Dear Diary, today is August 8
The day after First Friday is meant to be a day of routine, the people of Summerton and the Stilts trade at the market and the Silvers relax after showing off in the arena.
Of course, instead of preparing for Queenstrial, there was a bombing on Whitefire and several other government buildings in Archeon. Minor, yes, but it was The Scarlet Guard, and we cannot cover this up as a training method or weapons accident as we have before. I can just imagine the chaos that broke out in the market…I shudder thinking about the pain the Silvers definitely inflicted on nearby Reds.
After a. day of running around, sending servants with missives and checking with all of the other higher ups that remain in Archeon during the summer to see who exactly was hurt-no one, thankfully-and what needs to be repaired, which is very little. I imagine tomorrow will be worse, today is mostly about information gathering.
Though one thing I couldn't help but notice was that this attack seems to be more for attention than anything else. Then the other attacks on military training bases. They don't know what to target but know to make it public so as to not be censored out of public view.
I did have to spend hours in meetings with my father and other important persons, such as Lady Ara, the Panther and Colonel Macanthos, and other various higher ups in the military and political court to determine what we are going to do, and surprise surprise, it's to increase security measures on Reds. Scare them into submission with more displays of power. I would have called the meetings boring and useless if I hadn't been so disgusted.
To cool off, get away, and maybe possibly potentially have some fun, I went to a pub on the outskirts of the Stilts.
I ran into to someone that made the night very…interesting.
Though ran into would be the wrong way to phrase it, I caught her hand in my coat pocket,
Her name is Mare Barrow, and she's a Red. A thief. If I hadn't been trained since birth in fighting instinct I would not have known. She's very good.
It took only a mad look to have her breaking down…turns out she is being conscripted in a few weeks, with her brothers, and her sister can no longer avoid war through trading clothing because her hand was broken. Trying to steal for Mare.
I could just see her soul breaking, and her ribs. I tossed her the coin, then another.
I went home and got her a serving job, starting the next day. And conscription passes.
I cannot fully explain why; maybe it was the way she made my body heat up without conscious thought, warming me up from outside so much I saw her flush. Maybe it was the way she didn't ask for pity after breaking down, how she said others were worse off. She was selfless…
There is something about her…