#Ashura was always going to be my first Shepp but honestly

[palialaina]

Okay, so...

A lot happened.

Most importantly though?

I'm officially home.

So, to start with, Dad had a talk with Jel while I got 'kidnapped' by Lark to have pie and sulk, and whine. (Lark is a good friend, I am very lucky.)

Hey Berry,

Heard about what happened with you and Jel. Come over, I've got pie and tea and blankets and you can vent all you like, if you wish.

(This isn't debatable by the way, I'm hauling you over here if I must)

-Lark

Not sure who told them, but probably for the best. I'd have to chew on someone for not minding their own business. But... well, I think it helped. Between that and the physical exhaustion Jel was pretty capable of sweeping me off my feet.

Literally. Building a hallway, then a big room, then another hallway, then a small room one right after the other is exhausting. I... may not have slept either.

What day is it again?

Whatever.

So, Jel apologized for how he reacted when I called him dramatic, and I apologized for what happened after. Neither one of us was really mature with that whole... event. Some of it, I'm just... scared that he's going to look at me and realize I'm nothing like him, and another person, human or Majiri, will interest him more.

But he says he cares about me. And I know I care about him, or this wouldn't be such a mess.

Anyways, we apologized, he insisted I go to bed, I told him that the head of the Insomiacs Club had no right to talk, which made him laugh, and then... we curled up together to have a nap. I did feel much better for it. Jel was still dead asleep when I woke up, and it was nice to see him without his glasses. He looks so much... softer.

Anyways, after we both woke up, we just kind of... hung around each other. He helped me with my garden, I followed him to his shop... and then I went and searched Dad out, because honestly, if he's going to give Dad Talks, he's going to be Dad in more than just this journal of mine!

Honestly, I didn't so much ask him to be my Shepp as I did to be my dad. He knows I don't remember much of my past, or what came before, but he said he'd be honored to be my Shepp, and I could call him Dad for real, instead of Dashura.

I feel like I'm never living that down... But at leas he's not Uncle B with the bad jokes every other sentence.

So, after Dad agreed, I had to find Eshe, who set up a whole entire party. I was not expecting that, honestly. A ceremony, sure, I can handle that, but a party?

I may have hidden in one of the side rooms with Najuma for a bit.... The whole village turned out for this! Everyone wanting to congratulate me, and welcome me to the village...

I'm going to have to remember that next time someone comes at me with An Audacity. Because I know they will, they're all audacious people! But I... I really am home now. Kilima village, my house, my friends..

My Jel?

I'm still not sure about that last one.

Oh, but I did make a new human friend. Ran into him outside of Tish's quite literally. He said his name was Orion, and he was familiar. In the way that when I met Lark, they were familiar. I'm going to try and help him settle in some, and maybe we'll go to Bahari bay and hunt things when he's got a better grasp on the basics of life here.

But yeah.

I'm home.

And I don't think I've ever been happier.