Editing Journal - Death on Karmana (section)

==The Forest of Truth==
The forest was autumnal, surprising so for the time of year as it should be winter. Green shoots were visible as well as fallen leaves, though, almost like spring was beginning without winter ever having started. There were very ancient trees all around, but also stumps where trees once stood. The canopy above was also not complete, and there were signs of some damage and fire if you looked closely. A breeze rustled the leaves, but it was not unpleasant as there was a slight warmth to the wind.

Falcor spoke with Aergarnion before he departed, and asked about his brother that wasn't actually a brother, called &quot;Sarn&quot;. Wasn't that the name of the foes he wanted me to help defeat, though? Aergarnion said that the person was walking a dark path, but that Falcor's quest for Karmana was more important for now. Falcor bade him well and he launched into the air and disappeared.

An Elvrabor stepped out from behind a tree, holding a bow that was ready but not pointed at us, and Falcor hailed him asking if we might meet with the Queen. As he did so, though, he warned me that I might not be entirely welcome. What a surprise! Apparently the creature believed that I was &quot;a lie&quot;... but I was just myself - how could that be a lie?! Despite the apparent distrust, they did agree to escort us to the Queen, and as we moved to follow more elves appeared as if from nowhere and fell in behind us. Falcor finally noticed that I was sucking the life from the forest to heal my wounds (it's not like I have a choice about it, after all, just another curse or blessing from my father, depending on your point of view). Falcor offered me a potion, which helped a little, and then called on Milada to heal me. It took a little time, but this certainly worked, and once my wounds were cured the draw on the forest stopped.

One of the Elvrabor, witnessing this, seemed in awe of Falcor's link to Milada. He knew tales of her sacred garden, but had thought that she was just a myth. Falcor spoke of a sacred place dedicated to Milada that Falcor had created on an island nearby, and that perhaps some of their kind could journey to it as a pilgrimage. Once this exchange was finished we moved on, and it only took half an hour or so to get to the &quot;Court of Truth&quot;. I was expecting something a little more... like a building I guess. But it was actually just a bowl within a clear part of the forest with a wildflower meadow covering it and an obelisk at the base. A throne sat on the lip of the bowl and a ring of huge trees that almost formed a complete canopy surrounded it.

The Queen, Arla, was within the bowl conversing with more of the Elvrabor. She moved quickly to greet Falcor, who took her hand and bowed, so I bowed too. They paused for a moment, but then that moment became almost half a minute, which seemed weird. Arla was smiling though, and waiting patiently, so I just froze until Falcor eventually moved again. Apparently he had communed with the forest briefly, and it had overwhelmed him a little, but he recovered himself and stood back. Queen Arla spoke to me then, saying that I was welcome there (I realised at this point that I had been quite nervous about how she would &quot;judge&quot; me, and it was a relief when she said I was welcome). She knew that I hid my beauty, but recognised that I had &quot;the soul&quot; within me, and that I was true to myself.

Falcor asked after his friends, and Arla told him that one was with their God and not on Karmana, but the other was on the island so he might see him again. We talked about how we were only missing one of the souls now, and Arla suddenly said that I knew them. She could not say how or who, she only knew that this was a &quot;truth&quot;. Surely there was only one other person I knew... was the soul of intelligence within Meglar? As soon as Arla heard me ask, even though I was talking to myself really, she pronounced that this &quot;was a truth&quot;, but he was not on Karmana so she could not help us find him.

Falcor then thought to ask about his &quot;brother&quot;, Sarn, again. Arla said that there was no brother or boy raised with Falcor, that they did not exist... but that they HAD existed. This was strange; Arla did not know the truth of this, which was new to her and seemed to excite her a little even as it frustrated Falcor. He started to ask for leave, but I wanted to first about Kelditch's staff. We suspected that Ilianna had created it from the forest in some way. It turns out that we were right, sort of. Arla said that the wood was a part of the &quot;birth tree&quot; that Ilianna belonged to. She was shocked that Ilianna would have given such a thing away - it would be like removing a part of herself, apparently, like lending a leg to someone? Arla warned that it would not be wise to mend it, as it might seek Ilianna out by itself, so strong would be the connection between them. Falcor was also able to get a replacement bow, as his old one had been destroyed in the exchange of magic with the giantkin.

We took some time to rest with the Elvrabor and discussed the place that Falcor wanted to return to. There was a pathway from death to Karmana (life), which had been guarded by the Saloroc in the past (with the Dragon Clan in charge). Something had changed, though; Kraldar had taken control of the place of Death, and Sullinassauri had taken control of the Karmana end of the pathway. The path was closed, which suited my father as he was drawing power from the souls trapped with him. The dragon that had been trapped within the place of Death had taken on its aspect, and was now worshiped by some reptiles in a swamp somewhere. Honestly, it was all very confusing the way Falcor told it. There was a staff in the swamp somewhere that might help control the dragon, though.

We took a Saloroc boat under the cover of darkness from the shore west of Borarla. They took us to the island that Falcor had told me about. It was strange, but I thought I heard the trees speaking to me as we left, saying &quot;go, but return healthy&quot;! Falcor showed me the holy place he had told the Elvrabor about, where he had designed a garden that was also a temple to Milada. He invited me to design my own part of the garden, with the Elvradhil (I had never seen these folk before, but they showed great deference to Falcor, and he in turn adopted a more courtly bearing amongst them) assisting by literally drawing rock from the ground and shaping it. I designed something that reflected the circle of life, and most importantly the need for souls to flow freely from Death back to Karmana to be reborn.

When we were ready we trekked north to an underground hall where a great brazier stood flanked by statues of the Elvradhil. Falcor had to set light to the brazier with his fiery breath in dragon from, but then we were able to start a ceremony involving a tapestry with a map on it and a pyramid that stood on its point when Falcor placed it on the map. We were suddenly transported to a forested swamp and Falcor picked the pyramid up; it had been transported with us and was the key to returning. After scanning the immediate area he strode off purposefully, so followed closely behind. After a little while we heard and then saw several boars charging towards us. We ran to cover, pressed against a tree each, and drew swords. It was soon clear, though, that the animals were not interested in us but were being chased by serpents flying on blurred wings. These strange creatures were highly coloured and all different in hue. Suddenly they broke away from pursuing the boars and instead headed towards Falcor.