Contest Entry – The Diary of Lady Muse

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LADY MUSE

Character Name: Lady Muse

The Diary of Lady Muse

 

Dear Diary,

I have been instructed by my master, Lord Magi – Master of the Dragons of Virtue guild, to begin keeping a day-to-day journal of my teachings and activities. I find this to be a difficult task for me to begin as I have only recently learned the skill of reading and writing my letters yet I will attempt, with his gracious assistance to improve upon myself.

I suppose I should begin with some background on who I am and how I came to be under such great tutoring in the art of magick and witchcraft. My name is Muse, I was born a humble peasant in the west Britain Inn with little more than the clothes on my back the name given to me, I assume, by my mother who died giving birth to me.

While it has been difficult for me to live day to day without a parent to guide me I feel often that my mother is watching over me, that her hand guides my actions and protects me, she is an integral part of me.

I found myself wandering the bank in Britain quite aimlessly, I had discovered that I could put food in my mouth by gathering the trash of nobles and presenting it to shopkeepers in town for a small price, enough to keep myself fed.

The great Lord Magi, may Lord Britain bless him, found me in this such state and said that he sensed within me a natural talent for the craft of magick and offered to tutor me. Of course I was originally a feared of his intentions as so many in the past had taken advantage of me and used me to one purpose or another but he led me to the grand hall of his guild where all were welcome to sup and to seek protection from the elements. He fed me, clothed me and immediately began to teach me.

His wife Lady Misty, an exemplary witch, had a sister who’s greatest accomplishments were in the craft of weaving and sewing cloth and I spent many days chatting with her as I practiced penmanship and she darned various socks for the guild. It was on a storm-cast day late in the year when m’Lord Magi had recently finished looking over my studies for the day and determined that I was ready to further my studies.

With such great anticipation I forced my breathing to steady as we sat together in a quiet room of the house on plush mats upon the floor learning meditation. I admit I failed horribly as I could not contain my excitement nor my boredom and therefore could not force my mind into a state of peaceful rest. In fact I did so poorly that my Master became uncontrollably cross with me and ceased all tutoring in magic as a consequence for my lack of maturity. He sent me to learn from the Lord Falon Keets, the guild’s arms master.

Lord Keets instilled within me such emotion as I had never discovered before, he showed such tenderness and constancy in his tutoring of me that I found myself marveling with awe at his liquid grace and beauty with a longsword. The most beautiful dreams of my imagination came true on the day that Lord Keets proposed to me and Lord Magi presented his blessing upon our union, which took place near a beautiful lighthouse. It is said that in the poverty of an aristocratic society a surf such as I was could never change her preformed destiny and would always remain a surf but a title is nothing more than a status of wealth and wealth can be married. I find myself this day treated equally among my fellow mates in the Dragons of Virtue guild and indeed quite differently in town when I visit than I had been treated before.

My studies in fencing advanced rapidly through sparring with my husband and I was soon invited to go hunting with the guild in search of fame and fortune in the valley of Titans. Titans are such vile creatures, little better than ogres in my opinion and their smell is without words. I think Lord Magi noticed how much I enjoyed the skill of the sword and shield and it frightened him that the power he sensed within me would be lost forever to the heart of a warrior which was fast growing within me. It was while lounging on the grass near the guild house chatting with Athena, another great warrior of the guild that Lord Magi found me and told me without contestation that my training in magery would resume promptly.

And this brings us to this journal, as it is my first assignment in my studies of magick, to focus my wandering mind. I have considerable doubts that I was ever meant to be a witch but I must admit that the prospect is inspiring and I do trust m’Lord Magi and his good Lady Misty. For now, however, there is a birthday party on the roof tonight and I am wont to visit Odba the tailor about what I am to wear. Adieu.

——

Dear Diary,

I have decided to neglect the instruction to write daily entries in this journal primarily because I fear it will become a book filled with idle prattle when I would prefer it to be a novel of great importance to my life. In this decision I am being quite disobedient to the will of Lord Magi who has called me “a git” and shut himself alone his room to stupor.

I have no worries that he will cease my training in magick as I have indeed shown, these past months since my last installment, a great deal of talent. Magick has taken to me as I have taken to it and I have no doubt that I shall someday be a great master commanding control over the elements and leaving a wake of admirers wherever I go. Lord Magi’s real concern should be that I will surpass his talents rather than this silly journal but it does help me to feel that I have a place where I can share my concerns and ambitions without criticism.

My husband Lord Keets wants to have a child, I have decided that to grant this wish would be a poor idea. As a witch the fluids my body creates from saliva to urine are important parts of magic, having an entirely separate entity growing within me could change the potency of these ingredients which are key to many of my spells and therefore is not worth the risk. I should note here that when talking about my spells I am of course referring to spells of my own creation, not those rudimentary conjuring that I have been learning for Lord Magi. Useful in their own right I am sure but so dull and mundane those spells and always the same promise that if I am a good little pupil I will be permitted to copy new scrolls from his personal library to practice with. I grew weary of practicing his parlor tricks long ago but he need not know about that yet, I have not yet finished learning all that he is capable of teaching.

There is a hunt tonight, the alchemist Trianna requires balron talons for god knows what kind of vile concoctions so the guild is seeking out this evening to gather them for her. My duty, as I have been told, is to stand back and heal the unfortunate victims of the slaughter. How boring. I think I would much rather conjure something nasty to do the work of ten men but I would never be permitted at this stage in my training. Falon has been cross with me for abandoning my swordplay but I just don’t seem to feel like practicing lately. Perhaps I should go talk to him and try to explain how I feel.

—–

Dear Diary,

I am surrounded by hog faced nanny goats. If I have to listen to one more lecture about how my alleged temper is causing supposed contention for everyone I will scream. I have absolutely had enough! At my insistences Falon has purchased a home for us in that new land that was just discovered, I think they are calling it Trammel. I hear it’s quite lovely there, no crime. I can’t wait to get out of this place and have some time to ourselves.

I am tired of Lord Magi’s persistent nagging about my studies. I know all that I need to know and see no reason to continue with such a fruitless display of his over-grown self-importance. I need a hobby.

I poked by the new place yesterday to drop off a few items; it’s a very pretty place, all red stone, two floors. Humble but lovely. I am really going to enjoy decorating it I should think, finally I will be able to place my bed on whatever wall I like so that the sun does not assault my eyes first thing in the mornings. I helped Lady Misty decorate her summer villa in Trinsic a few weeks ago and really enjoyed the work…perhaps that is what I will choose as my new hobby. I could advertise myself at the bank in Britain; surely there are nobles out there who would pay a well-dressed lady such as myself to create a masterpiece in their home. That sounds like a fantastic idea in fact. There is much work to do!

—–

Dear Diary,

I am pregnant. NOT GOOD!

—–

Dear Diary,

Something strange is happening. When I awoke this morning I was not in my home beside my husband but standing in my night wear outside a strange house in a strange neighborhood. I tried to orb to Britain but my rune wouldn’t work, there is a fully-grown tree standing where I should be able to pop in. Imagine that? Where would an adult tree just poof like that? I would think some conjurer was playing tricks but it is quite solid and does not appear to be temporary like all conjured items I have seen before. There are other things happening to, the tailor shop in Britain is missing its front door and everyone I have spoken to swears that it has always been that way! I clearly remember opening the door for Odba when she was laden with bolts of cloth to sell last summer after the annual sheering festival and yet here the door is completely gone.

I have not seen one single familiar face yet this day either. Every shopkeeper, every merchant, every guard different from the people I have come to know. I waited by the bank all day for Lord Falon and Lord Magi to come looking for me but they have not. I recalled to the old guild house but it had been replaced by a large tower where I was murdered by a cheeky fellow wearing a bone helmet. I had to float all the way back to town in wraith form and implore the healers to resurrect me and now here I sit in a tattered gray robe that they were kind enough to lend me with nothing more than my broken rune books, a small pile of gold and this journal. Everything I owned was in my home, which has somehow been made to vanish from thin air. I am in the depths of fear and despair.

—–

Dear Diary,

The baby has been born, I am a mother now. Oh how differently the world can look through the eyes of a mother. Every sewer rat now seems to be an apparent danger, every shadow hosts a villain. Lord Falon has abandoned our child and me, as has the rest of the guild. I have not since seen any of my former brethren of the D*V since that fateful morning when I awoke to find all my world in disarray.

I have since made new friends the first of which happens to be a crafter woman named Piper. I met her while selling cloth to the tailor in town for money to buy clothes and food as Odba had taught me well how to spin and weave wool into cloth though I never did take much of a liking for sewing. Piper is a kind woman with olive skin and blonde tresses who works hard as a handy woman of all sorts. She has very skillful hands and a very big heart and was there on the night, alas, in the west Britain Inn when I gave birth to my daughter Athena (named after my long lost friend from D*V). Piper commented on how ironic it was that I should give birth to my child in the very Inn where I was born but I am still convinced to this day that I am not even in the same world as I once lived. Everything looks the same yet there ARE subtle differences that only I seem to notice though I have learned to stop being troubled by these and to start anew where I have been planted.

Piper introduced me to a gentleman friend of hers named Kenn, also a crafter and fighter he is quite dashing and I think she is taken by him. Interestingly I have also met a new guild master, Lord Dark Soul, a strange name I should think, who found me in much the same way as my old master Lord Magi. Lord Soul has taken upon himself the task of continuing my tutoring in nearly the precise place where Lord Magi and Lady Misty left off and I must admit I have learned a great deal of humility through all my recent tribulations.

—–

Dear Diary,

It would seem the new guild has had a falling out inspired by yours truly, queen hothead. Sometimes I feel that my hot tongue is a curse among men, as I can never seem to hold it as women are expected to do. Now I have left the company of Lord Soul and in my surprise other members of the guild including Piper, Kenn and a warrior name Zeus have followed. Kenn, Zeus and I decided to start our own guild, a democracy where everyone gets a vote and a say. I wonder as to weather or not such a system could possibly succeed but I suppose it is worth a try.

Athena is growing up so fast. It seems like only yesterday that she was clinging to my robes insisting I take her with me to the market and now she is off with her friends in some dungeon somewhere doing god knows what. She’s become so rebellious and now all of her friends call her “Rogue”. That’s no proper name that I have ever heard of. I often reflect on how lucky my mother was to never see such a blatantly ignorant side of me as I am now seeing of my own daughter.

She has a friend named Persephone who is a self-proclaimed pirate! Can you imagine?! My daughter running town with a pirate? Their other friend Lisa is a thief. What is this wholesome world coming to I ask you?

—–

Dear Diary,

The guild has been flourishing! I resurrected my interior decorating talents a short while ago and was able to contribute enough gold to the guild’s open fund to help purchase a new guild house, one of the largest homes I have ever seen and so grand in design. The guild has asked to me decorate it with a museum, a grand lounge and a lovely garden on the roof. I suspect that this shall be my last job, for I am growing old and weary.

I was granted the title of Grandmaster Witch a few months past by an Elder Wizard who offered to continue my studies to the highest elite degrees of magick. I have declined the offer as I fear that I would not have enough time in my life to complete these studies and have decided to spend my final days at home on a mound of pillows writing books and short stories about my adventures as a witch, a warrior, a lover and a wife.

As for my daughter, I cannot remember the last time she visited me. I have heard through the beast master Onop that his brother Zeus has begun training her in the sanctity of the paladin school. I suppose that means she has outgrown her opinions of self-importance and has turned her talent as a warrior to a more noble cause for which I am proud of her. I do miss her but a young woman by the name of Artistic Soal has begun to visit me often and keep me in the company of a pleasant woman who I enjoy. She has become as a daughter to me.

A young peasant has changed the course of her life and through hard work and many hard lessons will live out the last of her days as a high-class member of society with the title of Lady. Who could have ever imagined.

This shall be my final entry in this journal, which I started too many years ago, and to Lord British and all of Britannia I bid a very fond adieu.

Lady Muse
Grandmaster Mage, Grandmaster Warrior, Grandmaster Assassin.

Last modified: March 28, 2011

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