as great as ours, nor was it ever as great as ours, though for a time-from the time of the first King until around a century and a half ago-their magic was close.
It has begun to fade, somewhat, from humanity. Fewer are born with it and it is somewhat less powerful. This is to be expected. While we Elves are born magical beings, and it has always been this way, there has always been a certain type of ebb and flow with the human magic. It fades and then it comes back into strength. It comes and it goes; now it is going. In six or seven centuries it will most likely be returning.
During these phases, when the magic is low, humans begin to forget altogether how to use it; and when it returns at its highest strength, they are found fumbling around, confused. So we teach them, each time, or at least we did the once before that this is recorded in history, how to properly use the Gift they have been given. And they remember, until it fades once more and the centuries go by in which no living man has true magical power.
Evelyn never knew she had the power. I don't know why not-it should have shown itself long ago-but perhaps it simply never mattered in her family, to have the power or not. I don't really know why she was never aware, or why she was never taught to use it to her full advantage. If she had known how strongly it runs in her veins two years ago, she could have quite easily single-handedly destroyed those bandits with magic alone.
If it was not war time, and we were not exhausted from the fighting, devoting all of our strength to the physical, we could have decimated their force in mere seconds. But we must save our strength, and using magic of that calibre will exhaust us further. We must have the energy left to face ambushes in the night.
And so I teach her what I can without utterly exhausting myself. My body aches from the long days of riding and fighting which do not cease. Late tomorrow night we will reach the border fortress; tomorrow morn I will ride Starlight there and back to my group. The Shadowmare can make the journey very quickly. I will inform them that we are to arrive. When I gallop on Starlight I feel as though I am flying, not riding; the rest of the time the aches show their ugly faces.
Tomorrow night we will arrive at the fortress and we will eat a good meal and then sleep. I will take a long, hot bath, the first I have been able to have in quite some time, and then take tea with Shalorin and our new companion Evelyn... and then sleep.
For now, I must sleep, for tomorrow will be a long day of riding.
~Alaendril
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