Words cannot begin to describe the excitement I feel of being here. Though on this exposed mountain face the winds do chill my mind burns with the sensation of what is near. I have ordered Michels and Worthington to begin excavation preparations immediately. The first order will be to have Worthington deal with the ice. But this is definitely something – the stone arch is significant of that most surely, though the passage below is sealed with opaque frost.
It is this excitement and my… particular sensitivity that have encouraged me to keep this journal of our expedition. I am normally not one for such trivialities… but I feel compelled to record this occasion – this is the first success I have had in my search.
My name is Violet Eregraine. I was born in Macha, though I remember little of that misty castle town. I do not have recollections of mother or father – they presumably died, or vanished, though no trace has come from them and I am not eager to search. Either they are dead, in which case such an endeavor would be futile, or they abandoned me, in which case I doubt they would be the sort of persons that would interest me much.
The only family I did know was my uncle. He was my mother’s brother, but was much older, having left the family before my mother was born. However, the documentation placed him as my only family and so I was sent to live with him in Portal-Whitesmith. I barely remember him even – he shipped me off not long after. However, I hold no resentment to him for this and would thank him, if he had not vanished as well. Though, his profession of Studies of the Unknown make such a disappearance hardly a rarity. It was my fortune he was familiar with such aspects beyond the regular ken of those in the cities. From observing my habits and playing, he determined that I was one of the few who were Physic Sensitive. He most generously allowed me to move to the Island of Coever, to the prestigious Institute of the Higher Mind. He was eager to meet with me again after I had matured with the institute’s help, but that chance was never had.
I will not bother to speak of my time in the Institute – some there were not truly talented, or squandered what gifts they had. I focused my talents as best I could and was rewarded for it. I left the canals of Coever with a fair grasp and control of what is known in scientific circles as Telepathy, though that is a crude term for the various levels of sensitivity I have opened for myself.
I duly returned to Portal-Whitesmith. Though my uncle was gone, I easily obtained a job at the Bureau for the Studies of the Unknown, my skill making me an excellent huntress of strange signals that have been recorded across Dark.
With a lucky discovery of a Post-Arrival dig site and the sensitive artifact within I was allowed a grant for my own investigation. Post-Arrival and Non-Arrival cultures do hold a fascination for me – what civilization dwelt here before the first intrepid explorers tore the portal in the fabric of space, boldly stepping into the Universe beyond? As well, such investigations could prove vital in understanding the bizarre and unnatural species that one will find in the forests with forms of human intelligence. As well, there are many strange artifacts and containers from this era that seem to have peculiar signatures, making it simple for one such as myself to locate them. Why these artifacts have continued mental resonance, or were resonated in the first place is still unknown.
But I digress into the scientific. I had heard from a colleague that the Aesir Mountains, in the uncivilized North West, had occasionally revealed structures on their slopes that had caught the interest of an expedition he had been on. They did not have the ability to land in their large airship and a sudden storm forced them to withdraw.
In short, I determined to locate such sites and obtain what information that I could. I also have a personal motive against the man, if that word can be used, who happened to give me this information. He scoffed at the idea of a young woman performing such dangerous fieldwork and in truth had been against my entrance into the Bureau, being a misogynist of the most pathetic sort. I will have great pleasure in bringing back whatever it is we locate here.
I must end my writing for tonight as the candle grows dim. Worthington has grown tired from his work and has gone back to his tent to sleep. I have given Michels permission to end the day as well after he has shored up the progress Worthington has made. Rose is here with me – I fear that if left outside her inner workings may freeze up and I would prefer Worthington focus on melting the ice at the cavern and not gently defrosting constructs. I suppose as she does not sleep she will make a fair sort of night watch, but as we are located on a cliff with no way down or up besides dirigible the prospect of being set upon does not worry my mind and I will sleep with no issue tonight.
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