My Journal

Jun. 17, 2008

*Disbelief*

You guys are not going to believe this but I'm going to tell you anyways. We are staying with a Griffon! I know it sounds ridiculous, but the Griffons around here are smart, and apparently can talk too. We were wondering around, trying to figure out which way was home. I kept feeling like we were being followed but I couldn't ever catch sight of anything and whenever I told any of the others they said I was just being to jumpy. So we went on and on, it had been a week, when finally yesterday a Griffon landed right in front of us! It had been following us since we started out and had actually been watching us for some time before that. It invited us back to its nest and brought us some meat to cook. His name is Danst, and his mate's name is Festl. She is in a separate nest not too far away with her babies! I don't know how many there are, and she won't let us or Danst anywhere close to the babies.
Danst said he would show us the way home tonight. I've drawn a picture of Festl with her babies, I'll paste it in when we get home.
So there it is, I know that none of you are going to believe me but I had to write it anyway.
~*Arelyn

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Jun. 10, 2008

Lost.

If you would ask Vervan he would say we were 'right on track. If you would ask Dedrè, she would say that we're taking a 'shortcut'. Ask me and I'll say that we're lost. We've been trekking around for a good long while and I don't see anything familiar. I suggested that we should make marks or something so that we could find out way home but Vervan said no, he could find his way home without that sort of thing. Right.
We're taking a breather next to a stream. We're still in the woods but this it is kinda clear here, there is about four for five feet of ground with no trees before it hits the thick woods. Yesterday we were going through a place thick with evergreens and we stumbled into a briar patch. We all got some scratches from that. We also found a lovely patch of nettles not too long ago, my ankles are still smarting. At least we haven't gone hungry; it is a lovely place to find food. It is like someone planted all these berry bushes. They aren't just wild sour berries either, they're sweet and good.
There is more news besides just getting lost, we saw a Dikdik herd and sat down to watch them, just like me and Dedrè did when we were tracking before without Vervan. I got bored and drew a few of the dikdik, maybe I can paste the pictures in later, and eventually we left because nothing was happening. Then later we heard a racket and ran over to see what it was to see Vervan's Tooklas fighting some sort of weird looking dog critter. It was just as big and stocky as Chap, but it had tusks coming out the sides of its mouth! When it saw us it ran away. Chap is fine but we're all wondering what on earth that creature was!

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May. 30, 2008

Tracking Again

We be on a tracking expedition! Me, Dedrè, and Vervan are the only ones going, Phyronia wanted to go but her mom wouldn't let her. =(
Right now we're taking a breather, we left at daybreak and it is a little after noon now. We've been walking the whole time but we're used to it so our legs aren't bothering us. Chap, Vervan's tooklas, is coming along with us. A Tooklas (too-kh-lahs) is like a dog, but much heavier built, more like a bear, and is about three and a half feet tall. They have retractable claws like a cat's and have stubby tails and short hair. They act like dogs though, wagging their tails when they're happy, panting when hot, and barking. Chap is a sweet Tooklas, he lets little children ride on his back and adores being cuddled. Not all Tooklas are as friendly as he.
It is pretty quiet right now, there are a few parrots yelling but nothing interesting. Parrots are always yelling, a leaf falls and they'll scold it for half the morning. We have reason to believe we're on the right track, we're following a herd of Dikdik, and once or twice a shadow has gone over us. When we look there is nothing there but Griffon are the masters of hiding themselves. We are in the woods of course, Dikdik rarely feed out in the plains because of the fear of hunters.
Well, Vervan is looking impatient to be off so I'm going to let off writing. I'll try to give you an update as soon as possible, as long as some rain doesn't blow up and wet my scroll.

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May. 23, 2008

Names

Well, the camping trip was pretty uneventful. No griffons, no dikdik, nothing. You can imagine Vervan's irritation. The only thing that happened was that it rained, right in the middle of the night while we were sleeping. We hadn't brought any tent because we don't ever and it didn't look like rain, but rain it did, and hard. The rest of the night was spent huddled up and waiting for the moons to set. I say, I don't suppose I ever told you that we have two moons? Well we do, a reddish one (more like a light pink I guess) and then a white one. Sometimes we have three, but Ergaos only comes in the fall. So I'll list the names of our moons with their pronunciations yes?
Ergoas [fall moon] {air-go-ahs}
Samgoas [white moon] {zahm-go-ahs}
Rasgoas [red moon] {rahs-go-ahs}

By the way, we do have a different language than some countries. This has all been translated for you. "Goas", which is at the end of all of the moon names, means moon. "Er" means fall (the season fall, not falling down), "Sam" means white, and "Ras" means red. My name means "sunset", Dedrè's means (this is funny) "fallen", Phyronia's means "flower" (the Phyronia is a flower that grows around here, much like earth's passion flower but bigger and more colorful), and Vervan means herb. People names are taken from the "old language", the language that we spoke when we first arrived here. No one speaks it anymore but names are taken from it.

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May. 22, 2008

Campin'!

Me, Vervan, and Dedrè are all camping in the Forest! Vervan was so disappointed about not seeing the griffon that we decided to camp out near where me and Dee (Dedrè's nickname, I'll explain about nicknames in a moment perhaps) saw the griffon! So here I am curled up against a tree writing while Vervan tries to start a fire. Really, he is hilarious. He keeps insisting that he can do it with sticks and is refusing to use the tinder box! Dee is trying to help him out but it looks like she is getting in the way more than anything. We tried to get Phyronia to come but she didn't want to and her mom probably wouldn't have let her anyways.
So, since nothing exciting has happened and since we can't eat until Vervan gets the fire started, I'll tell you about nicknames yes? I hear that in a lot of places people are just called random things that sound like their real name, here people just call friends by the first sound in their first name. If there is more than one person with that sound at the beginning of their name in a group then the older one is called by the first sound in their last name. We don't call people by their nicknames much at all, it is a close friend thing. ;) So mine is Ay, Phyronia's is Phy, and Vervan's is Vayr.
The fire still isn't started, so maybe I'll write their names down with the pronunciation next to it? I know you'll probably think it is pronounced differently than it really is.
Arelyn [air-eh-lin]
Dedrè [day-druh]
Phyronia [fie-ron-ee-a]
Vervan [fair-vehn]

Grrr.... the fire still hasn't gotten started, I'm going to go show them how it's done. =P

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May. 20, 2008

Boring....

It has been pretty boring lately, besides seeing the Griffon, which I am still crowing about. -grin- Phyronia really didn't care about us seeing it, when we told her all she said was that she hoped it would leave Dedrè's cattle alone! Oi! But you should have seen Vervan's face! He was so jealous! He had to go on a trip with his dad, that is why he wasn't able to come with us like he was planning. They went down to one of the bigger town to sell some of their livestock; yes, he is a cattle watcher. Sometimes I wish I was one because livestock is so much more interesting than plants! Plants just sit there, livestock try to get out and chase you around! Hehe, one of the Dikdik bucks chased Vervan around once while I was there and I'd rather have that than plants. -sigh- Ah well, no use wishing for what you can't have eh?

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May. 17, 2008

Tracking

Me and Dedrè went tracking today! It was fun. Found some Dikdik tracks, they're a type of animal that looks like a small deer. It doesn't have a tail and is light brown all over and has white spots on its back. I believe that you guys have them in your world. So we followed them and actually came to a herd of them, eating and running around like... like Dikdik. They are playful critters, and if you get a baby they make wonderful pets. We also just keep Dikdik in herds, like you keep cows. Their milk is very nutritious and their meat it tender and good. So we climbed a tree and sat watching them for a while when a shadow went over the ground. We looked up and guess what we saw!! A Griffon! Of course the Dikdik spooked and ran, but one was caught! The Griffon swooped down and caught it right in front of us!! It was amazing! It flew away as soon as it was sure of its catch but I thought that was exciting.

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May. 13, 2008

Some Ramblings

Today me and Dedrè went for a walk in the woods. We don't venture too far, for sometimes people don't come back when they go too far. Dedrè is more adventurous than Phyronia, she's the one that will go for walks with me in the woods while Phyronia wouldn't dare. Some say that it depends on what grouping you are in. My family are farmers, Dedrè's are too, but Phyronia's are blacksmiths, and the girls usually don't do as much work because girls can't do the hard work of a blacksmith, so they stay inside and do housework. Meanwhile the girls and wives of farmers and cattle-watchers are out helping with the garden or herding the cattle and whatnot. Phyronia's mother is a weak-hearted individual, fainting whenever something moves too quickly, and though Phyronia isn't that bad, some of her mother's faintness has rubbed off on her.
So anyways, our walk, we found some berry bushes and picked some for our families, and for Phyronia. We plan to revisit them because they are awful tasty, grandma made a pie out of them that turned out wonderfully. I helped out a little but I usually don't do much cooking because something always goes wrong. The bread goes flat, when it isn't supposed to, I mean we eat flat bread a lot but we make high bread too. The soup always scorches, I just forget that I'm cooking something and go to the window to chat with a friend and then I come back and it is scorched. Phyronia is an amazing cook, and Dedrè is alright, better than me but still not as good as her mother would like. Hehe, so how is everyone else at cooking?

~* Arèlyn

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May. 12, 2008

Concerning Serantipy...

Okay, I've told you about me, our land, now I'll tell you about our town and people! Serantipy has been here pretty much since this land has been discovered, it was within the first five towns built. When it had been here for a few years it was abandoned because of the air. It wasn't until about a hundred or so years had gone by before it was re-founded by Frestan who named the city Serantipy after his daughter, the original name of Serantipy is unknown. So little by little people started moving here, some left after they found how oppressing the air could be but some were determined to get used to it because they knew that since the air was so strange, the town wouldn't grow too large like some had. That is how Serantipy came to be a town.
It is a small town, for as the people had foreseen, not many wanted to be bothered by the air, which at times does become a little thicker than other times. Most are either farmers or cattle watchers. We have a blacksmith too. All of the families stick to what they were taught to do, if one family are farmers, their children will be farmers and if a family are blacksmiths then their children will be blacksmiths, and so on. It isn't often that a child will change what they will be, and it isn't considered an honorable thing to do either. My grandma and grandpa were farmers but when I marry I will become whatever my husband is. If I marry that is, orphans aren't considered respectable unless they prove themselves somehow, and I haven't had that change yet.
I do have some friend though, and good friends too. Phyronia, who has a beautiful head of golden hair, exactly what I want and exactly what I didn't get, my hair is rather a dark, and wavy too. Her hair is nice and straight, perfect! -sigh- Oh well, Dedre has black hair, black as a raven's, and it is straight too. Those are my girl friends. Vervan is my only boy chum, if you must know I am not boy crazy like some annoying girls are. That kind of girl gets on my nerves, always talking about how cute so and so is. Ugh!
One thing that only the people here know is that the "magic" (as my grandma calls it) prolongs people lives! My grandma is one hundred and seven years old, and one person actually lived to be one hundred and fifty-one!!

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May. 10, 2008

A History Lesson

Okay, so how about I give you a little history lesson? Our land was first inhabited by creatures, strange creatures. Humans first landed here about one hundred fifty years ago and at though the animals stayed out of sight and avoided people as much as possible, some were still seen. These reports spread and soon adventurers would go out in search of the animals to see if they were real. Some came back and told wonderful tales of the things they had seen, but since they had nothing so prove that it was real few believed them.
Well, our first king died and his son rose to the throne. No one knew much about him, and things aren't really different with him king, though the sightings of strange animals grew less and less until they completely stopped, that is completely stopping everywhere but here in Serantipy. More than once there have been sightings of strange things by people that ventured far into The Forest. Not many of them are believed, because there is no solid proof for most of them. The only strange creature that is really believed to be real is the Griffon, which can often be seen flying over our little area here.

I was born here but when mom had me, she left. I have no idea why or where, but she did. I've lived with my grandma ever since. My father, though I never saw him, was once known well in his town, but he died a while ago. No one knows exactly what of but he was found dead in a field with more than one wound on him.
So that is a rough history of my land and my life.

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May. 9, 2008

Alright Then,

Okay, so I guess I should start by telling you a bit about myself. My full name is Arelyn Lewohl and I am seventeen years old. I live in the Lands of King Altanda in the region of Geraphathat in the township of Serantipy. Serantipy is nestled between two mountain ranges and there is a vast expanse of forest land around our town too. There is only one easy way in and out of our town, for the two mountain ranges meet at one end and makes a nice sheltered circle. Many find it disturbing here, not only because there is one way to get here but also because the air is different here. I and others who have grown up here or have lived here for a long while do not notice, but foreigners obviously do because they rarely stay for more than a few days. They say that the air is suffocating.
The air isn't the only thing that scares people away, there are many legends that are woven around this old place. People say magic is what makes the air so thick, and that strange things happen around here. Now don't get me wrong, strange things do tend to happen sometimes, but I don't think that really means that the legends are true. My grandmother is a firm believer in the legends, and has frequently told me them and I will write about some in my next entry.

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About Me

I am a seventeen year old girl living in the township of Serantipy. I live with my grandmother, seeing as my mother and father are dead.

Recent Scrawlings

• *Disbelief*
• Lost.
• Tracking Again
• Names
• Campin'!

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