Over the River and Through the Woods

Mama! Things have gotten so much better! SO MUCH IS HAPPENING and I am so excited for all of it!!
Ohminegosh ohminegosh! Where did I last leave off? OH! Right! After the Sahouagen attack!
 
Ok ok ok ok ok
 
After the battle, we sailed back to the Onclave to see if they could help Capitan Laughingsteel, but sadly, they do not deal with that kind of magic (or so they say). They were very kind and gave him a proper burial, but his poor crew is now leaderless. I think some of them might be going to other ships, but I am not sure.
 
After telling them as much information as we could about the sahouagen base, the Onclave mounted an attack (since now they had an idea of the layout and all that). They were very successful, and some of the things they found... mama... it was not good. They would use people as slaves until they died of exhaustion! And they pitted people against each other in a fighting ring, and if you lost, you were not given a way to breathe under water (because their base was underwater) and you drowned!
 
I will never ever understand why they were so cruel. It seemed... senseless, you know?
 
The attack destroyed the sahouagen base, AND it brought most of our captured crew home to us! So our infiltration mission had been very helpful in the end. I think Capitan Laughingsteel would have been happy to know that...
 
While the attack was happening, we were safe at the Onclave base, and I decided to do a little digging. They said their whole mission was to discover things and learn as much as they could about the secrets of the world, so I have been very worried that they knew about the island. I spent quite a few hours in their library trying to find anything about our home, and thankfully I did not find anything! Not a single word about our island or any of it’s secrets! That is wonderful news, is it not mama!?
 
At this point, we were preparing to leave and discover our next adventure, when Capitan Dio suddenly received a message from home! It said that there was new information about his missing brother, Milo (I did not even know his brother was missing) and that he needed to return home immediately! So of course that is was we did!
 
But before we left, Dio thought it was best to break our ties with the Onclave. I was not so sure about it (I wanted to keep tabs on them in case they ever tried to find out things about the island) but Dio’s reasons made sense, and everyone else agreed to it as well, so I followed their lead. It was an odd ceremony, mama. There was a bright light--a very bright light--and everything went dark for a long moment, and then suddenly we could see again, but Katrain told us to leave and then turned away and did not speak to us again. And when we got to the ship, all the other Onclave members had left for their homes and closed the doors, or gone below deck on their ships.
 
It was a shunning, mama. They were very much kicking us out. I recognized it right away because it was not very different from the way--
 
Nevermind. What’s done is done.
 
Anyway, we left the Onclave for the open sea and headed straight back to Castow! It took a few weeks and I used the time to practice my flying beasties, but I am having such a hard time with them mama. It is like gills all over again!
 
When we finally reached land, we told the ship to wait for us in the harbor, but Tunaka said he would come with us--he knows the area very well, and he makes a wonderful guide. I was so very happy he decided to come!
 
It was a 4 day journey up to Newood--Dio’s home--and on the way we passed through so many cities! MAMA! You would not believe how LARGE they are! There was one city we passed through (it has the same name as the continent, which was very confusing for me) that was so large with SO MANY people, I actually was speechless! Me! With nothing to say! Crazy!
 
(Once again, we passed through cities and could not explore. One of these days I will be allowed to really explore a city... one of these days.)
 
Finally we reached Newood and Dio took us to his home. Mama... Dio’s house... I have never seen a single home so enormous! It was big enough to house 10 families at home! At least! It looked like a small city all on it’s own! I cannot believe Dio really grew up here!
 
We met two of his younger brothers in the front, and I think I frightened one of them by turning into a bear, but they asked me to! They wanted me to show my beasties! The other one was very excited and I took him for a ride as we walked inside the house.
 
Mama... it was even bigger on the inside! I do not know how that is possible! And there were statues of Dio’s father everywhere (apparently he likes to carve statues of himself). There was also a family portrait of Dio, his parents, and all of his 12 siblings together. They are a beautiful family, mama, I am so very excited at the chance to meet them all!
 
Dio’s mama greeted us next! Oh mine gosh, she is so very beautiful and sweet--not as beautiful and sweet and you mama, of course, but no one ever could be. She told us more about the clue they had received from Milo; it was some sort of book? Honestly, I did not hear a lot of what was said, I was still staring at the enormous home and enjoying the company of Dio’s younger brother. But I did hear something about an island, so I think we may be sailing again very soon.
 
That night, they had a great big feast for the entire family (a few members were missing, but it was still a very large gathering)! It was very much like home, mama, they had all this food and everyone was smiling and laughing and telling stories. Well, I was telling most of the stories... I was telling them all about how Dio rose though the ranks to become Capitan of our ship, and all the amazing things he has accompalished since! I do not know about the others, but I know his younger brother was very much impressed!
 
Also, I had coffee for the first time! Remember, you would never let me have coffee, but I finally got to try it and it reminded me very much of alcohol because suddenly I had so much energy to do all the things!
 
Later on in the night the younger siblings had to go to bed, so Dio’s older siblings took us to another room to talk. Dio’s older sister Spanky--who I have been dying to meet ever since Dio said her name because it just sounded like the most wonderful name so I knew it had to belong to a wonderful person--told us something that was very troubling... apparently the Purifiers have began to take over Newood.
 
You remember, I told you about the Purifiers before. They are the ones who kill people or take them away simply for believing in deities. They are not very nice people...
 
Poor Dio was, of course, very upset by this. I think he wants to stay and help get rid of the purifiers, but I do not know how we would do that. Then again, Dio is very smart, so I am sure he can come up with a plan. If he wishes to stay and fight, I am of course going to stay with him and help!
 
But that is trouble for another time. For tonight, we have had fun, and food, and laughter, and I am so very grateful Dio was willing to let us meet his family! I hope we can spend more time together tomorrow, I bet I can impress his younger siblings with my insect beasties!
 
I will write again soon, mama. Always remember that I love you so so much and I miss you every day and every night!
 
-Memen