[RP] Visiting Bravia, the husband and such

[Dwayberry]

	Day 31: January 1, 1656 I think we passed Verdilla during the night. We could spot some lights in the distance. It snowed very lightly. I threw a few snowballs in the direction of shore, but as I used quite a bit on the siren I had to make sure to save plenty to keep the xanthareel meat packed. I'm not sure if any snowballs arrived. I can't throw that far and none were returned, but as we sailed passed the town, suddenly bundles of multicoloured sparks exploded in the sky! The explosions were shortly followed by bangs and whistling sounds. I've never seen such strange light before. It looked rather impressive and Aldwyn loved it! He got so excited he nearly fell out of the boat. I wonder if this is a Verdillan tradition to mark the passing of Winterfest and the end of the year 1655, or if Balerion arranged this? Either way, I should find out some time how this is done! Hopefully it's not just magic. We continued to sail north-west and the sky fire explosions are now too far behind us to see. It stopped snowing. The sea is very dark and quiet, and stars are occasionally visible between the clouds. I'm thinking this must be a very peculiar time of the year for a family holiday, but somehow it feels good to be out at sea in this weather. It makes the water smell fresher than it would in summer.

[Dwayberry]

	Day 32: January 2, 1656 We woke up with no shore anywhere in sight. I'm not sure if we're really that far out at sea, or if the weather conditions don't allow for a good enough view. We're still heading north-west. It's gradually getting colder and the wind is picking up. I've never been at sea for this long and it is quite calming, but I hope we will find land soon before a storm might come. Even though it stayed windy, the sky actually cleared so I think we don't have to prepare for any bad weather now. Although occasionally a wave splashes against the boat, spraying us with some sea water. I'm looking forward to a nice warm bath with fresh water, as this sea water doesn't do much for my hair. Poor Aldwyn is getting a little bored. He wants to go to the tavern to meet people he likes, such as "Dalla" and "Boat". I should ask around if anyone has seen a man resembling Casimir once we go on shore, wherever that may be. I worry a bit for Dahlia's health now her man is missing. She seems to be at risk of becoming depressed and I don't think the kind of distraction I found when I lost Roger would work for her. Besides, her relationship with Casimir has always been very different and far more stable than my relationship with Roger. I am not sure what it really feels like for her to lose him, it could be as bad as it would be for me to lose Aldwyn, for example. She is also very young and I'm not sure if she ever learned to cope by herself. If that man won't be found, this could lead to some very complex problems.

[Dwayberry]

	Day 33: January 3, 1656 Land is visible in the distance! It looks like some rather high hills on the horizon. Aldwyn is so bored he seems to forget every five minutes that we spotted the land already, and points it out again and again to me and Nocturne. As we move closer, there is more activity on the water. We passed a few fishing boats, but most fishers don't look at us at all, or their eyes follow us very mistrustingly. Either way, this means a town is near. We sailed into a narrow bay that cut deeply into the hills. The scenery is actually very nice. Most of the hillside is covered in snow and forest, but some part are scattered with rather colourful homes. Aldwyn thinks the children here coloured the walls with crayons. The houses became more dense until we finally arrived at the town harbour, deep into the bay. We could not get in, though. Several smaller boats came to us instead and it took a while before I could understand their angry shouts in thick accent I haven't heard before. They wanted to know who we were, what our business was. Apparently, visitors don't come to Fullerium, capital of New Fulleria, and definitely not in winter. And they are even less welcome when they don't even instantly realise to have arrived in Fullerium, capital of New Fulleria. Questions about an Old Fulleria are not approved of either. I asked about any inns and they claimed to not have any. Eventually they left us after a "wait here" and a warning we better not fish in their harbour as it's for citizens only.

[Dwayberry]

	Day 34: January 4, 1656 We had to "wait here" for hours. Local children with the luxury of roaming the harbour without their parents stopped to watch us curiously. Aldwyn became more and more upset as he wanted to go on shore and be with the other children. It took all my concentration to keep waiting there and not just punch anyone getting in my way of going on that bloody shore already. I told Nocturne that if this would take any longer, we should leave and find a piece of uninhabited shoreline. Fortunately they returned before I reached the end of my patience. Aldwyn was sobbing uncontrollably now, but the guard I spoke to merely raised her voice to make herself heard. It came down to us being allowed in town, but not being allowed to fish, purchase any goods on the market, or selling anything without thorough inspection of the goods by guards. We couldn't take our xanthareel meat with us, but for a sum of one hundred freznics they would take us to a tavern where we could get a meal and probably have some place to sleep, too. Furthermore, we wouldn't be allowed to leave without a thorough report of what we had been up to in this town. I'm seriously wondering what happened to this town in the past to make the citizens this hostile. The guard bit my freznics several times after I handed them over. She must have never seen the face of king Zuan before. "Who?!" she eventually demanded to know, pointing at his image on the coin. I told her about the king of Fenia, and that he is single, but she didn't seem at all interested. Some guards stayed behind with our boat while the others led us to a simple tavern. The meal and klahua was alright, but it displeased me to hear I wouldn't be able to take a bath and there were no rooms. We had to sleep in the hay in the next door stable. The barman told me about a bath house near town centre and I was tempted to go there, but Aldwyn fell asleep in my arms so we retreated to our hay beds. Under different circumstances, this might have made for a fun night with my husband. As it is, I need to make plans to get my money back before we leave this miserable town.

[Dwayberry]

	Day 35: January 5, 1656 Fullerium could have been a fine town. The harbour is secluded, there is plenty of fish near, the surrounding hills are full of wood and the colourful houses add to the nice scenery. However, everything is spoiled by the grumpy citizens and overabundance of guards here. I went to sea our boat, to find it was still being guarded. I later visited the bath house. Apart from the lack of privacy, it was actually quite pleasant. I should visit the one in Imperious some time as well to see if it's equally big. I floated around in the hot water for quite a while, ignoring the mistrusting stares from the other women as much as possible. They're probably just jealous of my looks, it happens. Once back out in the cold, I remembered I still hadn't thought of any plan to get my hundred freznics back. We plan to leave this unwelcoming town tomorrow morning and I don't even know the whereabouts of the guard who took the money. If only I hadn't felt so tired yesterday, I could have followed her. Perhaps I should just demand to get it back when I hand over the report of our business in this town. I made it as detailed as possible, including all outhouse visits.

[Dwayberry]

	Day 36: January 6, 1656 Everything went more smoothly than I expected this morning. They must have been glad to see us leave. When I visited the guardhouse near the town hall to deliver the report of our business in town, I was greeted by the same guard who spoke to us when we arrived. She took the report and read it with a frown and pursed lips, reminding me a bit of a certain grumpy guard I had to misfortune to work with in Fenia, a few years ago. She nodded curtly and then actually gave me my money back. Apparently the whole reason for this payment was to discourage visitors to try leave secretly in the night. Before I left, I asked her what the reason was for the extreme number of guards in this town, but all she said was "Mayor's orders." We packed our things and left north-east, into the snowy hills. I'm glad no-one made a problem of us travelling further inland. Apparently this mayor is only interested in protecting the capital from strangers, and not the entire viceroyalty. Perhaps it is one of those xenophobic leaders who, one day, will split his town from the rest from the viceroyalty and nickname it an independent viceroyalty by the same name as completely different viceroyalty that doesn't even have anything to do with them. Gods know I've seen that happen before. The landscape became more hilly and eventually mountainous the further north we travelled. We passed a dimly lid mine entrance with quite a number of dwarves gathered outside for a meal. I haven't seen larger groups of dwarves before. It makes me wonder if there are any underground towns here. Aldwyn was feeling hungry and wanted to join the dwarves, but I felt nothing for spending the night anywhere near a cramped mine. The dwarves were kind enough to point out the direction to the closest town, however. Aldwyn said ''Nice little men!" and waved at them as we moved on. We soon followed a snowy, but fairly decent path downhill through a pine forest and arrived in the town of Pendatilla by nightfall. Similar to Fullerium, the town is located around a deep bay surrounded by wooded hills, although their harbour is smaller and the majority of the homes are located higher up the hills. It appears most citizens here make a living by wood cutting. No-one tried to stop us in the quiet streets and the local inn is small, but at least the innkeeper seems friendly and there are rooms and a bath available.

[Dwayberry]

	Day 37: January 7, 1656 Apparently, Pendatilla is famous in the viceroyalty for the special "Pendatillan Pine", a pine species taller and stronger than the average pine. There are plenty of woodworking shops here selling both practical and decorational items made from this pinewood. I bought Aldwyn some blocks. I can't really tell if the quality is any better than the blocks he has at home - although naturally, the seller claimed it is - but we couldn't bring all his toys on the journey and this will help keep him occupied and happy. I considered going woodcutting today, but I didn't bring my axe, and don't feel like buying another. I strolled the forest and it reminded me a little of the village near North Staunchville where I grew up. Log sliding was a somewhat dangerous, but popular pastime there on off days after temple mass during winter. It was usually done on smaller chopped logs, but sometimes, a group of brave citizens would go downhill on a whole giant tree trunk, stabilised with ropes so it wouldn't roll over. I wonder if there is any sport like this out here? The hills are steeper than those around North Staunchville, so it would be even more dangerous. I need to keep track of where we are going so we won't get lost.

[Dwayberry]

	Day 38: January 8, 1656 We left Pendatilla and travelled further north, or rather north-west. Eventually the road roughly followed the coastline. The area is rather mountainous and the cliffs are steep. The view of waves breaking against icy cliffs is magnificent. Aldwyn complains when I don't let him stand close enough to the edge for his liking, but the road is icy too and I can't have him slipping and falling and, well, dying. I expect there might be some small, secluded beaches on the bottom of the cliffs worth checking out with a beloved one. However, such a cold day isn't very suitable for such an activity. Fortunately Nocturne agreed to move on to the next town. We passed a stone quarry. It brings back some nasty memories of my two days working the Fenian stone quarry, although the circumstances are very different. Cleaving stone wasn't a pleasure in hot summer weather, but I think it might still be preferable to having to remove a layer of snow and ice first. The quarry workers have ice in their hair and eyebrows where sweat has frozen. It was dark when we reached the town of Carabilla, except for some vague streak of bluish green light in the sky. I'm not sure if it was a strange cloud or something else? If it was generated by magic, that must be one powerful person or a group of magic users. The light seemed to stretch out for many miles and moved slowly in different shades of green. If this is something generated for Winterfest, it is definitely the most impressive Winterfest light I have seen so far.

[Dwayberry]

	Day 39: January 9, 1656 I asked the inn keeper about the green sky lights. She said they aren't generated by magic, but are probably lighted by mages when they celebrate Winterfest, although they aren't clearly visible every winter. She also said that others claim it happens when the sun cools down in very cold sea water. This would also cause the sun to not rise as far above the horizon as it does in summer, because it lost too much energy. Sounds plausible enough. We are staying here for a day and went fishing. It was snowing rather hard and the water that occasionally sprayed in our faces was uncomfortably cold. Fortunately, the catch here was good enough to make up for it. There are indeed some small beaches outside the bay, but they are very difficult to access in this weather and surrounded by rocks and icicles. This is roughly the road we followed.

[Dwayberry]

	Day 40: January 10, 1656 We travelled south-west to a town called Trenona. It appears New Fulleria is a peninsula with all major towns close to shore. The orchard town of Trenona also has a harbour. I'm very pleased to inform that they grow strawberries here! They grow between the trees on the hills and they are a lot smaller than the Bravian ones. However, they appear almost sweeter! Or perhaps it is my imagination as it has been a while since I had fresh strawberries. I defrosted several in my pockets before eating them, but then a local told me deep-frozen strawberries are a winter delicacy here. They like to put them in their drinks. My water tasted better indeed with some deep-frozen strawberries, but it does little to warm up a person. Too bad they don't have this available in summer. After dinner at the inn, we had a dessert consisting of 'salted caramel strawberries'. They combine their local fruits with sea salt to create this trademark dessert. It tastes quite interesting, but I think I like the deep-frozen strawberries better. I find myself unable to sleep. My stomach disagrees with the salted caramel strawberries. This proves strawberries were never meant to be salted. Strangely enough, Aldwyn and Nocturne don't seem to have any problems with it. I woke up both of them with my noises, and we agreed to stay here for another day so my stomach can settle.