(From the private journal of Thecus)
It took me the better part of an hour to get back in this tree with only one leg. I know I shouldn’t sulk, but this excursion was, on the whole, disastrous. I thought I would be searching for flowers, perhaps get to try a gourmet new bloom to bring home to the island. Instead, I was made to participate in a… circus.
I kept telling myself it wasn’t real. I wasn’t actually expected to perform for greedy onlookers like some kind of animal. But then the locals came and demanded a show. They offered coin, and I was already indebted to a faerie, but still… I couldn’t do it. They had that emptiness in their eyes. Not that they were simpletons, but that they didn’t care who any of us were or what we had to do as long as we entertained them. Maybe I let my new troop down by not playing into the charade. But if I did perform for these small-town thrillseekers and they liked what they saw, what assurance did I have that they would not kidnap me and enslave me to some bored noble the first chance they got? I cannot, I will not live like that again.
Battle was a welcome distraction. I grew closer with my comrades in arms as we fought ne’er-do-wells side by side. I have been testing a new magic, a construct in my likeness, that does an admirable job of fooling my attackers—at least for a little while. Frankly, I don’t see a strong resemblance, but most of our enemies (and my new troop; now that’s a depressing thought) have never seen another lemur beastfolk against which to compare it.
During one battle, I suffered a flesh wound to the wrist, so I allowed Z to practice her surgery skills on me. (I was surprised by a delicate touch from the sturdy dwarf, but then, I of all people should know better than to make assumptions.) It was during this vulnerable point that I was accosted by a shameless racist.
She was some lost traveler or another, not that I cared once she started spewing her vitriol. “All beastfolk are in need of domestication by a firm master.” I’ve heard it all before, to be sure. But something about her careless disregard, sitting mere inches from me, while I was incapacitated and exposed… I have not felt so enraged and so powerless since my time in bondage.
The worst part was, when I started to call her out, the lawman quietly shut me down. “These are not like people from the city. They have very different attitudes out here.” No, Simon, it is precisely THAT attitude which perpetuates the cycle of oppression! I will concede that his intentions may have been just, and he thought nothing good would have come of challenging the locals. I imagine many of my new comrades felt the same. And that is where we fundamentally differ.
Heh, I make myself out to be quite the hero in this journal, but what did I do? I fell silent and let the traveler talk while the rage seethed inside of me. I know I shouldn’t beat myself up… The courage I need will come in time. I was just a bit smug when she turned out to be a deranged cultist who attacked our troop for no reason. You see, Simon? Nothing good ever comes of coddling racists.
Maybe I’m being rebelliously optimistic, but I think these people I’ve taken up with don’t believe I am an animal. Not that I can relax around them, not yet. But there are some. The human bard, Azriel, has gone out of his way to engage me with kindness and cheer. Keyia the water sprite seems determined to make friends with everyone; at least I am included in that group. I had already bonded with Juniper over our library excursion (along with Shadlei and his boss), and she did me a great service by paying for the potion to restore my severed leg. (How is my severed leg the least of my worries? I suppose knowing I’ll get it back makes it an inconvenience instead of a tragedy.)
Most of my new troop I’m not sure about, and they’re probably not sure about me. That’s fine, for now. Being off my feet will give me time to contemplate my plans for uniting beastfolk, which will require diplomacy, and courage, and… social bonding. Hmm. Forging new friendships can’t be THAT hard, can it?
– Thecus
