First Day on Ship

I cried myself to sleep last night. I still can’t believe I let the scissor man cut off my braids. It’s strange that something that didn’t hurt at all (I mean, there’s no pain when you cut hair) could hurt so very much, so deep inside.

I keep putting my hands to my head, feeling that short shag of hair.

Each time I do, it feels wrong.

I don’t even want to think what Mom and Dad are going to say when we get back.

Assuming we do get back.

Despite all this, I am starting to think maybe it was worth it. Seriously, I keep pinching myself to make sure I’m not dreaming and we truly are crossing the Shadow Sea on a silver ship with a crew of elves and goblins! (The goblins are a riot. There are five of them, each about three feet tall. They have big noses, big feet, flapping ears, and think farts are the most hilarious things in the world.)

Last night I saw a mermaid swimming beside us. She waved to me, then flipped up her tail, laughed, and dove out of sight.

I had to hug myself to keep from exploding!

Poor Bennett is not having nearly as good a time. That’s because the curse is still in effect and he’s trying to write poems that capture (in his words) “the wonder and glory and awe of this voyage.”

Naturally, they suck.

At least it’s not his fault. But even knowing that, he can’t help trying. I never would have believed I could feel so sorry for him. The best thing he’s come up with so far is a quick two-liner to disapprove of how much the goblins fart:

Upon my soul, I think it crass

The way these goblins pass their gas!

Actually, it’s probably the best poem he’s written.

In other news, the princess is looking younger by the hour. Even now, when she still looks kind of old, you can see how incredibly beautiful she must have been when Ewan first met her. No wonder he fell in love with her.

I wonder exactly how Ewan is related to us. Super-great-uncle? Many times great-granddaddy? It would be cool to find out. Maybe I’ll have to learn how to do a family tree when we get back. I’ll definitely need the “intermagoogle” to research our family.

Destiny is so happy to have Herbert to play with again. The captain has had to yell at them twice because Herbert has been neglecting his work to play tag with my little sister.

It turns out that the reason he had been her not-so-imaginary friend was that he had a few weeks of shore leave.

The world is turning out to be far stranger than I had realized.