Thursday morning, woke up, finished loading the car, and started getting ready to get on the road. Arabella called me and said they had gotten up early, and planned on joining us at IHOP for breakfast. Totally excited! Leave the house ON TIME (for once), go to the bank, go to the gas station, and go back home to pick up mom's watch, and finally back on the road to IHOP.

We get to IHOP and get a table for myself, Mom, Mary, Arabella, Ranlyn, and Hannah. IHOP was fantastic, the waitress was awesome, and we got on the the road to War.

Uneventful trip, arrived quickly, picked up pre-reg packets, and found out that we had been bumped from our spot by the Royals. Fortunately for us, all the people I allocated for (Linda, Isaac & Wifey, Poppet, Henri & Katerina) were not able to make it, because if they had, there was no way we'd have fit. Because we were bumped, we got about half the land we were supposed to, which sucked, but there was nothing we could do about it, so we spilled over into newcomer's and made the best of it.

I had to rush off to work lists at gate by noon, so I called my house together and issued instructions, and left for a 4 hour shift at gate. Gate was fantastic, as always. At one point, Acacia from St. Isidore came up to deliver a message to somebody, and hung out, so I filled her in on a bit of how to run lists at gate, just for the hell of it really. Got to say hi to a lot of my fighters! A lot of people thought I was there to check them in, so I just started to have to greet everyone and ask if they were fighting. At one point, I asked if a gentleman was fighting this weekend. He said no, he wasn't.

"Oh, I'm sorry then, I'm only here for the convenience of the fighters, you'll have to talk to the lovely lady in the pink dress!"

*familiar laughter from the back of the line* I duck down to see who was laughing, and it was Sir Harald.

"Is that Isabeau?!?!" I roll my eyes, and move on the the next person in line. When he finally gets up to me, I greet him like the others.

"So, you're here for our convenience, eh?"

"I'm tired!! And cold!!"

"THAT'S NO EXCUSE!!"

By the time I got back from lists, it was time to make dinner. Pasta, salad, and garlic bread. Pretty awesome, and we remembered a strainer this time, so Ranlyn didn't have to use a wicker cracker tray again! After dinner and after cleanup, we all go to sit around the fire. My mom and Mary had volunteered to work gate at 8pm, so they left early. Arabella and Ranlyn and Hannah decided they were tired, and since I needed to be at base camp at 2am for volunteer duty, I head to bed as well.

Around 10:15pm, I'm sound asleep in my bed. My mom and Mary come home, and mom comes into the tent.

"Isabeau!" I jerk awake, but don't know why.

"Isabeau!!" I ignore her, because I figure she'll see the unmoving lump in my bed and figure out I'm sleeping.

"Isabeau!!" This time, she grabs my shoulder. It startles me and I jerk fully awake and say, "WHAT?!?!"

"Oh, I didn't know you were sleeping."

"What else would I be doing in my bed!!??" She mumbles an apology and goes outside. I curl back up and try to go back to sleep. I had just started to doze off, when she yells to Mary. Back and forth, right to the side of my tent, they shout for awhile. I try really hard to ignore it, and get back to sleep. Finally, Mary goes to sleep, and my mom wanders off to the privys. By the time she got back, I was very nearly out again. She comes to the tent door and unzips it, when I hear a familiar voice shout, "MARINA??" She turns around, leaving the tent door unzipped.

"Dan?? What are you doing? Did you just get here??"

Allow me to take a moment here to fill you in. My mom had had a couple drinks, and her volume is currently Outside Voice. Dan is well, loud. He's stuck on volume 11 naturally. The following conversation is shouted through the camp.

"YEAH! I GOT LOST, I JUST GOT HERE. CAN YOU HELP ME SET UP MY TENT?"

"SURE. WHERE DID YOU PARK YOUR CAR?"

"IT'S RIGHT HERE."

"OH, I DIDN'T SEE IT. OKAY, I GUESS YOU CAN PUT YOUR TENT -"

I throw the blankets off my head and try to get my mom's attention, but she and Dan are talking so loud, she can't hear me, so I interrupt with my own raised voice, "You guys need to keep it down! A lot of people are asleep and I need to be up by 2am!" My mom turns around to face the tent.

"WHAT?!" she asks.

"YOU NEED TO BE QUIET BECAUSE I SWEAR TO GOD IF YOU KEEP ME UP MUCH LONGER, I WILL WAKE YOU BOTH UP WHEN I HAVE TO WAKE UP AT 2AM AND IT WON'T BE PRETTY!!"

My mom's voice takes on a sullen tone, "I WAS JUST TRYING TO BE POLITE TO ONE OF OUR CAMPMATES!"

"GOOD JOB!!!!!" This response, and the venom behind it, got through to my mom, who knows that the next step is going to be me OUT of bed telling them to shut up, and that is going to be very ugly indeed. Dan however, didn't seem to notice or care. She helps him set up, and he wants to put his lantern together, and it's a big fucking mess, but she's quiet. I fall back to sleep despite his continued noise, and wake up in time to get dressed and head down to early morning base camp.

Day 2, Friday

I trudge down to base camp, cloaked in my nearly finished Awesome Cloak of Warmth and Goodness (c) Lord Cormac O'Duin, and my fuzzy, warm knit beanie. I come up on base camp from behind, and see Dan at the table, talking to Lady Lucilla. I immediately pause in the shadows, as I was still angry with Dan for keeping me awake, and decide it's in the best interest in everyone to not talk to him while I'm half asleep and grumpy. However, I can hear his conversation, and he sounds and looks pretty drunk. He wants to volunteer for waterbearing duty at 9am. Lady Lucilla tells him that there is no waterbearing at 9am, but she can put him down for 10:30.

"No, 9am."

"But there isn't any waterbearing at 9. I can put you down for 10:30?"

"No, it has to be 9! Because that's when it is."

"Umm... how about I put you down for 10:30?" He sighs with frustration.

"Fine."

"And your name m'lord?"

"GUNTHAR!"

"Alright Gunther, I have you down-"

"NO!!! GOON-TARR!!"

"Um, alrighty then..." and he stumbles off into the night, muttering in German. I slink up from the shadows, hug Lady Lucilla from behind, and slip into a seat. I play stupid for just a bit, and ask what that was all about. She tells me it was just some drunk guy trying to sign up for waterbearing when there wasn't any water bearing. I shake my head sadly and tell her he's camping with me. She apologizes, and I look up and finally notice this kid sitting on the other side of the base camp table.

"Hi! How are you doing?"

He looks at me with the most sorrowful eyes and informs me that he lost his cuff links.

"Oh, I'm sorry!"

"They held my cloak together. I lost my bottle too."

"Really? That's too bad? Was it empty?"

"No...... I can't find my pouch either."

"Wow, umm.... well, maybe it's back in your tent?"

"No, but I lost my friend too."

"Wow, it sounds like you're having a really rough night m'lord!" At which point he breaks into a huge smile and says, "No, it's fantastic." He stands up, informs us that he's going to look for his cuff links and he'll see us later, but he loves us. And he too stumbles off into the darkness. I am informed his name is Smee and that he's been showing up at base camp, progressively drunker, and that the constables had escorted him home last time, and told him that if he wanted to keep drinking, that was cool, just, stay in his own camp. He was back in about 15 minutes.

The rest of the shift went well, until about 4:15, when Smee wanders back up. He tells us that he was walking a friend home, because the friend was in really bad shape, but the friend couldn't make it, so he put him in the back of his car. The constable on duty asks him to please, PLEASE don't drive. No, Smee had no intention of driving, he just wanted us to know that this guy was in the back of his SUV, parked right here by base camp, and if the guy got out of the car before Smee came back for him, could someone please walk him home? Yes, this was totally okay, which was his car?

"It's that dark green SUV, looks like a Tahoe, but not a Tahoe."

"What is it then?"

"I don't remember, but it's that one." Alright, not a problem. Request was noted in the log-book, and Smee went back to his camp.

5am, and I head back to camp, bidding my goodbyes to His Excellency, the constables, and everyone else.

Back to camp, and I start water boiling, and generally, start breakfast for the day. My mom and Arabella get up, and we're chatting, and then... then...

Along comes Roland, the current constable on duty. He is escorting, nay, HOLDING UPRIGHT, Dan. Dan has gone from kind of drunk, to really, really, really drunk. And yelling. Roland asks me where he should put him, I point to the blue tent, and he shoves him in and zips it up. I apologize, and ask where in the world he found Dan, because I thought he was in his tent the whole time. Roland tells me that he was found by base camp, hanging off of a dark green SUV, with the back doors open, puking his guts out over the hood. At this point, I collapse with laughter, taking Roland's arm for support, as he looks incredibly confused. When I regain the power of speech, I tell him the beginning of that story. He collapses with laughter, and when he regains the power of speech, he tells me that I need to retell that whole story around the campfire. I promise I will, and bid Roland good morning, and good bye, and go back to my mom and Arabella, and the making of breakfast. Alas, Dan, or GOONTARR, was not done. He yelled out of his tent that I had to wake him up at 8 because he needed to be somewhere by 9am. I told him to set an alarm. Then he passed out and every exhale was a moan.

Arabella decided that if anyone asked, we would say he was "pushing back....by himself." My mom asked if he was going to moan with every breath. I said probably. I couldn't help but laugh every time he let an especially loud one rip. Eventually, Lord Mathius wandered over to see about breakfast and check on us. We joked around, and I told him about GOONTARR, and made mention about how he was supposed to be my kitchen helper that morning, but I'd rather just let him sleep it off, because I'd already done everything. Of course, Mathius would have none of that, and went to wake him up by shaking his tent and making this motorboat type "dla-dla-dla-dla-dla!" noise. Eventually, Goontarr woke up and crawled out, wherupon he asked when breakfast would be ready, and could he have his first, because he had to be somewhere by 9am. I tell him No, breakfast wasn't ready, and Lord Mathius and Billy were first in line, he could have his after. I thanked him for his help setting up kitchen this morning, and asked if he was seriously going to bail on all of his responsibilities. He stuttered out that well, he, umm, had to go volunteer, umm, and, so, well. I cut him off and said, alright, fine. If he didn't want to help, he could go volunteer. Mathius piped up and said that if he had signed up to help me, and he wasn't going to do his job, he wasn't getting breakfast, so to hurry up and go do whatever it is he had to do that was more important than helping me. He went silent and wandered off. I felt kind of bad, but I was really pissed off. I cooked for the HoCs and it was fantastic, as always.

Side note: I love cooking for the Hospitallers of Caid! Honestly, it's one of the highlights of my War. They're so much fun, and always so gracious, and I get to hear all of their stories. It's awesome. So to any of you Hospitallers out there that decide to read this whole thing, let me just say that you're welcome in my camp and under my pavilion any time. I totally heart you guys. End side note.

Dan wanders back, while I'm finishing up cooking for a few people, and he tries to hop the line. Cormac stops him, and says that he's behind (list of people) and to wait his turn. I tell him that Mathius had already spoken, and he heard it as well as I had. I told him that there was no way I was going to go against his command, and if he was going to bail on kitchen duties, he was not going to get breakfast. He goes away, comes back a little while later and asks if he can clean up my kitchen to do his kitchen duties. I say, how about this: If he cleans up all of the mess, and makes my kitchen the way I want it to be, all would be forgiven. He agrees, and while I'm cooking for lord Caius and the straggling HoCs, including Sir Njall, I list off what he needs to do. I tell him that he is a capable, intelligent man, and that I have every confidence that he can do what I've asked him to do. However, if he cannot, his War is going to really suck. He agrees, and I finish cooking. I remind him of the tasks to complete, basically, this table cleaned off, this stuff put away, these dishes washed, etc.

And I leave for a Turkish Slipper class. Where I totally start to fall to sleep. My mom sends me home for a nap. I get back to camp, and Dan is still working. Lady Sabyna and Acacia are visiting, so I sit down for a bit with Alexa and the rest. Immediately, Dan starts to ask me, "Isabeau, do you want me to do this?" "Isabeau, where do I put this?" I tell Dan, I mean, Goontarr, "I already told you what needs to be done. I know you are intelligent and capable, and regardless of whether I am actually sitting here, or I disappear into my tent, I am to be considered taking a nap, and you need to do it on your own, or listen to Arabella." He goes about his work, and I continue to visit with Sabyna and Acacia, and he interrupts me again to ask if he should heat up water for washing up. I know I should have retained control of my temper and been patient, he was new after all, but I was tired, and I was cold, and I was irritated with having to repeat myself, so I raised my voice and said, "I AM TAKING A NAP, AND I AM TO BE LEFT ALONE BY ANY AND ALL KITCHEN WENCHES, WHO WILL CONTINUE TO DO THEIR JOB ON THEIR OWN." So he started to heat up water, or so I thought. Soon, Sabyna jerks around and asks him what he's doing. He tells her he's heating up water. She tells him to shut off the propane NOW before he kills himself. Apparently, he turned the propane on full blast as soon as he asked me, and let it just run while he putzed around. I again raise my voice and say that it's okay, he's going to turn off the propane and not touch my stove ever again. Which he does.

Eventually, I give in to exhaustion, and say my goodbyes, and crawl into bed for a nap.

I wake up about 2 hours later, and my kitchen is clean, much to my surprise. Alas, it's starting to get cooler, and a mist that has hung around all morning started to get heavier. We begin to withdraw beneath the pop-up, and slowly, the mist becomes rain. The rain becomes downpour. It's cold, it's windy, it's miserable, and about that time, Erin and Wil show up. We offer to help, but they say they're okay, and put up their tent. As the rain continues, and gets worse, we all withdraw into our separate tents, miserable and sad. After awhile, I start scrolling through my phone, looking for someone that will be able to give us a weather report. I get all the way down to "Grandma and Grandpa" before I run across someone that is not AT WAR. I finally call Becky, and she gets online to look it up. The rain should be clearing up, and there should be partial sun and warmer temperatures the next two days. With intense joy, I call out, "Does anyone within the sound of my voice care to hear the current weather report?" I hear a chorus of "Yes" and "I do!!" from more than just my encampment, so I tell them, and a wave of cheering washes over the small island of land we were camped on, that we had named Avalon.

Eventually, the rain did clear up, and we came out of the tents, ready to cruise around. About that time, Yah-Toi arrived to set up her tent, and I started dinner. We ate around the campfire, passing around bottles of horrible, horrible firewater that Lord Jethro brought around. It smelled good. It burned in the mouth, and it was like the worst heartburn EVER once you swallowed it. Everyone was cold and tired, and we decided to leave clean-up for last, so we sat around the fire that Goontarr had TRIED to build, and finally Jethro DID build, listening to Lord Gunther the Ever-Ready tell stories, and be interrupted by Jethro. In the end, I headed down to Base Camp with Mary and Yah-Toi. Cormac was the Constable in Charge, and as he sat there, he decided that this was the only way to be Constable in Charge... smoking a cigar, surrounded by beautiful women. As he sat there puffing away, he wanted it entered into the log book that Lord Cormac O'Duin, Constable in Charge, has acquired a harem.

Day Three, Saturday

Around 2am, I headed back home, to pass out. Woke up the next morning to start cooking. The pancakes were fantastic, though they took a long time. I fed the HoC's, including a very hung over Rave Jesus (Lord Caius), and while feeding everyone, got so cold, that by the time I was done, I was shivering uncontrollably. I had another disagreement with Goontarr, over when I would eat, as he was insisting I eat before him. I refused, as it is my meal, my job, and I don't eat until I feed everyone else, so his insisting on waiting to eat was only making me wait longer. He went away to try to start the fire, and failed. I called him over and told him that I was sure he had built many fires in his time, but please, because this is my camp, and it is my fire, do me a favor and build the fire my way, which is to take match light charcoal, light it, and when it's nice and flaming, put ONE log on top. I ask him to please build the fire my way, as it would make me really happy. He assures me he will, and goes back to it. And by "to it," I mean that he tried once again to build it with wadded newspaper, and not at all my way. I call him over again and ask him to please, please build it my way, because I really want it built my way, and building it his way will only upset me. Again, he agrees to build it my way. And goes back to build it his way, at which point, Cormac rescues him by calling him over to help set up Their Majesties encampment. When he gets back, I put some pancakes on, and tell him that we need to talk. He says okay, and I tell him that I knew he was experienced in many ways. I knew he had built many fires, and I knew he had cleaned many kitchens, but aside from these skills, there were more that he had to learn. I told him that he was in a new social group with it's own quirks and rules that he needed to learn. He interrupted me to make excuses about the fire, and I say, "No, I don't care. The point was that I asked you to do it my way, and you said you would, only to turn around and NOT DO IT MY WAY." He storms off, telling me that he doesn't need to listen to this, and I say fine, at least come get your pancakes. He doesn't, and Erin, Cameron, and Mary let me know that I came across as really condescending. Unfortunately, at that point, I was at my wits end. No excuse, I'm sure, but when breakfast was over, I talked to him again and told him that if he wanted to talk, we would talk, but it would happen thusly: I would speak, uninterrupted, first, and then he could speak, uninterrupted, second. He never approached me, and while we were able to function in a way that mostly avoided the drama, I am still upset with him, and this is a conversation that will have to happen soon.

After breakfast, Hannah was dancing around the fire, and I was trying to get warm, and Arabella starts singing:

Oh Mister Sun, Sun, Mister golden Sun,
Please shine down on me!
Oh Mister Sun, Sun, Mister golden Sun,
Hiding behind a tree!
These little children are asking you,
To please come out so we can play with you!
Oh Mister Sun, Sun, Mister golden Sun,
Please shine down on me!

Arabella decided to change one line to "These little fighters are asking you" and the whole encampment started singing. Much to our surprise and Hannah's delight, the sun started coming out. The longer we sang, the more the clouds cleared. People walking by told us to keep it up, as it was working! After about an hour of singing, we broke up and started to get dressed. Cormac stopped by, and we all wandered over to Merchant's to look for a fuzzy hat for Wil. Around that time, Ranlyn returned with Braedon and Micheaus. They set up their tent in Newcomer's, having run out of room in our allotted encampment. Micheaus forgot the tent poles for his tent, so had to share a small 3 person with Braedon. This did not improve his normally surly attitude. Saturday evening, I began cooking dinner early, as we all wanted to get to the SCA ball. While I began cooking the Irish stew, my kitchen wenches started setting the table. Mary had to leave early, so, she wasn't there to join us for our House dinner. We sat down to dinner, and I raised the first of many toasts to my camp mates, in thanks for their help and friendship. I made myself tear up a bit! Dinner progressed, with me giving most of the toasts, a tradition I hope to change, as I love listening to others express words of thanks and tell anecdotes from their day. Towards the end of dinner, I began handing out awards. Some awards were meant in seriousness... some awards were in fun, but every one was from the heart. I gave Ranlyn's loaner tunic from his first war to him, in thanks for all of his ceaseless help and dauntless good spirits. To Yah-Toi, a collapsible candle lantern that I've had since I went to Dralion, to "find her way in Caid." To Alexa, I returned her leather can tankard, having been well loved and used by me, but, "it was time to pass it on, now that I've sucked her in!" A small candle lantern and a small utensil cozy to Erin and Cameron. Various ribbons (special helper, hot stuff, etc.) to everyone. And a fairy and unicorn figurine to Hannah, for being so incredibly well behaved and fantastic. While all of the adults were bitchy and miserable during the downpour, she was singing and dancing, and so incredibly happy.

Yah-Toi shared her last bottle of Raspberry mead, and it was FANTASTIC. (Manuel, you've got competition for my favorite brewer!). After dinner and clean-up, we headed up to the SCA ball at the closed ramada. I sat out for a majority of the dances, jumping up with excitement for Toss the Wench, only to look across the circle and see Dan, or Goontarr. Spirits sinking, I begged off and swapped a partner with Yah-toi, and well I did. Gootarr had taken his "tossing" seriously, and provoked more than one startled screech from an unsuspecting lady as he picked her up and swung her around, instead of guiding her jump. I did get to join Erin for the Caiden Bransle (pronounced "brawl"). I love that one!!! We didn't get there in time for the "psych" dance, the English country dance that you get to switch partners for. All in all, we had a really good time, and around 11pm, we left. Yah-toi and I headed down to Base Camp so we could start our night duties. Highlight of that? Cormac and entourage report in to have it entered into the log book, "Lord Cormac O'Duin is horrendously drunk."

I left Base Camp fairly early, and hung out with Erin and Wil and Mary, discussing Tess d'Urbervilles and other lit. Eventually, it was too cold, and we called it a night.

Day Four, Sunday

Woke up early, started hot water. Turns out water boils faster on the campfire than a wind-whipped propane stove. This is noted for future use!! (Yay!! Reason to cook over campfire!!) Also, the HoCs love my Turkish coffee!! Thanks to Henri for turning me on to it, but apparently, I don't make it half bad! Over breakfast, I managed to use most of the eggs! We did wind up throwing away about a dozen raw eggs, but better than the entire flat we brought home last war! I did normal scrambled eggs, and we finally got Lord Urbano to join us. Of course, he wasn't fighting, so there was no rush to the battlefield. After breakfast, it was a lot of sitting around, because I was worn out. In fact, I didn't get functional until about noon, when I had to get dressed and head off to set up court. As usual, there was the clash between logistics and court, as, according to them, we "just decided" we needed the hay bales set up for court. Because... we don't usually use hay bales for court at EVERY WAR?? Alrighty. So court and what we found of guard (most of our guardsmen were fighting still) set up the hay bales, the rugs, the thrones. Then it was back to camp to relax and freshen up before meeting at Their Excellencies camp for the pre-processional meeting. His Excellency was being elevated to Pelican, so it was a formal processional. A whole lot of "hurry up and wait." Finally, we got word that Their Majesties were ready, and we heard the drums and general merry making, and Lord Edborough led us out. We met Their Majesties and Their Highnesses and fell in behind them. Once we nearly reached court, it was more waiting. There was Kingdom business that had to be finished before Baronial Court was brought in. Finally, we get the word, and head in, Edborough leading the way and being all heraldic. Those in the procession that were a part of Baron David's elevation continued on to the front, while the rest of us peeled off and found seats on the hay bales.

Yes, I cried during His Excellency's elevation, as Baron David will always be "my Baron." I love Oliver, but he'll never replace David in my mind and heart.

After the elevation, court proceeded as normal, with presentations and awards. When graduates of Baronial Household were called forth, Master Thomas mispronounced my Mom's name, but she was the only lady to come up with an escort. One of our dear Hospitallers of Caid, Lord Murchad, escorted her to the thrones. I swear, I've never seen a grin on her face so wide!

Once they moved on to Kingdom level awards, my heart began racing, as Arabella had been teasing me about how I'd better dress nice, because I was going up to court. I didn't really believe her, but I assumed she'd written a letter. Still, what was one letter? After the first few rounds of AoAs, I relaxed and was chatting a bit with one of the ladies next to me. Suddenly...

"In like manner, Their Majesties call before them Isabeau d'Aquitaine..." at which point, the world goes into a strange melange of slo-mo, and black-out. Master Thomas called my name, and I felt my face go red as all the blood rushed to it, and then white, as the same blood fled. Oliver looks over at me, a grin spread across his face and asks to escort me up. I shook my head "no," almost imperceptibly, and held my hand out to him. I don't remember getting up there... I don't. The next thing I know... I'm on my knees in front of Their Majesties, my sun hat sitting on the pillow in front of me. The Queen was smiling down at me, looking all serene and beautiful. The King was smiling down at me, and offering me his hand, looking all... kingly. I glance over at Master Thomas, and he smiles... This all happened in the same second that I knelt in front of them. As His Majesty takes my hand, he leans down and says, "It's nice to finally put a face to a name, I've been hearing it a lot lately." At which point, my eyes well up. And then, I hear Master Thomas call up Arabella. And I think to myself, "Oh thank god, I'm not alone!" I start tearing up, and I feel my eyes fill, and start to spill over. And then, His Majesty helped me up, helped Arabella up, and I turn around in a daze. Luckily, Oliver was there to take me back to my seat, or I think I would have wandered off and gotten lost. For the rest of court, my emotions were on edge, and I sprung leaks every time someone I knew was called forward. And at the end, when Oliver and Kate were called up, I outright bawled.... half because I was so happy for them, and half because I was sad it wasn't Mathius and Eilidh.

Once court was over, I found myself surrounded by people congratulating me, and all I wanted to do was find my mom and Arabella, and hide for a minute. I found Arabella first, and we kind of laughed and cried at the same time. And then I found my mom, and just hid for a minute. Out of nowhere, Cormac finds me, and grabs me and Arabella and marches us over to a merchant to buy circlets. I'm protesting, saying, "No, it's okay... it doesn't have to be now!" And he's saying, "Yes, by god, I'm buying you your first circlet!" Unfortunately, or fortunately, it was closed, and he was upset, but swore he would buy us each one at his first chance. I'm not sure why, but I was relieved. It was almost as if buying a circlet would have finalized it... would have made it be true. I sit down for a moment to collect myself, and then Edborough comes up, and shows me a circlet, telling me it was one of the first he bought, and he wanted to give it to me. At which point I promptly start crying again. He puts it on my head, and I try to stopper my tears, and he wanders off to take care of courtly duties. Eventually, I start to calm down, and then I hear Ranlyn's name called for the volunteer auction. There wasn't much left to choose from, so I quickly pick out a black snood, "to go with his lovely pink dress" and head off with Mary. Mary, by the way, had been trying her hardest to call me Lady Isabeau as many times in a single sentence as she could.

We get home, and my mom comes back with some dinner from Merchant's, and we start a fire. Beer is shared, rum is shared, wine is shared. S'mores are roasted, stories are told. And eventually, I settle in to dazed bliss. As the sun began to set, Avenel and Reishi joined us. Erasmus, Acacia, and Brittney show up, and inform me that Goontarr had wandered into Drafn, of his own accord, as a war virgin. Part of me felt bad... part of me shrugged and said he brought it on himself. I motioned Erasmus over, and told him that I was officially taking off my "Head of House" hat, and to do his worst. Erasmus grinned and thanked me, and told me he loved me, before taking off into the night. Bit by bit, the St. Isidorians headed for home, leaving John to enjoy our company. Out of the darkness, a large group of Hospitallers approach the camp and ask permission to enter. We give it, of course, and they proceed to thank us profusely, and end a very touching speech with three cheers for the House of the Slippery Slope. Then a stream of HoCs hugged me, thanking me, and, in short, making me cry all over again. After many, many more stories, I douse the fire, and Alexa and I leave the last two to their last stories. I crawl into bed, full of nervous excitement and this overwhelming sense of... love, and pass out.

Day Five, Monday

Pack up. Get out. We got off to a slow start, and then, it began to drizzle, and we kicked it in to high gear. Erasmus said it best, as he overtook me in the parking lot while we were both heading for our cars...

"It's not enough that it's Monday... Mother nature decides to open up and say, 'Piss off! Get out of my park!'"

After pack up, I went to say good bye to Their Excellencies and the HoCs. And then, it was off and out to Denny's, home, a hot shower, and a long nap.

Conclusion
I've never had such an emotional war. It was draining, it was horrible, it was magical, and it was proof of where I'm happy to belong. For those of you that were there, Thank you. For those of you that weren't... you missed out.