Extracts from Jern Fretting's Journal

46th February 360 Stratics Reckoning

Many Endings
Troubles never come singly. The Iglata affair in 358/359 and the removal of VanQa from Sosaria in the summer of 359 to what, on coming out of a long coma, was to become her self-chosen isolation in Eska’eldalie removed the light from my life. At the same time Moll left me, accusing me – wrongly - of having an affair with VanQa – though it is true that I fell in love with her, and made a public fool of myself. Moll took our children to be with her mother, the Trinsic prostitute Sharon Sinders.

So now VanQa is gone from The Trinsic Rose and the house she gifted me in October 352 is empty and echoes only to memories of the laughter of my children.

But more than this, though many call me an Elder Blacksmith, my heart is no longer in my work. I have not been to Delucia since the Iglata affair, and now with the rumour of fell blackrock monsters who attack miners even in guarded areas I have neither mined nor smithied. All that remains is my weekly free repairs-hour work at The Trinsic Rose with VanQa's sister Draxandru Rose and the elven bowyer, Aegnor of Silverleaf Village.

Yet I am no longer at ease with myself and after my half-year stay in Eska'eldalie I cannot find my place. The new owner of the tavern, Gwen Irima, is a friendly elven lady, more serious than VanQa and still finding her feet in her new responsibilities. And she has noticed my unease and purposelessness. She does her best to be helpful. Recently she left a keg of forgetfullness potions in the postbox at home, for me to use to get to Eska’eldalie, together with an unsisgned note containing some good advice about how the elves can help one forget everything and begin a new life. But do I want to forget? VanQa? My children? The Trinsic Rose? I can’t say that I do. I must ask Gwen’s advice…

7th March 360 SR

A life in the shadowlands of crime?
So in my mid-thirties I have sought new skills to learn. The seeking has been fuelled by the failure of the Duchy of Trinsic to execute Iglata for his heinious crimes, not just against my beloved VanQa but against her family and all elves. If mass murder is not sufficient a crime to warrant the death sentence then nothing is! My fury rises like bile in my throat when I think on it. Iglata was as good as handed over to the rabble to do the dirty work that the Duchy was unwilling to soil its hands for. Such nobility!

Almost this alone made me foreswear my oath of allegiance to the Duchy. Yet I have not done so – at least not yet. But because Iglata and the Duchy working hand-in-hand together have shown me that crime clearly does pay, I have considered a profession of crime. Yet I don’t want to get into violent crime to cause suffering to innocent people, so I have been looking for another way.

I have not yet begun to learn any skills but even now I can move silently with ease, so I have in mind to learn how to pick locks, snoop and steal. I got the idea when I snuck into Miguen’s house where Iglata had taken residence with VanQa and rifled through their personal belongings, where I found a secret diary that VanQa kept, revealing how unwillingly she shared Miguen’s bed with Iglata. I have also met a detective, an elf called, Aelwynn Oaktree - who lives in Silverleaf Village of all places! He was investigating the mountains of evidence that the hard-working Duchy guards had piled up against Iglata (despite the official lies that there was not enough evidence against him!), and he had asked me to make lock-picks for him which I did.

For a while after meeting Tammy and Tessah I considered moving to The Swaggers Inn at Vesper, where they work. They are simple workers like me, yet full of life and free of so many moral injunctions that bind, as are all the Swaggers staff I have met, including Anna-Maria. They seem to live a life both in the everyday world of tavern-work entertainment and in shadier dealings, smuggling, black market, forgery, procurement and no doubt much more, which is just what I have been looking for.

Vesper also has the death penalty for murder. Much more sensible than Duchy law!

Is this a contradiction? To be drawn to a criminality in a city where crime is properly punished? Do I want to be caught? Maybe it is a contradiction. I don’t care, my anger combined with losing my family and place in the world drive me on.

Working at The Swaggers Inn would have suited me well. Yet nothing has come of this, though I know not why, despite two business meetings with Tammy and Tessah. But fuelled by my anger the change of profession remains and lures me. There are other ways, there always are...

My idea now is that I could set up in business as a private eye and steal to earn my living by the side of my business, whether the Detective Agency prospers or no. In fact, the business would be a good cover for such shady work, just like The Swaggers Inn clearly is.

10th March 260 SR

The pull of Silverleaf
And what of my big house Ye Olde Poste Office? It’s handy for The Trinsic Rose but full of memories of my family and now feels too large for me alone, echoing to my steps. And with VanQa no longer in Sosaria many of the reasons for me staying here have either gone or are now much less telling.

Smaed has tried for some time to persuade me to move to Silverleaf, that ancient village in Yew. He said he would move into a larger house in the village where I could also live. It is true I am much drawn by the idea, as well as, of course, returning to my homelands. Silverleaf is a haven of peace by the sea, and the Silverleaftans are a fine and industrious folk, elves for the most part but also some of other races, including humans, hobbits and dwarves. So I wouldn’t feel out of place there. And distances are no longer an obstacle since learning to recall from roons. I could live in Yew and get to [i]The Trinsic Rose[/I}in the wink of an eye. There is also a detective living in Silverleaf: perhaps we could work together? Yet I haver, unsure of what step to take next. And my children live in Trinsic.

15th March 360 SR

Ye Olde Poste Office changes hands
Like so much in life, big decisions are taken when least expected, as when an opportunity arises and presents itself – and is siezed as an obvious and natural solution.

So it was when I was sitting quietly at home and suddenly the door burst open and two people, a couple, out of breathe, bleeding from several wounds and with a hunted look, rushed in and secured the door behind them. It seemed they found their way here seeking refuge from monsters they could not overcome.

Alraune Kestrel and Adammair stayed a day or so and I welcomed their company. Very taken with the house and its closeness to Trinsic’s Westgate, they offered to buy it. They were astonished when I said it was theirs for the asking, free and without restriction, though first I would have to offer it back to Gwen as the condition of its gift by VanQa 8 years ago was that it should not be sold but given freely, and I wished to give her successor first refusal.

So I move out at the end of the month, and Smaed and I will build a new house in Silverleaf Village between the sea and the village tavern. So I return to a village in my homelands: I am content. There is much to do, and I must teach my children to use the moongates...

Yew, 33rd May 360 SR

Joining the Rebels?
I was curious to attend the famous trial of the thief Ricardo, so I’ve left Smaed to work on the new house and taken time to go to the Court of Truth west of the Abbey, as I wanted to see Britannian Justice in operation. Was it as feeble as that of the Duchy? But the rumours were promising, as it seems the prosecution demanded the death sentence. This puts the Duchy out on a limb and ironically makes Vesper (which also has the death sentence) judicially closer to the King’s Justice than the loyalist Duchy! Disappointed to learn that the trial was over so I missed it, though I did get to experience the tight security there.

It was an interesting visit in other ways too. On the way in there was a crowd of chanting demonstrators, ordinary yewish peasants and workers like me, claiming Ricardo was innocent and demanding his release.

But I managed to get hold of a transcription of the trial proceedings, which I read while sitting in the empty courtroom. Ricardo was found guilty of the charge of High Treason and remanded for execution. But I have to say I was bewildered by the legal language, and I didn’t really understand the arguments.

I left the court and, passing the demonstrators again, I felt a lot more sympathy for their views than I did on the way in. If this is justice it seems most peculiar. Perhaps the law is an ass, and I am becoming a sympathiser of the rebels?

66 June 262

Oathbreaker?
Summer in Yew and high time for me to leave the Duchy and move. Aunt Agnes was admitted as a citizen of the Village of Silverleaf, already in spring. That leaves just me. And of all three Frettings I am the one most indebted to Silverleaf: mainly to Aegnor for his help and advice in so many ways, to make me a better smith. So soon the wheel comes full circle and we three are back together in Yew where we started from some 25 years ago. And I so long for Yew and to live in our cottage by the sea. Silverleaf is an ancient village founded by elves but is open to humans, dwarves, halflings, and others not of the elven race. So I keep my strange connection to elvendom, strengthen it, as I will continue to be a regular at The Trinsic Rose, thanks to the wonders of magical spells of instant travel.

But I am reluctant to break the oath I swore to the Duke personally, as a freeman of the Duchy, especially after he freed me from my servile oath and manumitted my serf status without penalty or fee.

So I have decided to give His Grace the golden ducats I collected in my rag'n bone trade as a serf, many weeks plodding the streets of Trinsic shouting my trade. I left the princely sum of 50,000 in a bag with a letter and included the orphan fund accounts with them - some interesting names there of folk long since not heard of again. I have asked Gwen Irima to give him the bag when she sees him next.

Whether he accepts or no will depend on whether I become an oathbreaker in Duchy eyes.

I heard also in The Trinsic Rose that several extremely wealthy people have donated huge sums to the orphanage charity, together totalling millions - yes, millions! -of ducats it is rumoured. Perhaps it will be announced in the next issue of Ye Sosarian Morning Poste that is already long overdue. Such generosity puts my humble sum - huge though it is to me, and gained by the sweat of my brow - in perspective. The gap between the rich and the poor - and even between the rich and the ordinary citizen - is indeed a vast chasm.

27 March 364 SR

Strange goings-on in the Elven Quarter, from a haunting. A woman figure, human I think, I first saw during free repairs hour this week. She clearly seemed restless and agitated though none of us could make out what she wanted.

She seemed to fix her attention on me for periods and even follwed me back to the new infirmary where I was to spend the night as I often do. I felt helpless to learn what she wanted.

Next tavern night I mentioned this to Gwen and Herenui and Stewan were there too. I no sooner had done so when, lo, there she stood by the window looking out to the west! She may have been there a while but I again felt the icy air and my spine tingling from her presence.

Once again she followed me out as I left. What can she want? I can only think of two possibilities. She may be a ghost from our village of Leafsta. But I more wonder whether it is a coincidence that she appears so soon after the fire. Could she have been a victim of the flames that we missed?

Somehow we must find out...

30th August 364 SR

Jern Junior
Its high time Jern began to think of the future. I had a long chat with him the other day. Its fine for him to camp out a lot near The Trinsic Rose, and sell fish to Gwen now and then, but he was twelve this spring and he will soon be an adolescent. He says he doesn't want to become a miner or a blacksmith, and I can't say I blame him. Things have changed so much since I started my training, mostly for the worst.

I must talk to Moll about this. It would be good if she wanted to move from Trinsic's Travellers Inn to Silverleaf Tavern and Inn where we can better share bringing up Junior together. In any case, I need to teach him how to use moongates and to recall. Then at least he can stay with me when he wants.

38th July 365 SR

VanQa: a dream come true
For some years I have been going to Eska'eldalie to meet VanQa and watched her slow recovery from the horror of what her step-brother, Iglata the drow, did to her. At first she was in a coma for perhaps half a year, and then was withdrawn and sorrowful for a long time. But she slowly became her old self, accepting the terrible tattoo-marks of possession that Iglata had carved all over her body into her fair skin.

Each visit I made to see her she improved and came a bit more out of her shell. We started exchanging letters and I began to dare to hope the day would come when she returned to Sosaria and she could come to live with me in Fretting Cottage - as, on bended knee, I had begged her to.

Our relationship grew and in her last letter, sent at Yuletide, she enclosed a sprig of mistletoe that I hung over the door to welcome her when she arrived. And so I began to dare to hope that it would happen.

Perhaps I am superstitious but I could not bring myself to challenge chance and refurbish the cottage before she came so it would be welcoming for her. So when the time came and she did arrive, I was unprepared. We kissed beneath the mistletoe, though it was by then high summer. And perhaps it is better that we can build a home together. I have had made a fine elven double bed for us from a carpenter friend of Stewan Seagull. Much still remains to be done, but with VanQa now in my life, all is changed. There is no greater happiness than to share my life with the one I love. And I know that over the years time will enrich and deepen our closeness.

4th September 365 SR

Miracles in Northern Yew?
After a bliss-filled honeymoon week at home with my beloved, I returned to the inn at Empath Abbey to seek customers for my itinerant craftworking. Its becoming harder to make a living now and times would be dire if I didn't have savings from the fat years of the '50s: before the blackrock monster-plague, before the ore seams began to erratically shift and overnight making gold-claims not worth the paper they were written on. And when us ordinary folk had more cash to spend.

Here, I thought - with a rebellion in full swing and battered and blunted gear to repair or replace - would be work enough for an itinerant blacksmith and tinker. The old woman, who had she but known it, started the uprising was burned at the stake by the Yew Militia for gathering herbs. It was her martyrdom that triggered a commoner rebellion in these parts of Yew.

Even then it was whispered that bones and ashes from her pyre were being kept as charms. But this was some months ago, and on my return to Empath I sense that fervour has if anything grown. Word has been spreading that miracles have been taking place attributable to this simple old woman - a single charred bone from her pyre capable of effecting miraculous cures and changing hands for staggering sums, the sound of a chorus of monks in the heavens singing her praises, and a blood-red halo seen around Trammel when its at full-moon. And today I have seen there are flowers placed at the Shrine of the Flame in Empath Abbey with offerings and prayers to the soul of "the Martyr Mary". Perhaps this is one of the secrets behind the rebels determination to fight on.

Eska’eldalie, 18th September 366 SR

Farewells and a new start
A whole year has passed since I last wrote in my journal. Life with VanQa in Silverleaf has flown by, as times blessed with happiness so often do. But the lands become increasingly quiet as if awaiting some sign...

I had spent many months advertising my smithing services in Yew with a regular standing announcement in Ye Morning Poste. It was at the time that the Yew rebellion raged and I had hoped this would create work for a smith. But it proved not to be so and the forge in Fretting Cottage remained unused.

Several weeks passed before I spoke my heart to VanQa that I felt I had done all I could and that I am considering giving up smithing. VanQa said nothing for some time. Then she asked if I would like to move to Eska'eldalie where I might teach my human smithing skills to the elves' benefit, and in turn learn some of the higher secrets of elven metal-working.

I did not hesitate, and so it was decided.

The next day I went to what was to be my last Free Repairs Hour of these times. Draxandru Rose and Aegnor were there as usual and I told them of our decision. I embraced Draxy and also Aegnor who has been as a father to me and my mentor and teacher, and I shed a silent tear.

To my surprise and joy, that hour was unusually busy. Many of those I had loved and admired dropped by to say farewell. Stewan Seagull; Devante Stirling; Kaelyn; Lady Tyranissa Wrath with a fearsome pet red dragon; Van Cocidius, the Baron of Vesper; the Duke of Trinsic's son bringing greetings from his father whom I had served first as serf then as freeman; Bevier from Skara Brae came to say au revoir; Sachiko; Rorimac the Silverleaf Hobbit who brough a cake as a parting gift. Other folk came too, some that I recognised, as well as one or two I didn’t.

I was overwhelmed with the emotion of the occasion, I had no idea I had so many friends!

I had one more important leave-taking - Mine Hostess Gwen Irima. And leaving The Trinsic Rose for the last time my heart was heavy. Returning home, VanQa was waiting and we packed and emptied Fretting Cottage, eating Rorimac’s cake gift on our final eve in celebration of my 40th birthday that day.

The next day, with the birches of the Deep Forest flaming in red and gold, we departed - for Eska’eldalie!

On that journey came Smaed, as is his right, being half-eleven. We were accompanied as far as Aldenkoi by Smaed’s mother Agnes “Doomsong”, and by Moll Sinders and our son Jern, now 13 years old and making his first great journey, wide-eyed with wonder.

It is indeed hard to part with so many loved ones, but who knows, one day I may return to Sosaria. And messages can always be exchanged as well as visitors welcomed. Not the end - but a new beginning...