A glowing crystal threw some light into the darkness of those sewers under Old Dundee. I leaned against the wall to catch my breath, and looked at the crystal lying amidst the remains of a creature I'd slain. It was quite some time since I'd seen one of those crystals, and after a while I lifted it, cleaned off the worst of the muck and slipped it into my pack, wrapped in a piece of cloth.
I hadn't realised just how long it had been since I saw a glowing crystal until I found I couldn't clearly recall the path to the machine. And then I had to hunt out my maps before it was possible to remind myself of the way.
The machine spat out a scroll, covered in gibberish. No matter, there had at least been a marc or so of interest and anticipation.

I went wandering, and found myself on a windswept ledge, looking down into a deep chasm. Sitting there, memories came back to me of another time spent in that place, a time when some hurt was soothed. I stayed there for some time - in fact I fell asleep, and was thankful to wake still on the ledge and not at the bottom of the chasm! Things were, though, still as they had been before I rested. Perhaps that place will not work it's magic on a lone traveller.

I saw someone leave the lands, a person I've known for quite a while. And it was, it seems to me, all so unnecessary. A little more patience shown, a little less of something akin to vanity demonstrated, and it could have been avoided. I found it rather unsettling to see how things progressed to the point where that acquaintance made what could have been a hasty decision to go. And I realised that the same could happen to any of us, if we don't show a care to listening to the words of others and thinking about what those words might mean. But he made his choice, and I mean no criticism for that. But it was, as I said, seemingly so meaningless ...

Life goes on.