Starlight · in · Caledon

     It has been long since I last wrote in my journal.  Much has occurred since my last entry.  I met with good fortune on the mainland and was able to return to Caledon where I purchased a modest home in the Tanglewood Forest.  I had long since made my presence known to my Vandeverre cousins, and they were most loving and supportive.  Cousin Cyn Vandeverre has been a tower of strength.  
     After a brief romance with a dashing young code poet (who shall remain nameless), I was swept into a whirlwind courtship with a charming and worldy gentleman from America.  Before my head could stop spinning, we were married and I found myself the mistress of an island estate far from Caledon.  Fortunately, my new husband owned a line of merchant ships, so we made frequent voyages to visit my beloved Caledon.  
   On our last visit, I remained in Tanglewood for a series of social events while he made a brief trip back to our island home. He sailed alone and has not yet returned.  I am deeply concerned and have contacted Commodore Sputnik. Perhaps the Imperial Navy has sighted Mr. Insoo on the high seas.
   On a more cheerful note, my dear friend Miss Lapin Paris, has served our nation far above and beyond the call of duty during her tenure as Captain of the Caledon SLRFL team.  I am proud beyond words.  Huzzah for Miss Paris!

     That first evening in Caledon, as I walked through the streets of what I later learned was Victoria City, I marvelled at the peaceful beauty of my surroundings.  The architecture, the verdure, the very streets on which I trod, breathed refinement, civility and culture.  Much as I loved and longed for the land of my birth, I knew I had come home.  But mundane concerns soon claimed my attention.  
    As the pirates had absconded with my personal belongings, I had but the single dress and pair of thin shoes which the kind folk of Caledon had provided for for such as I.  With neither cloak  nor stout boots, I feared that my constitution (nurtured in warmer climes and always somewhat delicate) might prove unequal to the rigours of a Caledon winter.  Also,I did not wish to throw myself upon the mercy of my Vandeverre cousins as a burdensome poor relation. Clearly, my greatest need was warm clothing suitable to a gentlewoman, after which I should seek honest employment.  
    As I walked through the darkened streets of Victoria City, I entered a square, to the side of which several gentlemen were conversing with a lady.  I approached them timidly, and addressing the lady, asked to be directed to a dress shop where I could procure a cloak.  Some of the gentlemen greeted me most courteously, but a young woman cannot be too careful about her reputation in a strange place, so I greeted them with the barest civilty and addressed myself to their female companion.  She most kindly led me to the doorway of a shop and returned to her companions.  
   And such a shop it was as I had never before seen!  I feasted my eyes on the sumptuous confections of velvets and silks which surrounded me on all sides, before recollecting that I no longer had the means to acquire them.  I expended my last coins on the cheapest of plain black frocks and and a simple blue cloak.  Shoes were beyond my means.  Thus arrayed, I set out to seek employment.

     My name is Starlight Vandeverre-Insoo.   I came to the shores of Caledon from a faraway land, where the warm winds are laden with the scent of spices, and the sound of gentle surf mingles with the song of the wind in the trees.   

My father was a sea captain, who served his native Caledon with pride.  On a voyage to the farthest corners of the world, he fell ill with a Fever and was left for dead in my mother's land by his faithless crew.  She nursed him back to health, and came to love this stranger who had hair the color of the sun as it kissed the western horizon.  He returned her love, and my brother and I were born of their union.  How I came to Caledon will be related in my next entry.