Heading to Turtleback Ferry

It is only here on the river that I realize the Hidemarsh nobles did not expect me to return from Absolom. I know I didn't make an good impressions in Magnimar, given that no other Pathfinder, nor even initiates or adventurers volunteered to accompany me in searching for new ruins. I wonder if there are any new ruins to behold in this area besides the skull crossing. Perhaps they just needed me out of the city. It was enough that I was getting stares whenever I left the halls and wandered the streets of the upper district.
 
This adventure has already gotten off to a strange start. I've almost befriended my fellow travelers (27 Diplomacy) after I successful talked down the rather hyper gnomes of Whistledown from taking our barge in search of some drug dealers to the north. I've never known Gnomes to be so aggressive and forward, even the few times I had visited Whistledown before, when I first left the Fen.
 
It has been a hard journey thus far. Surviving the wilds before I could push myself to trust the smoothskins enough to go into their village. Discovering the sheer size of their 'civilisashuns' when I first went to Magnimar. Befriending a princess who taught me to talk so that others would respect me. The harrowing journey of showing the Pathfinders the ruins my kin had found so that they would accept me among their kind. Only to discover I had to travel for many moons to simply be taught their ways. Returning to try and plead my case to my people, only to be denied and chased away as the Eruxi I am.
 
My hope is that the Pathfinders will discover something that will be proof enough that my people cannot sit idly within their lands. We have seen the magics that the red liquid from the ruins can muster, surely there will be more, especially if the princesses of their nations are funding expeditions.
 
 
I miss the hearths. I miss the communal cuddles after a long day hunting or patrolling. I even miss being drilled on the stories that I am to carry to this day. The other travelers meander the barge freely now, but they still give me a wide berth. I have met few companions in my travels, even as my own reservations dwindled. It is baffling that they communities are so distant from each other, and the idea of privacy is strange. No one has wanted to share warmth with me in a long time.