Old Flame, New Chain

Hi, it’s me again. I have been so. . . stupid about things recently. I tried pulling my feathers out, but Ijou got extremely upset with me. He frightened me so badly that I stammered when he asked what I was doing. I’ll start from the beginning. We are, as you readers know, chasing after a high man named Solude Smithington. He is about 5,000 years old because he somehow stopped time on himself. We aren’t exactly sure how he did it, but I think we will figure things out as we go along. I may even ask him myself when we find him. Anyway, we came to a small village with plenty of adorable sheep that seemed to be quite fond of Athriel and me. *giggles* They were so cuddly. The village was empty except for the sheep, but a couple of us saw someone peek through a window. Guava walked over and knocked on the door. No one answered, but after a while a man came out to talk. He explained to us that the women and girls of the village had been taken by bandits. They would only release them if the men sent them sheep and food. This upset us and we promised to get the women and girls back. After finding the women were being watched by two men we decided to trick the men into thinking I was one of the women. I ran by them and once they started chasing me I screamed to make them think I was weak. The others immediately got the women’s attention and started sneaking them out of camp. Unfortunately the other bandits were coming back from their nightly raids. Fortunately, most of them were drunk and did not pay attention to their. . . unusual leader. I eventually knocked him and his second in command out. After I did that the rest of the party came back and we brought them back to town. The thieves were taken by the proper authorities and all was well in the little sheep town. I wonder if Dr. Kakashi would like to raise sheep once we got the hospital going? I’ll have to ask him.

Once we were camping outside again I mentioned to the party that I was going to go for a walk. I flew, but that doesn’t really matter. I found a nice quiet place and started a fire. I took many deep breathes as tears streamed down my face. I finally built up the courage and stopped my crying to yank out my pinion feathers. It hurt horribly, but I thought I was doing it for the greater good. I was mistaken and when I was about to pluck more of my feathers a large, pale hand grabbed my wrist. Shocked by this sudden hand from nowhere, I screamed loudly. Ijou’s long frame loomed over me as he inquired as to what I was doing. I stammered and told him that I was pulling my feathers out. He told me to stop because it was annoying. I noticed in his other hand he had a paintbrush and a palette full of colors. I told him I didn’t know he had started on my portrait so soon. He acted as if I were mental for thinking that. “Of course I started on it! I have my mornings free!” As frightening as he was, Ijou spoke words of reason and logic. I see that now and I realize how childish I have acted. The echoes of my scream reached my party members and they rushed to see what was going on. I tried to lie to them, but Meldronna and Guava didn’t believe me. I’m a horrible liar anyway. I don’t practice it because it is not good to lie, especially to your friends. I told them the truth and they were quite upset with me. I feel awful for putting them through that and it only got worse as the night went on. Lord Max, the head deity in my world, came to pay me a visit with. . . umm, Lord Z. Lord Z stayed with my party members as my lord had quite the stern word with me away from the camp. He told me that I will be punished for doing the things I did and the things I thought. My punishment for this sin is to tell my brothers what I was planning. This is the worst punishment I could think of! Seeing their faces as I tell them will be agony! It was difficult enough telling my dear friends.

Lord Max also gave me a puzzle to figure out. In my world, Maiestis, there are people who hunt my kind. It is a sad thing really, but they believe that we should be their slaves. Anyway, the favored weapons of the angelic hunters is an enchanted, golden chain. This is what Lord Max gave me. I am so thankful to Meldronna for putting it on my ankle. I know she felt horrible doing it and I had no idea how to make her feel better about it. Guava was the most upset. He dislikes gods and thinks they only want to rule over the worlds. I wish I could make him understand that I want to have this chain on my ankle, but he believes I am only doing this to please my god. Don’t get me wrong, I am doing it to please him, but mostly I am doing it for all the angels who have been angelnapped or killed by these vicious hunters. If I figure out a way to take this chain that has plagued the celestials for ages off my ankle I will have saved many lives. This is what I want. I live to help others. Guava would say I only do this because I am supposed to. I guess in a way that is true. I was created to serve the gods and their creations, however, not all angels are like this. Charles Walkswithastick had no problem disobeying the gods and they didn’t do anything about him. If I ever disobeyed them, or gave up my duties I honestly believe they would not do anything about it. I am honored to have this chain around my ankle. I want to save my people and bring honor to my family. I hope someday Guava understands because I do care so much about him and do not wish to lose him as a friend. I also think that is why this bothers him so, because he cares about me and it hurts to see me in pain. Fortunately, he does not know that it pains me each time I think about, or try to remove it. Athriel knows it hurts when I try to take it off, but he doesn’t know thoughts of removing it are also painful. I hope Meldronna, Guava, and Athriel never find these things out.

I will stop here for now and continue later. I have been tired lately, plus I need to find a way to get this chain off. Our trip has been pretty adventurous and I even got to see an old friend.