Dear Diary,

Guess who got her palisman today!?

While it was not the way I expected, nor how Mom has been telling me it would go since I was a witchlet, I'm so happy I finally got mine. I was feeling kind of left out since everyone was posting on Penstagram about getting theirs at school the other day. The first post I saw was Boscha's, who received a crab named Maya. It's quite fitting for her personality- snappy at all times. Willow's was pretty cute too, of course a plant witch got a bee for her garden!

I guess there was some sort of palisman adoption day going on, and the Bat Queen was there giving them out to my classmates. I've always heard that the Bat Queen was a strict woman who was highly protective of her babies, I wonder why she decided to rehome them. I assume her decision was somehow related to the palistrom wood shortage I heard about on the news.

After hearing about the adoption day and not wanting someone with her last name being without something seemingly everyone else had, even if it was what she would consider a hand-me-down, Mom tried to throw together an impromptu "ceremony" of sorts where I would receive my palisman. I say "tried" as she decided to schedule it about fifteen minutes before she had to leave for yet another meeting with Emperor Belos.

Yay me, I guess.

It was nothing like the lavish ceremony that Ed and Em had when they were my age. We had to dress up in the stuffiest of outfits and sit all prim and proper in front of Mom and Dad's business partners. And oh Titan, the rehearsals we had to do beforehand were brain-numbingly draining. It's not like they couldn't walk up an aisle to be given their palisman. But, every opportunity for our parents to gloat about how "perfect" their children and family are has to be absolutely perfect, so we were forced to do it.

For me, it was just the family, and Mom gave me a long, wooden staff topped with a pristine white cat. She told me that she was a girl, but that's all she knew about her. She didn't even know who carved her, just that she came from someone referred by one of her business partners.

There wasn't the grandeur fanfare or abomination procession that the twins had, just us standing together in Dad's study. I think I actually liked it better this way, I didn't have to act or feel so artificial as when we were surrounded by my parent's associates.

I took a second to look her over, amazed that I was finally getting a palisman of my own. Realizing that I still hadn't officially summoned her, I held her at eye level, and triumphantly told her that my deepest wish was to be a great witch. I wasn't specific enough, so I lied straight through my teeth and said that I want to ascend the ranks of the Emperor's Coven, and someday hold a position like Miss Lilith's. That still wasn't enough to hatch her, and she remained stiffly mounted to the top of my staff. In a huff, mom told me to figure myself out before quickly walking out to go meet with the Emperor.

Can we get a round of applause for her everybody?

I sat and reflected for a second, trying to figure out how else I could be great, if not by magical prowess. Grudgby was still off the table indefinitely, so I didn't even bother to mention it to my palisman. I then thought about my job at the library, and thought that I could see myself holding Malphas' job in the future. I feel like I'd be a killer master librarian, and that I'd keep my library in order at all times. Plus, the cloud he rides around on seems so soft! I tried that idea with my palisman, to no avail. I decided that I needed time to figure this out in private, so I left everyone and took her to my room.

In between moments of sitting and staring at my palisman, I looked around my room for any inspiration of what may spark some movement within her. My eyes landed on the Azura book on my desk, and I thought that I couldn't be the librarian, why not be the witch who supplies them? I told my palisman that I wanted to be a famous author like Mildred Featherwhyle, one who made it big with a fantasy series with an epic love story intertwined with it. She remained stagnant.

To save myself some heartache, I decided to take a break from trying to bring my palisman to sentience. It was weird not knowing what I want, I'm always so sure of everything. At least, I like to think I am. For the past few months, I've been doing a lot of second guessing about some of the most important things in my life. It seems that one person has basically made me reevaluate my entire future.

And she's also the one that helped me figure out my greatest wish, even if she was probably off getting into some mess of her own. One that I will definitely learn about once I can figure out how to not want to ignore her and deny everything that happened the day we went into the forbidden stacks together.

Thanks Luz, I owe you a million.

In a last-stitch attempt to bring my palisman to life, I admitted to her that I didn't actually know what I wanted to be when I grew up. I told her that while it felt like I only had a few years before the decision was made for me, I wanted to make sure that my future was my own. While I would want help from my loved ones in making decisions, I wanted to ultimately be able to make them by myself.

Just as I was starting to think that my plea didn't work, my palisman was suddenly immersed in a purple and black orb. She was lifted into the air, the sparkles nearly blinding me as my palisman sprung to life and disconnected from her staff. She ran over to me and hopped on my bed, eager to meet her new owner.

She is one of the most beautiful things I have ever laid my eyes on.

I started giving her lots of love and scratches, instantly finding the sweet spot behind her ear. Our bond was immediate, it was like we had known each other since I was born. I held out my arms, and she jumped into them, and I cradled her up to my chest. I could feel her soft purrs as my pets lulled her to sleep. We laid there for a bit, just relishing in the milestone.

Now that she was active, I realized I had to figure out a name. I didn't know what type of palisman I would get, so I couldn't really write down a list of names. A few had been floating around in my head, but none of them seemed right. After some deliberation, I decided to name her Ghost, a name she approved of the way she nuzzled up to shoulder. I'm not sure how I came to that name, it was almost like a higher power zapped it into me.

With Ghost by my side, I soon headed back down to the living room so that I could start to properly introduce her to the world. Before leaving my room, though, I had to snap a quick pic in the mirror for my Pensta. I couldn't be the only one in my class who didn't post their palisman, right?

I found the twins on the couch, with their palismen laying down by their sides. Their faces lit up as they saw Ghost walking alongside me, and nudged their palismen to come meet mine. Ghost instantly took to play with them, swatting her paws up in the air while they floated around her. The twins and I talked for a bit about how I figured out how to bring Ghost to life, and they told me that they were proud of me for wanting to write my own story. Our moment was interrupted by a gagging sound near the door, where Ghost found a pair of Mom's shoes.

Don't worry baby, I feel the same way about her.

Ghost instantly ran away from the offensive smell, and leaped into my arms. I calmed her down, and she eventually fell asleep again. We sat in the living room until dinner, where I set her down so she could explore the rest of the house. Mom briefly asked about my palisman, but quickly changed the subject to discuss the outcome of today's meeting with Belos. Maybe it was best to not tell her how Ghost came to be, or else I may have earned myself a three-hour interrogation and lecture session.

After dinner, I ran to the market to grab a few supplies that would make Ghost feel like the princess she was, and came home to set them all up. Once she saw her new bed, she stuck her nose up at it, opting to instead sleep at the food of my bed. No snails wasted on my end, but damn, I would have loved her bed if I was a palisman. She did, however, love the dire rat on a string that I found at the palisman accessory store.

I also may or may not be hiding a princess costume for her in my closet, but I'll definitely wait a while to introduce it to her.

Excited to bond with my new baby,
Amity