Solidarity

It took the better part of three hours to paddle my way across the lake to the City Proper (which I will hereafter simply call the City... what the DRC and explorers call "the city" is actually Ae'Gura, and I intend to use its proper name to avoid confusion). My arms are killing me; I haven't paddled this much since I went on an expedition to Boundary Waters with my scout troop about 8 years ago. I'm so tired I'm having trouble getting into the spirit of exploration and documenting what I find, but I'll do my best.

I docked my raft in the boat house at the City's harbor and hauled myself out onto dry (and stable) land. I hadn't anticipated how much of a nightmare it would be paddling across over a mile of water in a soft-hulled boat, and I'm really not looking forward to doing it again. Fortunately, I may not have to... there's a solitary boat left in the boat house here that seems relatively undamaged by the destruction of D'ni. I'll test its seaworthiness tomorrow when I've got a clearer mind. Even if I do decide it's safe to use, I'll probably tow the raft along behind me in case of any trouble in the middle of the lake.

The amount of devastation is simply overwhelming. I can certainly see why the DRC never let anybody over here. I can also understand why Atrus was so overwhelmed when he and the D'ni survivors attempted their own restoration. For the first time, I think I'm starting to grasp the true scope of the task at hand, and can better understand why the DRC generally seemed to be depressed or snippy. Even during my time as a ResEng, I was never really granted access to un-opened areas like this. My job was mostly dealing with and assisting explorers as they arrived from the Surface, or as they needed help on their journeys. Occasionally I would be asked to help do a final once-over of an Age or area of D'ni before it was released, but by then all of the hard work had pretty much been done.

I may have mentioned this already, but I am so very tired. I nearly fell asleep where I sat after climbing up onto the pier from my raft. I've managed to haul the rest of my gear out of the raft though, and I plan on just collapsing in the nearest me-sized patch of ground that's relatively rubble-free. Ugh. Good night!