Tome of the Scarlet Hawk

[Olme]

Eleven years.

It seems as if it was only months ago that I cradled Lisse’ in my arms and sang to her with all my heart. Yet somehow eleven years have slipped by. What tricks time seems to play. So much has happened and yet that day I first laid eyes on her is as fresh in my memory as if it were only yesterday.

** Jharl takes a ring out and looks it over very carefully. ‘Bet she would like this. I’ll just need to get it resized.’ He starts to head for the merchant quarter in Pt. Hampshire but then stops and heads for the portal to Pranzis. He mutters to himself  ‘I’ll find me a real jeweler in Pranzis.' **

[Olme]

** Somewhere in the forest:  Jharl looks in disgust at the broken axe in his hand. He searches his pack for another one but comes up empty. He starts to gather the wood together, but then stops and instead sets a campfire.  Calling to Tia to take a break, he settles in to cook their simple but hearty supper. ***

Seventeen axes so far and the work is not but half done. Where do these halfling merchants get this junk they sell anyways?
 
Thank the gods this wood is bountiful. Perhaps it is that Katia has seen the need and has made it so, for the trees’ sacrifice means life to others.
I have pledged my labor and skill with woodworking to provide what I might for the people of Roldem and I intend to keep at it until the need is met. Tia is here with me, never a word of complaint, helping at every task.

I think I’ll take a journey to Roldem some time.  I never did see it properly. Just that hurried expedition to recover the soul ahead of Blood on the eve of his invasion those many years ago.

** He puts the journal away and settles into quiet conversation with Tia, the topics:  nothing and everything, as is the manner between old friends **

[Olme]

** Jharl removes his long neglected journal from the locked chest. He carefully brushes the dust off of it and slowly flips through the pages, occasionally reading a passage or two.  After a lot of thought he finally opens it to a new page on which he scribes a single sentence.**



 Broegar would have done better to have executed me.


** He replaces the tome in the chest and then takes a simple parchment on which he scribes the following :

Sa Ceela,
If you have need of me, I will be in Hlint or Port Hampshire at the work halls.
I will be seeking some reliable craftsmen with whom to negotiate contracts.
-- Jharl --  

He hands the note to the halfling servant: "When your mistress arrives, see that she gets this."

He then pulls on his hood and wraps the shimmering cloak of ocean blue tightly around himself and steps out the door into the unseasonably chilly air. **

[Olme]

I've changed.

I think it happened when we were held by Broegar and his minions.

Since then I have found new power in song that I have yet to come to terms with.

It is both marvelous and terrifying.

And yet ...  I feel I have lost something too.

But there is no going back.
_______________

Rumors and whispers of old threats new again.