9 Kupek, 143CZ

Somewhat unsurprisingly, I did not like my first airship ride.

Not only was I sick within minutes of the craft taking flight, but the constant hissing and noise of the steam pipes unbearably loud alongside the whistling of the wind. To top it all off, the ship started to fail on us after we crossed the border of Coztlac into the Silent Vale, and to my great displeasure we had to make an emergency landing in the spooky woods below.

All right, spooky is an extreme understatement. The Silent Vale is rumored to be filled with monsters that hide in the fog and eat the unwary, and let me tell you that is true. The engineers on the ship were panicking as we made our landing, and everyone on board was incredibly tense. It didn't take me long to realize why, because there were dark shapes looming in the thick mist just beyond our range of vision. As soon as she saw this, Malitzin ordered everyone to abandon the craft.

Her shouting made a shudder go through these forms in the mist, and the next thing I knew there were huge dark forms moving towards us. I remember being concerned that I had voided my bowels when Malitzin grabbed me by the arm and dragged me away from the ship. Thankfully I had all my possessions in my pack and it was on my back at the time, or I wouldn't even be writing this right now.

I'm still not sure how we escaped from those...things. They were moving so fast, I was sure we would be caught before we got out of sight of the ship. We did get far enough for our current hosts to save us, though, and I haven't stopped thanking them the entire time we've been here.

Said hosts call themselves the Yolcatl, and let me tell you I need to give elves credit for their sheer tenacity in the face of adversity - I honestly think they put humans to shame with their adaptability. From the swamps to the Vale to the coast, my persecuted brethren have flourished where anyone else would have perished. It gives me pride to be related to such people.

That said, the yolcatl are odd. They have taken up residence in the ruins of a civilization that is very clearly not of elvish culture, as evidenced by the presence of very different people in the iconography of what I assume to be the ruined city's temple. The people who once lived in this place looked like what I'd describe as insects, though I have no way to accurately relay what they looked like otherwise. The yolcatl have assimilated some of the beliefs of these ancient people into their lifestyles while molding their routines to fit a dangerous and hostile environment. They cover their faces and go by designations in public, refusing to share their true identities in the open due to a belief that this attracts the monsters of the Silent Vale - creatures they call Whispering Ones. Similarly, they have developed a language based entirely on signs to use when the mists approach, since the mist seems to lead or attract the creatures somehow. It's all rather fascinating, but since I'll only be here until the ship is repaired it pains me to admit I'll not be able to go into much more detail on their culture and history. I was given permission to visit a vault where they keep what history they've transcribed, so maybe I'll be able to learn more there.

What I find especially intriguing is the fact that Malitzin seemed surprised that there were people living here. Obviously I'm surprised, but she has alluded to the fact that the Jade Coil has a base somewhere in this dangerous place. It stands to reason they might have known about the Yolcatl, but apparently these elves keep to themselves - and rather well, at that. I suppose that makes sense, since from what I can tell they've come up with very effective systems that allow them to stay hidden from the Whispering Ones - measures that would also allow them to hide from more mundane observance, as well. I'm just glad they came to save us when they did. I've heard getting wounded by one of those things tends to turn you into one. I didn't get a good look, but I'm pretty sure the Whispering One I saw looked like it was in terrible agony.

In any case, our ship should be fixed and ready to fly in the next couple of days. I'll make the most of it while I can. The abodes they've made out of these ancient ruins are actually really comfortable, all things considered.

I wanted to transcribe a tale I found in the Yolcat ancestral vault, but the guardian, whose designation I didn't quite catch, said that I wasn't allowed to. I asked why and they explained it was something similar to their use of masks and public names, which honestly explains why all of this is behind heavy doors and layers of secrecy. I suddenly feel pretty honored to have seen the place at all.

In any case, I found an interesting story. I'll put the gist of it here and mention how it compares to my other entries so far. The tale itself was a longer story, a recounting of the original exodus of the elves from the perspective of those that would eventually become the yolcatl as they know themselves today. The road from New Coztlinacan was long and perilous, filled with the dangers of the swamp and the Empire. Many died, but some were desperate or brave enough to continue ploughing ahead through the dangers of their homeland into the unfamiliarity of a new region. They were desperate enough to go where they knew the Empire would not follow - the Silent Vale.

Now, by this time, the Silent Vale was already in its current form. The Whispering Ones had already been around for decades, which means these refugees at least partially knew what they were getting into. I'm pretty sure desperate isn't a strong enough word for what these people were feeling. Many more died just getting into the Vale, picked off by the Whispering Ones and eaten or worse, turned against their kin by whatever curse the creatures spread. The chronicler was certain that none would have survived if it weren't for the intervention of what they call the 'Yol'.

The Yol are supposedly benign beings of light that appeared and led the earliest yolcatl to their new home, the ancient ruins of the city that they believe were once the home of the Yol, before they transcended their physical bodies and left behind the material world. The gift of a sanctuary is believed to be a way for the Yol to pass on their legacy, and this belief manifests in just about everything the yolcatl do in their daily lives to emulate the way of life of the Yol - modified for a much more hostile environment where sound is your enemy, of course.

In the tale, this serendipitous event is described as the appearance of hundreds of specks of light that formed a trail to the ruins that now comprise the city of Yolcat. At first thinking this was a new danger, the otherwise lost elves took the risk and followed the trail, finding their new home at the end of it. For most, the trail disappeared here, but for a select few, it continued to the temple in the hillside, where they discovered the masks of the Yol and the materials they would need to survive in these hostile wilds. The chronicler points out that the tablets of the Yol were not in a language these ancestors should have been able to read, but they were able to understand their message all the same, a task that modern yolcatl have tried to replicate to no success.

While the manifestation is different, I believe this to be more evidence of Amatoquitlana's involvement in elvish history, though I have no concrete evidence to suggest that this tale even exists outside of my words. Hells, my readers might not even believe me about the entire yolcatl civilization, but I swear I'm actually there as I write these words.

I spoke with a couple of locals about my theory, but was quickly shut down. It turns out people don't like their ancient religious beliefs being questioned, who would have thought? I stopped asking out of respect for them, even if I still do believe there is less to their beliefs than they seem to think - or perhaps more, depending on how you look at it. With a lack of other details in the story, not to mention the age of the tale and uncertain date of transcription, it's hard to really tie this one in to the larger narrative of Amatoquitlana at this time.

Maybe it's just bias at this point, but I feel like it has to be connected.