| Subject: A Shifting |
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Cricket
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Date Posted: 13:41:51 05/22/17 Mon
When I last wrote, I promised to write again before a year was up, but that has not come to pass. Here it is over two years since I last sat down to put my thoughts to paper.
Part of that was for over a year my diary was missing (found at last between my bed and the wall and a great relief) and the other part was that I had so very little time to sit and relax.
Last I wrote of the Menagerie, it was doing well, but that soon ceased to be as arguments became commmon about the monetary arrangements. In the end, I settled. Ownership is still mine and I receive a flat amount per year instead of a percentage. I believe it was the best for everyone as business changed to a more ..lurid taste.
I still keep in touch with RFF and he occassionally helps me with transportation or the like.
I have also purchased an inne and half ownership of a brothel in Ebotai, both of which will not make me rich, but offer at least a profit every month.
In the winter of last year, Rose became ill and by Spring she had not recovered. She died just a month ago. She was more like a mother to me, I believe, than anyone ever had been and I wonder why I am not sad about her death. I feel happy for her, as if she has gone to a better place. Perhaps there is time for tears later, but for now, I have none. I do sorely miss her presence about the house.
A few days after Rose had died, I had gone to the Goats Leg in Ebotai and while there, no other than The Traveler himself walked in the door. You could have knocked me over with a feather. I was stunned and furious at the same time that I was overjoyed to see him still living. Of course I screamed at him and demanded to know where my son was. The son of a bitch had the nerve to appear as if this came as a shock to him, that I did not know. I swear to the Gods, if I had the power to kill him, I would have done it then.
As it turned out, he had come to find me with some idea that he could give back my soul. I do not see how such a thing is possible, but what do I know of such things. If he could take it, I suppose he could give it back. That did not happen however, for he seemed not to know how to do such a thing either. I think it has become too much a part of him. As for me..the longer my soul is gone, the less I truly care about anything. Not that I do not love my children and feel responsible for Meg, but it is a lack of being able to have emotion about it. Impossible to find words for.
T could not give that back to me, he said, but he could give me something else...and what I had obsessed over for the last ten years..was suddenly in my grasp.
I spent a few days with him, in that strange cottage where nothing had changed..even the strange Alundra was still there with her daughter Fen. From Fen, I learned much of what my son had been up to since I had been parted from him. It seems at least, he had a normalcy that I had not expected. I was relieved, to say the least.
At last Trevor led us out and through a portal to the town of Lathport, a dockside town that was haven to shipping and pirates and from what I have learned, a great deal of stolen merchandise. I feared my son was living in wretched squalor or worse yet as a noble, but neither turned out to be true.
Trevor ended up marrying the daughter of the merchant he worked for. The sketchy part is that he took over the business entirely after his father in law died of suspicious causes. Though never charged, he had been the lead suspect. He now owns a quarter of the ships docked in Lathport. He's a shrewd and merciless business man now. It's not what his father had hoped for him, but even he had to admit that if he wanted to do his own thing, he could have done a lot worse." I would find out later that Trevor Jr had made quite the name for himself in the shipping industry of Lathport!
T would tell me one last thing that I know would ease Khaless in his grave and that was that Trevor Jr. now went by the name...Khal.
We would not see our son together and I almost did not see him at all, but after T left again, I went back and I sought him out. I have no words to describe that meeting.
He was stunned to see me, I know, that was clear in his eyes. I do not know if any part of him was glad. Oh he has grown into such a handsome man..capable and ruthless in his business. I could not be prouder of him and while it may sting that he had never contacted me and I was not destined to meet his wife and child, all of that seemed not to matter now that I knew he was alive and safe and not following his predestined future but his own.
It was not easy to tell him about Khaless but at least he did not become angry with me and seemed to accept the situation. He was quite shocked to learn of his siblings however and I thought he might walk out on me when I suggested his sisters come to stay with him.
After some persuasion on my part and deep thought on his, he at last agreed. I think he secretly could not wait to meet them.
We talked the day away in a back room and much of the night as well and I told him all I could remember of the years he was gone. I was relieved again when he said that he understood that it was not my fault and that the reason he had stayed away was simple. He did not want live in the past or in the future that had been planned for him. He wanted his own life. I said I understood..and I tried to do just that.
We would meet again a few weeks later and spend several days with the twins together. I experienced a contentment I have rarely had, when all three of them were seated around together.
Leaving them was not difficult, and we have plans to visit each other often. The twins were ecstatic.
I could not leave however, without offering a bit of a business deal to my son and I relished every moment. He is very shrewd! He allowed me to invest in his shipping company for 30% of the proceeds, which will not see me a profit for at least a year. I am quite sure there was an ear to ear grin on my face as he fleeced me!
With the twins now settled with their brother, I turned my attention to business. The mountain house was put into the name of Benjamin and Rizza and I hold the lien. They will pay it off with the crops they can grow at a rate they can afford. We buried Rose there, near the rose bushes she loved so much and I feel comforted that I can visit her there.
Meg took Luke and I housed them at the brothel for a short time until I could find a place for us.
It took months to find the right place, close to the businesses and close to Lathport, yet not right next door.
When I finally did find a place though, I felt it could not be more perfect.
It is called Verbena Hills, a valley of several farms that grow corn and rye and a small mine of silver that all support the small village. To the north of it there is a manor house they call the Lady of the Hills Manor, named for the beautiful hills that encircle the valley that in the sunset look as a womans face with falling hair of verbena flowers. It is truly one of the most beautiful places I have ever lived and I can not get enough of the sweet smell in the air. It is clean here and open. The farms and villages are all run by a single magistrate named Carlson and the manor house receives the 4% tax.
Carlson seems to me a good and honorable man, two traits sorely lacking in most and I believe we will have a decent business relationship.
The manor house is stone with a splendid array of colors and flowers that crawl up the front. There is a single tower, but many rooms and Meg is already exclaiming how large the cooking stove is. I hope that she can keep up with the size of the house, but I may bring in some help.
Luke is quite excited, running about like a wild thing and finding every nook and cranny the house has. For myself I have claimed the tower, with my office below and my chamber above. I have set aside a generous allowance for all things luxurious, new rugs, new furniture, new lamps. The chimneys were cleaned, the floors polished and all our things are being put away. I feel at home here and I think Meg and Luke do too. I hope I never have to leave.
~C~
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