Step by step I trecked deeper and higher into the mountains. Reprieving myself from the human world and embracing the cold, windy and slate ridden world that is the mountains. They were my home long ago, I feel almost at ease with the freezing wind gusting against my back and through my short-spiked hair. I say almost because slipping and cracking my head like an egg is a very real possibility I’d like to avoid. The summit was still a ways off, but I enjoy the climbing aspect best anyway. Finding the correct hand and foot holds, the strain on my muscles hauling my whole weight and my view of looking over the ranges of valleys, mountains and the far off wooded foothills and of course the fjords. It was truly freeing in a way I couldn’t describe. I’d equate it to looking up and watching the entirety of the night sky. Not just looking at one facet but embracing all indiscriminately and seeing it all in conjunction. It makes you feel insignificant and tiny to nature's machinations. Though that feeling doesn’t come close to reaching a peak. I was traveling through Jarlsburg, a Nordic province that was covered with ice, snow, and fjords. Herders and merchant men mostly occupied the area, farming was practically impossible with the constant cold fronts and not many cared for the job anyway. It was encroaching midday by the time I had nearly reached the summit, when an eagle the size of a leopard swooped at me. Its talons landed square in my back. I lost a foothold and slipped, though I recovered with the grace of a fat fingered invalid. I’m glad no one could see my near colossal fuck up. It circled around for a second attempt and missed me entirely, that’s when I realized it didn’t care for me at all. It was actually after a family of tiny mice hidden in a minute alcove, the entrance was hardly the size of my fist but would make a good foothold. The small rodents all had giant ears in comparison to the rest of their body and their fur seemed to be a yellow in colour. I decided to continue moving up so the eagle wouldn’t have a third attempt on my life. Once I got to a higher point I stole a moment or three to watch it soar. He was graceful, each flap of his wings pushed him further and further into his own realm of freedom. If I was stupid I’d think it a god of Asgard, descended to mingle with us mortals. He had bright brown feathers with black spots on his beak, it stuck out like a sore thumb with all of this snow. After a short time of climbing I finally reached the peak. I wasn't quite up with the clouds but they were significantly closer to me now than 5 hours ago. It’s like I could almost touch them but my reach was bound to my conquered rock, preventing my falling demise. I could see so much of the surrounding area. There were so many branching rivers leading into giant fjords, the land itself was almost entirely white with ice and snow, this solidified my belief that farming was impossible. The terrain was hilly and mountainous, a field couldn’t possibly take shape under its current conditions. Despite that I could see the two villages; Jarlsburg itself and Nautic Row, Jarlsburg was a village of merchants, business and debauchery. It was regularly abuzz, almost everyday new ships came and went. Whereas Nautic Row was smaller and held firm in fishing, herding and raiding other nearby villages. Many of the people kept to themselves unless it was to trade or gather at a Thing. Both villages were littered with vagrants if you ask me. The trees looked tiny in comparison to the villages, like little toothpicks with white appendages jutting from the ground. I tried to take in the scenery all as one. Almost like it was breathing, you don’t just take in the parts of air you need. You take it all indiscriminately and let it occupy a space within you. I breathed in as much as I could of the summits thin, crisp air. I listened to reverberations of the wind off stone, and tasted the tiny specs of snowflakes that finally began to fall. The sun had prepared to enter early evening before I decided to make my descent. The reflection of light on the snow was blinding but it was very reminiscent of the ocean, the way the light bounced towards me also reminded me of lizards skin in glistening sunlight. An ear to ear grin had slowly crept its way onto my face as I realized the perfection of what I was witnessing. A memory that would stay with me forever, something only I alone could cherish wholeheartedly. In this time I had made it back to the family of big eared mice. The eagle had snatched a few of the babies but the two larger ones looked over and fiercely protected the remaining younglings. I can attest as they tried to nip my boot on my way down. I passed them by though I was somewhat saddened and sympathetic to their loss of family, it can be difficult. It was difficult losing my own but we work and push ourselves further than where we were yesterday. Loss is a frequency in most people’s lives and if you don’t learn to adapt with it, it can take you down a dark and depressing spirality of despair and emotion. Those willing to change and evolve their principles or values survive, but many cling to the past and wallow too much on what they had. Not what they have. Me, I am content as a traveler, experiencing the human condition and learning for myself about all walks of life. Having nothing to my name can be bothersome at times but with a few days work anywhere, I can scrape together some coin to continue pressing forward. Shepherding flocks to new grazes is a nice way of working as I can read while I watch over them. Wood carving is another small job I enjoy, you can make some handy things with a chunk of wood lying around. But whatever I don’t buy or trade, I hunt. It’ll take some time for me to return to Nautic Row. I'll have to camp at the foot of the mountain to wait out the downpour of snow. I called back to a memory of a small cabin with smoke billowing out of its chimney. I’m sure the inhabitants will let me stay if I can hunt some food, hopefully an unfortunate rabbit will cross my path as I get lower down the mountain. Speaking of getting lower by this point I had reached the halfway point of the mountain and the sun was about to touch the horizon. I began my scout for game trails and tracks that lead into brush. Not having much luck I pressed forward, though I could still be too high. The cold was certainly starting to creep in now, snow began seeping into my boots and trousers. It could be a problem in a few hours but I think I’ll reach the base before then. After 2 hours of more or less skipping over rocks I had made my way to an inlet of trees where stone started to recede and squishy, muddy snow took its place. There was surely something still out and about looking for a morsel. The forest was thick with flora despite the time of year, the evergreen pine trees looked to be hundreds of feet tall. If I was gonna find a rabbit, here it would be. The looming canopy of leaves above made it all the more darker, hiding the moon's light from me and every other creature within the thicket. After spotting a dead game trail, I decided to give up on my search for wildlife and make way for the cabin. It had become too cold and even looking was a hearty task I struggled with greatly. Perhaps I can rent out my services of work in exchange for a night under some shelter. Even a meal if I’m lucky. In the distance, between the trees of the Black Forest I spotted a light. It was that of a campfire, I almost threw my caution to the wind desperately wanting to feel unrestricted warmth. But my better judgment kicked me upside the head and I decided to be sure if they were friend or foe before approaching.

(by "incident" I mean Sayu's kidnapping of course, trying to avoid spoilers in the title)
First thing, let's establish I don't think Light wanted to kill or sacrifice Sayu. I think he did love her, he wanted her to be safe, and her death would absolutely be an outcome he would want to avoid if it all possible.
However I often see the argument that letting the kidnappers get their hands on the notebook is an automatic loss and Light has nothing to gain from saving Sayu, therefore his love for her is the only motivating factor. That if her welfare wasn't his highest priority he would have everything to win by just killing her (or not engaging at all with the kidnappers) and keeping the notebook. This isn't actually true though; the problem with this viewpoint is it's not taking the bigger picture into account.
So for fun here is a counter argument...
There are several good practical reasons for Light to want to go through with the trade, as outlined below. Btw, I won't even touch the matter of how her death would narrow down the list possible suspects to only those in the Task Force, since Light himself speaks to that several times in the text and it's been discussed enough before.
Sayu's safety aside, the main problem is this - someone out there KNOWS what the real power of Kira is, and more than that, they know the NPA's Kira Task Force currently possess it. And it's demonstrated fact that this unknown person (or group) are willing to do anything to get it and even have already gone to the lengths of targeting Light's family.
So, here's some 'other' ways Light benefits from making the trade:

1. Light has no idea who the kidnapper is. Before the trade is agreed upon, Mello made sure no details slipped by that could compromise who is behind it, only intentionally letting their general location (the USA's west coast) be known. But by making the exchange the kidnappers will presumably have to reveal certain things about themselves and potentially there's the possibility of seeing their faces and learning their names. Ideally they make a misstep somewhere along the way can be caught in the act, and of course Light doesn't predict he'd be outsmarted by a group of criminals. The chance of learning who his antagonists are so that he can eliminate them - both for vengeance now and to prevent future trouble - is a strong motivator to go through with the trade.
   
2. It's obviously not ideal to let the notebook slip away to someone else's hands, and Light of course isn't happy about relinquishing it...but it's not an end game, unrecoverable situation - and Light is always willing to rise to a challenge. Remember Light still has two additional notebooks and Misa's eyes, the resources of L and cooperation of the FBI. He also thinks (mistakenly) that since there's currently no Shinigami attached to that notebook, the kidnappers won't be able to make the eye deal and gain more power than is granted by the notebook alone. To Light this is a temporary setback - if he can learn who the kidnappers are, he can use these resources to strike back against them and regain the notebook they took.
   
3. If Sayu is killed by Kira, is it reasonable to think the kidnappers would just shrug and be like 'oh well we tried, GG"? Of course not, we saw that when they lost the first hostage. This is a powerful enemy that has no boundaries and will keep relentlessly coming; who knows what tactic they'll use next, what resources they have at their disposal, and who the target will be - Soichiro? Light's mom? Light himself? Will they reveal the Death Note's existence to the world? Sayu dying would be a lose-lose situation for Light because then not only is his sister dead, but the threat and uncertainty remains and the enemies' attacks will keep coming over and over until they get what they want.
   

It's strategically more sensible to go along with them now, under these known (and to be honest fairly easily accommodated) conditions and demands, rather than risk dealing with ongoing and increasingly escalating attacks in the future. And if he can catch them in the act now and nip it in the bud, so much the better.
And actually, this is basically Light's stated reason for going ahead with the trade as shown in Chapter 62 this exchange:
Ryuk: "...I guess you even have a soft spot for your sister, huh?"
Light: (thinking to himself) "That's not all. With this explanation no one will ever suspect us, especially my father or me, of being Kira. The problem is whether the kidnapper just wants the note...or if he's thinking of turning against Kira."
The wording "thinking of turning against Kira" is a little strange because it implies the kidnapper was pro-Kira at one time, but perhaps its just an awkward translation. Anyway the point is Light explicitly identifies this as "the problem" - whether the kidnappers will be satisfied once they got the note to use for themselves and then go away...or are they targeting Kira, is this an existential threat to Kira himself? If that is the case they will keep coming for him whether or not they have the notebook.
Light's ego could never allow this sort of defiant provocation to stand, and he's not one to cower away. Not only that but he's been languishing for four years, he's starting to get complacent and bored again but this turn of events presents new challenge to take on, something to get fired up about. It's in his character to do everything in his power to find and confront his attackers head on.
Again I'm not arguing Light didn't care for and want his sister to be safe, certainly that was one of his priorities. But it's tiring always seeing it said that protecting her was his ONLY possible motivation and he ONLY did so at his own disadvantage.
To say that the easy and best way out for him (if he was willing to do it) would have been to alert the broader police agency to the situation and use that as camouflage to just kill her - or not engage and allow her to be killed - is an oversimplification at best and just flat out wrong at worst.
What do you lot think?

Lucius was slowly finding a rhythm within the Crooked Crown. He would even go as far as to say it was getting simple, predictable even.
Mornings the blood suckers would slowly filter in, seeking refuge from the sun's harsh rays. They were a simple crowd, don't make eye contact and keep the blood bags handy.
After them you'd get to the lunch crowd, mostly just hungry he could slip by mostly unnoticed. People didn't care who pulled the pints, they just wanted them delivered to their table.
Then came the evening and with it, the troublesome crowd. Unlike the morning vampires who had their consistent rules or the midday crowd whose indifference brought certainty, the evening crew brought madness.
From Aisling who required strong drinks and keeping out the way to Evelyn who would take such tactics as a personal slight. It required a delicate balancing act, a gentle push and pull, something he was not good at.
Case in point the current situation, a bloodied Evelyn trudging towards the bar as the bullet holes in her skull slowly closed. A delicate situation, pour a drink, spare a kind word and absolutely don't by all means insult her.
"Well you look like shit, food bite back?"
It was official he was dead, she was gonna kill him.
"You know," she growled out as she pulled him closer by the shirt, "I like my boy toys quiet, supportive, occasionally on a plate. Not mouthing off."
He nodded as the blood in his veins turned to ice, he wasn't dead yet, that was good... Maybe he could fix this
"So uh whiskey," he swallowed thickly, "no ice and one of the little umbrellas so you have something to stab people with right?"
There was a soft sigh from the woman as he felt sharp teeth nip at his ear, "That's more like it Lucky, now why don't you get to that hmm?"
He could feel her grip loosen on his shirt and immediately hurried to work, thankful for what seemed to be leniency.
"You know the issue with today," he heard her murmur, "everyone is on something or armed. Used to be I could kill a man, and that was that, food sorted for the week."
He quickly placed the glass in front of her before speaking, "and now you have to be more careful and they put up more of a fight?"
There was a moment of silence and she drank from her glass followed by a sigh, "A-fucking-men, see this is why I like you, taste good, look good, not thick as shit... Most of the time."
There was another sigh, "it's not even as if their weapons did anything to save them, just got blood on my new coat... Bothersome..."
Lucius sighed as he refilled her glass, "So what is it you really want, you don't tend to come out wounded."
There was a pause, a heavy silence settling over the bar before her voice broke it once more, "You, in bed, maybe with a caramel drizzle."
That was about the moment his brain stopped working, "That a threat," he stumbled though the sentence, "or a come on?"
"Why don't you come find out"

Evening all, I have received a NIP for allegedly travelling 57 in a 50mph VSP between junction 9 and 10 westbound of the M27.
Legislation available here:
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2021/17/made
It’s tough to know specifically what occurred on the day in question as I travel it frequently as part of my commute.
What is frustrating on my part is that I am actively moving over to lane one from either two, three or four to take the extended slip road that begins (small dashed lines) after the gantry that displays the (first) VSL.
That gantry is also the one with the camera.
Also, it displays an additional message along the lines of ‘queues after junction’ which is a bit confusion as the speed limit change also applies to lane one which isn’t actually a slip road until after the gantry.
My speed was reducing but as you can see, if in fact the gantry was showing 50 that day, I hadn’t slowed enough.
Looking at legislation I can’t seem to find a maximum speed reduction, it seems that it can drop from 70 to, 50,40,30, etc
What steps can I take ahead of accepting the speed awareness course? The NIP contains no images, just a stated speed.
Thanks in advance