- Sep 17, 2021
Updated: Feb 9, 2023
Field Notes from Diamonds Hadder: On the topic of Evermore Travels, John Hadder and the Cypress Swamps.
"It’s Friday and I’m chasing the clock a little. The autumn breeze has fallen on the hillsides of BOK rather nicely and I couldn’t be more excited about it. I’m going on a little pilgrimage and so I’ve been boarding up the castle the last few days just to keep the large predators out… it’s so beautiful the breeze and the leaves that have fallen in the upper towers this week… I tend to leave the leaves on the floor, a habit that Zabble finds quite annoying. This time of year is an important time for me, I get to leave the confines of the tower and my training schedules and feel a little sense of adventure. It’s also good to have some quality time with Ezra out in the wild… it’s good for her too and I can tell she gets very excited when those first few leaves fall… to say nothing of the fact that a little break from Zabble and his ramblings is nice once and a while. I will miss Zabble and he’ll be quick to say that he enjoys my time away, but I think he’s grown quite fond of my time here. He always has his magic books to keep him company. I have a schedule although I tend to just hit the road and see where the wind blows me… I’ve explored a lot of places of evermore but there are some distant places I’ve had my eyes on.. particularly the red canyons of klevermore and the great swap wall region of cypress notch. I hear the castles are rather magic there floating above the swamps built into the 10,000 year old cypress trees that are so strong they actually hold stone. I also hear that the dungeons there are not exactly a place you want to spend your final days if you know what I mean… if you could imagine a cell below the swamps nestled in dense poisonous living cypress roots like a twisted smelly intelligent cage… well… that’s what I hear anyway. They say John Hadder was imprisoned there for 3 years and that he escaped by planting a virus in the tree roots which slowly started killed the tree and which ultimately allowed him to escape to save itself. It took three years, but I suppose he had time. Although it’s often said that he was a kind man cursed by the idea of progress, trust and hope and often betrayed by notions of the heart… he was also quite calculated and persistent. In my readings on the man it seems to be a common theme that people would generally walk through fire for him, without him asking, which is quite the quality to possess. He was a deliberate man who often outwitted his enemies with simple patience over time, not to say he couldn’t hold his own with a sword. But “A smart man waters the seed and worships the sun, while a fool cusses the earth for having dirt.” As Zabble would say… I think I’m starting to understand all these weird Zabble sayings. I find myself talking like him and it makes me smile. Things will slow a little in the gardens while I’m away, but I often bring new things back with me that become part of the grounds and a part of me as well. Anywho, Ezra is getting antsy and I have so much to do still… I wonder what the hills will say to me this year. Ok already… I’m coming."
#cypressswamps #diamondshadder #evermore #hadderuniverse #zabble #fieldnotes #erza #pilgrimage #magicbooks #johnhadder #cypresshill
