[akemimera]

Time really does move both quickly, and painfully slow at the same time. Friends I will never see again, and places slowly changed beyond what I recognize.

Still, at the age of thirty eight, I feel.. Old. Perhaps its old injuries that haven't healed right, or simply just exposure to the horrors this land can produce on a whim, but I know my time for being anywhere near combat is coming to a close. Perhaps, this is what Kosta meant when she said she was retired. The slight shaking in ones hands, the peripheral ghosts in ones vision.

But as I sit in my new business, with help from those that still remain from those I have met, I can't help but wonder, just how long until something comes along and ruins it. Perhaps its just me being unreasonably paranoid, but as I look at what happens around the world, I can't help but be such. Everything I liked in the last decade has changed so drastically, I can't even call it the same anymore.

But perhaps this is also the time to finish the menu.. Maybe name a few dishes after departed friends, and few after those that helped out. Still no idea where I am going to find squid ink in this country, but weirder things have been found, so it's not a total lost cause. Worst come to worst, I can always just ask around, somebody probably has what I seek in a chest somewhere. That, and perhaps I finally bother the Lumin-King in person for specialized lessons in the art of making tea. Coffee is easy, but tea.. Tea has so many extra steps it's hard to master. And I'd rather not cause diplomatic problems for the business by serving substandard tea.

But I think in my time here, I have also set the standard of what a maid should be, compared to what pretenders act like. So, that is one less regret I will take with me when I eventually pass.