I am Maldacht. This I know for certain. My mother and father were know to me as Mother and Father.They raised me together with my teacher, Lunsol de Terra. He was a priest of one of the Great Three (Sun, Moon and Earth.) We lived in a small home in an area called The Lakes and I loved it there. It was peaceful, quiet and most importantly safe. I could walk along the waters edge and not look over my shoulder because I knew the area was safe. Lunsol would always get me out of any trouble i might find.

I saw my parents every day and we conversed in pleasantries and the like, but I never really spent time with them. They were always involved in writing missives to be sent at night by mysterious messengers. I never saw the messengers in fact but maps, books and letters appeared and disapeared, so a messanger must have come. In fact I never saw anyone except my parents and Lunsol at The Lakes. I never knew any other life.

Lunsol was my companion, trainer and teacher. He told me that my parents once played a major role in what he called "the real world" but they fled when i was to be born. They feared for my safety. He never said why or what they had done in the "real world" and I knew better than to ask. After he told me they feared for my life, I had nightmares for weeks. Who would want to kill me? I was a sheltered Thoom. Even the thought of there being more Thooms than just the four of us scared me! (In retrospect I laugh, but then the issue of meeting beings other than Thooms or even the existance of more than 4 or 5 Thooms scared me a great deal!)

I continued to grow and often asked what was I to do with my life. Lunsol was insistant that I must find my own way. He kept telling me that I was important but I needed to make my own decisions. He was a Priest of one of the Great Three but would not tell me which, for fear that I might favor that god over another. Was I too be a Priest? Was I to be some sort of leader, as I imagined my parents once were? I meditated and prayed to the Great Three, I even cast an occasional prayer to the Ancients from a myth Lunsol had related to me, but it seemed to serve no purpose. Until my twelveth birthday.

I always enjoyed my birthdays because my parents would spend the whole day with me talking, rowing on the lake, and we would have a great meal with fish and all kinds of berries! And true to my past I over indulged in food and perhaps took a bit too much of the beer and wine that was not watched by the others and fell into a very deep slumber. That night I had my first vision. I thought it was another nightmare. A voice rang in my head saying "You are mine and you shall serve me." It was vivid and unescapeable. I did my best to forget it, but every few weeks the dream would come back. Sometimes the voice said simply that I would serve it and other times it said I would serve it through serving others. As time went on I accepted this as truth and was comfortable with the idea of serving. But how?

I started to pray addressing the unknown voice asking for guidance. I received little. Lunsol continued to teach me good from evil, histories of the real world and he related stories of great exploits. He never once mentioned the Emperor or the terrors on the Mainland. I said nothing of my visions, keeping this link to myself. Once he told me of great healers and their prime role among Thoom and I felt a stiring deep in my mind. I knew then that I would serve through healing but that would not be the extent of my service.

I changed my prayer to the voice asking it to reveal itself to me. I asked that it show me the way to become a healer so that I might serve one of the Great Three. I was certain that the voice was one of the Great Three, but which one? I felt warmth and comfort at this prayer but nothing more for many months. Then I changed my prayer again.

Shortly after my seventeenth birthday Lunsol was walking with me in the low hills around the lakes when we were discussing the potential healing powers of plants and flowers. Lunsol picked a blosoming Uli flower and told me that it had been shown the light and could heal if it was used properly. I was not much of a poet but I liked the phrase "shown the light" and committed it to memory. That night I prayed that the voice show me the path that I must take to become a healer. Remembering the poetic words of Lunsol I ended the prayer with "Oh, please show me the light that I might serve you." My world changed.

Everything around me turned grey. The voice said, "You are growing but you have much to learn." Slowly the area around me started to become solid and I was somewhere new. I saw the outlines of a tall green spired building appearing before me. The Voice continued,"These people will teach you. Some are friendly, others not. You must find our way. Remember what is good and seek to serve me as you have promised. Look for signs of what I will command of you next, but ware false gods and evil."

I found myself in front of the Temple in Puddleby. Many have helped me since then, Lagardere, Coeur de Leon, Llerendel, Jade, Adua and many others. I have continued to grow as a healer and to spread the word that the Great Three do watch the lands. I know that I must continue to look for signs and pass on the blessings of the the voice that I serve. That is all that I have space to put to this scroll, I pray that the next will tell of my true service to my god.

Put forth by Maldacht, in the Library of Puddleby this night.

P.S. I have made many new friends in the Ises and formost among them are those in the Fellowship of the Red Quill. A noble and worthy group. If you should meet anyone carrying the symbol of the Red Quill, please take a moment to talk to them and learn about them, you will find it worth your while.

I still seek signs of the Lord Sun's renewed Temple and have much faith. -Maldacht

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Since this 18th day of the second month of the year 1999.