A mixture of material cut from the book in season one and the actual historical events of the early Tokugawa Shogunate:
Season 2 is set in 1608 and revolves around a dramatization of the Nossa Senhora da Graça and Okamoto Daihachi incidents, while Season 3 would span from the winter of 1614 to the summer of 1615 covering the two sieges of Osaka.
Season 2: 1608
Pick up with John as captain of the Erasmus, now flagship of Toranaga's newly commissioned fleet of red seal trading vessels, sailing through the Champa Sea after their maiden voyage to southeast Asia.
He's accompanied by three characters from the novel: Johann Vinck [Jan Joosten van Lodensteyn], his Dutch first mate, a sailor for the Dutch East India company; Urama no Tadamasa [Chijiwa Seizaemon], a Japanese Jesuit convert turned apostate who serves as John's retainer and interpreter; Harima Tadao [Arima Harunobu], captain of one of the other ships and one of the few Christian lords who allied with Toranaga after Sekigahara.
In order to return to Japan they must pass close to Portuguese Macau, resulting in a naval skirmish that causes tensions between the Catholics and the shogunate to escalate.
In Edo, we are introduced to Toranaga's eldest son, who is now being groomed to assume the title of shogun, and his daughter, who is to be betrothed to the Taiko's heir in order to secure his allegiance to the shogunate. The Macau incident and its consequences spiral into an assassination plot as Harima conspires with corrupt officials and the Catholic missionaries in a bid to reclaim his clan's ancestral fief from Toranaga.
In Osaka we are reintroduced to the Taiko's heir, Nakamura Yaechiyo [Toyotomi Hideyori], his mother Ochiba no Kata [Yodo no Kata], and the members of his court as he prepares to join his clan with Toranaga's by wedding his daughter. Sheltered by Ochiba and confined to Osaka Castle for much of his life, Yaechiyo is regarded as naive and deferential, but in truth has grown into a cunning manipulator who might prove a match for Toranaga.
Season 3: 1614-1615
We return in late fall, 1614. In Edo, an ailing Toranaga has abdicated the position of shogun to his son but continues to wield supreme power behind the scenes. His son's first official act is the banning of all Christian missionaries from Japan, leaving John and Johann to solidify a formal trade partnership between the Dutch East India Company and the shogunate in the port city of Tsukishima. Meanwhile in Osaka, sensing a moment of weakness as Toranaga transitions power to his son, Toranaga's enemies rally to Yaechiyo as he begins his bid to seize the shogunate for himself. Their political cat and mouse game builds up to Toranaga's first failed siege on Osaka in the winter.
This storyline then continues into 1615, which carries through to Toranaga's successful summer siege on Osaka and the final extermination of the Nakamura clan, consolidating all power in Japan under the shogunate. The series ends a year later on the anniversary of the siege, with Toranaga passing away from his illness.

Reposted with permission of the original author. Original thread is located here.
The 11th and final volume in Janny Wurts' mega epic Wars of Light and Shadow series gets an ebook and audiobook release tomorrow (at the time of posting), and yet it still seems to me that her work is criminally underread around here. So allow me to be your guide and help you explore her wonderful works.
First off, here's what to expect from every work on this list: If you're coming to any of her works expecting an easy, 'popcorn'/blockbuster style read you're probably going to bounce right off; Janny is not only a beautiful prose writer who is able to put you right into the shoes of her characters in a way that few others can, but she also often tackles pretty hefty themes in her works as well and asks the reader to engage with them on a mental level instead of explicitly spelling everything out. These are often not easy reads, and skimming is highly discouraged, however because of the higher engagement on a mental and emotional level the payoffs are more than worth it, at least in my humble opinion.
On top of that, all of her works pack a 1-2 punch of sorts, where around the halfway point of the story it seems that everything is coming to its climax - only instead, somehow, Janny is able to keep ratcheting the tension up more and more, turning the last half of any novel into an extended climax of sorts that, while thrilling, can also be emotionally exhausting if you're not prepared for or expecting it.
And best of all, none of her novels end with a cliffhanger. All of her works are, if not self-contained, then at least end with a definite sense of some closure by the last page.
Now then, with that out of the way:
If you've read Raymond E. Feist's original Riftwar trilogy: You've probably already read The Empire Trilogy co-written by both Feist and Wurts, but if you have not yet then you really owe it to yourself to do so as it's a fabulous work. Set on Kelewan during the time of Magician, the story follows Mara's rise to power as she deftly maneuvers her way up the the political ladder of the Tsuranuanni. First book is Daughter of the Empire.
If you're a fan of old-school Swords and Sorcery: Master of Whitestorm would be right up your alley. Starting off as a series of relatively stand-alone adventures, by the halfway point it turns into a character study of the character of Korendir and finding out just what, exactly, drives him to risk life and limb over and over again. Also, be prepared to cry.
If you prefer some sci-fi mixed in with your fantasy: You will probably enjoy the Cycle of Fire trilogy, which finds Jaric and his friends as they help an old wizard fight against a demon horde alien invasion. Quite possibly the most YA-esque of Janny's works, this is nonetheless a good read that Janny might plan to revisit some day (she has another work drafted out in the same world under the tentative title of Starhope). Stormwarden is the first novel in this trilogy.
If court politics with more than a little dash of romance sounds appealing to you: Give Sorcerer's Legacy a try. A standalone tale, this tale follows Elienne, the queen of a just-conquered kingdom who we first meet imprisoned as a spoil of war, her husband vanquished during said kingdom conquering when she is visited by a wizard from a far off land and present with a choice: Either stay and face certain death from her kingdom's conqueror's, or be spirited off to the far off Kingdom of Pendaire and become the bride of its Prince, with her husband's unborn child the gambit to save the Prince's fate who has been rendered sterile by the black magic of his political enemies, unable to produce an heir. It's a rip-roaring good tale of court politics, romance, time travel, and magical clashes.
If you enjoy lush prose and want to read about thrilling chases, yet more political intrigue, and the best damn horses I've ever seen in a fantasy novel: Pick up To Ride Hell's Chasm and you won't be disappointed. As the princess Anja of Sessalie goes missing on the day of her wedding to secure an alliance with a neighboring kingdom, the capital city erupts into chaos as the task of finding her falls to two people: Taskin, the stern-but-fair Commander of the Royal Guard who guards the royal family, and Mykkael, the foreign born Commander of the City Garrison, who must also battle bigotry and racist prejudice as he searches for any clue on what happened to the Princess. Courtly intrigue gives way to one of the longest chase scenes I've seen in fantasy as the second half of the novel consists of the titular ride through the rather aptly named Hell's Chasm. Plus: absolutely beautiful prose, heavy themes tackled such as the letter of the law vs the spirit of the law, and the fantasy version of gun-kata in the form of barqui'ino.
If you're not feeling up to the commitment of a full novel just yet: You're in luck, as Janny has a collection of short stories by the name of That Way Lies Camelot. Ranging from fantasy to sci-fi, everyone is sure to find something to love in these 15 tales from Mrs. Wurts.
Finally, if you feel you're ready to dive off the deep end in terms of prose, scope, and complexity: The Wars of Light and Shadow tackles many themes throughout its run, but the seed idea of the series is that history is written by the victor, and so strives to offer us an unbiased look at events and invites us to "determine the good and the evil" for ourselves from the very first page.
In addition, in this series what happens is of equal, if not lesser, importance to why it happens, what drives the characters and the factions, how do they think and what are their goals. Janny often says that WoLaS doesn't sprawl, rather, it deepens, and this is the crux of that statement: Instead of having a cast that expands exponentially with each new volume, spawning more and more sub-plots that need page time of their own and gunking up the works, with each subsequent volume we instead find out more about not only the manageable handful of characters and the various factions that drive the story, but also about the world itself and its history that completely recontextualize prior events. And it's this moving of the markers, over and over and over again as more and more facets are unveiled, that really gives the series its depth.
Moreover, the series is designed to be reread and reread, with the insight from future volumes adding tons of new dimensions with each read as you're able to see more and more between the lines and view what was hidden in plain sight all along. Moreover, it's designed to play with whatever preconceptions that you have going into the story and the assumptions about it that you'll make along the way only to completely flip everything you thought you knew on its head over and over again. This is also where, IMO, Janny's prose shines the brightest, as her word choice is very deliberate and precise, and it's only on a reread that you get to see just exactly how she hid everything in plain sight only for said preconceptions and assumptions to blind you to the details that were there all along.
It's a series that's definitely not for everyone, but if you are willing to engage with it on the level that it asks for then you are going to be in for one hell of a fantastic experience.
I could go on and on about this series, but I'll finish off with an explanation of the series structure: The series is subdivided into 5 story arcs, and each one has its own purpose and function: Arc 1 (Curse of the Mistwraith) sets the stage and introduces everything, Arc 2 (Ships of Merior + Warhost of Vastmark) not only deepens the characters but also escalates the main conflict of the series, with Arc 3 (Fugitive Prince through Stormed Fortress) expanding the scope of the series to "world view" and going really in depth with not only the characters but the various factions in play and what drives them, with Arc 4 (Initiate's Trial + Destiny's Conflict) giving us a deeper look into the ethereal mysteries of the planet Athera and sets up the pure climax of a finale that will be Arc 5 (the forthcoming Song of the Mysteries). Moreover, not only does each book feature the 1-2 extended climax punch that is characteristic of Janny's work, but each arc as well as the series as a whole has this characteristic as well, with the middle of the series (Peril's Gate) being the tipping point where the rest of the series just breaknecks faster and faster towards conclusion. And if the start of an arc seems to slow down, fear not, it's only gearing back in pace to lay down the necessary foundation needed for the finale of the arc the pack the punch that it needs; there's no sprawl here, and if you've read Janny's other works before this then you'd know to trust that everything she's doing is necessary in service of the story, world, and the characters.
The traditional start of the series is Curse of the Mistwraith, but you might have an easier introduction by reading the short story Child of Prophecy and/or the novella The Gallant beforehand, both can be safely read before starting the series proper and will shed light on what the politics in play are like as the series opens and a character that has a small but important part to play throughout the series, respectively.
There's also a few other short stories as well. The Decoy and Reins of Destiny can be safely read anytime after Curse of the Mistwraith, but hold off on reading The Sundering Star until after Warhost of Vastmark, and don't even think of touching Black Bargain until after you've finished Stormed Fortress. All six WoLaS short works can be purchased in ebook form on Janny Wurts' website.
Finally, she's also on here as a fellow redditor as u/JannyWurts, and always gives excellent book recommendations, with many of my recent favorite and often overlooked gems coming to my attention only because of a plug from her. If you're ever looking for a good rec and you see her chime in, know that it's always going to be a read worth your time if it's coming from her.

Di post ini, aku mau cerita bedasarkan kisah nyata dari sebagian besar orang yang pernah ngobrol sama aku (plus dengan pengalamanku pas bersama mereka) dan mungkin ini bisa menggerakkan hati atau kita makin positif sih. Ada 2 cerita yang bakalan aku bahas, dan kalian bisa pilih aja mau cerita mana yang mau kalian baca. And ofc, i make it short to save everyone's time.
The story has 2 perspective : Gojek, dan Tukang parkir (niatnya mau ada tambahan 1 lagi, yaitu cerita tentang guruku.. maybe next time i guess.)
Let's start with Gojek.
Gojek Kejadian ini terjadi pasca tahun 2021-an (kalo ga salah). Ceritanya, Sahabat jauh dari solo pulang ke sentul dan aku main sama beliau sambil ngobrol bareng kondisi-nya disana. Kami bercengkrama sampai dengan jam 8 malam, dan aku memutuskan untuk pulang (karena nyokap udah nyariin). Aku akhirnya dianterin pulang dengan mobil nyokap sahabatku yang kebetulan lagi satu jalan dari AEON. tapi, aku denger kabar kata-nya bokap-nya temen tiba-tiba sakit dan Nyokap-nya perlu beli obat. Aku nawarin untuk nemenin beli obat + nunjukin apotik terdekat, tapi akhirnya aku cukup minta diberhentiin aja di Lampu merah dekat CCM. Karena aku takut-nya mengganggu juga + takut pulang kemaleman. Cukup ucapan semoga cepat sembuh, dan akhirnya pergi ke kantor polisi perempatan CCM buat pesan Gojek.
Jujur, aku kaget ketika yang dateng ketika pesen Gojek yang dateng adalah perempuan. Aku ga permasalahin kamu kerja jadi apa... tapi dengan kondisi malem seperti ini dan beliau berani narik Gojek? oh my. That's a daring move and deserve my respect. Tapi pas aku mau naik, beliau bilang.. ini baru pertama kali dia ambil pesanan malem-malem dan kebetulan aga capek (kalo ga salah inget). Aku tawarin untuk ngendarain motornya (it was a scoopy. its has good handling but slow as snail speed. but it has good fuel economy. hehe, maaf terlalu mendiskripsikan motornya).
Kami ngobrol di jalan dong... tanya-tanya abis ngapain dan ini itu. Sampai aku nanya ke beliau "Ibu kenapa mau kerja jadi Go-Jek?". Beliau dengan lumayan santai-nya bilang something along like "Karena ada-nya ini pada saat ini, dan saya harus membiayain kedua anak saya". Aku sambil mengucapkan maaf nanya kepada beliau "Maaf bu, saya kalo boleh nanya.. Suami ibu apakah tidak kerja?". Beliau bilang "Suami saya kabur". That bring a chill on my spine... karena ini ngobrol secara langsung. Beliau bela-belain Nganter barang sampai malam, dan bahkan nyoba nge-gojek. it's somewhat shows how mother figure should always be. She wants nothing but her kids to become succeed and didnt end up like her.
And today 2024, i share her story to here... it shows that maybe even at the very rock bottom, you cannot see down but only up. and you need to keep on going whatever your situation is.
okay, Mari kita langsung aja cerita kedua.
Tukang Parkir Mixue Miksu (ga boleh nyebut merek meskipun keliatan dikit, atleast its for the sake of the funni)
Nah, ini sebenarnya kejadian yag masih baru-baru banget. Cerita-nya ini abis ngampus.. Karena lagi kepengen makan eskrim, pergilah aku ke Miksu deket Sate Tegal Laka-laka yang ada di cibinong. Kebetulan disitu ada tukang parkir (yang kebetulan sering ketemuan dan dia ramah).. ngobrol lah aku sama beliau. He give me many wise words dan saran sebelum beranjak ke dunia yang bener-bener dewasa. it was all fun and game.
But then, i ask him... "Tapi pak, dengan pemikiran dan wawasan yang luas. Kenapa bapak jadi tukang parkir?" He said ketika beliau di pelabuhan tanjung priuk, dulunya dia kerja sebagai pengangkut barang dan disukai sama bos-nya karena etos kerja-nya yang tinggi (Sambil nunjukin kertas kerja-nya, dan dokumen penting lainnya ketika kerja di pelabuhan tanjung priuk. I was surprised how did he trust me to the point to show me this). He got paid handsomely, dan dia kerja dari pagi ke pagi. Sampai ketika orang dalam plays along dan kompetisi yang ga sehat mulai masuk. Dia suka disenggol dan begitu sebagai-nya... dan bahkan sudah berfikir kalo sebagai pengangkut barang udah bukan passion dia lagi (karena terkadang dia mesti berantem pas ngangkut barang di jalan entah sama pungli, dll).
Dan dimasa dimana dia udah kepala 5 atau 6 ini (kalo ga salah). Dia hanya ingin meninggal dengan tenang aja. Dia bilang sama aku "Keinginan muda dan tau pasti berbeda. Semakin kamu tua, kamu semakin belajar kalo dalam hidup itu ga semuanya bisa kamu dapatkan. tapi kamu ga boleh nyerah, dan harus tekun".
He's respectable person... even as tukang parkir. Maybe some people doesnt have a choice and ended up like him. Bahkan orang berjasa kayak beliau aja di-injek". like damn..... Hope he's having a good day
That's the story for today folks. Have a good day !
edit : typo :b

Kopivosian semua. To married couples, I'd like to ask for some advice. My husband and I, a Kadazan woman and a man from the Peninsula, are planning our wedding reception at a hotel in Kota Kinabalu. While we're covering all the costs ourselves, we're facing a dispute on who gets to keep the angpow money. My mother insists on keeping all the angpow to distribute to relatives in the future. On the other hand, currently my sister and her husband are struggling financially, with mounting debts due to business failure and no steady income. My mother is pressuring me to give them around RM50K, but we have our own financial responsibilities, including future plans for a house and renovations. Despite my refusal, my mother is upset and giving me the silent treatment. Dia langsung tidak ckp hello masa jemput kami d airport. Sunyi saja dlm kereta. 😅 Is it customary or obligatory to give all the wedding angpow to parents?
Edit: Thank you all for the responses. Generally, the consensus is that if the couple pay, then angpow money should go to them. My mom didn't want to discuss and kata putus dia, dia yg harus ambil tu semua angpow. Sy mcm agak stress dgn family issues ni n decided to seek for therapist/counseling. Going to start next week. Byk sudah pendam n I think this angpow money triggered all. Bikin sakit jiwa ba. I decided that I won't proceed with the reception and just use the money for house down payment, reno and furniture. I won't be back to Sabah as frequent as last time anymore.

I have trained in this dojo for about 8 months and I'm currently 7th kyu. Let me preface by saying that I don't think we're a McDojo -- our founder is from Okinawa, he's well-respected in the karate community there and considered the foremost expert in our particular ryuha of Shorin-Ryu (won't say which one because many shorin-ryu ryuha are quite tiny).
What really bothers me is we're very kihon + kata heavy. Our 1 hr class would be maybe 20 min warm-up + stretches, 20 min kihon + 20 min kata. We'd do sanbon kumite in maybe 20% of the classes, and free sparring only twice in my tenure here. The senseis don't teach any bunkai unless explicitly asked in a 1:1 setting. I know "self-defense effectiveness" is a very controversial topic but at this point I feel like I'm in a dance class, with I guess some practical applications (I do punch much harder now). Don't get me wrong I love kata, but this dojo really puts the "art" in martial art! In addition, I'm rarely breaking a sweat (and well, it's hard to do that when you're still doing kihon katas and low pinans).
So my question is, are all "traditional" dojos pretty similar in this respect? It's mainly just for my curiosity. As a working parent of young kids this is unfortunately the only dojo in my area with a schedule that I can attend, if we exclude the seemingly thousands of USSD schools around here.

dirimu sendiri – Orison Sweet Marden.

1. Mimpi merupakan ilustrasi dari buku yang ditulis oleh jiwamu.
   
2. Hidup bukanlah tentang menemukan dirimu sendiri. Hidup adalah tentang menciptakan diri sendiri.
   
3. Jika berpikir dengan sikap percaya diri, seseorang dapat melaksanakan hal-hal yang menakjubkan.
   
4. Kau tidak pernah terlalu tua untuk memutuskan tujuan lain atau untuk memimpikan impian yang baru.
   
5. Masa depan merupakan milik seseorang yang memercayai keindahan impiannya.
   
6. Kau tidak akan pernah dapat merencanakan masa depan di masa lalu.
   
7. Jika kapalmu tidak lekas datang, berenanglah.
   
8. Jika salah “perbaikilah”, jika gagal “cobalah lagi”. Namun, jika kau menyerah, semuanya akan selesai.
   
9. Bertahanlah selama kamu masih dapat bernapas, jangan keluar dari proses perjuangan. Tolong jangan menyerah, kau tidak akan pernah sendirian, kita bersama-sama.
   
10. Jangan sampai lehermu terpotong hanya karena ulah dari lidahmu.
    
11. Gagal merupakan masalah yang kecil, tetapi putus asa merupakan masalah yang besar.
    
12. Dengan bekerja keras kau akan mengalahkan banyak orang-orang berbakat.
    
13. Jangan bosan menjadi orang yang baik dan terus berbuat baiklah kepada sesama.
    
14. Kebahagiaan ada jika dirimu mau menjemputnya.
    
15. Tuhan selalu mengganti harapan kita dengan sesuatu yang jauh lebih baik.
    
16. Menyerah itu seperti halnya jatuh bebas di tebing yang tinggi dan berharap ada tangan yang mau menangkapmu.
    
17. Hidup itu menyedihkan jika kau hanya fokus kepada kesedihanmu. Namun, hidup sangat menggairahkan jika kau fokus kepada aliran semangat kehidupan.
    
18. Hari ini bukanlah hari untuk menyerah, tetapi hari untuk tetap semangat menggapai seluruh cita-cita dan tujuan.
    
19. Selalu tanamkanlah di dalam pikiranmu jika dirimu harus terus berjalan tanpa berhenti.
    

Biar Grameds semakin memahami isi dari suatu kata yang penuh motivasi, sehingga hidup yang dijalani jadi lebih semangat, kalian dapat membaca buku Bukan Sekadar Kata. Buku ini ditujukan untuk membantu pembacanya menemukan sisi positif dari setiap pengalaman hidup yang dijalani.
Kata-Kata Bijak Berkelas Simpel 80. Perbaikilah dirimu sebelum orang lain yang memberikanmu ucapan maaf.

1. Jadilah pribadi yang baik agar kau mudah dimaafkan.
   
2. Tekunilah salah satu bidang dan kau akan menjadi orang hebat.
   
3. Jangan menyerah ketika doa-doamu belum terjawab. Jika kau dapat bersabar, Tuhan akan memberikan sesuatu lebih dari apa yang kamu inginkan.
   

Pic first bc thats the most fun
So I have been actively searching purse peace for four years now. I have also been searching to build a capsule wardrobe. Now for most people the capsule wardrobe goal is to have very few pieces that are all interchangeable so choosing outfits is easy. To be fair, that is my goal too! Only, I am a maximialist... so my version of minimalism has a goal of less than 20 bags, less than 30 pairs of shoes, etc. However, I am trying to make it capsule in the sense that every piece goes with almost every other piece.
My color palette is light summer and I look best in pale tones. For neutrals: ivory, cool pale taupe, pale gray. For colors, cool pale blues, periwinkles, greens are best. PALE is the key because my face is very low contrast so super pale colors look like bright pops of color on me and actual bright pops of color wash me out.
Most of my clothing is made of neutrals, but my pale pops of color are in shirts or dresses only. That way I will have just one pop of color with each outfit and everything else will be neutral so everything will still go together.
So purses, shoes, coats, sweaters and pants are neutral. Either ivory, pale pink/nude color, or black (a few jeans for pants). I tried to get rid of most of my black clothing, but I still have some black shoes and a few pants I wear regularly so I needed black purses because if you are wearing a pale neutrals outfit and have black shoes and bag it looks fine but just one item of black in a pale outfit looks unbalanced IMO.
Now I don't know if you guys remember my posts on RL but I bought and sold over 30 reps within my first 6 months of finding the sub because I bought everything that was beautiful and nothing that fit my personal style, wardrobe, preferences, or geographic location (rural pnw, *sigh). I still have more to BST but I'm slowly honing my final style and whittling things down.
Things that helped me the most:

1. Making all bags neutral. It's the only way to ever achieve the goal of less than 20 bags! (For me anyways lol).
   
2. Finding bags based on activities I do and occasions that actually happen. All the bags I first bought were for clubbing or lunch with the queen, and it's been 10 years or never since I've done that! The activities I actually do? Grocery shopping, hiking, going on picnics, going to the pool, boating, camping, going out to dinner, mushroom hunting, an occasional outdoor afternoon wedding, casual brunch, the theater, the movie theater, an occasional concert, going to a friends house, babysitting my nieces and nephews.
   
3. Try to have as few bags as possible but one for every single activity that will go with every single outfit.
   
4. Paying attention to what bags I currently carry and gravitate towards and what bags I never carry and looking for patterns.
   

What I found out? I use almost exclusively large, open top tote shoulder bags or fanny packs. The exception is very thin crossbody bags (like woc). I have never carried a crossbody/belt bag that is wider than 2 inches. My theory is that it bulks my already pear shape too much. But I did put a medium flamenco on my list because what if I need a medium bag because I have to bring a sweater, but I need it to be crossbody and not shoulder bag because I'm walking around all day like at a picnic or something and want to have my hands and arms free??? (Probably will buy and then BST lol....) I have found I will carry a small hand bag (polene neuf) for short trips just out to eat or get groceries, but not if there are multiple errands. Also, I only like/carry IYKYK bags because I don't like being conspicuous, or displaying obvious signs of wealth. I know you're gonna be like WTF is with your jewelry then? But cartier and vca are very IYKYK around here lol.
These aren't conscious choices but no matter what BEAUTIFUL bags I bought, these were the only ones I carried so I'm trying to obey these laws.
ON TO THE BAGS!
I'm going to start with the ones I think are truly necessary and then add the ones I consider fun bonuses at the end.
Shoulder Bags

1. The Row Huge ivory leather tote from NS Park. Casual, goes with everything, fits everything.
   
2. The Row Medium ivory leather tote. Samsies but if you just need a medium size.
   
3. Black Medium Loewe Tote. Can fit plenty, goes with black.
   

Cloth/washable bags:

1. The Row Cream linen giant tote NS Park. Perfect for beaches, boats, picnics, fourth of july outside.
   
2. Le Pliage Longchamp beige, slightly smaller if TR is too big, also, it has zip.
   
3. Prada black nylon backpack. Good for travel, hiking, anything, plus very washable.
   

Crossbody

1. Flamenco Medium angora crossbody - big enough for a sweater
   
2. Loro Piana extra pocket 19cm. Perfect slimmer profile that is very flattering but more casual that a woc. I tried to get light pink and it was OOS so I quick switched to beige which is beautiful and the perfect pale neutral that isn't too cool or too warm so it goes with everything (I hate it when beige leans warm/tan) but now looking at all my bags I think I'm going to get the off-white instead, I have a theme going lol.
   

Crossbody Fancy

1. CC pale pink nude iridescent woc. I have nude shoes in different colors so this goes with anything that is not black.
   
2. YSL So black caviar WOC from Jundu. I may replace with a so black dior WOC IF I can find a high tier one. It would make my collection more IYKYK but it would be hard to part with now that Jundu is gone and I could never get it again if I changed my mind so I don’t know... it's so pretty!!! Normally I just wear it with the logo facing in.
   

Belt bag Fancy

1. CC Reissue belt bag in black and gold. (technically I probably don't NEED this, because I could wear the black woc, but it looks super cool with my black fancy oufits and it's authentic so it stays!)

Fancy Shoulder bag

1. CC 22 medium in Ecru, a very pale warm pinkish ivory.
   
2. Belt bag casual
   
3. BV white cassette fanny
   
4. BV black casette fanny
   

Casual handbag

1. Polene Neuf mini handbag

Duffle/travel

1. The Row 17 Duffle in blanco

Technically unnecessary, but just for kicks:

1. Dior Book tote Medium or small infini - I did not understand the appeal of the book totes until I saw them in person and now I can't stop thinking about them. Way too flashy for public but I might get them as art or to hold my yarn for knitting???
   
2. Dior Book Tote Medium Jardin d’hiver
   
3. Celine Sangle Seau in mineral, a pop of color but is still very neutral. It's the first bag I fell in love with that I actually carried but now that I have all the cream colored ones I haven't been using it... :(
   

I think because I've determined that with 17, actually 16 bags I could dress properly for ANY occasion that could ever happen to me, I'm going to try to keep my limit and 20 (4 bonus bags) and employ the one in one out policy. Wish me luck!
PS do any of you guys do capsule purse collections and what is in them? Or if you have found purse peace how many bags are in your current collection?
Edited to add what bags I have and what I still need:
I have the black belt bag from Jing and it is great, I got the white one from AE first to try out, it is shitty and PU so I'm going to have to buy an actual rep of that still.
I have the 3 The Row totes, I got them from NS Park on AE before the quality went to shit, thank goodness. That was before I decided I needed the Margaux, and they were already getting all these bad reviews that they had switched out their stuff for Worse materials so I didn't want to risk it. But I finally saw the 17 in the color I want from Kata Factory so I'm going to buy it now!
I have the polene neuf (and love it! First-hand bag that was cute enough I actually chose to carry it! I have the CC belt bag and WOC and 22 and love them all! I have the YSL WOC and the loewe tote and they are both glorious. I have the Celine single, that was the first time I got and the only rip I used for the first few months. I got the Loro piana extra pocket and it is amazing, but I had wanted it in a pale pink nude color and when they said it was out of stock I switched to beige, which is a beautiful color but it doesn't go with the rest of my white bags so I think I'm going to get a white one instead, same Factory and size though.
So I still need to buy the flamenco, the Margaux, the two book totes, the le pliage (I'm just getting it on AE), a better White BV Cassette belt bag, and the LP 19 in a different color lol.

I will be in Phuket in April for a wedding, but I will be alone for a few days until I meet up with the rest of the wedding party. I was wondering what everyone would recommend for a solo male traveler around Kata Beach.
I will definitely check out Ska Bar at some point and possibly want to work out. Any recommendations for things to do and any tips for the area like the best way to get around? Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks!
Edit: I have been to Thailand a few times already but it was a long time ago and didn't spend much time in Phuket. But did travel all over so don't really plan on going to other areas like Krabi.

⟳ f-droid.org from Wed, 20 Mar 2024 13:53:50 GMT updated on Mon, 25 Mar 2024 10:55:12 GMT contains 4343 apps.

Added (3)

• Libre Memory Game: A memory game
• Flying Carpet: Cross-platform AirDrop between Android/iOS/Linux/macOS/Windows via ad hoc WiFi
• MedTimer: Med reminders and history with full offline privacy

Updated (144)

• Gauguin (version 0.23.0): A Sudoku-like logic game
• Blitz: Fischer chess clock (version 1.5.4): A minimalist Fischer chess clock for Android.
• baresip (version 60.0.0): VoIP User Agent app for Android based on baresip SIP library
• TodoTree (version 1.5): The tree based todo and note taking app
• Freebloks (version 1.4.5): Strategy board game similar to the famous board game Blokus.
• Les Pas - Photo Album for Nextcloud (version 2.9.8): A photo album that saves all your precious memory in your private cloud
• Feeder (version 2.6.20): An awesome Libre and Open Source RSS feed reader
• DAVx⁵ (version 4.3.15-ose): CalDAV/CardDAV Synchronization and Client
• Tasks.org: Open-source To-Do Lists & Reminders (version 13.7): Private, ad-free task lists! Optional sync with Google Tasks, CalDAV or EteSync!
• Inure App Manager (Trial) (version Build100.2.6): An elegant multi-purpose app manager for all rooted and non-rooted devices.
• Copy SMS Code - OTP Helper (version 1.13.4): an open-source app that can detect and copy any code for you
• WG Tunnel (version 3.3.9): An alternative VPN client app for WireGuard with additional features
• WiVeWa (version 1.4.1): Client for the WiVeWa system
• Wikipedia (version 2.7.50479-r-2024-03-21): Official feature-rich viewer of the free online encyclopedia
• Simple Time Tracker (version 1.39): Track how much time you spend on different activities during the day.
• PlainApp: File & Web Access (version 1.2.41): Manage your phone on the web! Access files, contacts, videos, music & more.
• MuPDF mini (version 1.24.0a): Minimalist viewer for PDF, XPS, CBZ, unprotected EPUB, and FB2 documents
• Xtra (version 2.30.4): a Twitch player and browser
• MRepo (version 2.4.5): A Manager for Magisk & KernelSU Modules
• Husky (version 1.5.4): Husky is a client for Pleroma and Mastodon social networks.
• trale (version 0.6.1): privacy-respecting body weight-diary
• Compass (version 1.14.0): Simple and beautiful compass
• Orion Viewer - Pdf & Djvu (version 0.90.0): Orion Viewer is pdf, djvu, xps, cbz and tiff file viewer
• Magisk (version 27.0): The Magic Mask
• WallpaperExport (version 1.1.1): Export the current and the default wallpaper
• Nextcloud Dev (version 20240321): Synchronization client
• Quillpad (version 1.4.14): Markdown notes, task lists, Nextcloud sync and more. A fork of the Quillnote app
• sing-box (version 1.8.9): The universal proxy platform
• WallFlow Plus (version 2.4.3): Beautiful wallpapers from wallhaven.cc and Reddit with object detection feature
• Xed Editor (version 1.1.1): Advanced Text Editor for Android
• Gurgle (version 1.28): Word game
• mLauncher (version 1.4.1): Forked from Olauncher, +minimalization, +customizability
• Voice Audiobook Player (version 8.2.3): Simple audiobook player
• Léon – The URL Cleaner (version 39): Removes tracking & other redundant parameters from web links for sharing
• 拷贝漫画 (version 2.2.7): Third-party client for copymanga with better reading/downloading experience
• Terminal Emulator (version 4.7.1): Turn your device into a computer terminal
• Wulkanowy (version 2.5.2): Client for the Polish school register VULCAN UONET+
• Mull (version 124.0.0): Privacy oriented web browser
• Mattermost Beta (version 2.14.0): Secure, self-hosted workplace messaging
• Simple Counter (version 1.1.4): Keep track of things
• Kotatsu (version 6.8): Manga reader with online catalogues
• Obtainium (version 1.0.6): Get android app updates directly from the source
• Arcticons Day & Night (version 9.0.0): A monotone line-based icon pack for dark & light themed setups.
• Logseq (version 0.10.8): A privacy-first, open-source platform for knowledge management and collaboration
• Mumla (version 3.6.8): Voice chat on Mumble servers
• Alexandria (version 0.3.0): Download and convert EBooks.
• Tournant (version 2.5.0): Recipe manager with Gourmand compatibility
• Binary Eye (version 1.63.4): Yet another barcode scanner
• Circles (version 1.0.27): Secure social sharing for friends and families
• PixelDroid (version 1.0.beta33): Client for Pixelfed, the federated image sharing platform
• Xray (version 6.4.0): Xray GUI Client For Android
• Trekarta (version 2024.03.13): Simple, responsive map for your trek
• Tabletop Tools (version 1.29): Handy tool collection for tabletop games
• openHAB Beta (version 3.11.2-beta): Vendor and technology agnostic open source home automation
• Ameixa (version 4.11.1): Port of TwelF CMTheme for many launchers
• Acode editor - Android code editor (version 1.10.0): A lightweight but powerful text/code editor.
• Oinkoin (version 1.0.56): Oinkoin Money Manager makes managing personal finances easy and secure.
• App Manager - Android package manager (version 3.1.5): A full-featured open source package manager for android.
• MoLe (version 0.21.7): Convenient front-end to hledger-web
• Squawker (version 3.7.8): An open-source privacy oriented TwitteX client
• WallFlow (version 2.4.3): Beautiful wallpapers from wallhaven.cc and Reddit
• LibreTube (version 0.22.1): Alternative YouTube frontend for Android built with Piped
• Dollphone Icon Pack (version 1.1.0): Cute icon pack that isn’t overly hyperactive
• Fennec F-Droid (version 124.0.0): Browse the web
• Arcticons Black (version 9.0.0): A monotone line-based icon pack for light themed setups.
• moreDays (version 1.0.23): A motivation app with journaling
• SaveTo… (version 1.15.10): Save shared image or pdf to selected directory
• Custom Uploader (version 1.3.0): Upload files to a file host of your choice
• Cache Cleaner (version 1.11.1): Clean cache of installed user and system apps using Accessibility
• Next Actualités informatiques (version 2.7.6): Check out french Next computer news (even without an Internet connection)!
• Tuta Mail (version 220.240319.2): Encrypted email & calendar service - easy to use, secure by design.
• ProtonVPN - Secure and Free VPN (version 5.1.51.3): Free Swiss VPN with advanced security and privacy features.
• Passman (version 1.5.0): Allow you to manage the credentials stored in your Nextcloud Passman app.
• ColorBlendr (version v1.3): Express yourself with colors
• Fossify Phone (version 1.1.1): Unlock a secure, open-source calling experience with Fossify Phone
• Chip Defense (version 1.33): A tower defense game with a microprocessor theme
• OpenMensa (version 1.1.1): Show meal plans for more than 150 university canteens in Germany.
• Fossify File Manager (version 1.0.1): Handy, lightweight, open-source file explorer with essential features.
• Candle (version 1.3.2): A display flashlight
• whoBIRD (version 2.5): Recognize birds by their sounds, anywhere in the world!
• Petals (version 3.21.1): Take control of your weed consumption
• Notesnook - Private notes app (version 2.6.18): A fully open source & end-to-end encrypted note taking app
• Screenshot Tile (NoRoot) (version 2.8.2): Quickly take screenshots from the quick settings panel
• Pain Diary (PFA) (version 1.3.1): (SECUSO) Record condition, intensity, location, nature and time of your pain.
• Boxcars (version 1.3.2): Play backgammon online via bgammon.org
• Share via HTTP (version 2.0.15): File sharing tool
• DuckDuckGo Privacy Browser (version 5.193.1): Privacy, simplified
• TKCompanionApp (version 7.1.0): A short and small helper for Toyota Kata practitioners
• Shitter (version 3.5.8): Lightweight Mastodon client
• Activity Manager (version 5.4.11): Advanced activities and shortcuts launcher
• MuPDF viewer (version 1.24.0a): Lightweight document viewer
• Open Stable Diffusion (version 1.10): An app for generating images using AI
• PhotoChiotte (version 1.53): media gallery and comic reader to handle huge device and online collections
• Welefon (version 1.3.2): Phone with API
• M3U (version 1.14.0-beta08): FREE stream media player for android.
• Sayboard (version v4.2.0): An open-source on-device voice IME (keyboard) for Android using the Vosk library
• Ameixa Monochrome (version 4.11.1): Icon pack
• FTPClient (version 2.9.2): A simple FTP, FTPS and SFTP client for Android
• Migraine Log (version 0.11.2): A simple headache diary that respects your privacy
• Arcticons (version 9.0.0): A monotone line-based icon pack for dark themed setups.
• FlashCards (version v1.7.1): Make cards with csv files as input to memorize things
• FairEmail (version 1.2169): Fully featured email client. Neat, intuitive user interface. Privacy friendly
• Immich (version 1.99.0): This is a client app for the self-hostable Immich Server
• Quadermas (version 7.3): View school marks, topics, timetable
• RadarWeather (version 6.4): Lets you watch the weather for cities and locations you are interested in.
• Audile (version 1.4.1): Music recognition app
• Trail Sense (version 5.9.0): Use your phone's sensors to assist with wilderness treks
• AniHyou - AniList client (version 1.2.5): Another unofficial Android AniList client
• FlashDim - Dim your flashlight (version 2.3.3): Modern flashlight app with dim functionality on Android 13+
• P2Play - Peertube client (version 0.5.2): Unofficial client for Peertube
• YtAlarm (version 0.1.5): A simple alarm application using ytdl-android.
• Voyager for Lemmy (version 2.0.0): Join the discussion
• BTC Map (version 0.7.1): See where you can spend your bitcoins
• Arcticons Material You (version 9.0.0): A line-based icon pack with a Material You color palette.
• Symphony (version 2024.3.110): Offline music playback is now a breeze
• Tremotesf (version 2.10.2): Remote-control Transmission BitTorrent client
• Suntimes (version 0.15.13): Sunlight and moonlight times (and alarms)
• TopoSuite (version 1.4.0-beta.3): Tool for land surveyors
• Syncthing-Fork (version 1.27.4.1): File synchronization
• OpenCalc (version 3.0.0): Simple and beautiful calculator for Android
• Open TimeLimit (version 6.9.0): Simply limit the usage duration
• Text Tools (version 1.0.5): Useful text related functions that can be done on the selected text
• Infomaniak Mail (version 1.2.3): The secure messaging service for your emails
• Dark Mode Live Wallpaper (version 1.6.5): Live wallpaper that respects dark theme mode
• Deku SMS (version 0.43.0): Deku is an SMS app that supports end to end encryption and photo sharing
• Forkyz (version 52): Crossword puzzles application, download and play.
• ntodotxt (version 0.7.0): Manage your todos in a todo.txt file
• AELF - Bible and day's reading (version 2.8.3): A simple and discrete daily reading application
• Jellyfin for Android TV (version 0.16.7): Television client for Jellyfin, the free software media system
• uNote microNote (version 1.7.0): Lightweight and minimalist notepad
• BLE Radar (version 0.24.1-beta): A tool to monitor, analyze and find BLE devices around you.
• Box, Box! (version 0.7.2): Unofficial app for Formula 1 lovers!
• SiYuan (version 3.0.4): A privacy-first, self-hosted knowledge management app
• Alovoa (version 1.9.1): Open-source online dating application
• Het Saldo (version 1.1.0): A cross-platform De Lijn "smart"ticket saldo checking application.
• Infomaniak kDrive (version 4.4.7): The most secure cloud in Europe for SMEs and private individuals.
• Canta (version 1.4.1): Uninstall any app without root!
• neutriNote CE (version 4.5.1b): A hub of written thoughts in fast searchable plain text
• baresip+ (version 47.0.0): VoIP User Agent app for Android based on baresip SIP library
• Unciv (version 4.10.21): Open source 4X civilization-building game
• SexyTopo (version 1.8.1): Assist in cave surveying
• Material Files (version 1.7.1): Open source Material Design file manager
• Metronome (version 1.5.0): Simple and beautiful metronome
• BOINC (version 8.0.0): Use your device to advance scientific research.

^{2024-03-25T11:23:06Z}

FirstPrevNext
We've traveled a few days already, it was a bit farther than our three day prediction and it's been slow going since we didn't want to accidentally leave anyone, and we needed to make sure we weren't spotted with this big of a group, but we were closer to Ropa now. A little less than a day left.
I've trained with ki and tried to get a handle on aura, but even with Quick Learner, I haven't been able to sync with the elements and control them like a mana mage, though I've gotten decent at pulsing my aura to sense, and other defensive uses.
As for ki, well,
"Prepared to get your ass handed to you, Tony?" Red said as she did her stretches, standing some paces away, as the early morning light made me squint a bit.
"No. I'm really not." I said. She called me 'Tony' seemingly to rile me up, but it's honestly kinda funny.
Iris, Cathalia, who wore Pathlighter on her hip, and a lot of people from the camp were gathered around to watch.
I took a stance, pulling up a training sword that had the weight of Pathlighter, but not the edge. Red did the same, minus the sword.
First to fall over loses. A moment passed.
"Ready?" Red said.
I nodded.
Red shot forward before I could speak. She threw a heavy punch right at my head. I ducked narrowly. I'd managed to ignite my reflexes and speed fast enough.
She immediately pushed off my chest to land quicker and followed up with a sweep.
Shit! I ignited the strength and durability of my shin to take the sweep without moving.
Not enough, it wobbled my stance, though with how Red cringed, she probably didn't anticipate my leg would be that steady. "Nice." She hissed, and quickly threw a three punch combo.
She was driving me back, It was all I could do to keep standing. Despite her size, she was an overwhelming fighter, maybe it was because of that, that fighting her was so unpredictable.
I exchanged blows as much as I could, mostly blocking or parrying her strikes with the training sword, but not getting any chance to--
That's an opening! I took it, jabbing the blunt point right into her stomach. Causing her to grunt and land some feet away instead of hitting me again.
"Nice!" She said again, louder this time, like a mix of pride and ferocity.
I didn't let up, this time, flaring strength right at my foot to spring me forward. Not too much, don't pass out. I brought a kick forward, trying to knock her on her ass.
She blocked it, using my leg to clamber onto my chest, both open palms slamming into my mid section.
Pain. Then, heavy nausea. It was hitting my aura, trying to make me sleep, but I managed to pulse back, and stop the heavy feeling, instead making me topple backward.
She was still right in front of me.
I ignited strength onto my back foot to plant me to the ground and absolutely slam ki into my arms for a huge swing.
My ignited reaction time saw red's eyes dart to my sword. Meet my eyes again, and her not even moving out of the way.
The practice sword connected, hitting Red right in the shoulder.
And broke.
Red stood, wincing but completely fine. She smirked and I had no weapon.
My brief shock was enough for her to surge forward, hand on my belly— oof
My stomach churned. It felt like I was on ten rollercoasters, I wanted to puke.
There's
huh, was that the ground?
Immediately, my head cleared up and the nausea was gone. Only to realize I was sitting on the ground.
Dammit.
Red raised her hands and cheers erupted from some of the spectators. Cathalia fast-walked to my side and kneeled. "Need healing?"
"I'm... pretty good actually." Not even a hint of nausea anymore, and I was sore, but nothing was broken.
Cath sighed and helped me up.
"Good job, Tony!" Red practically yelled. "That shin block was tight."
Losing never feels good, but having your teacher compliment you is nice, so it all evens out. "Thanks, what's up with that last hit?" I asked. That nausea was probably some aura BS. Probably good to learn even if only to defend against it better.
Red squinted. "I'll teach ya'll later."
As the rest of the camp dispersed, I spotted a few people with lingering smiles, or excited tones. Well, at least we lifted their spirits, no matter how briefly.
Iris went over and tended to Red, they've been getting along the past few days. When I looked Cath, she had a smug, cheeky look on her face, I could even say too smug. "What?"
She continued smiling, "nothing, they're just cute." She crossed her arms. "Make you jealous?" she looked to me.
"I'm fine, besides I have other stuff to worry about," I shrugged.
Her expression slowly sobered. "Hey, if you ever need to talk or vent, I'm here, okay?"
What? That caught me by surprise. "Why this suddenly?"
She put her hands together, "I just... had the thought perhaps. Since you're carrying the burden that I put on you."
"I mean, I did say yes way back when we made our compact."
She was quiet for a moment, "still..."
"I'll be fine." I told her firmly.
It was a bit of an awkward end to that conversation, but it's fine.
"Yo, let's start packin'" Red's words knocked me straight out of whatever reverie was forming.

Eliad had learned some very important things while in Meadowhome. Nearly the whole town's servants up and left, lead by a strange group of people. The man that bested Selorel was involved with them. He was also involved with an incident with Midirial.
Despite Midirial's status, rumours were quite resilient, and from what Eliad had collected, the man thoroughly embarrassed the noble. Conflicting information as to why, but one of the prevailing reasons was that Midirial tried for the hand of the man's companion, which made him angry and challenge the noble to a duel.
Whether or not that was true, that confirmed he was moving with someone else. He had theories on who this mystery companion was, but none he could confirm. None that he needed to yet.
He and his entourage moved along the forest floor on foot. Steeds would catch themselves on trees and brush, and they'd be too noisy if they galloped on the road.
His second, more pointed learning was that his scouts had found that unmapped town he was looking for.
The Godhallowed was heading in the same direction.
Eliad was not a man that bet on coincidence, but he was always pleased when such unpredictable happenings worked in his favor.
"Lord Magister Eliad." The voice came from a forward scout that had just returned. "We've found remnants of a camp and a trail."
Eliad nodded. "Keep the forward position, no surprises if we can help it."
He allowed himself a smile. Soon, foolhardy warrior. Soon they would meet and Eliad could see his foe face-to-face.

Cathalia
Our crowd of people crossed the forest's threshold. Trees became sparser as we saw and heard the rush of a river, and in the distance still through the trees, a small gathering of buildings collected inside a wall. We were close.
There was something in the air though. The presence of a 'bad feeling' wasn't unfamiliar, but I couldn't remember the last time I had it, just that I did. I hadn't really spoken with Tonio since this morning, but as he stepped close I looked to him and met his eyes.
His brows were furrowed, probably something in his gut too.
Wordlessly, I thought of something. There was a way to call to Valor itself, sync with the world's aura. That was how I could hear my believers, how much difference would it be to listen for a different kind of voice? Iris and Red-Talon-Fist's explanations were helpful, and reminded me that yes, I've done this before, even if I can't place the when.
I closed my eyes, letting my aura stretch out, ebbing with the trees, the wind, the land, and Valor. What was this 'bad feeling'?
I tried to look, through eyes that didn't see. Ears that couldn't hear. Hands that couldn't--
No, this... I've done this before, why was this so much harder?
I couldn't breathe.
I--
I gasped. Shunted back to my much smaller body.
"Cath?" Tonio's voice came, concerned.
I took another breath. "Sorry, I tried something to maybe help pinpoint this bad feeling. It didn't work."
He nodded, "you too?"
"Yes, it feels like Valor is telling me something's wrong."
"Yeah, things are going too smoothly," he paused, "well, as smooth as leading refugees to safety can be."
I nodded. It was hard, but not grueling, the logistics we took care of either from the food, water, and healing skills I had, or on the spot in case we realized something at the time, and thank goodness for faith-powered skills.
"I'll let Red-Talon-Fist know." I said.
He didn't respond and he looked tense, brows furrowed.
"Tonio?"
He didn't quite jerk, but I think my question surprised him. "Yeah, you do that. I'm just getting ready for a fight."
I sighed, putting a hand on his shoulder "for all we know it could just be misplaced paranoia on both our parts, but I'll prepare myself too."
My hand lingered before I went to find Red-Talon.
I didn't have to go far, since she walked up, Iris not far behind. Red-Talon whistled at the view. "Nice place."
"I hope so," I said, "hey, by the way, Tonio and I got that... bad feeling again, and we just wanted you to be prepared."
"Sure, ya'll are probably way too paranoid, but not for no reason," she shrugged, "but is it seriously just him and me as the fighters, huh?"
I was about to speak, realizing her point, when Iris spoke first. "I can fight too."
We looked at her, and she still flinched, but much less, and she didn't apologize for interjecting. It almost made me smile with pride, though the general air of tension dampened that.
"Is that a good idea?" Red-Talon asked, and a bit of annoyance flashed on Iris' face, but not for long.
"It's fine, Ms. Red-Talon. I can help, and if you really wish, I can stay in the back and sling from afar." It was true, I haven't seen any mage use the primordial elements quite like her, though if it came to a straightforward fight between mages, she'd likely still lose to someone using battlechant by virtue of how fast the other party could sling back.
"Well, alright," Red replied, "but--
She cut off, squinting, and closing her eyes.
"It's faint," she said, eyes shooting open, "but there's aura in the forest, not animals. There's a lot of 'em."
I did similarly, it wasn't syncing with Valor, so it shouldn't be jarring. I closed my eyes, pushing my aura out quickly and densely to try to catch onto whatever she meant. There were several, forty or so signatures that were moving in a curved shape... almost like they were flanking us.
I opened my eyes, my control wasn't as good as Red-Talon's, but, animals didn't move like that without reason.
They were too close.
I called out, quickly, "everyone, gather around, please don't stray too far into the forest," I've spoken with Tonio in the past just in case an emergency happened, one of the most important things was stopping people from panicking and running in erratic, unpredictable ways. "W-we're going to rest our legs before proceeding."
It was better to have everyone together so they could be defended easier rather than have them run and risk people being trampled... right?
I breathed.
Tonio was already making his way to me. "Something's wrong?" He asked quietly, less of a question more of a statement that needed to be confirmed.
"Bad feeling was right. There's around forty individual auras in the forest, trying to flank us."
"Shit," he swore, "forty? We need... I dunno, we can't run."
I shook my head, frowning. "Not without losing people."
He exhaled roughly, "not an option." He took a deep breath, "we have to talk, hope we can buy time. We need to send someone fast and sneaky, hope Ropa can help."
"Persuasive too." I added, as my mind realized just who fit this best. "Red-Talon."
Tonio ran his hands repeatedly through his hair. "But we'll need her here if we have to fight them."
"Red-Talon is skilled, but I don't think she'd tip the scales enough to win us a battle against a small platoon of soldiers. We don't even know if they have quellers in their ranks."
He hissed as he breathed through teeth, trying to calm himself. He nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, let's send her out."
We stood waiting, it wasn't hard to convince Red-Talon with the mounting pressure, and we had to put Iris with the rest of the camp. In the worst case, she needed to put up fog and lead the... survivors away.
I put the thought out of my mind as I stood, invisible, with Tonio facing the forest, helmet on, Pathlighter at his side.
Tonio took a deeper breath, and called out: "We know you're there. We can talk." His voice was aura-enhanced, a relatively simple technique that we'd both learned from Red-Talon.
It was a tense few seconds, feeling like minutes of silence.
"Let us speak, then!" A voice replied as a large forest-child man strode out. His red hat and coat making it clear he was a hopequeller. His physique was atypical for forest-children too. Many had a hard time building muscle-mass, and since they were part of the Reign, they didn't see the need to. So they typically gave that up in exchange for honing magic.
Even quellers usually relied on their quick words and keen mind to overwhelm opponents, rather than strength.
If this man was a fighter in both spell and sword... I was nervous.
"Know that you are surrounded and flight is unwise." He said, gesturing. The forest slowly parting with people. Some wore the guard's uniform from Meadowhome, and many wore the colors of the retinue of a Reign agent. They had their spears held towards us, and those that didn't had a bow and arrow, not taut, but ready to be nocked and loosed in a moment.
A plains-child man wearing the colors of a captain stepped near the hopequeller, holding aloft a scintillating ball of fire.
That was at least two mages. The captain held fire as intimidation purely, but that didn't change the fact that two mages spelled immense danger.
Tonio was incredible to face these odds, probably coming to the same conclusions, yet still standing tall and regal. Though the helmet probably helped.
Silence permeated for a few moments, and the queller spoke first. "So, it's you, the man who's caused trouble wherever he went."
"Yes?" Tonio replied, pausing, "If you mean freeing those who've been used as slaves, treated as less than people."
Was that a flicker in the captain's expression? He still held fire aloft, but perhaps doubt?
"Well said." The hopequeller laughed, "I'm not here to discuss ethics or politics, but I need you to cease all the same."
The hopequeller was indecipherable, his expression conveying exactly what he wanted it to, or nothing.
"If I don't?" Tonio was stalling, like we discussed. It meant more time for Red-Talon to return. Alone, or with backup.
"If you don't cease and return the rabble to their 'rightful' place, then you must be slain, and any who wish to flee will be slain the same."
It spoke to the man's tone. There wasn't a hint of threat in his voice, like he was merely stating a simple fact. It sent a small shiver in my neck.
"Not gonna do that." Tonio said, drawing Pathlighter.
There it was, a small crack in the hopequeller's controlled facade. It was nothing good, a flash of mania in his eyes before regaining composure.
"You think you can best a platoon of guards and two mages?" The hopequeller asked with a smile.
"I might as well fucking try," Tonio growled, "and I could definitely beat you."
I held my breath. It was part of our quick plan, try for a duel to challenge their leader's pride. I understood that not all forest-children would always rise to a challenge like that, but, it was so ingrained in the Reign's culture that it should hopefully still work.
The hopequeller's eyes flashed mania again, before he grinned. Or, allowed himself to. "A duel, then? Fine. Honor dictates we state our names." He motioned to himself, "Magister Eliasid", he said, "refer to me as Eliad."
Tonio nodded. "Antonio."
"Name the stakes, Antonio."
"If you win. I'm already dead anyway. If I win, you give us half an hour headstart before you start chasing us." It was an awful prize, but one that should buy us enough time anyway. That was... leaving hope to Ropa having even a functional militia.
"You don't think I can stay my blade and collect my prize if I win?" The hopequeller said, "a sweeter prize. Hmm," he hummed, actually giving us even more moments as he mulled. "I would like to speak with your companion."
Tonio was silent, and I pursed my lips.
"You have a companion, right? Is she still unable to harm mortals?"
Was he bluffing? Did he actually know? It didn't matter because Tonio stayed silent. It was enough of an answer for the man. Whatever the truth, he at least knew how gods worked.
"If I win, your companion will reveal herself, and we can speak." Eliad said, "If you don't," he spoke not to Tonio, "then, I'll just burn the slaves as collateral. The Reign can afford the losses."
People spoke frantically, almost panicked. In that moment, like many others, I cursed Vahav and the Immortal Law we all forged. I couldn't protect these people directly.
It took another second for Tonio to find a reply.
"You won't win."
"Well! Step forward then." The man drew his own axe.

Red could probably fight an army, but it was probably fine to listen to Cathalia and Tony's advice.
She ignited ki into her feet, and into endurance, Red had been igniting ki into her feet and endurance. Way faster, but not cross an hour's walk in a single second faster, and definitely not fast enough to get to Ropa without burning out.
Right, the fuckin' walls.
She needed to do something or she'd be left running at regular-people speed, and being held up at the gate.
Section it off. Just a bit. Ki-burn senses, ki-burn durability, only bones and muscles. She could live bruises and cuts.
Toss a lamp into hay. Flare the sectioned ki into her heels. Boost.
The ki flared and disappeared, Red soared through the air, pain coating her heels and talons, but nothing big. She cleared a few hundred feet of grass, landed, and sectioned another bit of ki, flaring it for one last leap over the walls.
She had enough for a run back. Not for a fight.
Fuck it.
Aura pulsing, enhancing her voice, with burnt ki enhancing her lungs. "Need help! Have refugees, Reign caught us!" She yelled.
She panted, finally taking the time to look around.
At an empty town.
She looked, not a soul in sight, but the buildings weren't old, nothing was crumbling, nothing was ruins.
Where the hells was everyone? She looked around, using her still ignited feet to dash around buildings.
Nothing--
"Hey, stop right there." A woman's voice. Red turned, and immediately deflated when she saw a woman. Dwarf.
Though, something strange about her was that she was pointing a deformed spear at Red-Talon.
The talonscale woman squinted, before she saw a few other figures behind the dwarf. Two men, a wolf clawfur and a goblin, wearing the same —now that she noticed— drab brown cloaks, and holding the same weird spear-things pointed at her. Clawfurs and goblins usually didn't work with Reign.
Red was speechless for the first time in a while.
"You said Reign?" The clawfur asked.
"Yeah. They're in the forest, we got caught, and we got people who can't fight."
The trio looked at each other in concern, well the goblin mostly glanced, still training that spear at Red. "Which direction?" The goblin man asked, voice remarkably deep for his stature.
"Uhh, I came from that way." She pointed. She knew her cardinal directions, but always needed a second to recall. She didn't want to point at the wrong way.
"I got tower." The goblin said before quickly darting off in the direction.
"Wait, Diz! We don't even know if--" The dwarf called out, but he was already gone. She sighed and quickly collected herself. She glanced at the clawfur.
He nodded, put his front paw-arm onto the ground and howled.
Red squinted again, if she was right, and she definitely always was, that howl was aura-enhanced.
From all around the abandoned seeming town, people popped up all wearing the brown cloak, either from covers that she didn't see, or from inside buildings.
"Lead the way." The dwarf said.
Red-Talon rode with the dwarf woman up front. Sure she could run with the horses, but doing this means she conserved ki if she needed to fight.
Just twenty people, but all on horseback. Mostly, a lot of them rode two-to-one horse. They were using strange weapons, not the weird spear-things from before, but something that looked like a bow strapped to a block of wood. She wasn't an inventor, but she could see the use. It could keep the arrow in there taut and ready to fire, improving aim, and with metal arms, that's a lotta power.
Probably a massive pain to pull back though.
Besides that, they had normal swords and spears.
This was probably enough. Probably.

Antonio
I'd expected him to sling a spell first.
I blocked the coming slice as the queller took the first move. It was way heavier than when I fought that other queller.
Good thing I got better.
I ignited my elbows with speed and durability. Don't dislocate. Throwing a controlled slash forward, feinting right and stepping in.
He stepped back, not far, but just enough. Then hooking his axe onto my blade and throwing it off course. Not entangled though at least. He threw an opportune punch which I had to take on my armor to block his axe.
I fought as swordsman as I could, following instincts or following the kata, mixing up at the last second or the middle. We exchanged blows with some of mine cutting into him, the wounds were superficial, Bloodless Carnage was making things harder for me, but I wasn't struggling.
Which had me worried.
He was wearing hopequeller colors, but he wasn't casting anything.
At our next clash, he pushed me, hard. I wasn't caught off guard, but he managed to separate the two of us by a distance. "Enjoying the fight, Antonio?"
He asked. No, not really. I didn't answer.
"Alright," he shrugged and dashed forward, He brought his axe down in an overhead swing. It was pretty obvious, but something was up.
I had to block it.
Holy shit--
My arms screamed from the recoil and force of the swing, quickly reinforcing durability so they didn't break, as a burst of pressure expanded out, just as he hit his axe on my sword. Like he was aiming for the sword specifically.
Was that fucking ki?!
He reared his obvious overswing again, this time, I ignited my legs to jump backward as that overswing created a wave of near-blue fire. That would've sucked to get hit by. Was he using elemental magic? What the hell? He wasn't even chanting anything.
He pointed forward, and before I could respond, a huge jagged rock erupted from the ground, making a harsh crack as it hit my metal breastplate. The force still stung, but it would've impaled me if I didn't have armor.
"Ah, that's highkin armor. Good to know." He said.
Did that mean that rock would've actually pierced through regular armor? Was he bluffing? Wait... Iris mentioned--
He pointed forward again.
Counterspell.
The swirling water instantly dissipated.
Iris mentioned somatics. I needed to watch for somatics. He didn't chant, not even battlechant, so I couldn't anticipate when he didn't direct the element, but if he ever put a hand out or pointed, I could tell.
Thank Cath for Quick Learner.
That said, I couldn't keep that up. He probably wins attrition.
We circled, I let the ki permeate the rest of my body and burnt it slowly, passively. Only actively igniting sight and reflexes.
I ignited arms, a leg, the hand. Strength into speed, durability, back into senses. Every time we exchanged blows. He was mixing it up, but he wasn't fast enough, he couldn't feint properly, because his feints looked slow and obvious. I couldn't tell if he was bluffing again and didn't enhance reflexes with ki. Or he just straight up couldn't do ki.
Every attack I either parried or blocked with Pathlighter.
He pulled another overswing which was probably air-enhanced or something, but before I could counterspell it, he pointed forward with his other hand, right at my face, making me instinctively counterspell that one.
I rushed to ignite strength and durability in my arms. Letting them stay up even as the overswing hit my sword.
It was then that I remembered a particular law of physics. Sure my arms and everything was in tact, but all the force of that overswing had to go somewhere.
Ki-enhanced senses giving me this harsh realization in a fraction of a second.
Pathlighter shattered.

Eliad could laugh. His own bearded axe was destroyed, two magic-enhanced blades clashing that fiercely caused the shrapnel to cover him in strange bloodless flesh wounds. No matter!
The man was stunned and Eliad used this time to catch a sword tossed to him by Captain Farsun. He should've brought a backup weapon admittedly.
Antonio looked at his broken blade, and slowly placed the sword onto the ground. He started undoing his helm's straps.
Well, anyone would lose their spirit at that display, seemingly almost winning before victory was wrenched right from under them. Antonio had no way to defend himself. He was still armored, but his sword was gone, and he wasn't a mage.
"Yield?" Eliad asked, calmly drawing the backup sword and dropping the sheath to the side.
Though really, the man was likely more useful to the Reign alive than dead, they just needed to find a way to get him to cooperate. They had time.
Antonio took his helmet off, placing it onto one hand and tucking it under his-
Eliad felt a flash of pain as his nose cracked.
"FUCK OFF!" The man yelled, as he used his helmet as a bludgeon.
Eliad spat blood.

I made sure the helmet strap was secured to my hand. When you get caught off guard and hit that hard, it was over.
Man was gonna learn exactly what it meant to piss off a guy who grew up on the streets of Cebu.
I stepped forward, pre-emptively counterspelling and reaching out with ki-speed. He stabbed in retaliation. Cutting into the side of my armor where it was all gambeson and no metal, I felt the warm blood of a wound, but no pain. Probably adrenaline.
Got his collar, and bashed him in the face with the helmet again.
Counterspell.
Looping his arm under mine, I squeezed and twisted up to get him to drop the sword, It worked on the bigger kids, thugs trying to steal my stuff, rival gangs, cops, and slaver elves. No one's immune to pain like this, it's a biological response.
With the sword hitting grass, I stomped on the bastard's foot. Ki-enhanced. I waited for counterspell to come off cooldown and countered.
I tried to fight like a regal swordsman, fight like a heroic champion, but nah, sometimes you just gotta win. Sometimes you gotta fight in a way that's the most familiar to you, brutal or not.
Slammed the helmet into his belly. Toppling him over, I shoved a foot onto his side so he was facing up.
I felt my jaw's tension.
...
Reel it in, Tonio. That's plenty. I hissed in anger and pain, just let the brutality out, I didn't want to kill him, accidentally or intentionally.
"I'm not killing you." I said, "but you'll yield now if you don't want even more of a beating."
Weakly he looked up, spitting a bit of blood and a tooth.
"I yield."
I let him get up. Lucky for him, no broken limbs. He wiped his face with the back of his hand as he took a moment to stare at me, before turning to walk away, look to his people, and gesture.
"You can't be allowed to live." He said as he faced away, walking.
My eyes widened. Stupid! Of course I couldn't trust his word!
Two mages was a fucking lie as most of the soldiers started chanting for fire, aiming at the refugees.
I grit my teeth.
Twenty four counterspells.
Every single counter stopping an individual soldier from casting. I could feel the nausea bloom into my brain. Wanting me to fall. The ki was all gone.
Keep going. Get absolutely fucked, ki fatigue. Some of the soldiers stopped, but others kept going. Zealous bastards.
Can't keep upright.
I was on the ground, trying to abuse counterspell, whatever the skill was using as fuel. I was still conscious, but fading, the soldiers still chanting.
I needed to keep going, keep stopping them.
Then I heard thunder,
a loud distant crack, and one of the mages fell. Then, while parsing what just happened in my brain fog, a few of them started falling, they looked to the forest while a small shape weaved about them.
Red?
It was my last thought as I faded quickly.

"Zef-air... dissipate this fog." Iris called, and even with her hesitation, she felt the mana pull from her body and command the primordial air to do as she said.
It was a poor showing on her end, the fog would've dampened the fire spells, but, there would've still been casualties. When it came down to it, she couldn't do anything beyond what she was told.
It was hard to see what happened after Mr. Tonio 'won' the duel, since the moment the mages started chanting for Yed-fire, she put up her fog to try to stop sightlines, and save at least someone, but in an instant, the soldiers went from trying to burn them, to mostly dead.
Iris saw a red shape dart from branches, with armed people in brown cloaks carrying strange sideward bows.
The shape was Ms. Red-Talon, which meant these must've been the Ropa militia!
They made quick work of the rest of the soldiers, their bows powerful enough to pierce through the lighter armor of the Reign soldiers, until they were all either asleep courtesy of Red, surrendering, or... dead.
Red-Talon dropped down from a tree nearby.
"Ms. Red!" Iris called out as she weaved through the crowd.
The talonscale looked relieved when she saw Iris, which made Iris flutter a bit, though, not the time, she wanted to find Tonio and Cathalia see if they were alright, and what happened.
She caught Ms. Red-Talon up with what happened, as the militia began rounding up the surrendering guards and soldiers. Not a sign of the captain nor the hopequeller, though.
Eventually, the duo found them. Cathalia, cradling Tonio's head, on the ground, unconscious. Iris felt the aura pulse from Ms. Red-Talon beside her,
Red-Talon-Fist froze, then rushed forward.
Oh no.

Ragged breaths, not from him, but from me. I wasn't crying, but I was holding his head, actively trying to use the Hands that Heal.
His aura was gone. I looked twice. It was enough, or maybe not, maybe I was just too afraid to look again and find nothing again.
The way he used the skill even absent a fuel source, it was pure human determination. A mother lifting a car for her child, a man surviving for days with only recycled food and water. And here, a man that defied his own sense of survival, his skill eating away at the only source of life that the body was unwilling to use as fuel.
He used aura as fuel.
My lips pursed, still trying to use the skill that I knew wouldn't do anything.
I was powerless to do anything. During that whole confrontation, I could only stare and hope. No, not strictly true, there was something I could've done, something I was about to do if Red's reinforcements hadn't arrived in time...
The absence of aura from matter didn't exist, not in Valor, but aura could dissipate from a person. Their corpse would 'gain' a new auric identity, as the aura of a corpse, but the aura of a person would be gone. Death meant the person's aura, the aura of their soul and self, disappeared.
Dead people had no aura.
Tonio had no aura.
I pushed whatever amount of god-source I could into the Hands that Heal, knowing full well that it would do nothing.
I didn't even look up at Red-Talon and Iris when they arrived.
This was eerily familiar, a desperate pleading to nothing to let my Godhallowed live. She was injured, dying, having beat something that came at a great cost, her life.
"Cathalia," I heard Iris, and felt a hand on my shoulder, but I ignored the both of them. Not out of denial, not anymore.
I was close to ...something, a breakthrough.
My Godhallowed, my previous one...
I couldn't remember her name.
But I remembered something. As she lay, dying, she told me to remember her, her people. The people that I patroned, and she pushed her very essence into me, her aura.
My reverie cut off as a new emotion crept into me. Focus. Inspiration.
I closed my eyes, letting my aura expand, but instead of out into Valor, down and toward Tonio. Energy flowed, it moved, it changed. Whatever the different principles of the three sources, this wasn't impossible. I tapped into that defiant determination, mimicking Tonio's desire to push against impossibility, expand the truth of reality a little farther. I needed only a bit.
I opened my eyes, staring straight at Tonio's peaceful face. Peaceful. What I was doing, wrenching the peace out of him. It was selfish, but not antithetical. This wasn't his choice after all, he chose to save those people, he didn't choose to die.
It was enough justification as I took a micro-moment of hesitation, and pushed as much of my god-source aura into his center. The source flowing into him like an unchecked drain, threatening to kill the donor.
If the donor wasn't a god.
Wasted aura wasn't a concern, let it be reclaimed by the winds, or the land. I didn't stop until... I couldn't pour anymore. The drain was flooded, and I metaphysically just couldn't push more in, not without doing more damage to him.
...
Tonio.
"Tonio..." I whispered. "Wake... I still need you."
My emotions, determination, focus, all of them were slowly fading, as moments stretched longer.
Please.

I coughed. My eyes shooting open before immediately closing as the blinding rays of sunlight that managed to get through the canopy absolutely stabbed my corneas.
"HE'S ALIVE!"
Red's voice reached my ringing ears. I hope that tinnitus wasn't permanent. The barrage of cheers from an apparent surrounding crowd wasn't helping.
As my eyes got used to the light, and my brain's fog slowly went away, I'd remembered what just happened. The near-arrival to safety, the Reign catching up to us, fighting Eliasid, winning, technically, and the tragedy that I tried my damndest to stop.
Or, did stop?
The cheering around was some indication of it, as I finally acclimated enough to open my eyes, the person I saw first was Cath, staring at me with teary eyes.
It would've been a jumpscare if she wasn't so pretty.
Well, it was still kinda a jumpscare.
"Hey," I said, voice still hoarse, "we gotta stop meeting like this,"
She laughed, in that teary way, which made her eyes leak more. Enough that a tear drop actually hit me in the eye.
"Ow, ow," I muttered. It did sting a bit.
"Oh my," she said in between laughs, "I'm so sorry!"
I got up, Cath helping me through. The crowd around, the camp, was surrounding us, different expressions on their faces, relief, elation, awe.
"Back up, back up!" Red yelled out, "give my guy some space!"
My legs were not working great, but it was just that feeling I had from overuse, sore and tired, hopefully nothing permanent. I had an arm around Cath for support.
As I stood... the crowd looked at me, expectantly?
I was confused.
Red cringed, sucking in air, "ahh, I might've started a rumor in camp that you give good speeches," she said, "hey don't look at me, Cathalia was the one that told me that, I've only heard one speech."
"He does give good speeches," Cathalia shot back with a smile.
I looked to the expectant crowd again, racking my mind for an improvised speech.
"I..." I started, exerting my voice. "I think we should go see what Ropa is like."
Yeah, nah, sometimes inspiring moments have to take a back seat to exhaustion.
I managed to use my own two legs again, I was sore in many places, but as Red was introducing our camp to the Ropa militia she brought, I had something to do before we could move on from here.
I looked around, rubbing my eyes a bit, and walking around. Trying to look for...
There it was, I sighed. The remains of Pathlighter.
The sword was shattered from the middle of the blade, with a bigger piece of the upper blade in the ground, and shards of metal dusting the ground around the two pieces.
Metal didn't really shatter like this, not unless it was hard and brittle enough, which I guessed Pathlighter, was definitely super durable, just ...not indestructible.
I gathered the hilt and the largest piece of broken blade, and found Cathalia.
She was by a tree, offering any healing to people that needed or wanted it. No one was severely injured, and it was mostly small wounds, but hey, we had healing in the surplus, so why not.
She finished fixing up a goblin kid's injured knee and had her run along as I approached.
"Hey," I said, holding the pieces of Pathlighter, "I found it. Sorry."
Cath took the pieces, a melancholy look crossing her face. "The last physical pieces of Jeniavel's memory." She took a deep breath, "our only loss today," she had a tired smiled.
"We should keep it?"
"We should keep it." She repeated with a nod, "not gone, never forgotten."
She had a distant look. "What are you thinking?" I asked, moving beside her.
"Do you feel... different?"
"I dunno, nothing feels changed," I said, giving my hand a shake. "Why?" Come to think of it, I just assumed I went out because I used up like twenty counterspells in the span of a second, but how did I even manage to use that much?
"I..." she hesitated, "maybe we should wait to talk until we're in a safer place. It might be quite a long story."
I shrugged, "fair enough. Guess we're still heading to Ropa, I should get to know the backup Red brought."
"Oh yes," She nodded, smiling slightly "I'll accompany you."
As we walked, it was my turn to slow down and get a thought: "What happened to that queller?"
Cath's expression changed to one that looked angry, one of the few times I've seen that particular emotion cross her face.
"Gone. Fled in the ensuing chaos. The captain that accompanied him too."
I let that sink in, nodding. Another thought, maybe worse depending on the answer, so I hesitated. "Did... we lose anyone?"
Her expression shifted, first to worry, then to a wide, happy smile after giving it some thought. "I said before, right? Pathlighter was our only loss today."
"Oh," I couldn't help but smile too.

First Prev Next
We'd forged two new skills. One that created water which lasts longer than mana-water and one that created potatoes because if there's one food that someone can eat for a long time without too much complications, it's potatoes. I just hoped human biology was similar enough to all these people.
Cath and I had some back and forth on who would have the skills, they're both incredibly non-combat, the user couldn't direct the water, it would just appear right in front of them. They couldn't even do the whole 'make it appear in the lungs' because it would need to be somewhere the user can see, and I don't think I had the gut to do that to someone anyway. The potatoes could be thrown, I guess, but so could rocks I picked up from the ground.
They were both utility skills. In the end Cath took them since she was often in support rather than actually fighting. It felt like she was getting shafted with the support skills, but she straight up can't fight without the dumb law inflicting the injuries back on her, so it was logical I guess.
Currently, we were settled in a bigger clearing farther North from the cave. The group of former-slaves and servants having propped up improvised shelters. I needed to ask people what they were good at. I didn't wanna have freed people going to work immediately, but this would be for their literal survival.
There weren't any convenient leaders this time, so we needed to see them safely to a place that can sustain this many people. I doubted everyone wanted to be here, but hopefully everyone cooperated until they could put up a proper settlement... which might take years. Or at least until they got to a settlement that wouldn't immediately enslave them again.
At least, I hope their life as free people wouldn't just be worse.
We'd prepared some sacks of potatoes, but water was trickier, some people brought random items with them, so there were some bowls and cups, but not enough for everyone. There was a line forming in front of Cathalia waiting for her to create water into their cupped hands, this wasn't the first time either. Well, at least it fit her godly image.
Right now though, I needed to take a breath and settle. Everyone was in different groups and eating.
I went over to Iris who was sitting on a rock and taking a bite out of a boiled potato. "Do you mind if I hang out here?"
She quickly swallowed, causing her to clear her throat. "Of course I don't mind, Mr. Tonio!"
I noticed she wore different clothes though, still well-used, but definitely less ragged and probably more comfortable. I was l was a bit confused, since neither Cath nor I provided her with this, and most of the people with us probably didn't have any extra to just give away. "New clothes?"
"Oh, yes! Ms. Red-Talon-Fist lent me some clothes."
Oh huh. "Oh huh. That's nice of her."
"Yes, it is." She said with a smile.
And then the topic died and the awkward silence permeated. Well, the biggest reason though was that I wanted to get back to our discussion earlier, so might as well broach that. "So, magic." I said.
She took another bite of her potato right before I asked my question. "Um... mhmm?" She chewed.
My mind took an almost embarrassingly long time to think of a question, all the while the awkward silence got thicker and thicker, before finally getting one: "Oh right. What's up with the spellcasting? Why was Midirial's so slow, when that uhh 'hope queller' was so quick?"
She almost did a spit take as her eyes widened, but instead swallowing again. "You fought a hopequeller?!"
"Uhh, yeah. Why?"
"And you're still alive."
"Yeah, I guess I drove him away, drained my counterspells real quick though."
She nodded, thinking, "I did see your strange countermagic back in that duel. Lord Midirial really was..." she trailed off, frantically looking around before settling down and taking a breath, "sorry, what I was saying was that you were the worst matchup against him."
I shrugged, "what made the matchup so bad for him? The slow casting?"
"Oh yes," she said, looking excited before forcibly taking herself down a notch.
"It's alright, be excited, magic is cool as shit." I said.
She sighed, "I'm sorry, I still must get used to... not being so stifled."
"It's fine, take your time."
She nodded as she did take a moment. "Yes to your question. Actually, do you know of the basi-- ...the fundamentals, Mr. Tonio?"
"Not much I think, I know there's ki, mana, and aura, and their correlation to body, mind, and spirit, but that's it."
She took a long breath. "That's correct, I know mana mostly, but, you can do different things with all three sources, each one is limited in their applications, but I'm not too sure how. With mana though, at least, it is called forth to summon the Primordial Four Elements."
"Oh hey, like fire, water, air, and earth, right?"
She smiled. "That exactly. Each element also has a primordial word that is integrated into the spell. Yed is primordial fire, water is Selk, Zef is air, and Mottr for earth. That's m-o-t-t-r, where the R is silent."
I took a moment to absorb all that, and her last point.
These are definitely not english words or else Lingua Omnis would've translated them already, but that made my mind swim with how she spelled 'Mottr', were these words just being translated letter-by-letter by the skill into English, or were they actually made up of Latin alphabets?
I shook my head needing to stop my train of thought because I was probably spacing out as Iris stared at me.
"I'm sorry if it's boring..."
"Shit, sorry, it's not boring, I just got caught in the intricacies of how my uhh... omniglot skill is translating what you just spelled, just-- don't worry about it," I chuckled awkwardly, "please, continue."
It took her a moment to start back up, but when she did, her excitement came back just as quickly. "Elemental spellcasting uses mana to fuel it, and it's composed of somatics, and vocals. Somatics are hand gestures, and other physical movements that a mage makes. This isn't strict, the mage may customize their somatics according to their preference as long as they can direct the spell using it."
She stood up, putting her hands together, middle and pointer fingers out, pointing towards a nearby tree and she spoke. "Selk-water become a spear and pierce forward."
A moment later, a bolt of water manifested in front of her hands and shot out, carving a deep hole into the tree, though not going all the way through.
That was cool as shit.
"The uhh..." she sat back down as she looked fully self aware and embarrassed, "the vocals are more strict, you call out the primordial word for the element, name the element itself, then command it what to do. Being specific is helpful or else the spell doesn't know what to do if you don't have somatics guiding it."
So that's why a wall popped up behind Midirial instead of between us.
"Then, all you need is mana, comprehension, and intent, and you're good to cast." She said.
"That easy?"
She chuckled, and caught herself. "It's not easy, Mr. Tonio, but it is simple. You don't need many requirements, but I assure you, there have been many blunders before I got to this point."
She seemed plenty capable, but I wondered why she didn't try to fight back earlier, I didn't want to ask her and put her on the spot, though maybe the whole self-confidence killing thing that the Reign seems to do so well played a part in that.
"Know why the quellers are so fast though?"
"I think so. I haven't been witness to it, though I'd love to be..." she paused, seemingly realizing what she said, "in a purely scholarly and curious way," she cleared her throat, "anyway, the books called it 'Queller's Battlechant,' seems to actually contract the spell incantations into just equations, shortening Yed to Y' for example, and completely relying on somatics to direct their spell," she trailed off, "no wait, I think there is some direction and intent in their equation incantations too, but I'm not too sure about it."
"That's already super helpful, Iris. Thanks!"
"Of course!" She grinned, "um, if you want to talk about magic again, please feel free to approach me, Mr. Tonio."
I nodded, as I already thought about whatever other questions I could have, when:
"Ya'll nerds talking about magic?" The voice came from Red as she approached.
If I wasn't completely hallucinating, I thought I saw a faint blush on Iris' features. "Good evening, Ms. Red-Talon-Fist." Iris said.
"Hi, Iris." Red replied, "ya'll done? I'm gonna use this lull in camp to teach you some ki."
"Already? Oh damn, alright!" I said, hopping up on my feet. Yesss... so much magic shit. I was excited.
"Good luck, Mr. Tonio, Ms. Red-Talon." Iris waved as she picked up her forgotten potato.
"Nah, you're comin' with," Red said, taking hold of Iris' other wrist, "I ain't let you stay in the corner moping!"
"O-oh! Okay!" Iris said as she was dragged.

Red lead us to an open space near camp, and took off her brown cloak, that she'd worn until now, in a single motion.
Red wore a torn tunic that was improvised to look like a jacket with tight wraps covering her chest, leaving the rest of her red scales exposed. She also wore short, baggy trousers that seemed to have been improvised and torn up to her thighs, with the same wraps going down from her shins to her heels, but leaving her clawed feet open.
My eyebrows shot up, she reminded me of kobold art that were very ...particular. I don't think I've ever though of myself as a sc-- not now.
Iris for her part blushed even more, pulling up her own cloak over her mouth, her eyes darting to and from Red.
Red started moving her arms, stretching, "I know ya'll are checkin' me out," she smirked in between stretches, "but the first step is to clear your mind of the horny and stretch. Can't have you pulling a muscle when we're just doing kata. You too, Iris."
"O-OKAY!"
I wondered how disappointed Cath would be if she could read my mind.
Alright, yeah, clear my mind, now is straight up not the time, brain.
I took a breath. Good thing because I had a realization that was very important: "Wait, can I even use ki?"
Red looked at me, putting a hand on her chin. "Good question," she leaped forward, landing in front of me, "mind if I check?"
I swallowed, "uh, sure?"
She crossed her arms, closed her eyes.
I waited, then felt a pulse, it was like being pushed by a current while swimming, then pulled forward by that same current, but less... physical.
"Yeah, you're good,"
I was silent for a while, and then smiled. I still couldn't fully believe it. I had all this stuff in me! All I needed to know was if I could access mana!
"You look excited," she said with a smile of her own.
"hell yeah I am," I said, "I'm so ready."
"Settle down, it ain't gonna be immediate, gotta build the basics first, then go from there." She said, stepping back and looking me up and down with a squint, "the little I seen of you using that sword, you seemed competent."
"Sure, I guess," I said, "I have a skill that lets me fight better with a sword."
"does it just make your body move without a lot of thought, or does it give you some..." she paused, putting her hands in air quotes, "theory?"
"It gives me forms and stuff, but I think level one just gave me the basics, and I'm just learning all the sword shit at a way faster rate. Otherwise, I'm a regular swordsman I guess."
"Okay, just do a kata, and tell me if you feel anything." Red said.
I could feel the excitement deflating out of me, I've been doing kata since I got here, couple that with the realization that I didn't know just how well Red can teach.
"Don't mope!" She said, "you wanna learn how ki works, you gotta start here."
I sighed, but did as she told, unsheathing Pathlighter and doing some kata. She walked over to Iris who was just standing stiffly.
"Alright, relax," Red said as she put her hands on her hips.
"I am relaxed!" Iris replied, definitely not relaxed.
Red walked forward causing Iris to stiffen more. "Nah, you're too tense, relax your shoulders real quick?"
It took a moment, but Iris did so.
"I'm gonna check your ki now, okay?"
Iris nodded.
It was a longer moment than I felt when Red looked at my ki, with Red closing her eyes, the only sounds were the distant clamor of camp, the breeze, and the swings and steps of my kata.
The silence was broken with Iris gasping and panting.
"Were you holding your breath?" Red asked, eyes now open, "I told you to relax."
"Sorry, Ms. Red-Talon," she said, "did... you happen to find anything?"
"Mana, just a bunch of it, and a tiny amount of ki, but unfortunately, really tiny."
"I see..." Iris replied, looking disappointed.
"Ah, don't worry, you can develop that small bit into something usable."
Iris sighed, not seeming to look convinced. "I've read about source cultivation, that it takes years, especially if you start with only a small amount."
Red opened her mouth, but for the first time, was silent.
I finished another kata set and wiped some sweat off my brow, "Wait, but, why do I have more ki than her? I thought it'd be the same?" I asked.
Red turned to me, "all creatures with a physical body have ki in them, at least from what master taught me, the difference is the balance of the three sources in someone is wildly different between each person."
She looked back at Iris, before turning to me and walking over.
"Imagine..." she said, pausing and thinking, "like a cup, I guess, and uhh, there's water and..." she trailed off. "I think there's supposed to be apple juice too."
Iris approached this time, despite her earlier disappointment, had a small smile on her face as she looked at Red. "The... 'Cup Metaphor' is a simplified, but helpful way to think of the balance of the three sources of power." Iris added.
Red glanced at her, frowned in approval and stepped backward.
Iris stopped, "Oh, I'm sorry, Ms. Red-Talon. I didn't mean to steal your explanation."
"No, please, go ahead! Despite my skill and talent, I know when someone's got me beat at somethin'."
Iris continued, though uneasily at first. "When... someone is young, they will usually have a small amount of all three sources. Imagine a cup filled with water, oil, and honey, but all three in a very small amount, not even half."
She followed the explanation with her mimicking a glass with her hands.
"As they grow, the sources grow with them, aura grows at a steady rate, but mana or ki grows at different rates depending on if they're physically or mentally active. The honey is aura, it's always there at the bottom and it fills up slowly, then... um,"
She paused, her face scrunching.
"To be honest, it's not the best metaphor, but, water is mana because it's made not just within the body, but also all around, and oil is ki, though that doesn't have an analogy I'm satisfied with."
She took a breath, pausing to explain the next bit.
"Anyway, The cup will eventually be filled to the brim with the liquids. Different cups have different amounts and different sizes. A person can cultivate either mana or ki, make that larger, but in turn, causing the other to become smaller. Like spilling a bit of water to allow more room for oil, or the other way around."
"What she said," Red followed, "thanks, Iris." She said without a hint of snark.
"S-sure, these are things that everyone should learn." Iris went red slightly,
Red squinted at Iris, humming, but seemingly letting that go as she turned to me. "Although you. You're weird, your aura's small, like that of a kid, but you got a freakish amount of ki just going unused."
There were a bunch of questions going through my head, and I needed time to process all the information just dumped on me. "If I got this right though, does that mean my mana is really tiny?" I asked.
Red-Talon-Fist squinted, "None. It might be Godhallowed shit, but you don't have a drop of mana."
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Our company has a monthly event where we take a Friday off our usual work and work on other projects, mostly for educational purposes, keeping up with new technologies, etc.
In other places I've been, this has been a good place for coming up with experiments for the company, but because we're mainly a consulting/contracting company, that fits less well for us. Thus far, we've mostly used it as a chance to play around with new technologies, but that tends to be a bit lonesome, and we'd like to use the opportunity to do more stuff as a group.
A while back we did the OWASP "Juice Shop" challenge — it's a server that's deliberately filled with a bunch of security vulnerabilities, and we spent the day working together trying out some of the different attacks and seeing how many achievements we could get.
Does anyone know of any other similar things? I've thought about katas a few times, but I don't really know where to start with those, what might work well in a group setting, or what might work well together. I'm looking mainly for projects where we get to try out something new for us, where there's a relatively explicit goal (rather than just "try this thing out" which tends to be less motivating), and where we can work as a group (or groups) bouncing ideas off each other.

I'm participating in a local kata competition soon with two other shotokan karateka. Seems like there wont be many teams in our 35+ age bracket and everyone is usually very friendly and has a fun time. (3rd year we're competing). The thing is, my team's lead is a little... ... Chatty and bossy, but also, from our recordings, it feels like the worst one of the three of us. Both technically and in terms of coordination. It seems like they get very excited and can't "do the slow parts slow", to create that feeling of intensity and kime and end up progressively increasing the speed at which they do the kata... Which leads to technical problems and lack of coordination.
We tried a couple of times with me and my other teammate in the middle, but our lead simply can't follow our rhythm and just ends up doing things at their own pace.
I mean, it really is just for fun and not the first time, but we'd love to do our best and maybe even get a medal. We still have a couple of weeks before the competition so should we talk to try changing the "lead" and practice so that they can follow or do we stick with the ones who can follow "behind" to make up for this liability? Thanks

Lepaskanlah Kehampaan janganlah mengerjakan suatu ikatan kehampaan..? Serabut halus di benang yang tampak tak kelihatan menyibak ungkapan adanya hubungan yang saling menguatkan dan apakah harusnya ikatan hanyalah daripadanya...?lautan tanya di batas cakrawala menyibak adanya pelita yang akan terus ada dalam setiap langkah...?bagaimana jika kaki tangan kepala di ikat gelang belenggu rasa apakah terasa hampa maka lepaskanlah bagaimana mereka membuatnya terasa indah dengan bisikan yang ada maka jadilah terlepas merdeka..Menjadikan pikiran ada dalam kekosongan atau kehampaan hanya akan menjadikan kegelapan datang,,,Seperti juga anggota badan pabila terikat erat yang menjeratkan,,,? atau bila ketika perut menjadi kosong Dan mengikat dengan ikatan karena kelaparan dan ketika pun ia mendapatkan makanan tetaplah ikatan itu ada dalam suatu ikatan yg terbayang...? kehampaan melangkah di gelap malam dalam kegelapan mencari adanya denyut di detakan tidak adanya keyakinan angan yang berkelipan bertaburan di perasaan saling menghubungkan menemukan dan mencoba mencari jawaban akan adanya kedipan dilangit malam Bukankah itu agar Selalu ada pada penerangan Meski berada di gelap kehampaan...Bila ada dalam kehampaan maka apakah harusnya menjadi seperti Tetapnya bintang yang berada di jalur terang yang meski ada di kegelapan malam yang itu menjadi petunjuk di kala gelap malam bahkan dengan adanya sang rembulan kita bisa mengetahui bilangan suatu waktu dalam perhitungan di sabit atau purnama yang terang di gerhana sebelum mata yang berkedipan ataupun kesejajaran di awal bulan maka biarkan kubah yang di atas bangunan yang berlubang atau penuh dengan lubang itu menunjukkan sebuah bayangan yang menggambarkan bentuk awalan bulan atau mencerminkan keadaan bulan dan mengatakan bahwasanya memang bulan berlubang ataupun terbelah-belah seperti sebuah retakan atau seperti dedaunan yang dimakan ulat yang berlubang-lubang dan biarkan juga dedaunan itu yang mengatakan apakah kita sedang berada diawal bulan maka mengertilah memang langit ada dalam suatu ketetapan dan semua ada dalam suatu perhitungan..? Menunggu kedamaian di senja terbenam kala datang sebuah senyuman...hening lantunan kedamaian terdengar mengumandang layaknya hujan turun membasahi kesejukan ditemaninya lukisan keindahan di pandang dalam sebuah tatapan di batas ufuk terang...kegelapan hanya akan datang ketika berada dalam kehampaan seperti pada suara bisikan maka lepaskanlah suatu ikatan kehampaan berjalanlah layaknya awan dalam pergerakan ketika hati ada pada penjagaan apakah itukah sebuah jawaban apa tak di pandang pada badai yang menerjang dan apa yang di hasilkan maka jagalah hati itu dalam keindahan lalu bagaimana pergerakan awan yang menyelimuti di dalamnya keteguhan..Badai hanya akan ada pada suatu fatamorgana di jejak tak berdahaga di semua lingkup hampa pada suatu fana yang tak tertopang puncak nyata dalam penjagaanya maka tetaplah jagalah hati atau puncak nyata yang sekalipun badai melanda tetaplah ia akan teguh dengan sebenarnya dan menjadikannya dinding tembok pagar pembatas fatamorgana….
Di manakah terbit matahari maka dimanakah bulan yang mengiringi,,,?Di teguhkannya hati harusnya terpatri Di sanubari hembusan angin melingkari tertiup kala hadir di malam hari lebih ramai sekaligus sunyi apakah karena telinga lebih peduli akan bunyi meski suara angin yang menari bahkan apakah pakaian lebih memahami,,,?lalu dimanakah bintang beredar menemani...?pasang surut fajar senja sudahlah pasti maka harus apalagi yang hendak kita lampaui kalau semua jawaban ada pada diri kita sendiri ketika melangkah atau sejenak berhenti...?kemarau hujan datang silih berganti menghidupkan yang gugur tuk bersemi... Tali,ikatan,Cincin,gelang di perasaan dalam keadaan jerat menjeratkan ditambahkan keputusasaan maka disanalah kegelapan atau bila kehampaan akan datang diselimutinya harap mengharapkan maka berhati- hatilah dengan adanya pengharapan dalam diam? lepaskan kegelapan atau lepaskanlah suatu ikatan kehampaan dan lakukan dengan terang....Siang di ufuk terang bahkan bila pagi atau senja menjelang..bunga kamboja berguguran dan wanginya masih semerbak seperti ketika masih ada di dahannya apakah gerangan sebuah tanya yang menjadi kebaikan atas semua..?apakah setiap manusia terhubung dengan manusia lainnya bahkan pada makhluk ciptaan yang lainnya pabila ada dalam kehampaan jiwa maka lepaskanlah...? apakah lebih baiknya menjaga apa saja yang diberikannya dan merawatnya mensyukuri semua apa yang ada tanpa harus menjadikan diri terasa hampa hingga ketakutan dan prasangka yang akan datang menjelma berbisik menjerumuskannya apakah kaca mencerminkannya lalu siapakah yang menganiaya..?apakah bukankah kita...tali ikatan jiwa apakah harusnya hanya kepadanya yang bukan pada suatu benda atau pula menyekutukannya apakah dengan begitu dengan sendirinya adalah menjadi jawaban atas semua tanya... sebuah bisikan dan mereka hanya menduga-duga dari tempat yang berjauhan... lalu apakah ketika mereka melihatnya atau mendengarnya apakah mata atau telinga dalam keadaan payah maka kembalikanlah semua hanya daripadanya yang semuanya ada dalam baik sangkaanya... berhati-hatilah dengan adanya pengharapan dalam diam lepaskanlah suatu ikatan kehampaan dan lakukanlah dengan terang hanya dengan terang...di dalam terdiam kayu atau pepohonan dengan sendirinya akan mengalami pelapukan rusak tumbang dan di dalam terdiam logam pun dengan sendirinya akan berkaratan bahkan di dalam terdiam gunung bebatuan yang ada pada suatu keteguhan yang meredam menjaga dari adanya getaran pun menjadi rata lagi tandus kekeringan tak lagi merasakan ataupun hancur di dalamnya keteguhan hingga menjadikannya ada pada kehampaan atau menimbulkan adanya kefatamorganaan meskipun berada di tempat yang terang..?seperti adanya gerhana di sebelum mata berkedipan di suatu kesejajaran yang mencerminkan suatu bayangan kefatamorganaan bahwa apakah memang sang rembulan terbelah hancur berlubang-lubang di dalamnya sebuah ketetapan yang tetap berjalan di jalur yang terang hingga menjadikan adanya bentuk sabit atau purnama yang terang...?
Dan didalam terdiam apakah semuanya dengan sendirinya mengalami kerusakan ataupun kehancuran..?bahkan dengan adanya sang rembulan yang tetap berjalan di jalur yang terang apakah juga berada pada kehancuran terbelah berlubang-lubang..?lalu kenapa bulan menjadi ada di bentuk sabit atau purnama yang terang kenapa tidak sabit saja di setiap putaran atau purnama saja di setiap putaran apakah benar telah terbelah bulan dan menjadikan bulan ada dalam suatu hitungan maka biarlah bulan sendiri yang mengatakan di sabit atau purnama yang terang ataupun juga dengan adanya suatu kesejajaran di sebelum mata yang berkedipan..?
Lalu Apakah dengan terang saja bisa menimbulkan kefatamorganaan pabila berada dalam kelelahan kepenatan kepayahan yang menjalar keputusasaan kehampaan atau berada di tempat kehampaan seperti gurun padang pasir lautan perbukitan atau tebing-tebing yang tinggi nan curam bahkan nyatanya semua bayangan kefatamorganaan menginginkan sinar terang dan menjadi penerang..? Maka janganlah sekali-kali berada dalam kehampaan atau mengerjakan suatu ikatan kehampaan lakukanlah dengan terang sebagai seutuhnya manusia yang berpandangan..? Seperti adanya ribuan pintunya dan Dimanakah mereka harusnya melewatinya atau memasukinya maka ketuklah dan berikan ucapan penghormatan yang dibalasnya dan mempersilahkan masuk ke dalamnya dengan seizinnya atau sepengetahuannya..
Terjaga dalam sebuah asa menggapai arti makna sebuah tanya langkah ada dalam suatu duka dimanakah nyata,,,?
dan nyata tlah hancur menjadi kepingan fatamorgana sebab apakah mereka terbelah…?tak disadarikah adanya batu yang mengalirkan kehidupan dan pabila terbelah ada juga yang mengalirkan kehidupan bahkan semua nyata yang ada menjadikan ada dalam sebuah kedukaan atau kenestapaan apakah menunggu layaknya kehampaan yang meski menitikkan tangisan atau hujan tapi tak juga merasakan….? Dan lihatlah dipenjuru fatamorgana yang pada padang pasir yang disana hanya debu yg bertebaran pada ombak dilautan apalagi dikedalaman tebing-tebing tinggi nan curam.. ketika sebuah nyata yang ada hanya fatamorgana tinggalah ia menganga dalam hampa bak gunung pabila dilubanginya dan ketika setelah hancurnya menjadi fatamorgana tetaplah lubang itu ada sebagai peringatannya..Dan agar mereka mengetahuinya bahwa memang pada suatu masa apakah seluruh hamparan adalah nyata atau bahwa seluruh hamparan adalah barisan hati yang menjaga meredam disetiap getarannya dan biarkan suara desir pasir yang kan menjawabnya ketika mereka mendengarkannya dengan telinganya ataupun juga bila adanya suatu bayangan fatamorgana yang mereka melihatnya dengan matanya bahkan tanpa mereka mengedipkan mata…?
Sepertinya mereka melakukan perkelahian pertempuran peperangan tapi yang sebenarnya mereka hanyalah saling diam dan terdiam dari tempat yang berjauhan atau hanya saling diam dan terdiam dari tempatnya..?ataupun sepertinya mereka saling mencinta dan bercinta membelai dan menjamah dibuainya asmara tapi yang sebenarnya mereka hanya saling diam tak beranjak dari tempatnya atau hanya saling diam dan terdiam dari tempat yang jauhnya..? Seperti perasaan cinta kepada seseorang yang tak pernah sekalipun diungkapkan dinyatakan atau seperti suara hewan yang melolong hina dikegelapan atau seperti suara bisikan setan maka bicaralah layaknya manusia yang berpandangan...dan nyatanya semua bayangan hanya akan terdiam ketika dihadapkan pada sebenar kenyataan terang... apakah prasangka membuat kita secara tidak sadar menjadi binasa lalu siapakah yang menganiaya apakah bukankah kita. Kemukakanlah semua alasan dengan terang dan tidak ada yang lebih aniaya daripada orang yang mengada-ada kebohongan. Fitnah lebih kejam dari terhunusnya sebilah pedang.. Pertengkaran lahir lebih baik daripada pertengkaran bathin..? Janganlah menjawab menduga atau menebak meramalkan apa yang ada di dalam lubang di hati karena tak ada seorang pun tau apa yang ada di dalam hati selain dari sang Maha welas asih sang Maha mengetahui dan juga orang yang menjaga hati atau orang yang mempunyai hati yang mengetahui apa yang ada di dalam lubang di hati..? dan juga janganlah mengatakan pasti akan kukerjakan keesokan pagi dan esok pagi juga tidak ada seorang pun yang tahu dengan pasti apa yang akan terjadi dan perjanjian pun berakhir diingkari... ? Bila salah atau lupa maka lekaslah ingat dengan sang maha kuasa yang menciptakan langit dan buminya, alangkah terang penglihatannya dan alangkah tajam pendengarannya.. Pengharapan dalam diam layaknya denyut detak kerlip malam dan tetaplah ia terdiam dikegelapan..? Yang meskipun tetap berjalan di jalur yang terang tapi suatu gerak kebajikan lebih baik daripada tidur rebahan di pembaringan ataupun hanya duduk berdiam dan terdiam...
Sang Maha Kuasa tidak hanya akan duduk berdiam dan terdiam berpangku tangan berada dalam suatu keteguhan seperti adanya gunung patung bebatuan atau juga hati yang menjaga dan meredam dari adanya getaran.. Dan Sang Maha Kuasa tidaklah tetap akan tertidur di waktu siang atau di waktu malam di badan yang tetap bergerak berbolak balik ke kiri atau ke kanan seperti tetapnya bayangan yang memendek dan memanjang penuh kerendahan atas kenyataan seperti tetapnya matahari bintang dan bulan yang tetap berjalan di jalur yang terang seperti yang ada pada suatu kebiasaan..?
Hanya berserah diri sajalah tunduk patuh pada sang Pencipta dengan kemauan sendirinya maupun dengan terpaksa seperti tunduk patuhnya segala sesuatu yang diciptakannya yang bayang bayangnya berbolak balik ke kanan dan kekirinya..
Tiada daya dan upaya semua atas kehendak sang Maha pencipta sang Maha Kuasa..
Bahkan Batas ufuk yang tinggi adalah terang jadi Dimanakah batas antara gelap dan terang..??ketika sepertinya mengetahuinya tapi yang sebenarnya kita tak mengetahui apa-apa maha sucinya sang pencipta bahkan sekalipun kita mengetahui kebenarannya tetap saja akan terasa percuma atas kehendaknya saja kita bisa mendapatkan kebenarannya apakah hati tak digunakannya bahkan kita malah menjadi penghalang dari adanya jalan yang benarnya apakah kedengkian sudah sangat meresap di dalam dada hingga adanya bisikan di dalam dada dikira adalah petunjuk dari sang Maha Kuasa..
Tersandar sebuah luka terpuruk dalam nestapa dan hina tiada merasa menghantui gelak tawa seiring dusta,,,kemilau cahya dan yang ada dalam tebaranya meski pada gelapnya tak dilihatkah atau memang sudah tak bisa mendengarkah atau kalau memang tak bisa dipandangnya,,,? Atas kehendaknya sajalah semua ini bisa terjadi seperti ketika esok hari disaat terang menyelimuti bahkan bila malam hari membuat semuanya tanpa disadari terang akan selalu menemani…hanya berserah diri sajalah tunduk patuh pada sang Pencipta dengan kemauan sendirinya maupun dengan terpaksa seperti tunduk patuhnya segala sesuatu yang diciptakannya yang bayang bayangnya berbolak balik ke kanan dan kekirinya hingga menjadikan bayangan memendek dan memanjangnya di waktu fajar senja menyinarinya apalagi di gelap malamnya..???
Berdiam bukanlah jawaban akan adanya kedamaian berbuat kebajikan lebih baik daripada tidur berbolak balik badan kekiri kekanan atau juga hanya duduk berdiam dan terdiam...Sang Maha Kuasa tidak hanya akan duduk berdiam dan terdiam berpangku tangan berada dalam suatu keteguhan seperti adanya gunung patung bebatuan atau juga hati yang menjaga dan meredam dari adanya getaran.. Dan Sang Maha Kuasa tidaklah tetap akan tertidur di waktu siang atau di waktu malam di badan yang tetap bergerak berbolak balik ke kiri atau ke kanan seperti tetapnya bayangan yang memendek dan memanjang penuh kerendahan atas kenyataan seperti tetapnya matahari bintang dan bulan yang tetap berjalan di jalur yang terang seperti yang ada pada suatu kebiasaan..?
Di mata yang terpejam suatu pandang di badan yang berbolak-balik ke kiri ataupun ke kanan..?
Seperti matahari yang menjadi petunjuk perhitungan pada suatu kebiasaan di waktu yang terang di bayangan yang memendek dan memanjang condong ke kiri atau ke kanan,,,??
Bulan adalah sang rembulan yang bersinar bercahaya di gelap malamnya...? Dan Gunung adalah gunung yang terbuat dan berasal dari batuan buminya...?
gunung di dalam arti kata dan bulan yang bercahaya
Gunung di dalam artian kata dan tetaplah jua bulan bersaksi diatasnya bersinar bercahaya di gelap malamnya di sabit purnama dan menjadi petunjuk atas dirinya
Keberagaman suatu nyata dan bulan yang bercahaya
keberagaman suatu nyata di dalam bayang seribu fatamorgana dan tetaplah jua bulan bersaksi di atasnya bersinar bercahaya di gelap malamnya di sabit purnama dan menjadi penghitungan atas dirinya
Keberagaman yang saling mengenal
Dan batu pabila terbelah ada juga yang mengalirkan kehidupan..
Biarkan mereka sendiri yang bersaksi atas dirinya dan mengatakan Siapakah dirinya..? sang rembulan hanya akan bersinar bercahaya di gelap malamnya dan menceritakan siapa dirinya..? Seperti sang rembulan
Bintang menembus kegelapan malam dan cahaya menembus kegelapan kehampaan kekosongan...??Bintang berkerlipan bercahaya di kegelapan malam dan tetap berjalan di jalur yang terang.. Menjadi petunjuk di daratan maupun di lautan di dalam kehampaan kekosongan kegelapan.. Bintang cahayanya menembus kegelapan kehampaan kekosongan..? Bintang berdenyut berdetak berkerlipan di kegelapan menghias sang malam dan cahayanya menembus kegelapan kehampaan kekosongan..
Rembulan bercahaya di gelap malamnya dan matahari bersinar di keesokan harinya..?
Bintang berdenyut berdetak berkerlipan di kegelapan menghias sang malam dan cahayanya menembus kegelapan kehampaan kekosongan.. Dan langit memang ada dalam suatu ketetapan seperti matahari bulan bintang yang tetap berjalan di jalur yang terang seperti yang ada pada suatu kebiasaan..?

We're a bunch of university students visiting Islamabad for a friend's wedding, but we were also hoping for an affordable tour to Khewra and Katas Raj, does anyone have any information?