30th day of the 10th month of the year 718 KDC

I spent almost the entire day wandering the compounds of the mercenary guild. They are quite large. Such a difference from the orphanage. Nothing against the orphanage, it was just a small place in an out of the way area, funded by the meagre money it received from the government, if it ever did arrive.

But this place was something else. Each of the rooms set aside for sleeping were nearly half as big as our dormitory had been. And we had twenty or more children staying there, while each of these room appeared to house only a single person. I made sure not to intrude on anyone who was occupying a room, but as Hawk had implied yesterday there were plenty of vacant rooms littering the buildings surrounding the central square.

The square itself was another wonder, easily large enough to fit the entire orphanage building inside of. It appeared like it was divided into different areas, and the ground, while looking like clay, was very well worn, by the numerous feet that have traversed it in his life time.

Off to one side a few sparring dummies had been set up, the wood had a ‘loved’ look about it, but currently there was no one practising. Another area had some straw bales set up with cloth wrapped around them and targets painted on the front.

I had sat down and watched for a while though, as a woman was practising archery. It was intriguing as I had never seen anyone do archery before. Watching as she drew the string back, lined her arrow up with the target… released and… jiggling the arrow flew straight for the target. Yes, that’s what I watching, the arrow, definitely the arrow.

When she went to release her next arrow she glanced over to where I was sitting starin silently watching her with my chin resting in my palm and my elbow on my knee. Sounds awkward when you write it, but you know what I mean. Well, she saw me, and suddenly the arrow shot over the top of the target, missed the wooden wall which acted as a safeguard, and sliced right through the paper coverings over the one of the doors to the room.

Silence followed for a short time, but then suddenly a crash echoed through the yard and with a last look my way, brow furrowed, she took off in the ooposite direction. She left me, someone unknown to everyone in the compound (well, I think I am unknown) to be in the line of fire when a man rushed out of the room, face red with fury.

“THAT WAS ONE OF MY EXPENSIVE VASES!” he was screaming while he pointed his finger towards me. I was at a loss as to what to do. I didn’t know anything. He had started walking towards, and I had tensed up, but then he had stopped, looking at me, mouth moving but no words coming forth.

This confused me to no end. Then suddenly.

“Bastia..?” he had started but I had quickly interjected.

“Iggy!” I called out. I must have seemed like a mouse though, cowering away from this massive brute who had come out yelling about something.

The man blinked at me, and then muttered something as he turned and left. I think he mentioned Hawk, but I didn’t quite catch it. The lady, who I think is older than myself, was nowhere to be seen. Looks like I dodged a bullet there. Seems a few more people know about my father than I had thought there would be. This might take some time to get used to.

I kept wandering around for a bit until I found a quite section of garden, off past the baths. BATHS?? This place even has its own baths! And it looked like they may have been open air ones. I didn’t go in to take a look though, thought it might be a bit rude of me, especially since I couldn’t tell if there were separate ones for male and female or if it was just a single bath. But BATHS! If I do stay here at least it will beat the once a month rince off we got at the orphanage.

Anyway, back to what I was saying. I found a small garden, and it had a nice bench, so I sat down on it and just contemplated what was going to happen to me going forward. I rattled off my current possessions:

- Sword Katana

- Mystery Journal (which I am currently writing in)

Aaaaannnddd that about summed it up. It’s doesn’t look like I really have much. So, thinking on that, I was offered a position in the mercenary company by Hawk. Of course I would be lowly ranked, with no knowledge of combat, no real worldly experiences, and just nothing to make me a worthwhile person in the group at all….

Man, sounds like they really shouldn’t have given asked me to join, when I write it down like that. But, anyway, even if it was only out of pity or duty or something else and it just all relates back to who my father was, even if it was about that I still need a place to stay.

And I am willing to work hard for it! I am not above a bit of manual labour, not above getting dirty practicing every day. I will train in the sword! I will train in whatever they tell me to do! I will make them tea if I have to! But at least, if I accept their proposal, I will have food and a roof over my head, maybe even one of those spare room.

Imagine, a room to myself. Just me, my bed, and some furniture. No vases though, they seem to get broken… But a room! Look, I’ve made up my mind, tomorrow I’ll go see Hawk and tell him I accept!