It seems as though I should attempt to keep a diary. We spoke with the Oracle, after we helped to liberate her. She said something to me that I feel the need to write down.
It seems as though my thoughts are better ordered than I had assumed for a great many years. Frona and the children weren’t simply figments of my imagination, but were my true kin. Someone, or something, has erased them from everyone’s lives except my own. My previous assumptions never stopped me searching for them, but I now feel a renewed vigor.
I had thought myself a doddery old man, but perhaps my intellect isn’t as compromised as I believed. I wish to explore the repercussions of this. I must write it all down, lest it be removed from my thoughts by whichever malevolent force has been interfering with my fate.
Speaking of which, mine appears to have been erased. Or perhaps it is simply obscured behind some fog that the Oracle is unable to penetrate. I’m sure it will turn up, but in the meantime I’ve been given the errand of retrieving an object from the Oldwoods. I hope it might be a pleasant diversion, with a clue to this strange mystery revealed to me before the end.
The group that I find myself travelling with seem nice enough. They all appear to be professionals, at least when it comes to dangerous situations. Indeed, they saved my life yesterday. I received a terrible laceration thanks to some rather overenthusiastic weaponry that couldn’t even wait for their owners to wield them before attacking me. The group rallied around me, which I found rather touching. Perhaps they see my usefulness after all.
Alke and I appear to have fostered an unlikely friendship. At first glance we seem quite different, but I appreciate her lack of duplicity and wry sense of humor. She was reluctant to introduce us to her serpentine hair style, but that’s understandable given that the usual reaction to such things is less than charitable. She was rather impressed with my use of a rock (disguised as a child’s toy) as a makeshift missile during a scuffle outside the Oracle’s temple. Her apparent glee at the death of the guard I targeted should have worried me. Instead, I found her reaction strangely comforting. Many others would have hidden the morbid glee that comes from a death in battle, but Alke displayed it for all the world to see. She is unafraid, and her honesty is refreshing.
Helikaon also interests me. I’m not sure what I expected, but I had heard some tales. I find it difficult to decide if he is troubled or merely introspective. The Helikaon I know of from others certainly has cause to be troubled. If this is so, it is important to ensure that he doesn’t crack at a dangerous time. His smuggling days may be over, but it sounds as if he did plenty to be troubled about. I admit, I am slightly worried that we may be added to his burden before our quest is complete. Perhaps this is all based on hearsay.
I have plenty to say of the others, but I am tired again. I am forever tired, it seems. I am proud that my frail body is still able to be somewhat useful in a fight, but I am barely recovered from my ordeal.
I’ve refrained from discussing our destiny as a group. The task ahead of us is too large to comprehend and I find I am distracted by thoughts of my family. I cannot bring myself to contemplate the larger scale of things right now, not while Frona, Kore and Hekate are potentially still out there. The others appear to have their own personal revelations too, and I wonder if we are all similarly diverted from our task.
For now, they seem to be far more focussed on our grand quest than I. Personally, I see Hekate’s beautiful sculptures in my mind’s eye and I want nothing more than to see them in reality once again. Then there’s the guilt. I should have been doing more all this time. And, of course, there’s the reason why I wasn’t at home when they disappeared.