[RP] Visiting Bravia, the husband and such

[Dwayberry]

	Day 11: December 12, 1655 Nocturne completely pelted me with snowballs! Fortunately I managed to dodge some of them, but I didn't catch any. I'll just pretend to be defeated for the time being, and get him back later when he doesn't expect it. If such a thing even exists, looking at the kind of creature he is. Perhaps I should bring home a nice bucket of cold sea water instead. Prepare halibut for breakfast: Cook potatoes, chicory and halibut until ready. Mix in a bowl with chopped onions, dill and sour-cream. Later, in town, some random peasant walked up to me and blabbered something about Aingeal trying to summon golems or something. I told the man I don't give an intimate action about Aingeal's attempts at dark magic. Why does he even talk to me? I cannot blame Aingeal for such attempts though. She probably needs those golems to help her take care of her baby, since Anessen didn't seem very eager to do so, last times I spoke with him. As we headed out to sea later, someone was attacking zyrks on the beach. It is good to know there are zyrks to hunt in this town. I wonder why so many people are muttering to themselves when they slay a zyrk or yvyrm. A loud victory cry would be more logical, or just a quiet but grim determination.

[Dwayberry]

	Day 12: December 13, 1655 Nocturne must be thinking snowballs help me wake up better... It is true that the cold snow helps to alleviate the fatigue some, but it's just not fair to pelt a woman while she is still in bed. I must make this clear to him. Speaking of snowballs, that Rannek throws very far, all the way from Bravia. Must be a downhill thing. At least his aim isn't very good from that distance because all snowballs missed me. After I strolled the Paz market and bought some decently priced eggs, another random peasant walked up to me - or perhaps it was the same man, I can't tell them apart very well - to tell me the mayor is taxing brains? I don't even know who the mayor of this town is, but clearly this peasant must have paid his taxes already. What an idiot. Fortunately he dropped some silver as he left so that conversation wasn't a complete waste of time. I met Ambra in the tavern later. She brought Tabby's kittens, which have grown quite a bit. Apparently they can be quite aggressive. They must have this trade from their father, because Tabby is a coward. Sadly, Aldwyn wasn't with me to see the kittens. Ambra became very enthusiastic when I mentioned the North Staunchville Winterfest tree and she wants to go there as well. She is too old to put up a sock, but perhaps no-one will notice if she puts a children's sock in there. I will probably be the one who puts something in there in that case.

[Dwayberry]

	Day 13: December 14, 1655 I am getting sick of those peasants in Paz! They speak way too freely. And it seems that what they're saying gets more nonsensical with each passing day, to the point of me actually checking for signs of angel wings or a halo on this man. He said something about some other guy fighting zombie fish. As if there would be any zombie fish in the waters without the goddess telling me about it. The peasant left immediately when I reached for my dagger. I took Aldwyn out fishing again. He insisted on bringing one of his toy boats and pulled it behind my rowboat on a string. He enjoyed his little boat bouncing on the waves and it distracted him sufficiently from me catching and killing four bass. I left them in the boat, packed in snow, and looked for sea shells with Aldwyn before returning to the inn. We collected periwinkles and those scallop type shells, and razor clams as well as some types I don't know the names of. I should ask Nocturne about it, he probably absorbed the knowledge about this kind of thing from someone or another. The most fun part was when we built a sand castle and bombarded it with snowballs once it was finished. Flood tide beat us at destroying it completely, however.

[Dwayberry]

	Day 14: December 15, 1655 Nocturne was very sweet to me this morning, without snowballs entering the picture. I'm glad I completely forgot about my plan to wake him up with a bucket of cold sea water. It has been snowing very hard during the night! I took Aldwyn out for some snow fun, and then another peasant walked up to me. This one muttered some nonsense about Rannek being some aggressive Rieronesque type looking to kill sick people. I told him to get lost before I would be looking to kill him. I also told the inn keeper to keep those peasants away from the inn, but he claimed something about having hired them to keep the path free of snow. If they continue to bother me I shall leave without paying. I swear these peasants make me sick! I felt very nauseous later today. Fortunately I didn't have to vomit. Fish is particularly nasty half digested and mixed with stomach fluids. I had to lay down and Aldwyn stroked my hair and laid his head on my stomach until I felt better. I must have fallen asleep after that. When I woke up, there was a big pile of snow next to the bed in roughly a snowman shape. Aldwyn proudly pointed at it and said ''That mommy!''

[Dwayberry]

	Day 15: December 16, 1655 Nocturne used all the snow from Aldwyn's melting 'snow-mommy' to pelt me! I had to hide under the bed covers halfway through. The sheets were so wet in the end, the inn's maid might wonder what happened when she comes to clean later. We decided to stay in Paz for one more day and travel tomorrow. I need to pick up some snowballs to get back on Nocturne, of course... Today I chose to wear one of my fancier dresses with matching hat, to hopefully look too wealthy for peasants to come up to me and speak to me. It appears to have worked as I was not bothered by any peasants today. The clothes were not very convenient when we went fishing, however. The wind blew my hat into the water twice and somehow it was harder to pull out of the water than fish are. Aldwyn thought it was amusing and I suppose that is worth something. Tomorrow I shall put on a regular winter hat again and hope no peasants will follow us out of town. I have prepared a stash of snowballs which I hid in the flower pot outside our window. I hope Aldwyn won't give us away when Nocturne returns. He is giggling constantly.

[Dwayberry]

	Day 16: December 17, 1655 I managed to wake up before Nocturne, and attacked him successfully with the snowballs! He dodged some, but several also splattered right in his face! Ha, such a joyful morning. It made me feel very energetic for this day. Unfortunately a peasant had to almost ruin things when we were loading up our things for travel. This one was not a man, but a filthy looking woman with long, curved fingernails. She dared to grab my arm! And spoke "I heard that Nocturne was going to turn all the temples dark so he can summon a beast to destroy his enemies" I said he already did, and then went for her throat! It was Aldwyn's desperate cries that brought me back or I might just have strangled that woman right there. As I let go of her, she turned and then fled. One of her fingernails broke off and stayed behind in my sleeve. Disgusting! I would have preferred to block at that moment, but Aldwyn was so upset I had to comfort him and not scare him further. I left that fingernail as a present for the innkeeper, as a reminder he needs to keep those peasants away from his inn. We headed out north. We did not stop in Bravia but immediately crossed the Bravian River to continue the path north. Near Bravia, the river is rather wide and shallow. I vaguely remember seeing the source of the Bravian River in the mountains, and it is hard to believe this is the same river. Some locals tied irons under their shoes to glide over the ice. I am glad not many do that on Lake Fenia, I don't need people bumping into me as I am trying to fish.

[Dwayberry]

	Day 17: December 18, 1655 The main road to Staunchville goes straight through the woods. One would expect a better maintained road leading to the capital, but the north of Bravia has always rather stuck to itself. Perhaps Bravia city has always been more interested in wood from Cork. If that situation has changed anything, it's not visible by looking at the road yet. As it got increasingly dark, it was hard to pull the sled over the tree roots. We made camp on the road for the night. I miss my bath, but other than that it's quite nice to be just with my man and child. We brought enough blankets to stay warm for the night and the tent will keep out the snow. I have trouble falling asleep as I keep thinking of my journey south, six years ago. I didn't even take this road, but a path through the mountains west from here, straight from North Staunchville to Cork. Snowfall came early that year and I had to spent several nights in a cave as a snowstorm raged through the mountains. The memory makes me feel very cold despite laying close to Nocturne. Some wolves are howling in the distance and Aldwyn whines in his sleep. I am not afraid, just uncomfortable. I'll be happy to move on tomorrow.

[Dwayberry]

	Day 18: December 19, 1655 I was happy to arrive in Staunchville, even though it is not the most interesting town to be. It's located in the woods, but most citizens shifted to a mining profession generations ago. Many of them have the exact facial expression you'd expect from someone who works in the mines for a living. The entire town reflects the majority of the population lives on low wages. The inn here is simple but decent. I took a long bath to remove the chill last night left me. Afterwards, I went to the market to buy some snowflake cookies for Winterfest. I remember the cookies in North Staunchville being very good, and my steward Elias can make some very decent ones as well despite him never visiting northern Bravia. I do prefer to get fresh ones, however. Buying them in North Staunchville would be too late for Winterfest, and the ones I bought here look tasty enough. It was a bit hard to not try them already, to be honest, but I managed. I noticed an insane amount of soiled leggings on the market. This town must have had a huge zombie problem and now they're trying to sell what's left of them. It makes the town square smell nasty, as if a bunch of dusty miners doesn't create enough filth already. I hope for the citizens that those leggings are sold before summer heat arrives. In the midst of the snow and mine dust, I found a rose bush that was still flowering. I picked a rose to make our simple room at the inn look more appealing. I want to make Nocturne exceptionally happy tonight, so he'll forgive me wearing a fancy hat tomorrow. It is quite exciting to be so close to my old home town again tomorrow. I don't think anyone will recognise me after all those years, but I don't want to take any risks, so I'll have to dress in a way no-one will even suspect me to be that young woman who used to live there...

[Dwayberry]

	Day 19: December 20, 1655 My expensive green dress and fancy white hat weren't the most practical outfit for the journey to North Staunchville, but I managed without tripping. Nocturne, of course, knows most of the actual reason why I want to avoid the small chance of someone recognising me here. I told Aldwyn his mommy dressed like this because green, white and gold are the colours of Winterfest. Many locals also dress in these colours on the days of Winterfest to honour the spirits of Snow, Evergreen trees and Return of Light. The large spruce was already erected on town square. It seemed smaller than I remember from childhood, but it's magnificent enough to impress Aldwyn and he pulled me along to put his sock up the tree, to join the socks of the local children. We picked a good spot, a safe distance from the candles in the three which will be lighted after sunset. It's a miracle accidents rarely happen when the candles are lit. I remember the whole tree being on fire only once, and my gran told me not to laugh because such an event promised a long, exceptionally cold winter, late spring and bad quality lumber for the woodcutters. I don't remember if such a catastrophic year actually followed. We returned to town square after sunset to see the candles lit. A large group of locals gathered around the tree in a circle and sang: Oh Winter-tree, oh Winter-tree, your leaves are so unchanging Not only green when summer's here, but also when it's cold and drear Oh Winter-tree, oh Winter-tree, your leaves are so unchanging Oh Winter-tree, oh Winter-tree, your candles shine so brightly There's only splendour for the sight, so that light may return so bright Oh Winter-tree, oh Winter-tree, your candles shine so brightly I returned again after dinner, when Aldwyn was in bed, to put a present and snowflake cookies in his sock. I haven't seen Ambra today, but I looked for the largest sock that may belong to an adult. I stuffed some cookies in it and a scarf. If this sock isn't Ambra's, I'll have to accept I gave a present to a random stranger.

[Dwayberry]

	Day 20: December 21, 1655 Before we took off this morning, we took Aldwyn to the Winterfest tree where he relocated his sock and found the presents inside. I'm glad to see how happy he is with his new, bright crayons. Sadly, the cookies I bought in Staunchville have a strange off-flavour! Aldwyn likes them and it seems Nocturne doesn't see anything wrong with them either, but I can clearly taste they aren't as they should be. I let Aldwyn eat them though, as Nocturne didn't detect any unsafe ingredients. I want to give the baker a piece of my mind, but unfortunately we have no time to stop in Staunchville on our way to Navy Island. We did not reach Navy Island, but set up camp near the gold mine east of Staunchville. I don't like mines. Even the idea of working in one gives me some trouble breathing. Honesty, I'd rather be a peasant begging on the temple steps than work in an underground mine. When I got sentenced for a failed revolt a few years ago, I had to work the quarry near Fenia City for two days. Fortunately I did not have to go underground, but it was a dreadful experience nonetheless. I swear I can hear miners sing songs in the distance. They're probably sharing a campfire with those goody two shoes zyrk that repair mines in exchange for stale bread. It makes me feel like going hunting, despite the stomach pain caused by those stupid cookies.