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We just had a very pleasant Leisure Day, which is a holiday that the town council elected to put in place following all the hard work that everyone put in to form our community. It was agreed that we had all more than earned some time to just relax and do nothing. For today the school and businesses are closed. The only people doing any work are freelancers and only because they want to. Of course here on the farm the animals and the garden always need to be tended to, holiday or not, but once the chores were done the rest of the day was ours.
Neldor went fishing along the seashore with his brother Thorinor and their sister Larena. This was something they often did together when they were children and today was the first chance they've had to do some sea fishing for quite a few years. The whole family is very close but Thorinor, Neldor and Larena are particularly close since they are the youngest of their parents' twelve children. Yes, twelve. Apparently large families are not uncommon in Valenwood.
As for me, I had plans with my own sibling. Acacia and I wanted to go horseback riding together, which is one of the many things that we did not get to do together when we were growing up. Being daughters of a suspicious mer like King Helseth, we were raised separately and in fact I had never even spoken to each other until the fates brought us both to Vvardenfell around the same time. My father said he didn't want his children in one place because that would make it easy for assassins to wipe out the entire family at once. While that reason may be partially true, Helseth primarily did not want my sister and I to have a bond with each other because he feared we would conspire against him.
This is how his mind works: Acacia and I would plot to have him eliminated, clearing the way for me to take the throne. At that point my sister and I (again, in Helseth's mind) would turn on each other. Acacia would seek to assassinate me so that she could become Queen and I would seek to assassinate her in order to remove a rival who wanted to get rid of me. It is no small relief that we have been forever freed from that life.
The area north of where Ebonheart used to be has been turned into a forested wildlife park (incidentally, we have a Valenwood Spinner in our community which is the reason the plant-life has been able to grow so quickly and be very strong and healthy). Yes, I said where Ebonheart used to be. The former residents, including Duke Dren, fled the Big Stink. So Ebonheart was essentially recycled with the elements of the castle being taken for building materials. This patch of wilderness, which is a bit southeast of the Bitter Coast, looks far more beautiful than Ebonheart Castle ever did.
I go riding on my palomino mare Gloria whenever I can, but it was absolutely more fun with my sister riding alongside me. It gave us a chance to talk about all sorts of things while enjoying the fresh air and beautiful scenery.
When I was sure there wasn't anyone nearby I mentioned that I had recently seen our grandmother in town and that she looked much younger. With an amused smile, Acacia told me that Barenziah had been seen leaving the elixir consignment shop and rumors say that she gave the clerk who works there a difficult time because the shop doesn't do personal deliveries. If a person wants to buy something they have to go to the shop themselves, even those who were once a Queen and Queen Mother. Anyway, the fact that our grandmother was at the elixir shop makes me believe even more that she has taken a youth elixir. Not that I'm judging her. It doesn't hurt anyone and she would not be the first person to use such an elixir.
There were a number of other people who decided to spend Leisure Day at the park. In the camping area we saw Neldor's cousin Brolmir and Brolmir's wife Vendyne playing a game at the horseshoe courts. They waved to us as we rode by and then continued their game.
Another person we saw in the park was Constance, a teenage Bosmer girl whom Neldor and I had met outside of Gnisis on a day we had been hunting in the West Gash. The girl has had a rough start in life. Her mother died when she was a baby and her father is a thief, but (as Constance puts it) not a very good one so he spends a good bit of time in prison. So Constance has always been more or less on her own except when she crossed paths with a Bosmer thief named Yanna who took the girl under her wing.
Constance lived with Yanna for a while but Sifina (the Spinner I mentioned earlier) became concerned for the girl when she learned of Yanna's "career aspirations" to become a weathly madam and have Constance as one of her "working girls". Sifina immediately intervened, befriending Constance and eventually became her guardian. If Yanna had any objections to Constance moving into Sifina's home she said nothing. Not that she would have been able to stop it. Although she has identified herself as Constance's aunt a few times, they are not actually related at all, so legally there was nothing Yanna could do. Plus Yanna knows that Sifina, although not a native of Morrowind, has a lot of clout in the community. The town council will always side with the helpful law-abiding Spinner than with a known thief and trouble-maker.
One of the first things Sifina insisted on was that Constance go to school as soon as the school was established. Although she's a very bright girl, Constance had a bit of trouble in the beginning due to never having had a formal education before. This was when Ashara Dagoth stepped in and began tutoring Constance. I suppose I can say that Ashara is sort of a "distant in-law" as well as a friend. She is the sister of Neldor's brother's wife. It's easier to just say that she's a member of the family.
When school first began Constance's grade point average was a low C but now her grades have come up quite a bit. In fact she is now a straight A student and when I was speaking with her today in the park she excitedly told me that she has made the honor roll. I congratulated her and told her how proud I am of her. I knew she could do it. As I said, I always knew she was very bright, she just needed caring people to direct her to the right path. Ashara and Sifina have been a positive influence on her, and as a result the doors to many other good opportunities will open up for the girl who always believed she would have to get by in life by being a pick-pocket.
After speaking with Constance, Acacia and I resumed our ride through the park. While we were out there I took the time to check on the privies and make sure everything was in working order. You see, Neldor and I are custodians of the park, so making sure that everything is clean and maintained is our job. Of course other members of the community, including our siblings and their spouses, often happily volunteer to look after the park as well since they get a lot of use out of it and frequently go there to enjoy nature. One of the things Acacia and I discussed was placing some decorations for Tales and Tallows around the park. Nothing garish of course. Just some pumpkins and some strings of lights around the privies and showers. And of course some black cat and ghost statues here and there around the shrubbery. Just enough to create a fun environment to sit around a campfire and tell ghost stories.
At the end of the day my sister and I agreed that we should go riding together again from time to time and that we don't need a holiday to do so. I'm really looking forward to decorating for the autumn season with Acacia. At times I can almost forget that we were in fact strangers until only a short time ago. We're able to actually be happy and form a bond because our father's treacherous nature never poisoned us, thank the ancestors.
