Tyrtus, Day 19 of the Tenth Month, Year of the Second Sprouting
After much begging and cajoling, I have finally convinced Chief Justice Mirthas and the High Priestess to permit me time with the child.
I recorded these observations immediately after leaving their presence. I do not know when I will receive such a privilege again. Still, the visit went well. I hope further visits will be granted more easily.
The child is a true albino, as expected. Its mother’s lineage carries that blood strongly.
Notable features: its ears, teeth, height, pace of development, and sustenance. The last matter drew my interest most strongly, given the recent famine.
Comparison with peers is difficult, since the child was born of a human father. At seven years, it has reached a developmental stage that full-blooded elves reach only at fifty. Yet a fifty-year-old elf did not meaningfully suffer magical starvation during early development.
If I compare the child with surviving infants from the famine, I compare a young child with a baby. Thus, any straight comparison remains deeply flawed.
Yet the absolute evidence is clear. The child’s development was not affected by the sparse magic in the ether, the very same scarcity that has harmed our civilization throughout these past years.
Its growth has been remarkable, as I have already noted. More importantly, it is healthy and whole in mind and body.
I sustained a prolonged conversation with the child. We spoke of family, home, likes, dislikes, favorite playthings, and games. I then asked it to play shifting stones, snails and ropes, and crossing twigs. It showed strength and agility in each game.
However, it is short beside elves at a similar developmental stage.
Its ears are considerably rounder than those of a full-blooded elf. They are roughly half the usual length. Its hearing seems somewhat impaired, though accurate measurements were not possible. I tested only what circumstances allowed.
Its eyesight appears unaffected by the human blood.
Its teeth deserve particular notice. They are rounded, much like human teeth. I interviewed humans several years ago. The child’s teeth appear essentially identical to theirs. Despite this, he retains a carnivorous diet.
Psychologically, the child is quiet. I assume this is connected to the particular hardships of its upbringing. I would not say the child is unloved, however. Caring does not come easily to Chief Justice Mirthas, yet his attachment is unmistakable. Still, the circumstances of the child’s conception have created familiar strain.
Note to self: Petition the Emerald King to intervene with the Chief Justice. He may suggest that formal education would benefit the child. Perhaps instruction in the magical arts would be suitable. That would give me and the other archmages reason to spend more time near the child.
Today also brought another welcome occurrence. The ancestors deliver their bounty all at once, when they choose to deliver any bounty at all.
Although we sealed the valley’s borders after the human incursion, our school of divination received a message from the Water Tribe.
Thus, it is finally proven beyond doubt that the enchantment of exile is well and truly shattered. It also confirms that further elven tribes survived the years without magic.
Our best diviners now labor day and night within the Arkanum. They are building a magical construct to let me reach Archmage Issathrael of the Water Tribe. Soon, we may establish communication with our long-lost cousins.
That alone should be momentous enough to name a year. Yet I find the promise carried by this child of even greater importance.
– Taken from the diary of Archmage Ettrian Zaffein of the Living Tribe.
