Day 465,

Another equinox come and gone.  And so the seasons turn.  

A shame though that we didn’t have time to actually use the boat for much more than a test run before the rains come.  Then again, this gives us all rainy season to plan and prepare for the expedition.  And we’ll need that time, seeing as we’re still trying to be quiet about our plans to keep Theo from interfering.  

I wonder if the fact that Vernon’s now dating (is that term/activity really accurate in this place?  “Seeing” perhaps?  “In a relationship with”?) Tiaho will change his intent to join us.  Oh yeah, that was a surprise last night that I didn’t get around to recording.  I’ll confess, I’m still sorting out how I feel about it.  On the one hand, I’m genuinely happy for him and hopefully it will help him move on from certain unspoken feelings that have threatened to make things weird between us on a handful of occasions.  On the other hand, I don’t really know her all that well and there’s a selfish, possessive part of me that fears the prospect of our friendship falling to the wayside in the wake of romance.  

I try not to spend too much time hating myself for the things I feel these days though, and I’d like to think that I have more faith in our friendship than that.  Afterall, I’m still close with Lin and Maiko.

Speaking of, the closer we get to it the stranger it feels to think that it’s going to be Maiko assisting me with the teaching this season instead of Cass.  Sure, it’s been some time coming, what with Cass spending so much time this past dry season learning from Lin, but now that the equinox is over it feels much more immediate and real.  Time and experience will tell, I suppose, where her passions end up laying.  As for Maiko, I doubt that she intends to ever make archivist work a full time thing - spending most of her time out in the woods on her own and returning to the Village to help out with the occasional odd job seems to be working out too well for her for that - but, in her own words, she’s gotten too used to having a roof over her head when it rains and it would be a waste to not make use of the lighthouse now that the plumbing is fixed.

Yes, seasons turn and things change, but some things may ever be relied upon.  Somehow I don’t fear the change as much as I once would have.

Hmmm… I should probably write more detail about the festival yesterday - Maiko’s reactions to her first festival, meeting Xia, my telling going well, being properly coherent during Pat’s speech for once, watching Lin and Maiko dance by lamplight, seeing Vernon and Tiaho walking up to us arm-in-arm… - but frankly I’m tired right now from spending all day today making the official archival recordings of yesterday’s happenings.

Tomorrow then.  There is ever tomorrow.