Artemesia Family/Garret Artemesia Research

Garret's Strange Activities

July, I think. I do not know the day anymore. My supplies were mostly washed away in the latest storm. Thankfully, the oxen and caravans survived. There was not much time to get much information about the day, but thankfully my objective was not time-critical. The Visionaries

I met two commoners of some note at breakfast today, whenever today is. There was a woman named Nina and a man named Brandon. Somehow, I think that woman is oddly familiar.

A day later.

There were some more deals to be done in Golden Farrow. I secretly hope that this has no bearing on the kind of man I am, for we of the Artemis house have never had to spoil our hands in less than the most noblest of actions, and even these deals I am making as a trader, though necessary, do put a strain against my noble nature, but the responsibility towards necessity outweighs some old customs.

Three days later, I have returned to the isles. I sent two messengers on the next ship headed for the East Continent. They do not know of each other's presence on board the same ship, but both have the same objective. In case one of them dies, the other might have a chance to get the message across. Either way, I have also equipped one of my best terns to carry the letter as well. If the ship sinks, then hopefully the bird will make it through.

November 1: The contacts in the East Continent have returned with news at last! It is as I had suspected. The girl was from somewhere else, or so Woody would tell me. All that remains now is to locate Nina, and find out if I was correct.

I have attached the letters, and the findings, of Woody and his helpers.

Letter from Grandpa Artemesia

Young Gary,

As per your request, I had our lesser known servants gather information regarding the woman you described. Are you quite certain that you met her at a peasant's tavern? You have quite strange tastes, young master. And you described a man as well, but did not instruct us to pursue his details. what, young master, taken a fancy for a rough commoner?

I jest, I jest, my dear boy. In my old age, you should even forgive me and pity me for my inevitable senility. I know you well, Gary. Chasing after women is not in your character, so why did you send such a strange request?

When Lorn's boy was here in our ancestral home, he was able to access the vault, and passed along the seal to make our agents execute your request. But due to the nature of this undertaking, even the best were bound by time, and so they only brought me scattered and incomplete documents, along with hearsay.

That girl you described said that she was from Poryatu, if I recall correctly. And, if you recall correctly. I do hope you were not heavily drinking at the time. That place is rather far away and it was quite difficult to get one of our people successfully into the region, but we managed to do so three weeks ago. Our apologies for the delay. They tell me that the girl, Nina, was raised by a local barkeep named Lucy. Through some creative measures they were able to obtain some samples to further our research. I have enclosed the raw report with the initial observations and the five tests we ran. For your easy reading, as I understand that you are not like Samael and Jared, what with the lack of interest you showed towards Lawrence's occupation, I have also enclosed a version that is easier for the layperson to read, and by layperson, I mean someone who is not very versed in the chemicals and of biology.

If you have completed your reading of the enclosures, do continue reading. From the results, we can now conclude that it is unlikely that the girl was born to the woman. Seeing as how we have a rather extensive collection of samples from Jared's many battles to work with, we could potentially find someone who is more closely related, which would lead us further towards achieving your request. It is an odd request, I must admit, Gary. Are you certain you are not enamoured of a tough fighting amazon?

The documents as well have been sent, separately. You might wish to read them quite carefully, as they allude to a noble of a house that I would rather not place on paper, for despite the nature of our organization, I, and my colleagues, would rather not be killed. But, forgetting the names, what myself and a few of my more trusted colleagues have managed to piece from the fragments of letters, the oral rumors of various townsfolk, and a wide assortment of characters from Atamara. Yes, Atamara, my boy. We have a sneaking suspicion that your answer lies in Atamara, and we have already sent word to Samael to carry out his investigation over there.

The point of these rumors is that there may, or may not, have been a noblewoman who had an affair with someone who was not a noble. We do not know the exact details, as it could have very well been a nobleman who impregnated a peasant woman. Are you seeing any parallels, Gary? Hah! I truly apologize. Your request, as you should have anticipated, would cause quite the uproar of laughter in our circle, but it is all in good spirit.

In any case, whoever the woman might have been, she was definitely the one who left. There is absolutely no record of that girl living in Atamara,and we are sure of that. By your command,young master, we shall instruct our people to ask the girl's adoptive mother for some further enlightenment.

Your pursuit of the truth, though questionable in its intents and its content, is nevertheless commendable, Gary, but do be careful. There are those who would rather not see the truth. Do you even know if this girl wants to know the truth, when we eventually discover it? Then again, Gary, think about this one carefully: How do you know that she doesn't know the truth? Ask her yourself, actually. I am willing to bet my gold tooth that she knows something that we would never be able to find out, and you were being all to lazy to find her and ask her about it. Silly boy.

Now, if you might excuse me, I send you my best wishes.

Love always,

Grandpa "Woody" Artemesia

Sojourn in Poryatu and Meeting Lucy

November 16: What have I missed in the time that I was wandering through the desert? The lands of Pian en Luries are different from how I remembered them, before I made my exile from the islands. Ever since joining the land of Morek, I have been separated for a very long time from the events to the south.

But I digress from the point of this journal entry. My informant in the southeastern lands wrote me a short letter telling me where to find the girl's parents. I had hoped to make a journey up towards Darfix to see the girl instead, but such a journey would be rather long, costly, and I do have some responsibility to act as a knight of Morek. And so, I settled with seeing Nina's parents in Poryatu.

With all the towns and cities I have visited, Poryatu is nothing breathtaking. It does not display the great excesses of the gilded city of Golden Farrow, or the bustle of trade in the ports of Raviel and Nebel, or the ancient majesty of Balance's Retreat, or the vibrant union of cultures of Donghaiwei. Then again, because I was traveling to visit a tavern in what was likely the poor section of town, I did not expect much anyway.

I found the Crown and Grapes Inn rather easily in the northern area. It did not help that I arrived from the south. There was a stout and cheerful woman who greeted me once I stepped through the door, her red hair contrasting in the mostly drab background. Clearly, the girl did not inherit her locks from her mother. The strong smell of tavern also immediately greeted me, though I have by this time already become accustomed to sitting with commoners, both to gain interesting information and out of boredom.

"Good day, boy. Wanna drink? Or are you looking for a room to rest?" The woman addressed me rather directly, and quite a bit like how I would imagine commoners would talk like to one another. At least, from the commoner side of my family, that is what I have gathered.

"Good afternoon, madam. May I please have a word with you?" Was my reply.

She looked me funnily in the eye. "What're you going about, boy? If there's anything you need we can say it here."

I sighed. Now I can somewhat sympathize with cousin Samael when he had to endure pretending to be a commoner, and for seven years. I have only gone a week, and already it is rather interesting how the commoners treat nobility differently, as though they feared the more powerful nobles. Then again I am slightly surprised that, being in Lurian lands, no one had yet brought up anything regarding my Dongese style of dress.

I leaned across the counter separating us, and I whispered into the tavernkeeper's ear, "Are you the keeper of this place, Lucy?"

She nodded.

"I would like to talk to you about Nina." I said, still in a whisper.

"Oh? You have news of her? Or..." She looked me up and down, probably appraising me or something. "You do look very good, for a commoner. Hey, where are you from anyway?"

"Morek," I told her, "My home is in Cailyn, more to the north, and across the mountains that surround Balance's Retreat."

"Ah, what a long way you have traveled boy. Come on, have a seat and some drink and then we'll talk about my girl." She eyed me again, looking at my deliberately but mostly unintentionally worn garments. "You have the silver to pay for this, of course?"

I nodded, meaning to hand her a gold coin from my purse, but mistakenly, I handed her my family's crest-the Artemesia crest, though, and not the Artemis crest that I find to be a constant reminder of what I should seek to throw away. The Artemesia crest I would have rather not handed to the woman, as I rather liked it.

Lucy stared at the unstrung circular piece of platinum, interlaid with sapphires such that the platinum underneath the sapphires formed a pattern reminiscent of a white tree beneath the upper layer of blue gemstones. Her eyes widened with surprise and possibly greed, but she shook her head. "Honest pieces of silver will do better than this, lad" she said, quickly giving it back, but not before an old man glimpsed the item. "Dressing funny as you are, you shouldn't wave this around or you risk ending up in jail."

At this, the old man hobbled towards us, and said in a clearer voice than I had expected, "Son of Jeherad!"

Lucy gave the man a quizzical look. "There, there, Mister Spoons, it's alright, you've just had too much drink."

"No!" Yelled the man, and some faces around the tavern turned to stare at him, only to quickly turn back to their own business. "Haven't you seen the villages around the western volcano and the ruins? They all use the same symbol!"

Much as I was very interested in knowing more about the old man's knowledge of Jeherad's fate, and it appeared that he knew a lot more than I did of the Ruins of Walfurgisnacht and Volcano Nightscree, I had my first priority of learning more about the girl. There would be time to seek out the man another time and ask him regarding my patriarch's fate.

"So you come from all the way in the west, boy. That's mighty impressive." Said Lucy.

The old man shook his head violently, "I know that half of you Artemesia folk came from the Wormwoods, but still, what are you doing in a commoners' tavern? And dressed in such a way?"

I replied, "I'm actually a descendant of the last of the original noble house of Artemis. And, I happen to like commoners."

Lucy hastily removed the dirty mug of beer she was serving and quickly drew what I think would be the best and cleaner mug from the house. "My lord! I―forgive my poor self! I didn't know what I was saying! Of course my lord doesn't look at all like a common thief, but---Oh, forgive me!" Bowing more times than I could count, the woman apologized a few extra times, before I shrugged it off and put the crest away. This time I made sure that it was strung properly around my neck, alongside the seal that recognized me as a Knight of the Crown of the Bloodstars.

"Please, let me take you to a more comfortable room. You surely must not enjoy being kept among us for so long." She said, as she led me into a room in the back.

It was a clean room (by commoners' standards of course), decorated as if to receive visitors, but still with little furniture. A stuffed chair, a small table by its side, a few wooden chairs, a rug reminiscent of those that decorated the floors of the Donghaiwei duchy, all were presented across the room. A piece of tapestry hung on the door's wall, looking a bit tattered, with a hunting scene, and a drawer of sorts with a single sculpture above it. There was one window on the wall opposite to the door, a fireplace near the chairs and a sleeping cat inside the unused fireplace.

Lucy quickly dusted the stuffed chair and offered it to me, with a subservient glance. "Forgive me for the humbleness of my tavern, my lord. Please have a seat while I fetch you some food and drink." The short, slightly fat woman moved towards the door, quickly turning back to call the cat, which ignored her. With a sigh, she left, returning quickly with what I suppose was the best she could find in her kitchen.

The cat continued to sleep, oblivious to my presence. I looked around, gathering details of the room. If I had to return here sometime, it would help to know details. I casually ran my fingers over the Artemesia seal. Funny, I think I dropped the ring inlaid with the seal back in that tavern in Golden Farrow. No doubt some commoner would be running around proclaiming himself to be an Artemesia by now, if it had not been pawned off already. I sat back, not quite hungry, though any food other than monster meat roasted over a campfire would have been gladly eaten by now.

Lucy served something that looked like rabbit in gravy, some bread, fruits and wine from a dusty bottle that possibly spent years waiting to be open for a noble guest. I took them and began eating, though as I looked up at the woman, I remembered why I came here, and what I wanted to know.

"Nina's your daughter, though she struck me as rather fresh and attractive for a commoner girl who has to work in the rough outdoors. I wonder if your line might not be perhaps better than you might have thought?" I wore my constant grin, that had then been only seen in my eyes but which I now displayed on my mouth. I took a bite of the meat. The woman gave me a surprised look, but started talking slowly, as if she was choosing her words carefully.

"My line is no better than what you can see here, my lord. I can trace my family back for at least seven generations, and they have all lived in Poryatu, and none had noble blood." She moved the weight of her body from one leg to the other. After a moment, she smiled lively. "But she is quite the handsome lass, isn't she? Ceorl and I are very happy about her." It was weird. Her eyes were serious above the smile.

I nodded. "It is obvious," I said, glancing at her red hair, "That your daughter did not inherit the same head of hair as you." I took a sip of the wine, which tasted rather different from the fresh wines of Weinschenk. "Nina looks young, and is probably around my age. Surely, it would have been rather hard living here for so long, if the current environment of this land could be any indication." I noticed Lucy's serious look. There was not much time to be running circles around the topic. "You must be very proud of your daughter. She has travelled across this land filled with mysteries yet to be discovered. Not many commoners have opportunities like that. I wonder if her siblings have taken up the same hunting career?"

Lucy shook her red head. "Nina has no siblings, nor do I have other children... Ceorl has dark hair himself." She then gave me an evaluating look. "What is your interest in her, my lord? She is my precious gift and I would rather know the nature of your curiosity... "

So Nina was not born to these commoners. I had other questions that I wanted to ask, but the woman did not sound as though she would tell me unless I satisfied her question first. "She reminded me of someone I met when i was younger, when I visited my cousin in Atamara. Well, you see, this cousin of mine is a good man. Though he was of commoner blood, I never once doubted his merit. But when he was robbed and left with no indication of his connection to the noble family Artemesia, life was tough." I looked at the woman directly in the eyes, the grin still present in my gaze, "Good people, do not deserve harsh fates. But in any case, Nina reminded me of a woman I once saw while visiting a land across the ocean. She reminded me of someone, someone of noble birth. Who knows if it is just coincidence though, since for all I know, she could have been an orphan you picked up around this town." As I smiled thinly at Lucy, I added, "And in case you have any ideas about my family, know that I am of the pure noble house of Artemis. I just so happen to have a more open mind about individual merit than the rest of my family."

I could see Lucy was nervous, and asked her to sit in one of the wooden chairs. She picked a bench instead, sitting below my sight. Then, she spoke. "My lord, I won't vouch for your sanity, but if nothing else, you seem to have a decent heart. You are right to assume Nina is not my daughter by blood, nor she is Ceorl's." She smiled "We know nothing about Nina's mother, except that she was a beautiful and elegant lass, who arrived pregnant to these shores. She told us her name was Gwynn and she had come from Atamara. Never spoke about her family, her previous life, or Nina's father, except that she loved him very much, and she was certain he would have loved his baby. He was probably a jerk, but that sweet creature thought he was good as god."

"So she is from Atamara. That is something interesting. Did she not bring with her any mementos from her previous life? You see, I am rather intrigued by Nina, as she does not appear to be the typical commoner. That, and I happened to meet her in Golden Farrow of all places." I took a bite of the fruit, which tasted rather sweet, though I suppose after my travels, anything would taste sweet to me. Lucy grinned.

"So you met her, my lord? How is she faring? She hasn't sent me word ever since... I don't even know when she last wrote me. Is she strong, is she any better at hunting? She didn't cut her gorgeous hair, did she?" And then, it seemed my words made sense to her. "Oh, you are... intrigued by her? That's more than... Well, I can't give you any mementos. When Gwynn died, her house was also burned down..."

I internally felt a slight sense of disappointment, but I showed no change in my countenance. After all, this was just one commoner girl, who just so happened to meet me at a good time. I nodded. "And how, exactly, did the house burn down? I remember in Golden Farrow, she appeared rather tense when I sat next to her."

Lucy looked very troubled, and answered carefully again. "Yes, I would think so... If she knew you were of noble origins... There actually isn't any proof on the matter and the culprit was never sent to trial, my lord. There were... suspicions about the local nobleman which Gwynn served, but it was... proved that it was accidental fire. Nina didn't speak for months afterwards. We think she must have witnessed something horrible for a 6 year old."

So she had some dislike for nobles? That would make my task much harder, but, I had nothing better to do with my time. I stood up, stepping carefully over the rug, pacing around Lucy. "She overheard some people saying that I was a knight of Port Raviel. Rather troublesome that the locals there knew where I came from. But certainly, not all nobles would act the same, even if it truly were a noble who burnt the house. Ah, but you must wonder why I would even care about a commoner girl." I rubbed my forehead. Talking earnestly had been lost to me a while ago, even before I arrived on Dwilight. "Well, what can I say? It is odd, I will give you that. Though it really would do well I suppose to get her to trust the nobility a bit more. After all, I can foresee that much of her work will be with nobles of high caliber." I laughed inwardly at my attempts to talk to a commoner without the decorative speech used among most nobles. "Then again, how can I explain my interest? She is rather beautiful, and I would at least hope that her upbringing would have allowed her to avoid engaging in some of the deceptions and...well, I suppose these are all foreign terms to you. So, this house that burned, was rebuilt, I take it? Any ideas as to its location?"

It took Lucy some time to absorb my words, but she answered with certainty. "I know exactly where it is located, my lord, but it was not rebuilt. In its place, Ceorl, Nina and I planted wild trees and flowers to grow over the ruins, and the steward allowed it to remain so. I can ask Ceorl to show you the place later..." Then she looked at me frankly in the eyes, like no commoner should ever dare. "She may have not come from my womb, my lord, but that lass is my daughter, and I don't want to see her hurt. You are a nobleman, and she is no more than a huntress. If you claim her, you'll have rights over her, but she'll fight you. So, be patient with my lass, Nina has a good heart, but sometimes a sight that doesn't see very far."

I smiled, but this time it was not my grin. Rather, it was a calmer smile. "I am sure Nina is more than just a huntress. If not by blood, then perhaps, by union. Who knows, for I am but a lowly knight, and my affairs, I believe, would be quite overlooked by the majority of my peers anyway." I wondered a bit about why I decided to even bother with the affairs of a random commoner girl. I suppose I do have my reasons, but if this diary is ever lost and read by anyone else, I would rather it not display each of my thoughts and intentions.

Lucy stood quiet for a long moment after I said that, looking as if she was holding herself. When she spoke again, it was to ask if I wanted to visit the house's spot or if she could serve me by providing me accommodations or any other luxuries.

Though the location would no doubt still have some remnants from the past, my servants would probably be sent to scour the area later anyway. I had no interest in being seen doing anything with the commoners in foreign lands, at least, nothing extensive. But it appeared I would have nothing further to learn here. After all, I now knew for sure that Nina might be of noble birth, though what would that do for me? Well, having someone good with the sword does have benefits.

I asked if she might have a spare room to spend the night, as I had not the gold to repay the duke of Askileon, who had invited me to his estate in the capital.

The Locket

May 25: The messenger from Atamara, who had served the Artemis family since my grandfather, returned today with the locket I entrusted to him. He returned the small silver, circular and tarnished, trinket to my hands. I grasped the delicate chain while he relayed the news.

"Galahad, we asked Rumelle, but she denies any knowledge of that." He pointed at the locket. I had by then opened it, and read the blackened letters on the left side, that read 'For my fair lady', and then looked at the right side, where etched in now pitch black lines was the unmistakable face of a young woman. "Also," continued the messenger, "Roland denied knowledge of the locket, but he did say that Dalin had it for a very long time."

I nodded. "But," I said, "This means only one person is left, who could have created this, assuming it was an Artemis who crafted it." I turned over the locket, tracing my thumb over the initials 'RA'. But what would that mean, if it were true?

"Yes," said the messenger. "However, it makes sense. Lord Rujo was an apprentice to a master jeweler during his youth in Atamara. It is very likely that this was among the works he was commissioned to do when he was ready to leave his mentor."

I turned over the locket again, to look upon the face of the young woman. She looked unmistakably similar to the girl I met in Golden Farrow, except that this engraving showed a woman with softer eyes, and a more innocent face. But that was understandable. This was a noble woman depicted in the engraving, who did not have to face the harshness of life in the wilderness. Even so, the question remained, "Then my father had an affair with this woman?" I asked. That would make sense, I thought. After all, why else would Nina's claim to nobility be unrecognized thusfar? And why else would her mother have to leave her home but to preserve the good name of her family and Rujo's? Of course, this assumed that the woman in the engraving was Nina's mother.

The messenger shook his head. "Lord Rujo denies having any inappropriate relationships during his marriage to Lady Katrinn. Also, he denies having any children before marriage. If I were to guess, I'd say this is purely the work of an artist on a beautiful subject."

Good. I dismissed the messenger. So I did not have to worry about any damages to my family name, except maybe from that failure Sefrino. Now I can cease worrying about the locket. It was, and still is, just a piece of art. Nothing more. Now I can forget about that girl, and focus on the future of Aquilegia. Of course, I do have proof of the girl's nobility, and she is currently living the life of a commoner because she does not have the knowledge I have. We shall see soon enough how justice works.