Book III: Coalescing – Summary

Journal of Tristan Winterbloom

First of Winds Season, the 1,240th year of the Second Age.

The past few Seasons have been amazing. Busy, but amazing. First and foremost, I need to…gah, what’s the best way to write this? I’ll just write it. I’m in love with infatuated with Felicity. My thoughts about her feelings were correct, and despite my lack of knowledge in the court of romance and the language of love, I read the signs correctly. I had to write it down before anything else.

I’ll write more about it when we get there. For now, let’s start from the beginning. I had arrived at the Citadel of Essence on the island-continent of Yustat. The most prestigious school for essence-weavers across the whole of the Mortal Realm. It turns out, the whole island is the Citadel’s properly and grounds. I delivered Shandra as I promised, had Admiral Yokain recruit several essence weavers for the trade fleet, and met with Bertram.

The meeting went about as well as I could have hoped for. There was sorrow, anger, but ultimately Bertram accepted what happened to Father. He called me brother for the first time. Not half-brother…but brother. We talked for a while, and I also met his wife – Rory. A Drakonid woman whose family is part of an order of dragon hunters from the Elemental Realm of Water. The two are seemingly perfect for each other, and I couldn’t be happier for them (especially with a child on the way).

After our meeting, Felicity and I had a discussion and confirmed our intent and desire to stay at the Citadel of Essence and enroll as students. It would keep the trade fleet safe, as the assassins would be hunting me, not them, and it ensured I could spend more time with Bertram. We said our goodbyes to the ship, crew, and Obadai who was going to travel with them back toward his homeland.

Enrolling was easy enough, and I was able to leverage my rule over the Fey Realm to do an independent study program. I could audit classes if I chose to but had more access to the archives, and a dedicated staff advisor named Eloise – a Demonkin woman who had been an instructor at the Citadel for four-hundred years. We struck an accord where the Citadel’s students could access the Fey Realm once a Season, under heavy supervision by the Realm’s residents. I made quite an impact.

Plus, the Citadel was completely safe from those who sought to harm students, which I am now one of. Safe from the assassins as long as I was on Citadel grounds or in the Fey Realm. This will be important to note later.

And once we had our room…I made my move on Felicity. She expressed her affection for me, and I for her, and we made love. It was quite an enjoyable experience, but I’m just happy that I read her intentions correctly and did not ruin our friendship over perceived romantic connection that did not actually exist. I’m fully committed to her, and she to me. The night was…one of the best nights of my life.

I visited an inter-Realm marketplace hosted on Citadel grounds and purchased a whole bunch of trade goods that I then returned to the Fey Realm to plant. We now have all types of trade goods including metals from all types of Realms that are completely foreign and rare.

But I needed new gear and equipment. There were options in the inter-Realm market, but I learned that a part of the Fey Realm under a sub-seal, called The Undermount, held the Gnomes – renowned craftsmen and miners who would fit the bill of what I was looking to have made. Unsealing the Undermount, I learned that an Incursion had taken place and boiled over into war from a over-populated Realm. The Gnomes fought hard, and held the line, but with my dragonslayer spells I was able to drive the Kobold invaders back and The Matriarch (Realm Protector) sealed the rift, ending the threat.

Returning to the Queen’s Wood, I saw to the Gnomes settling back in and reviving their temporarily deceased compatriots. Then, they set to work crafting armor and weapons for me. I headed back to the Citadel to acquire spell books to add to a new artificed item called an Omnitome; a text that could hold countless other writings. I also met the Archivist, a strange species named Betty who seemed very interested in my development as an essence-weaver. She even gave some insight as to what happens when someone dies – the Realm Protector of the place they died takes custody of the ‘soul’ or consciousness if you prefer that term.

Heading back to the Fey Realm, I attended my first Fey Court meeting and acquired grandfather’s old gear, because I had my first field trip! I went with Bertram, Rory, Eloise, and a bunch of students to the Elemental Realm of Lightning. I fought, drank the blood of, and used Drain Dragon on one of the beasts native to that domain. Plus, I got to give a short lesson on dragon butchering.

Heading back to the Citadel, I met up with Bertram and Rory, and the four of us (Felicity was almost always constantly beside me) had a lovely meal and some conversation. Then, it was time to practice. I made use of one of the Citadel’s study rooms to ‘cram’ as they called it. Practicing and memorizing a whole bunch of new spells I now have access to. Then, it was back to the Fey Realm to get my new gear and artifice all of it. The Gnomes did excellent work. Top notch, really. After another Fey Court meeting, I chose to unseal the Springthaw Meadows.

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