'It's been tipping it down today so I've spent the time catching up on brewing and knitting. I think I've been sold some goat wool, it's rough as a badger's arse and don't knit well. If I could remember where I got it I'd go round there and box some ears. I'm not unpicking it, I'll turn it into a blanket and someone can have it for a present.
I occurs to me that I've been rabbiting on as if you know everything about Lunecaster when you might never have been here so I'll fill you in about my home. The Guardian, currently Randall, is in charge of things. They levy taxes, work out how the money gets spent, decide when we go to war. They're also in charge of all the rites and rituals of the city and it's their duty to celebrate all the festivals at the right times and with the right clobber on. The Elders assist in the rites, they're the holders of the sacred parchments and texts. They study the old scrolls and some of them do a bit of prophesy and divination on the side. The storytellers are the keepers of the old tales and stories, they take note of events and spin them into stories that tell the history of our city and land. Some of them can go into trances and use what they see there to clarify or explain. Edmund is the most gifted storyteller of his generation and can go into deep trances. I've heard that he once had a three day trance and woke up so hungry he tried to eat the scroll on his desk. I can relate to that, I've had naps that have left me starving. Not for dried up old scrolls though, tea and toast for me.
Lunecaster is a walled city and hasn't been taken by enemies for so long no-one is alive who saw that. The guard are charged with patrolling the walls and maintaining the gates, four of those at the four compass points. My brother Gilbert started his career in the guards on the West Gate, opening and closing it morning and night and standing to attention when the bigwigs arrived. He's moved into the barracks now and can have a bit of a lie in of a morning.
Across the Great Plain is Grimwise Forest. It's a dark, strange place and us city dwellers don't go there unless we have to. I sometimes forage on the edge but as soon as I gets too far in things get cold and eerie so I stay on the fringes. There's a new Dark Lord there, name of Warin. Don't know much about him but rumour is that he's more brutal than the last Dark Lord and he were a bugger and no mistake.
There's the mountains and the coast too but I'll tell you about them another time. Someone's knocking on the door so duty calls.'
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