A Second Chance at Martyrdom

8 Nightal

I’ve been more indecisive than I used to be, with this whole imp thing.

It was just two imps, hardly a threat. But I only found two imps, that were minding their own business, hidden away. Could their summoner summon a far greater number of them? Could they summon far more dangerous devils?

I was stupid before, ignorant. I didn’t worry about the unknown enough, and it could have easily gone as bad as that night with Lung, with me even less prepared than before.

I can’t do that again, just out of some misplaced need to act. Not when I wasn’t in a position to properly deal with it. I need to study more about the threats of this world, as much as I can. Orsik can help a lot with that, and self-study can help cover some of it too even if it isn’t perfect. The more religious aspects can come later, there’s so many hostile and downright evil gods in the world, and all with their little sects and orders hidden away plotting the downfall of the world.

I’ll have to find a teacher for them, at some point. The difficulty is in being taken seriously, because being five again sucks.

I wasn’t going just to leave the imp thing alone though. I couldn't, now that I knew about it.

I’ll drop off a letter tomorrow at the Watchful Order of Magists and Protectors, one of their offices anyway. I’ll do it with a swarm to be taken seriously,, some strange phenomenon like that is bound to raise attention, hopefully.

And even if it isn’t investigated immediately, Howldown is on the eleventh, the Watch will be looking for any excuse to get some business done from the sounds of it.

11 Nightal

I may have underestimated the activities expected for Howldown, and how annoying Pelsot would be about it.

Howldown is some religious holiday associated with the evil beast god Malar, repurposed into a day for hunting. Much of the effort is put on the surrounding lands of the city with the city guard trying to hunt down all sorts of dangers, from brigands to ogres. They would also comb the city for known criminals or dangerous individuals, so everyone would lay low around this time to try and evade trouble or capture.

So this seemed to be the best day for the Watch to raid that house with the imps. I didn’t know what to look for myself but figured that I might learn something from watching how they handled it.

Of course, my brother Pelsot ruined that plan.

Instead of what I intended to do, which was to wait nearby in a warm building to observe what happened during the raid with my insects, Pelsot kept dragging me around to various “adventures” managed by the adults. Because of course, there is a tradition for the children to mimic the guards by tracking down and slaying “monsters”.

And so up and down we went on the thankfully recently cleared city streets, moving from station to station to follow along some plotline of uncovering an evil scheme of giants attempting to subvert the city. A few pretend fights with fairly burly adults, or “missions” like running messages for the Lords’ Alliance to and from different shops in the city, and stuff like that.

I can’t deny that it was an enjoyable experience, if not for the fact that all I wanted to do was watch the raid on the house instead of playing pretend. Pelsot insisted though, and wouldn’t let me out of his sight the entire day.

Was he… suspicious of me? I’ve noticed him following me around when I’ve been out, or at least trying to. He’s more focused on not being noticed most of the time, which is hard to do with a beetle nestled in your collar.

17 Nightal

Pelsot is definitely following me, I’m certain now. I zig zagged through some streets when I knew he was following me and he clearly did his best to keep up.

That complicates matters, but it’s not like I can actually do much during the winter anyway. All the bugs and crustaceans are either hiding in the ground or dead from the cold. I’d have to just hope that he, and likely my parents, eventually forget their suspicions about my activities.

What are they thinking… that I joined some pickpocket gang or something? I know some of the other kids in the area are doing it, and even saw it by placing my bugs inside coin purses during the warmer months and tracking their movements.

It never happened to me though, so I guess they figured I looked too poor to have anything on me at my age.

21 Nightal

Last night was Simril, a sort of star watching celebration mixed with fortune telling. It’s an opportunity for people to look up at the stars to find their “special” star, typically determined somehow from one’s date and place of birth. Tayvra must have been too young in previous years to participate since it involved staying up for most of the night to partake in the city's festivities.

Various bonfires in the middle of the streets, and businesses with roof access having parties indoors to keep people warm during the chilly nighttime.

I wasn’t all that interested in most of it though, because as interesting as it was to look up at the night sky without modern light pollution, by this point it was sort of rather mundane as nice as the view was.

I finally did learn when Tayvra’s birthday was though. Since I was old enough to stay up and star watch with the others, Tulgor took me out during the day to some fortune teller booth to get my star determined. I’d need to remember that my new birthday is 19 Alturiak, or February 19th.

Good to know ahead of time. Apparently Pelsot’s birthday is on 28 Nightal, and Virla’s is on 5 Hammer, and Tulgor’s is on 25 Alturiak. No idea about Jespa though, because nobody told me and it wasn’t exactly a situation I could easily ask about it without drawing some suspicion.

A second birthday… I hadn’t thought much about my original birthday before. It would have been back in Kythorn. I should celebrate it next time. I’ll be sure to remember it.

28 Nightal

Pelsot’s birthday was a subdued affair in all honesty. The kids did go out to play today though, and built him a small snow throne to sit in, surrounded by a small snow fort. It was in Snail Park, basically just across the street from where we lived. During winter, it was something of a snow dumping ground for the area, meaning there were large mounds of snow for us kids to play in.

Afterward, there was a sort of competition between the children. A dozen of us were given the duty of defending the fort, while the rest mounted an assault on the fortification. I enjoyed joining the attackers, and pelting my brother with snow.