Volume 872 of The Archivist's Records, Excerpt 53: D'aoisima

Excerpt taken from records of the 23rd Archivist, Keshainlainye Enkinye, with permission. Translation from Hunig's Elven and Common by Orion. Typed version by Spear.

"It's been some time since I've been in Euthalia, and I must admit that it has not changed much. It is a charming little world, its flatness doing wonders for its lack of political disparity. Yet, no matter how quaint the charm, I will admit that, as with most worlds, there is one location I positively dread visiting, Euthalia's being D'aoisima. Yet, in D'aoisima's case, this is not because of any political, economic, or cultural instability, for every factor in Euthalia is perfectly intact (with the exception of poor Vivallia, something I will expand upon later, at the end of Euthalia's volume). Not at all. Instead, it is simply because I cannot stand the cold. Seren has prepared specifically for this excursion, lumping world-appropriate coats upon me until she found an acceptable one.

"Transport from our landing place comes in the form of a carriage, and as we await our arrival, I will list some details about D'aoisima that were accurate upon my previous travels here and some I have been told. Perhaps the most obvious one to those who have read my travelogues previously is the name. Perhaps most curious about the name change is that the surname of the royals of D'aoisima remains the kingdom's old name, Runa. Even more curious, the name D'aoisima does not align its pronunciation with the rest of Euthalia's language, but instead some I have heard off-world. To put it in Elven-script, which I admit is much wordier than a dictionary would use, it is roughly pronounced '[deeshima]'. I don't know why they have made it so complicated, but who am I to judge the whims of mortals? Questionable name change aside, I have not heard of D'aoisima changing much otherwise. From what I know, it's still stuck in a permanent winter, it still holds the lowest concentration of witches out of the five kingdoms, and its people still remain seemingly oblivious to the sheer chill. Considering that the new additions to our carriage, of whom are also traveling to Runa, are wearing scant but late springtime attire, I would assume that last fact remains true.

"As we get closer to D'aoisima, Seren, in her magical ways, has struck up a conversation with the strangers. Ewonne, a poet, notes that she has no real ties to D'aoisima besides being a contributor to poems and songs. She's simply traveling to D'aoisima for work (at my prompting, she also notes that she is planning to bundle up when we get closer to D'aoisima, although her partner does not). The witch, Nectarine, is the princess of D'aoisima, although she notes that she's long since refused that title in pursuit of witchcraft. As expected, D'aoisima still does not truly see witches the same as they see magic-less mortals, of which are considered the norm and hold much more power in political circles. While meeting the princess was an ideal experience, the current state of D'aoisima ultimately makes this alone fruitless. As much as I would love to press Princess Nectarine about the political side of D'aoisima, the snowy kingdom is visible in the distance and Seren, Cosmos bless her soul, has turned the conversation into a discussion about literature. While important, I suppose, I would much rather devote a separate section to Euthalia's literature, for it is consistent across the five kingdoms and deserves more time than a quick note.

"The roads of D'aoisima remain made of gold and gravel, which is, I believe, a wonderful metaphor for the kingdom as a whole; frailness mixed in with a thousand years resilience. Just one bad snowstorm or a cut off trade route from complete failure and decimation, it is a true miracle that this kingdom has remained for so long. Despite the slowly falling temperatures, it is more beautiful each and every time I survey it. Marble rises higher to the sky, buildings and walls alike, but passages around the kingdom remain. Small flickers of bright colors defy the white of the snow and marble. As previously mentioned, the people seem to take this horrid weather with a grain of salt (As do the clothing shops; if you're ever planning of taking a trip to this kingdom, buy your clothing outside of D'aoisima). At most, you'll see a thin cloak around silk, wool, and leather clothes. While I would enjoy detailing how the people of this kingdom are quickly creeping closer to becoming an entirely different species than the rest of Euthalia's humans, that will have to be in the anatomy section of this. Besides, Seren is leading me in every direction. While I do not resent traveling with her and would never send her away, her presence will force the formatting of these travelogues to become much different than those I have written previously, focusing on the tourist life more than I usually would this early in my writings.

"Hotels in D'aoisima remain exceedingly adequate. The harsh weather of this kingdom minimizes visitors, and the one singular inn in this kingdom reflects such a thing. While much better than one would expect for a place like D'aoisima, it isn't special in any way. It's essentially the bare minimum with better sanitation and good food. A small warning, however, I would suggest you either get over any fears of fire you may have or bring precisely four to eighteen blankets, depending on how sensitive to cold you are, for D'aoisima, ridiculously, doesn't have much in the way of heating and believes soft, warm blankets are strictly unnecessary. As much as I would enjoy figuring out what to do concerning the warmth situation, Seren, Cosmos bless her soul, decided that that could be taken care of later.

"In terms of food, D'aoisima really hasn't changed that much, only quantities of certain things changing. Flavors of most dishes remain the same. Spicy dishes are still incredibly common, which makes sense. However, the changes to the dishes play a little more on what I think is happening to the people of D'aoisima, something I still refuse to go into depth in until later. For the most part, dishes have a lot more. I would point to something specific, but there are, quite frankly, so many changes aside from just serving size that I'd have to have Echinacea take a look at them; I can barely cook, so I can't say anything for certain. I will note, however, that there are few restaurants in D'aoisima, but the ingredients in the markets are, according to Seren, incredibly fresh considering that farming in the winter kingdom is near impossible.

"Since D'aoisima's snow leaves little room for community, there aren't really any landmarks or large buildings. Sure, there are temples for Emuzfe, but few people choose to go out. There's a rush during the morning and the evening, as well as around two people out during the day, but it's rather eerie, as when you're walking around the town, complete silence reigns. Even at the aforementioned temples, there are only one or two guests at a time. The upsides of this is that, according to legal records, there is no crime, or at least none recorded. While this is good, I suppose, this upside doesn't come with any other upsides. The only reason I can ever imagine someone would visit D'aoisima is if they enjoy spicy food, snow, or just to travel for the sake of it. Or, in my case, I suppose, to catalogue the development of D'aoisima. Perhaps there are other reasons, but the spice and the snow are a tad too much for me.

"Over the next few days, I'll do more research on what's happened in D'aoisima since I've been to it last, this is just all I could get for the first day. Perhaps I'll meet Princess Nectarine again and be able to ask her about D'aoisima's political landscape and more. Seren's been urging me to just do research on D'aoisima later and go somewhere warmer since I can't stand the cold, she's even offered to stay in D'aoisima longer alone so I could go to Bellerophon sooner. I don't think she understands the role of The Archivist, her being a newer god, after all, but it was sweet nonetheless," (Enkinye 297-304).

(There were a bunch of photos tucked into the pages, but there were so many that not all of them could be fit into this, not that I would want to since a lot of them looked more like mementos, I think. This one was just my favorite, and I think it's the one that best shows that, even though D'aoisima's empty and The Traveller hates the cold, there's some cheer in the silent hatred if you're with the right person. I guess that's why in Euthalia they call D'aoisima the kingdom of true love <3. —Orion)

Type

Text, Literature

Medium

Paper

An out of character note, all images in this article were drawn by me, Luna PawPaw.