Saturday, November 21, 2020

Two Sides to Every Story

Dear Journal,

It’s been a while since I last wrote in you. Now that I’m back in Saltar’s Port, I can tell you of my adventures once more. You see, I’ve been sending all my stories to Ray while I was gone, but since I’m back home, I can tell them to her in person.

So first off, I was in Smallwood not long ago. There was a big gathering of bandits and the council of Alderheart. Well, not the full council, three of the members. Bita, Twilla, and Rhouragh. The bandits that talked to them were Benna, Lilian, and Mac. I think Mac was just there to protect Benna because he didn’t say much.

Well the meeting didn’t start too well. The Council and Bandits both glaring at each other, not saying a word. I could see how much they wanted to kill one another. I figured it wouldn’t end well if we just watched so I did what mom did to Reya and me, I got both the Council and Bandits to tell their side of the story.

The Council understandably upset that the bandits are hurting and killing many of the folk, destroying or taking property, causing them to have to direct resources to protect the city and not towards the fire crises.

The Bandits were also understandably upset. The city forced humblefolk into the roots of the tree, ignoring their pleads for help when the fire came to burn their villages, taking care of themselves first before anyone else. It caused a lot of anger and backlash against the city.

I again did what mom would have done. I brought to their attention the major issues. The bandits want the city to take care of humblefolk as well as birdfolk equally. They also want the city to take care of and protect the villages being harmed by the fires. The council wants the bandits to disperse and stop attacking the city. They also want Benna to be punished for their crimes. So I used what my dad calls, the “Junk Food” method. What that means is when no one can think of a good idea for dinner, he just suggests junk food. Obviously, most people don’t want that for dinner, so then they start offering better ideas. He starts at the bottom of the barrel for a suggestion which then gets others to suggest something better. I suggested the most radical idea to implement, Making Benna part of the Council. This would ensure someone speaks for the humblefolk and the folk would follow her. She has a bit of charisma about her, I can tell.

Instantly the council, bandits, and my own compatriots started offering better solutions. In the end, we settled on Benna working from house arrest in the city, directing the bandits to be firewatchers. They will direct the city where their help is needed most to protect villages. The council will also elect new members, humblefolk, to be a part of their leadership. Everyone seems happy, and the stalemate was broken.

After the meeting, I overheard Rakuno talking to Benna. I hope he doesn’t get mad if he finds out. It sounded like a friend of his, Fyn, is with the bandits somewhere, and wants to know how he’s doing.

With tensions lowered, there’s now a command center being built in Smallwood to initiate further talks between the council and bandits as to keep a neutral ground between them. I haven’t really thought to consider how the folk of that town feels about it. We did sort of show up unannounced and with a lot of bandits and soldiers. Oh well, I’m sure they’ll make the best of that situation.

With the most serious issues taken care of, we decided we would handle lighter business. Farrah is on the lookout for something along the coast and Spoke received a letter to go over business in Saltar’s Port. I would also like to visit home once more, so I picked up some knickknacks and we journeyed to the port.

Along our way, we stumbled into a dark black Eluran asking us to tell her a story. Spoke gave it a go, but she was unamused. Lucky for us, I know plenty, so I told her of our recent escapade into the bandit fortress. Our successes and failures, and our heroic conclusion. She was a little more impressed and offered us a gift. A bauble that could record our surroundings in a magical bubble the size of our hand. An interesting gift for sure.

We eventually reached Saltar’s Port. I remembered the smell of the sea air, the smell of fried fish, and the feel of the sun and water spray, I was home once more. There, we met and interesting fellow, Frythe Cinquefoil. The owner and proprietor of Frythe’s Bouquet. When Spoke first asked if I knew where the place was, I thought he said Brythe’s Bucket, a nice sea food place. After the group hazed me about it, we found someone that knew where the correct place was.

While at the Bouquet, Frythe made Spoke aware of an inheritance being given to him but wanted to discuss it over with his colleague later over dinner. We were trying to find a good place to meet at, and I brought up I knew of a nice sea food place we could go to.

Frythe bore news of a great uncle of Spoke’s died and left his manor to him and another fellow, Alvin Asphodel. Apparently, Alvin doesn’t want his share and is handing it over to Spoke. Problem is that there are some ruffians that moved in. The manor looks pretty run down, but these squatters are repairing bits of it up. We assume they intend to move in, so we’ll have to evict them for Spoke.

I told my mom about it. She looked so worried, but she doesn’t know what this group can do. I’ve seen them handle themselves in the face of all manner of folk and beasts. We shall see what these folks are up to at the Elrevien mansion. This is it for now. I’ll probably add more to you, Journal, when we finish looking into that problem.

Cork