Journal entry (approx. 6 months before arriving at Windfall Archipelago)
I think I'm about a week out from Emmerfeld. Hard to tell given how...monotonous the Wehlken Plains are.
I've only been gone a week, and I miss home in a way I never thought was possible. It's not really that I miss Tamsyn itself, or even most of the people there. I was always too absorbed with my studies or the tasks Davin gave me to engage all that much with anyone beyond my fellow students of the arcane. Even if I'd wanted to, he didn't give any of us much time to take part in the everyday activities of the village. Too many scrolls to copy, books to bind, magic formulae to memorize...Davin might not have called it a school, but it definitely felt like one.
But I miss Beryl's sarcastic asides, and the goofy faces Dim made when he was concentrating hard on something. I miss Davin's quiet encouragement when we were having trouble figuring out how to get a spell's intonation just right, or his equally quiet praise when someone had those rare flashes of intuition that let them see the deeper meaning that hides behind our physical world and which is the essence of magic. I even miss how he would never tell us anything about his past, frustrating as it was. We all knew he'd travelled Hallea, and probably beyond...but whatever adventures he may have had, he wouldn't drop even the littlest hint. I miss waking up, bleary eyed, with a quill in my hand and my spellbook as my pillow, at the long table in the scrivening chamber. I miss that room most of all, where I spent so many hours of so many years...
And I miss my parents. I didn't think I would. I saw them so rarely once Davin accepted me on as an apprentice, and it never bothered me. I guess it was easier then, they were only a few streets away...it was separation, but an easy one. I'd still see them when I was sent out to gather herbs or collect other magical miscellany for our work. My mother would smile and wave, my father would nod at me and give me that look he had. Amazing how little I realized then how how much those little moments meant to me until after they were gone.
They gave me a gift to remember them by when I left. I know it was Davin's idea, as much as my parent's may have loved me, I know they never really understood me. Davin though...it didn't take him long to know me better than I knew myself. He saw my aptitude for the magic of the written word almost immediately, and, well, he was never someone to just tell someone something. How I hated him early on, wondering why I had to copy, and re-copy scrolls. Having me carve quill after quill after quill til they cramped, or mix ink til I thought I'd never get the smell of it out of my nose or the stain off my fingers and hands. But, like I said, he knew me better than I knew myself. I didn't realize all of that was training me to tap into the magic of scribes, of words, of quill and ink and paper...somehow all of that became an inextricable part of me, and I of it. I'm still not even entirely sure how, but he knew it could happen, and made sure it did.
The gift...this shimmering pearl, bound to a light silver chain. I'm sure he gave it to them to give me to. He was always the type to work through others whenever possible. He must have known they'd want to give me a keepsake to remember them by, but would have had no idea what I'd actually care enough about to actually hold on to. I've always been notoriously bad about losing track of my things. Material things just matter so little in the grand scheme of the world...when you can see behind the veil to the truer reality that underlies our existence the tangible becomes so...mundane. But this pearl...its like it exists both here and beyond all at once. Its magical aura is palpable...and I know I can tap it. I don't think my parents have any idea how valuable a gift this gift actually was, but I'm grateful for it...and not just for the reservoir of magic that it holds. Its a connection to them, and to Davin, and Beryl and Dim...as long as I have it, I'll have a piece of that life with me.
I'm not sure what I'll find in Evershoal when I get there. Davin said I should go to the Cealano House when I arrive, that they always have need for folk with my type of skills. I honestly have no idea what that means. Regardless, a city the size of Evershoal is bound to be the kind of place where magic abounds, far more than home. If I'm truly to become the most learned wizard-scribe in Hallea, then that's the kind of place where I need to be. I'll deal with the homesickness and sore feet and mediocre tavern food. None of that matters when compared to the magic I'll learn...