“Everyone has limits. You just have to learn what your own limits are and deal with them accordingly.”
Nolan Ryan
“Take everything in moderation.” Lady Acacia stepped forward stopping the cousins from pledging. “Let Aleera have some time to adjust to her new stats before adding any more.”
Aleera seemed a little unsteady on her feet. I wondered which stats she had lost through the process. Losing 17 stats wasn’t a huge deal for me when I had ov...
2022-06-19 16:20:36 +0000 UTC
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“Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family. Whatever you call it, whoever you are you need one.”
Jane Howard.
Operation Silversea had formally started. We had gathered the whole family. They all came across in various boats to our island. Our family stood on the steps to our Parthenon entrance as we watched them arrive and walk along the black eastern radial path through the white salterns before we welcomed them in our hall. For ma...
2022-06-16 23:15:02 +0000 UTC
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"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then is not an act but a habit."
Aristotle
Children learn best through routine which seemed to be the rule by which Lady Acacia lived her life. Aleera’s time was nearly completely monopolised by her, structured and planned. It may have been that she had less time for herself and her projects, but it seemed that the time was being used highly effectively. I was almost jealous.
The highlights of day 1 under Lady Acacia’s training r...
2022-06-12 18:22:48 +0000 UTC
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The Lodestar Church - The cynosure of the Lodestar Church is to help people find their path through life, to help direct their journey. The Ordinals who preach the faith to the common man never advocate a single direction for the entirety of life. While pilgrimages in one direction are welcome, it is understood and taught that a well-balanced life will have you moving in all directions and rarely a single one. Although the ultimate test of faith in the Lodestar is to circumnavigate ...
2022-06-03 23:49:40 +0000 UTC
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The Witterings of Wilden the Wanderer - Collected and edited by Simon the Scribe
I have always been foolishly fond of the past, a mediocre man of small stature, I have often thought, that had I but lived 100 years past, I would have been taller then. Still, I have collected and catalogued the Witterings of Wilden the Wanderer and hopefully, in time I will seem the greater and taller man for having done so.
On friends
A friend is one, whom
Wh...
2022-06-01 23:05:01 +0000 UTC
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Happy 1st June!
A little larger than what I originally imagined when I started writing Singer, Sailor, Merchant, Mage. However, as I wrote I also realised that there were lots of skills, trades and buildings that Kai would need moving forward and it was simpler to have some of them already exist than have you have wait even longer for me to write how he built them in the story.
This one isn't labelled so guess away, what's what?
2022-05-31 23:29:13 +0000 UTC
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Thank you for all of your support in getting this far in the story. It's wonderful to see so many of you still interested. May was challenging starting a new job and single parenting my daughter for 3 weeks before my wife returned with my son. Thank you for your continued support of my writing. It means a lot and pays for the maps we have had so far and the next one being released on June 1st!
Planned June posts
1st June - Map of Wester Town
4th June - Chapter 89
? June - ...
2022-05-30 22:00:04 +0000 UTC
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“Just making sure you found your way to your room.” Grandfather gestured her forward to enter her room.
“Of course, thank you.” Lady Acacia replied and stepped forward over the threshold and paused as she took it all in. “How lovely. A little stark in places but there is a certain elegance in its simplicity. Sometimes when people use far too much gold gilt it can become a little crass. Besides, it fits with the bare-bones nature of a frontier island while still bringing in ele...
2022-05-29 21:53:53 +0000 UTC
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“A police interview is non-accusatory. It is an act of gathering information. An interrogation is accusatory. It is an act of persuasion. “An interrogation is conducted only when the investigator is reasonably certain of the suspect’s guilt,” according to Essentials of the Reid Technique: Criminal Interrogation and Confessions.
T Christian Miller
“This way.” Aleera offered to lead the way to the room we had prepared.
We had cut out a state...
2022-05-28 22:58:23 +0000 UTC
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"Visiting is a pleasure; being visited is usually a mixed or ambivalent joy… The visitor can always go home; the visitee is already home, trapped like a rat in a drainpipe.”
Barbara Holland
We had visitors. I was sitting outside for my afternoon Yoga session with my Grandfather when the Lady arrived. Grandfather was the first to notice, whether this was because he wasn’t trying as hard as I was to maintain his balance upside down on his head or simply becau...
2022-05-21 22:58:51 +0000 UTC
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"You never get a second chance to make a first impression.”
Will Rogers
The Swift
The journey through the archipelago had been precarious and for some nigh on perilous, not because of the sea monsters, pirates, or slavers, those had been avoided with ease. Seen from a distance the speed of the Swift and the captain’s skills kept us safe from harm. No, it was the leviathan we carried in the belly of our hold or rather the elf who had com...
2022-05-20 21:40:28 +0000 UTC
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“What is paradise, but, a garden, an orchard of trees and herbs, full of pleasure and nothing there but delights.”
William Lawson
“What a garden of delight.” Wanda had exclaimed in wonder when she first saw our secret garden as we crested the summit of our island mountain and looked down at the plant-filled cauldron caldera within. “A veritable garden of earthly delights.”
I shuddered in remembrance, ‘The garden of earthly delights' was a pain...
2022-05-12 22:42:56 +0000 UTC
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“What then is freedom? The power to live as one wishes.”
Marcus Tullius Cicero
Little did we know it, but our final days of freedom were already counting down. Wanda worked well with Des and Sinis gathering guano from Wester Isle’s cliffs and adding it to our burgeoning garden. We could hardly call it a garden now with plants working their way all the way around the inside of the cauldron caldera. The addition of an extra worker meant that we had to shift o...
2022-05-07 12:45:10 +0000 UTC
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“The most oblivious people are often the happiest.”
George Mayer
Palace of Ponente - 3 months ago.
“In light of the Prince’s proclamation that the Silversea family remain unmolested until their 20th birthday when they are presented to the court. It was felt that it was only suitable that they have a tutor or governess to help them prepare for their entrance to the court. Now you have yet to mention how old this . . .” he paused as...
2022-04-30 21:50:53 +0000 UTC
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“Probably the most visible example of unintended consequences is what happens every time humans try to change the natural ecology of a place.”
Margaret J Wheatley
We continued to work on our lines, circles, and ovals as I taught Aleera the basics I remembered of drawing. I also continued to draw expanding maps of the area I had discovered so far. I had to admit I was a little artistic in my map-making but it helped me to enjoy the process more. I would have t...
2022-04-21 18:28:23 +0000 UTC
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Kai doesn't yet have access to colours or paints but maybe it is something he should invest in.
:D
https://n-horizons.weebly.com/ is the artist who has been making maps for me
2022-04-18 15:42:39 +0000 UTC
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“Cartography; from the Greek chartes meaning papyrus, sheet of paper or map and graphein meaning write. It is the study and practice of making and using maps. Combining science, aesthetics and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality (or an imagined reality) can be modelled in ways that communicate spatial information effectively.”
Wikipedia
This evening, before I fell asleep once more, I began my newest project. Mapping my world. Drawing on ...
2022-04-17 19:49:48 +0000 UTC
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“Yoga means addition – addition of energy, strength and beauty to body, mind and soul.”
Amit Ray
After dinner it was time for training with grandfather, supervised training. Mother was happy for the training to go forwards as long as it was supervised by someone ‘more reasonable’ in her words. So we would walk out onto the salt flats west of the mountain for training that was out of earshot but still within sight of the family home. Here we continued to...
2022-04-16 04:29:59 +0000 UTC
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2022-04-14 12:19:54 +0000 UTC
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"I have ways of making money you know nothing of."
John D Rockefeller
After my midday nap with my mother, it was time to work with my sister. Childcare was a full-time family job now. After my myriad multitude of private little adventures and the pitfalls they had created, it had been decided by all, that it was best to keep a permanent eye on me all of the time awake and asleep. I still had some secrets left from them but our more open policy on honesty meant th...
2022-04-13 14:06:43 +0000 UTC
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Dear Patrons,
Royal Road readers, of which there are many here already, have requested a discord group.
We already have a discord channel which seeing as I don't delete anyone from I have assumed that you all still have access to it whether or not you are paying that month or not.
Do you?
The question I am asking is, "Are you happy opening it up to everyone with a discord link on the Royal Road chapter?"
Poll and any thoughts in the comments.
No...
2022-04-12 21:30:44 +0000 UTC
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"Singing is a way of escaping. It's another world. I am no longer on earth."
Edith Piaf
After our morning or rather our nighttime sailing, I would be tuckered out. I often fell asleep by the time we arrived in our hidden blue cave with our haul of fish, oysters and sometimes snails. The oysters and snails would be left there for Des and Sinis to deal with while father would carry me back home through the winding paths within the mountain. I could walk once more b...
2022-04-12 14:23:21 +0000 UTC
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"We plunged into the deep waters and all was dark. Cold it was as the tide of death: almost it froze my heart."
J.R.R. Tolkien.
“Come on Kai, I mean Callen, where are the fish today?” Father asked.
He was just happy to be out sailing and even happier to have me out there with him. It didn’t honestly matter if the fish were biting or not. He just enjoyed sailing. It was hard to argue with him over the enjoyment of skimming along the top of the la...
2022-04-03 17:30:35 +0000 UTC
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The idea with the maps is to show a slowly expanding view of the world as he explores more and more. These are the only two for now but have another piece of art in the works and the idea is to keep going with further maps.
Can you guess what the extra front room might be?
I don't think that I have ever explicitly stated in the book so far.
I will have to edit an earlier chapter somewhere as the Kitchen area is now included in the mainroom rather than separate.
2022-04-02 06:58:44 +0000 UTC
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From Chapter 13: Better Late than Never
What could I add to each room for my mind fortress to continually level a skill or level it at 5 times the normal speed?
For listening, it was fairly easy to add a speaker or two, to each room, allowing me to hear our heartbeats and the hum of her singing whenever I am in here. I always wanted my own home surround system. Eavesdrop was more of a conscious choice to focus on the conversations rather than let them wash over me. So I have adde...
2022-04-02 00:59:33 +0000 UTC
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Thank you to everyone who supported me through March I know it has been a quieter month than normal. But now it is time to look at the month ahead and try and work out how much time I have and when I should be able to post.
Good news old job finishes in 10 days. New job starts end of April so I should in theory have some more time to write. Will also be visiting America god willing we don't catch covid again in the next two weeks so fingers crossed I will have more time to write then ...
2022-03-29 21:02:09 +0000 UTC
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“Walking is man’s best medicine.”
Hippocrates
I was sat wrapped around my rebec, treating it much like a cello for an infant. My fingers tried to pluck away as quick as I could, eager to get that last point in dexterity. Finally, on the penultimate day before my 2nd birthday, I gained the final point of dexterity needed to get the next trait. I let out a huge sigh of relief, as I stopped playing and relaxed my sore fingers. It had been a long journey to get...
2022-03-26 15:33:29 +0000 UTC
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“Life is a gift and it offers us the privilege, opportunity, and responsibility to give something back by becoming something more.”
Tony Robbins
After Mercurio and Cadmus had left it was time to look at some of the gifts that they had brought us. Despite the fact, that we had paid for them in one form or another they still felt quite special as we opened them up. Especially in a pre-industrial world where commercialism had yet to run rampant and our possessio...
2022-03-20 02:22:46 +0000 UTC
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“I’m so bored, of being bored, because being bored, is really boring.”
Anon
Another boring month with little to do. I was left mainly in my mind now that the elixir had run out. I carefully and slowly explored the world I could perceive from outside of my mind fortress. It was slow going by nature and design. I could not believe it had taken me so long to notice the new method of perception. But I was hesitant to add too many new skills to my burgeoning lis...
2022-03-15 23:24:47 +0000 UTC
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This week's list of excuses
This week 3 day work trip from Monday to Wednesday evening has left me shattered Thursday and Friday.
This morning excuses
Ballet
Eye appointment
Report for the boss
Generally looking after 4 month old
This afternoon excuses
Father's birthday at our house with following attending
1 mother 1 daughter 1 wife 3 brothers 3 sisters in law and 4 nephews attending
Sure you would rather have a chapter than a list of excuses ...
2022-03-12 17:59:27 +0000 UTC
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