Sachihiro

Life has taken on an almost normal level of inurgency and I’m enjoying it for a change. Everything seems to have plateaued and settled into a comfortable nitch of routine where the days almost blend into each other and a month has passed before anyone knows it. There is peace, moments of relative quiet, laughter, tears and the drama I've accepted comes with too many women in the same family. Every evening after our party has travelled a ways covereing an adequate distance I find a comfortable place to rest and close my eyes as I listen to the stories Katya has to tell of my loved ones daily lives.

It’s my routine now and I already have times when she is freely available for debriefing on gossip. Besides seeming more nosey than usual no one in the family has noticed much of a change in her behaviour and the children have no authority over her anyways regardless of her station so they can’t chase her away even if they wanted to thus she makes an efficient spy. And to be honest the children live some of the most fascinating lives I’ve ever heard about in all my years. They have little secrets and are manipulative in these adorable ways that they think they’ve gotten away with and they are almost constantly fighting, either each other or together they fight others.

My children are tyrannical amongst their peers whenever they choose to be. It's a side of them I hear about I've never experienced, I'm fascinated by it all.

It’s becoming obvious that Iki is the most vicious of brawlers in her age group and even some of the older children are scared of her. My children have become a group not to be messed with since retaliating after a boy broke Aurora’s finger in a sparring match intentionally when the instructor wasn’t looking. Aurora, Hannah, Ikigai and Om’s son Andrew apparently waded through the elven boy’s friends and managed to break both his hands before the adults managed to stop the fight that took place after the sparing training.

The boy’s parents were not amused but understood that seven and eight year olds do unreasonable things sometimes and the incident should stop there. It didn’t and the boy recruited his older brother and the brother’s friends to intimidate and teach my girls a lesson. It didn’t turn out as they had expected as during the ensuing drama my girls Iki and Aura went into their first public berserker rages. The three 15 year olds and group of 8 year olds found themselves in a fight of their lives as Aurora used abilities they had very little counter for and Iki grabbed a rock and started smashing in skulls.

Hannah and Andrew now joined by a few of their other friends from the Tundra made quick work of everyone else as my two crazy girls both at 8 years of age took on boys twice their age managing to break bone and put them in the infirmary. To say I am proud as a father would be an understatement, more so when Katya later mentioned in her narration that these boys are from the Midnight family. I’ve always wanted to fight their Uncle Wes, just to test him out before we fully become friends to see what he's capable of.

Wes Midnight and his family aren't exactly warriors but their sorcery is strong and their daemology arts makes them a force that can never be underestimated.

My two bigger girls Vigdis and Dishna are apparently all over the place with Saya taking on a role primarily as a warrior in the Conclave while Didi focuses on her animal taming, occupying her time this boy that she is having relations with and surprisingly joined a cult of some sort. There is access and teachings about some of the major known religions in the Den and though I have never personally gone to any of those classes my daughter Dishna has found them a great interest and topic of study. I’m just glad there are no actual temples besides the Brothel in the Conclave Compound or maybe my daughter may be more than academically studying the gods but also worshiping them at this point. I need to talk to Wisdom and see how her blessing and/or claim on my daughter works so there are no complications in the long run.

Saya is a full on mercenary and has already apparently been in a skirmish I’m both proud and terrified to hear. The xonxlave mercenaries are under the Proelium branch of the conclave but their contracts and jobs they get mainly through the Sovereign channels and aren’t based at the Den so my little bird has already left home. Apparently the now 19 year old woman is a duel wielding terror on the battlefield and has an uncanny ability of being able to direct her Rage as she sees fit. The Mercenaries are apparently based in a growing Conclave town being built in a mostly out of the way kingdom named.... not far from where I parted with Ragnar and Silo on my way north. There have been many other minor changes to my girl’s lives as they grow and I am grateful that da and Brian have taken it upon themselves to teach them as much as they can out their people and their home the Tundra.

My women, my wives, my mates are getting along well and also all over the place as the Conclave business keeps them busy when they aren’t working on improving themselves or taking care of the children. Shea is as busy as always in the infirmary but getting busier still with the overcrowded state the Den is getting. She spends almost all of her time at the Den doing work she enjoys dealing with bloody injuries she probably salivates over, I’m so onto her. Occasionally she goes to the worksite at the Foothills to monitor and advise in the construction of Deep Keep; construction that has apparently been delayed due to most of the skilled builders being needed elsewhere and rainwater starting to fill the lowest chamber of my home.

Alderman workers are being recruited and trained to follow instruction but it’s going very slowly and the training is charged on Shea’s tab, which I’m starting to feel bad about. Om occasionally brings in his friends to help though and any day they spend working on the keep apparently marks a hugely productive day to the building efforts. Glad my friend hasn’t forgotten me in his now esteemed position of being a captain of the ‘Berserkers’ an elite force within the Proelium that wields heavy weapons ideal against armoured opponents or heavy infantry. How the Proelium guys got him to agree to the position I’m interested in finding out but still glad that even with his own training and other responsibilities he takes time to try and help along my dream.

Everything seems to be changing if even little by little and for me who is thousands of kilometres away an outsider looking in I see that everyone has found a way to live their lives without my presence. It’s almost as though I’ve died and everyone has found a way to move on, I’m a ghost that they miss and occasionally talk about but ultimately has no place it the routine they’ve set for their lives. It’s understandable but saddening, very saddening. Or maybe this is me just being melancholy as I listen to Katy’s detailed ten-daily reports.

‘’Hey Hiro, stop lying around it’s your turn to be on watch.’’ Bethez says kicking soil onto me lying on the grass.

‘’leave him be Bethez, he just got off a double watch covering for Eghart." Simon says with a tired voice.

‘’Still, he should laze about like that. He should at least go sleep by the fire or something, I don’t like that he sleeps alone in a dark corner it’s creepy.’’

I start my mantra again, reminding myself that I could snap his neck at any time I want as I ignore him, I fucken’ hate bullies though. The hawk that’s been following us disturbs my thinking by coming and landing on a branch hidden by the other trees from everyone else but me. A large bird that at least weighs 60kg by its size, definitely awakened to sapience but I’m more surprised to feel it morphing. The Transformation isn’t pleasant or easy, the creature pants as its bones realign and moans at certain stages. But it’s over in only two minutes and I’m very surprised as the dire-hawk turns into some I recognise.