The day of the big bonfire is finally here and I am excited and happy and have had a good nights rest. The festival has been fun and relaxing thus far and everyone seems to be in good spirits. For the most part things are peaceful and it feels quite nice. I must admit that I get enjoyment out of gliding about and playfully spooking people with Vampana. She is quite the character to play out and it does not get much weirder then she does; although all the wailing is causing me to consume more tree moss tea then normal to sooth my slightly sore throat, but it is well worth it for the fun of the festivities!

Fall Festival! The madness has finally arrived, the air is crisp and clear, spirits seem high and even Vampana has retuned to visit - though she seems none too thrilled about it. All is seemingly well for the time being. I am glad for all of this. I have been waiting for this time of the season along with everyone for what feels like a long while now and I welcome the weirdness, merriment, good spirits and festivities. It is nice to have some thing different and fun to break up what can become the sometimes mundane rhythms of our daily activities. As busy we try to remain, ditiful in our daily activities and as creative as we can be, I do not think any of us can escape how life can sometimes begin to fall into a type of foreseen and steady pattern some days. I always try to make sure I do something different each day that I did not do the day before. Thankfully with writing that really helps for me, and helping out different people and with making new plans things often are changing for me (at least inside my head) and it keeps my mind fresh. It also helps keep away from my thoughts some things I would rather not think about for the time being.

Cider is back - and I am addicted to its warm, soothing goodness. I really, truly am in need of this break. The Viscontessa Miranda has announced a bonfire and tales to take place within a few days. The location is still yet unknown but it sounds like it will be a great night indeed.

So it seems that it is not recommended you nap anywhere but locked away in your own guildhall during these weird days or else risk a pretty a high chance of being inadvertently smooched. Never mind only the terror that lashes wildly out at you in these lands with each step; or the frightful evilleness ready to pounce and rip your body to shreds. The foul vermin, slowly crawling out from their terrestrial graves and shambling in search of your measly brains are no longer all we must watch out for. Nay. For during theses strange days where man may seem to become beast, amphibian, world crier, rodent, balthazar or even the gods themselves there is something equally as bizzare out there - and it is lurking. Watching and waiting to try and steal a smooch from you when you are not even looking.

No one is safe. No one! ; )

A small contest was announced by our Viscontessa Miranda soon after I meandered my way into the Dundee Inn. Pallas soon followed and we set off again in search of an item we could set before the Viscontessa that was thought to be underappreciated or overlooked in the lands. Oh there were some interesting ones presented. Valor set down an item I very much liked and her reasoning in the meaning behind it gave one something to think about indeed. Of course we all had different views and ideas. Myself, I present a dull crystal. Yes, I am well aware that to most it is an eyesore and an annoyance because a dull lacks the luster and the value of its superior - the glowing crystal anf that it makes most clerics and enchanters cry at the site. But as soon as I laid my eyes upon it I knew it was what I would present because in the hands of the right person, yes the enchanters who hate them so much, the ugly, boring and seemingly worthless dull crystal can be transformed to provide something useful and valuable to us all - and possibly those in real need of food who could be suffering and starving so I think it is not so worthless after all. It may not be any great beauty like the glowie but it is just as valuable. As always it was a pleasure and an honor to be within her company though I was a bit surprised by some of the goings on around me at times and even a little nervous in such a large crowed, but I do not think it showed too much.

So how is exciting is the news that Fall Festival is right around the corner? I knew that it would be done and not to give up hope. I am glad others kept their spirits alive and that they had not completely faded out and that although they were fading away they held onto some hope and that makes me smile. I am going to be making my Twilight Trails and Soulshine bracelets for anyone else who may still want some and I am just thrilled that the festival is so close. I wonder if Pallas will be a mini Nrolav beast for a third or fourth time now. Talk about weirdness!

I had been working on something for a while now. I am a bit shy about it but I think I will try to finish it up for the festival but it might end up in the abyss.

[COLOR=lightsteelblue]I had written words after words onto scrolls and stuffed them into my little cubes. There were no decorative candles and no flowers this time, I did not want them - just words and the smell of burnt parchment after I set them a flame mingled with the scent of recent rain and the sight of streams of wispy smoke tendrils as the words drifted off into the cool, misty silent twilight skies. I do not speak; I feel I have no reason to right now and I am alone anyways with no one to listen but for my gods if I did want to speak, which is the way I want it for a while. I am feeling slightly melancholy at the moment as well and do not want to burden anyone and just needing a little time to myself as we all sometimes do. I know that people hear others speak - I know they hear words but how often do they stop and really comprehend and listen? What good are those words then anyways, if no one listens anymore? Will anyone make out these distorted words, which drift out from my beautifully hand crafted cubes in these strange signals of smoke, and up into the night air?

Sometimes people stop rushing around or focusing on themselves long enough to listen to others. Sometimes people learn how to listen to others that did not know before. And sometimes it is hard for those people who do want to listen when those others have things to say but they do not want to actually talk or open up - for whatever those reasons might be.

I like to dance in the rain - not feel damp, cold and weighed down by it. Sometimes it seems like no matter what we do no one can win some days. [/COLOR]

There is a strange and profound sweeping silence finding its way once again around the lands and an uneasy feeling working its way through my being - try as I might to push it away from me. Though things are outwardly well and good for me and those around me, as far as I know, something darker feels ... foreboding. I hope that I am wrong, for I do not like how I am feeling and to make it worse I feel useless these days. Oh yes I continue on my way healing, blessing, aiding in anyways I can and giving advices to all who ask it of me the best that I can and with my deepest hopes that I am helpful but my eyes and spirit see and feel that there is this eerie emptiness. Things seem almost mechanical and sometimes as if they are in slow motion. I continue my prayers and meditations. I write, design and try to keep hopes and spirits for a festival alive and high but even that now seems to be fading from many faces and it saddens me to see their hopes dashed and the disappointment on their faces. All I can say is that things happen for a reason and that we can not judge those reasons. And there is still hope of a festival yet and if not, well then it is not the end of the world. We will need to make the most of things, always, one way or another and trust in our gods. At least I will continue to do so and I hope that others will do the same. Life is full of mystery - it is a spiritual experience in which we are not meant to know all the answers. If we were to understand it all, the how and the why, well then what would life be but a story we have already read over and over again? Maybe another day, but not this day.

So light up a token. Make a silly costume. Smile. Blow lemonade out your nose - but not on anyone. Be merry and weird. Have your own party. Tell someone a creepy tale. Make your own fun. Enjoy life and shine on! You never know what next awaits you.