Scraping at scars.

I couldn't write last week. I just didn't have it in me. After the events of the week before, all the revelations that came piling in one on top of another, the words just stuck in my mind in a big ugly jumble and wouldn't come undone.

My friends and I went to Minkata and poked around for a bit, but the focus wasn't there. The sense of, "This is a challenge, and we can learn from it," was lacking somewhere. And all over it, there was the knowledge that the Bahro are not safe, and not friendly.

They really are like the Fair Folk - some of them kind, some of them not so kind, and until you know them you can't tell the difference. We don't know them. And so we can't tell the difference. Not yet. We don't know enough.

Part of me is looking at Minkata as a new puzzle, a thing to be solved and a triumph to be cherished. We're making progress on that. But part of me is also hoping that somewhere in there, we'll find some more about the Bahro, that will help us understand why they are the way they are. Why some of them kill, and some of them protect. (And a very small part of me hopes that if we can figure out what's up with the Bahro, we can apply it to human nature, and help ourselves as well. But I'll settle for getting the Bahro to not kill us through some means other than enslaving them to a stone tablet.)

When I couldn't bring myself to write, I went to Relto and planted a pussywillow and a little tiny rose next to my bench. And after I saw the DRC's message that Michael Engberg was missing...and had gone in search of Dr. Watson, perhaps? I put his name on the pot of rosemary along with Dr. Watson's. I hope Engberg found Watson and some solace. And not the bottom of the Shaft. I hope he's OK...

In any event, last night my 'hood regathered, Jishin, Meiczyslaw, Jack, and I, and had a quick discussion, and then Jishin, Meiczyslaw, and I went on to Minkata while Jack went and poked at Teledahn. He hasn't finished Yeesha's Journey yet, and it was bugging him. He got to the backside all by himself - we gave him a few hints, but he did all the work. In the mean time, I was amazed at Meiczyslaw's powers of Math and Calculation, though it turns out my brain was working at least a little last week, as some of the calculations I did turned out to be right as well.

And so, we went down several holes, and found five constellations - I've named them the Bouquet, the Bow, the Scythe, the Pennant, and Casseopeia. Casseopeia looks almost like Earth's constellation of the same name, which is why it didn't get anything original, but the others take some imagination to spot.

We also found a Bahro symbol. Perhaps next week we will figure out what it does entirely - but when part of it is activated, the stars move in the sky, and the first time it's activated, there's an almost triumphal Bahro scream in the air. (I just about jumped out of my skin when I heard it.)

After two trips via the night sky, however, Jack called from Teledahn - he wanted some company. So we headed over there and spent the rest of the evening calling to Shroomie and watching him find the linking stone to Gahreesen, and then Jishin took him off to Dereno to show him the Portal while I linked back to Relto and took some time to compose my thoughts.

I still need to sit down with the pictures I have of the stones in Minkata and see if they're different. The English writing on them is the same, but I can't tell if the Bahro glyphs are. I have to take the shots through a plastic bag to keep my camera from getting filled with blowing grit, but I still haven't been able to get high enough quality shots from my KI to be able to compare things like that.

And so we keep looking, wondering what we're going to find this time, and when we're done, what will happen. Will the cage break open? Or something else? And what will it teach us this time?