ninth.

[eaglet]

[Connor sounds slightly out of breath when he dictates into the journal, mostly because it's so cold outside but also because he's been working pretty hard out there.]

Before I came to this world, I had left my village for six months. I have now been in this place for nine. There are still things I do not understand about both this world and the world outside my village, but I am learning, I think. And there is much to learn.

I have been interested in exploring the Dead Zone again. The god of this place has the power to move us and to transform our surroundings, but I would like to explore on my own terms. There is much to learn here amongst each other, but I feel as though there is even more to learn out there.

[Connor can be found on the castle lawn, packing a long wall of snow about a foot tall, taking care to carve a furrow down the middle. He has acquired some gloves that don't really match the rest of his outfit -- they have a reflective strip down the side and are also neon pink.]

Comments

[eaglet]

What is the difference? Among my people, only witches use magic.

[peacockherald]

Gifts take specific forms that do specific things, and only one of them is Mage. I possess all of them, but most Heralds possess only one, and Mage is very rare. They are not really magic so much as abilities.

[eaglet]

But they are abilities not granted to those who are not Heralds.

[peacockherald]

A Herald is a Herald because they already had them in the first place and because we are Chosen by our Companions. You do not receive the Gift upon becoming one, it is something already a part of you.

[eaglet]

[This is so jargon-y, he's not really sure he's getting it...]

I see.

[peacockherald]

_{[ He chuckled. ]}

Let me try it another way. I was Chosen because I have Gifts. I did not receive them after. Easier?

[eaglet]

[It's the terminology that's tripping him up -- how can one be 'chosen' if it's something they already had in the first place? Weird.]

I suppose so. Yes.

[peacockherald]

Well, then, that's what I do in my world.

What do you do in yours?

[eaglet]

My people do not have professions. There are some who are runners and some who interact with traders more than the others, but we all work together to keep our village running.

[He pauses briefly, then continues.]

I have left my village, but if I were still there, once I came of age I would have joined a war party and also a hunting party, as all men do.

[peacockherald]

Ah, you remind me of the Shin'a'in of my world. They are a nomadic race that live on the plains. We only really see them when they come to trade their horses and some other items. My family used to trade with them now and then to get some breeding stock out of the horses they would sell us.

[eaglet]

Yes -- there are some nations like that, but they are further to the West. My people are people of the forests. We have no real need of horses.