Year XXXX July 20
Yesterday VAL separated from us after we met a nice lady with a hot temper named Lillian Sparks. We literally ran into Lilly and she gave us all a sound tongue-lashing until she cooled down and apologized. She had eyes a lighter shade of blue than my own and scars on her left arm though I’m not sure why they're clustered only there. Without needing to ask I knew she was in her upper teens but very wise for her years and insisted on calling us Sirs and Madame, which VAL didn’t like because it made her feel old.
Lilly was quite taken with my work and even had copies of my journals on hand which surprised me; I would be lying if I didn't take a certain amount of pride from reading the leather bound books with their gilt pages and neat handwriting. A few things were changed here and there where my spelling variations differed from the norm but for the most part, it is practically identical. They even had my signature after each entry, which I found eye opening since I was not around to transcribe it for the council. I shouldn’t read much into that, it may have been as simple a matter as poor handwriting on some of the more exhausting nights so they fixed that and had to put my signature back in by some means of transference.
Miss Sparks chatted with us for a while as the clan made a breeding structure and she played Bobstones with the youths that weren’t helping and happily gave them food when she lost. I joined the game and talked with her while teaching Theo and VAL the ins and outs it, I haven’t played Bobstones for months and it was a relief to do something normal with Endermen that wasn't fighting or running away. Annalae joined us and we all made room for her as she learned, she is unusual for an Enderwoman, with no clue about her people other than what she's been taught by her adopted mother and no way to speak with her kind but she is trying to associate with the clan which I find encouraging.
After the game ended Lilly and I talked about our fields of study and compared notes, while I specialized in the area of the neutral mobs she kept her knowledge broad but she took a special interest in anything that involved Herobrine. This intrigued the Moderator and the four of us started sharing stories of our encounters with the Lord of the Nether. Lilly insisted on seeing the scar of my last encounter with Herobrine and I couldn't find a good way to say no, the moment she saw the red flesh she pushed some remedies onto me and like her request, I couldn't refuse.
After Enzi and Dhan finished doing whatever it is Endermen do in those patchy structures, the two women went their own way and Theo and I continued with the clan. It was almost strange, to be with Endermen again but there is something to be said about having company, we followed Effar as he smelled the winds and struck out. He has kept a wary eye on Sven with his new bow but Sven has been very meek around his father and displays submissive body language often. If Kor had been that smart then maybe, he would have gotten to know his little brother.
I was puzzling over that as I went to sleep this morning and I dreamed the strangest thing, a man greeted me in a black suit, a white shirt and a hat with a sharp-toothed grin. In the dream, I was in a black space, the shadows were made of light, and the brightest shadows of all came from the stranger. Though his mouth moved I did not precisely hear what he was saying, not with my ears at least, I heard them in my mind.
This stranger told me that the Endermens' quest presents great danger if the God of Destruction manages to release the seals and that Hero's of the Land must do their part to prevent the shrines awakening. I tried to see in the darkness and shadows that surrounded the man but everything about him was shrouded, I couldn’t tell you anything about him aside from his clothes and those teeth, which aren't as uncommon as one would believe. He put a hand on my head and it felt like I had been struck with lightning.
When I woke the whole clan was looking around wildly and Theo was bolting back to us with several bundles of wheat in his arms. The youth has taken to making temporary farms when we stop to rest and he uses the bone meal he gathers during the night to make the plants grow quickly enough to feed everyone. I had the impression that I wasn't the only one who had dreamt of the black clad man in the bright shadows but I hesitated to bring it up to Theo, he might think me crazy. Best to keep such things to myself until I can determine if he dreamed as well.
Henri Lemark