Trulin's Journal

A small book, bound in died green leather the same color as the vine trees of her native jungles. It weighs more than one might expect for a book of only about eight by six inches, and perhaps an inch and a half thick, mostly because the paper is made from durable leaves of the Siepus plant.

It was a gift from her best friend Kease in Ailsa before she left on her journey to Dragonhalle.
Many of her entries are a one sided dialogue with her old friend as an outlet for her loneliness and the need to confide to someone she trusts.

Ninety-seventh day of Summer, in the 1476th year of the Gods

Today I have set out on a journey that will change everything...

I am told that this Prince Marius Tiamat is an honorable man, that the union will be a good one... I only hope that this is true, and that he does not judge me for the rumors of ignorant sailors who speak of wild barbarians... However, I wonder if I can extend the same courtesy... I have heard the stories of Dragonhalle, a kingdom that is all but in ruins, yet my Queen believes it best that we ally ourselves to them, and as she wishes so it shall be.

Oh how I miss the sight of home, the scent of the morning in the Emerald Valley or the sound of the birds of High Cliff.. And your smile sweet Kease... You have always been and always shall be my dearest friend and confidant... How I wish you could have made this journey with me...

The fourth day of Autumn, in the 1476th year of the Gods

The Sea is beautiful, I feel a mixture of excitement and dread at arriving in Dragonhalle... I wish I knew more of this Marius... I have asked the captain, a man near my grandfather's age who seems to have taken a liking to my company for he says I remind him of his daughter when she was my age... yet he offers nothing informative. Only that he is a "Strong Prince, fit to rule his people." Some of the other female passengers have offered accounts of his handsome face and body, though I give little stock to it. What does it matter if his eyes are piercing as a winter wind, or his hair black as midnight? Or the shape of his lips... Oh, Kease, I wish you were here to make sense of this women's babblings.... or to laugh with me about them.

However, a man who claims to have served in the Dragonhalle Guard claims the prince has quite a good hand with a sword... This intrigues me, but from what I have gathered, women do not spar with men where I am going... A shame truly, I would have enjoyed getting to know his abilities. After I am wed, I shall have to make changes to the expectations surrounding women...

Ninth day of Autumn, 1476

The Wandering Sea Dove has run into a storm tonight, the boat pitches and heaves and groans under the weight of so much anger. I truly love this! Nolita has pushed herself into a corner, refusing to move until this storm is over, she doesn't have her bearings at sea yet and the boat nearly capsizing isn't helping matters at all. Esric is currently somewhere emptying himself of all his important internal organs from the sound of things. I just don't understand how they don't appreciate such majesty! Such Beauty!

I would be on deck watching the raging water if not for the captain's insistence I stay below. You would be as wide eyed and excited as I, were you here dearest Kease, I wish you had come... Still, I understand your reluctance... We could never be as we were in Ailsa in Dragonhalle.... Oh but I will you all the same, and wish for it as well....

Nineteenth day of Autumn, 1476

The captain says we are only a few days away from taking port. . . My belly feels as though it is a host to a thousand squirming eels. I know what I must do, but I will probably never see my homeland again. I have very carefully stifled that thought since first I heard that my Queen wished to forge an alliance with the King of Dragonhalle. I had done all I needed to to make peace with leaving, but still as soon as I set foot on land again, it will be so final. My course set and unchangeable.

And there is so much to this alliance that I am uncertain of ... The men aboard whisper tales of Dragons and other creatures of old... They seem to believe these creatures all dead and gone, especially the dragons... How else could Dragonhalle have fallen? They are such fools... If the creatures wished not to be found, what better way than to spread tales of their own defeat? I am certain the dragon's live, and I am inclined to believe the rumors of the Dragonhalle family line to be mingled with the blood of the Dragons of old... Why else would my Queen so easily agree to my marriage... Which only makes me more intrigued to meet the Tiamat Prince. Perhaps if I cannot feel affection for him, at least I may feel respect enough to bare him heirs.

twenty-third day of Autumn, in the 1476th year of the Gods

I woke this morning knowing that today I would soon meet the prince I am to wed. This is not the way things are meant to be... God help me not fulfill my duty.