Flight Journals Day 42-54

It's been a few days since I got back. It took a while to want to write again. I ripped out the last few pages just to be safe - I'll tell everyone face to face.

Turns out I missed quite a bit, but honestly knowing this school I shouldn't be surprised.

I still feel horrible for fighting with Sausage, but we talked a couple days later and I think everything has been... well not fixed, starting to heal. The other him, though, they said something about coming from near my town - from the South. From near me. The timeline doesn't match, but he doesn't exactly have the most reliable memory either...

Zam's in a bit of a complicated spot too. Was haven't had a chance to talk at all since she regained control and her and Graecie headed off to Pilgrim to rest, and as much as I want to barge into town and apologize or try to figure out what went wrong with the ritual, it's not my place to. I need to trust both of them. I still send the occasional ring, and both answer me when they can. Graecie's come in like a tackling hug, happy as always, Zam's... well they're a bit more reserved and a bit slower to arrive. I just hope she's going to be okay.

With everyone being busy I finally had time to work on my void chest! The place was still just as empty as day one, even moreso honestly as we weren't using it for food since the garden is just better... but now it feels like home. It basically has been really as Ser Osteon, a dragon rider from the academy class before us, has returned and taken over security and what little "instruction" we all receive.

They turned Amber's rescue into a training exercise. They watched. I hate her for it, I hated her for it. It made my blood boil. One of our class was alone, afraid, maimed, and in a box to be shipped out and she just.... watched. I tried so hard to not just yell at the top of my lungs. I'm probably on thin ice as the school doesn't like their "property" heading off for unplanned assassination attempts.

I got really close too, but couldn't get the knife to go far enough. That's all I'm going to say, he doesn't deserve any more ink.

My back and my shoulder still hurt from the fight, I forgot how wonderful everyone's healing magic can be. Graecie is patching me up and I can't put into words how much I missed her bells and Zam's cooking. I only had a day before they had to head off, so the shoulder is going to recover the old fashioned way.

Speaking of knives, I've gotten a bit better being able to manipulate metals in motion. Instead of moving iron at a more constant pace to try to blot out mana, I've focused on getting a knife to return back to my hand handle first reliably. It works... almost all of the time. Caught a few cuts that have healed up but the gloves definitely make things a bit safer that way. I've asked Melinks to help make the palms a bit stronger and she was able to do that in just a day.

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I've... well I've been training where I can. We finally have the supplies we need for the alchemy lab so I've been getting back into old habits and making a few brews to help everyone where it'd be useful. I don't have all the ingredients I would like, but I've been able to at least make a few things to help us on the battlefield, or in preparing for any potential battles.

Amber's taking things as well as can be expected. I don't blame her, hell I'm cheering for her and helping with all of the plans wherever I can. The bandits have been annoying, but thanks to some TOTALLY LEGAL AND ETHICAL things a few of us have been up to, we have insights into where they operate out of, and Amber, Scott, and Pyro have been leading a plan to go attack their main stronghold.

The two of us have been talking a lot, about what was done to both of us. We've agreed that it stops with us, no one else should be hurt by these bandits ever again. I thought what happened to me was bad, but she's had it way worse and I'm... I'm just so done with it all.

I know I said I didn't want things to get easier but seeing everyone around me getting hurt, it's even worse. Maybe it's just fine... maybe it's okay to become the soldier that I technically signed up to be. To grow up faster than I thought. I'm definitely 20 by now, it's almost harvest season again, so that feels... old enough? Everyone in the school teases me for being the youngest, but sometimes it feels like we're all a bit beyond our years with all the crap we've been put through in the last few months.

Juniper still teases me about the kid I was when I got here. I... I was so afraid. I cam here with nothing, just the lies I had left behind, and I was... terrified. I know I was scared, but I'm not that little kid anymore. It's nowhere near as simple as it was anymore. I thought coming to the school would be easy, be a more clear path forward. We are the good guys, the Corruption is the problem, but that couldn't be further from the truth.

My friends, the things we deal with, they're all so much... more.

I thought I knew the way the world worked, and I couldn't have been more wrong. It's not about where we're from, or what we believe is the right thing - genuinely I'm not sure if there even is a "right thing" anymore. It's about trying to do the best we can, and having the back of the person next to you, no matter what.

Everyone is thinking that tomorrow is going to be when we're going to sail to Lion Island to attack, which means I only have tonight to get this work done. Everyone else might have done the planning, everyone else might even be a better fighter than me, but there's one thing I know I can contribute more than anything to try to tip the scales in our favor.

I have no intention of fighting fair anymore.