Mhel's diary - Entry 1

Dear diary, Today has been an eventful day - and a terrible one. These last few months have been hard on me, with the disappearance of Calard, the death threats, the kidnapping... but never did I think I would hit the bottom so hard as to have a day like this. It started when I went to work this morning, or rather where work should have been. As I walked up the hill and rounded the corner, the suns first rays beginning to brighten the horizon, I was in such a good mood. Blaecwyn had gone back north and today would be the first day since my release from capture that I would be required to return to my job. Many people may not understand why I was so happy to do this but I dislike being idle. The Dark One brings trouble for idle hands, my mother used to say, a lesson which I took to heart in all the years that I spent helping to raise my younger siblings; every time my sisters had nothing to do, they would uinevitable cause some mischeif for me to fix. However, I digress. I walked to work with a spring in my step happy, as I said, to be working once again. The morning air was pleasantly warm for this time of year and I could just detect the sweet tang of rain to come on the light breeze. I remember looking to the sky, smiling at the gentle blush of the newly rising sun and watching the mornings first few birds leave their nests to flutter through the air in search of breakfast. But then... disaster! I did not realise what had happened at first. I just knew that something was not quite right. Something that should be there on the hilltop seemed to be missing and, for a moment, I could not quite work out what it was. Then, as realisation dawned on me, I felt my heart pick up in pace, thudding, thudding as my mouth fell open and I struggled to understand what was going on. There where the house should be standing proud atop the hill, there where the house should be with its tall roof and welcoming door, there where the house should be which served as home to my employers and the precious children, there where the house should be was nothing. Letting out a small cry of shock and fear I ran up the last incline and saw in full that which I had feared to find. The house was naught but blackened stone and ash, a pile of rubble standing forlornly in a ring of withered grass; so starkly contrasting with the rest of the well-kept lawn. With my heart in my mouth, I ran to the ashes and frantically began to dig within them searching, searching for the cause of the fire, for sign of the inhabitants but, aside from a broken oil lamp I found nothing. I am not a strong woman and much of the roof had collapsed, the walls fallen inwards. I could not search beneath them and a part of me did not wish to find confirmation of my fears. I knew. I knew with little room for doubt that the worst had happened. Kind, gentle Flowlen, loving father and faithful husband to Blaecwyn, had perished in his home along with his darling children; the twins, Lahessa and Vorondir. Normally if he planned to take the little ones away on a trip, he would send a message to my house telling me not to come to work that day, but this time I had recieved no missive from him. I pushed myself up and stumbled away from the dreadful sight, my vision hazy with tears I had yet to shed. The truth had not quite sunken in yet. I do not remember much else of the day. It passed by me in a blur. I can only assume that I made my way back to the empty house I had shared with Calard until his disappearance, for I later found myself in Breetown, clean of ash and soot, staring at my reflection in the fountain. Siward found me there and took me inside for a drink, for he saw that I was not in a good state. After telling him my tale and soaking his shirt with my tears, he led me away from the town and back to the homesteads. Now I find myself in unfamiliar surroundings. Siward, in his kindness, has given me a new job, a new home. So here I sit in a large room, too fancy for my tastes for I am but a simple woman of simple means, and on the morrow I will begin the task of keeping this huge manor house clean and tidy. It is daunting in a way, the sheer size and scale of this place, and yet I know it will keep me from being idle; a thing which I welcome for it will prevent me from dwelling too much on recent tragedies. Rest well Flowlen. Rest well Lahessa and Vorondir. May the breeze carry your souls to their final destination. May your lives not go overlooked, short as they were. I, for one, will never forget you.