“I really wish I could have seen Abby and mother one last time but the path that she walks is impossible to ignore. I still remember the first time our father took us to the druid community, Abby lit up like it was the most amazing place she had ever seen. To her the druid village has always been her real home and deep down I have always known this was her path.   Although I will miss her this is the path that she was always meant to walk. I can’t really blame the druid elders for banning any communication with me, the druid seer did foretell a possible future where my visit would bring destruction to the community and it is not like a battle oracle and an ultra-peace loving druid community are a good match. All of my life people have talked about home as if it was some special place that magically makes everything better. My path has always been to wander the universe doing the will of the gods, except now it has gotten confusing.” Ivan contemplates quietly

Ivan looks over to the sleeping Hatsue and then watches as Olmas tries to calmly explain to Amieko that she should just keep her sword in the scabbard during the trip into the well of daemons. Ivan laughs to himself remembering a time when she was someone we all strived to catch up to in battle. Fate it seems has sent her down a different path and this time all that we can do is marvel at how she is able to take on the challenge of leading a country.

Ivan’s thoughts drift back to Abby “A least they said that they would let her have the travel journals where I wrote about the plants, animals, and landscape. Hopefully when we get back to the city there will be some time to pop over to Sandpoint for a couple of hours and drop off the journals. Now that grandfather is gone there really isn’t anyone I need to see, although it would be enjoyable to see the gulf once again. “

“While we are there I need to make sure Hatsue tries the bacon. It will be interesting to see what she thinks of western food. I wonder how she will handle being the one that is different from everyone else, Will anyone even suspect that she is form Minki. I am not sure if there isn’t more than a few people that even know that Minki exists. Hatsue might think we come from Barbarians when she learns that most people have never even heard of Shogi. Of course Hatsue may not even be interested in going to Sandpoint with me.”

Ivan looks back over at Olmas and suspects he is having a conversation with Suishen “I wonder what they are discussing. Going by Olmas’s expression it looks like Suishen is winning the argument.  Suishen should really be grateful that Olmas has been so accepting of his annoying traits. It takes a special person to be able to put up with all of the shit that comes out of Suishen. Although before we found him Suishen did spend a lot of years by himself. I can imagine it would be really hard to be side lined for so many decades. It looks as if fate has brought the two of them together and provided both of them with exactly what each of them needed. It looks like they were meant to walk the path together.”

Looking over to Radella Ivan ponders “I really hope she can find a dragon to destroy the amulet before it takes her over. I wonder how such an item even could get created. “

Ivan quickly looks around to make sure neither Kali nor Dasi are paying attention “I have to be careful if ether one of them even suspects I am curious about the amulet they will explain it to me in detail. That’s 2 hours of my life that I would have regretted. Oh good it looks like they have no clue that I was curious about the amulet. I have noticed that with those two it is very dangerous to act like you are interested, they can go on for hours and hours.”