For months, a young krokani boy by the name of Evgenii would pop into
the city of New Celest, off exploring while 'gramps' was fast asleep.
Kiradawea Startail was the first to stop and talk overlong with the boy,
eventually taking him on a tour of the city and the even for a ride upon
Serarn's ship, stopping at the Isle of Light to properly view the
magnificent Inner Sea and the golden sands of its shores.

Many others met the young boy, to varying degrees and experiences - some
coaxed him into telling the tales his late mother would tell him before
he drifted off to sleep, of family lore passed down through the
generations, tales of the Imperial Great Houses of Old Celest. Indeed,
it would soon be discovered, the boy claimed to be a descendant of an
ancient bannerhouse of the Old Empire, House Novikei, which had been
granted titles and land by one of the reigning Emperors long ago. Some,
notably aslarans, found the boy grumpy and inhospitable, somewhat unkind
towards those of the feline race.

Eventually the boy's own grandfather showed up, shopping with the boy -
and it quickly became apparent why the boy was so often running away to
cook dinner, breakfast or lunch for his caretaker. Apparent to anyone
who saw him, the old krokani Alexei Novikei has long suffered from a
cataract that blurred most of his vision, rendering him half-blind. If
that were not enough, the old man had a rhuemy film about his eye, only
furthering his vision impairment as he rubbed and picked at the crust
and goop. Despite a foul temper and an obsession with the Paladins, once
the imperial guard of the Holy Celestine Empire, the old man was found
to be a devout believer in the Light and its virtues.

Shouts rang out one early morning as the old krokani went about his work
in the city's cemetery, where it was discovered he had long been their
keeper. Loud accusations and pointed fingers were the least of the
disturbances as old Alexei and the young priest from Celest's Deep Blue
Cathedral became enveloped in a heated argument. The old man, on his
morning rounds, had discovered artifacts of the old families were
missing from their locked mausoleums, and believed the nearby soup
kitchen housed the offenders - for no doubt, the insult alone was not
the worst of the problems, for the old sexton swore the very dead
themselves had roused from their elsewise peaceful slumber at the
defilement of their graves. Assuring old Alexei that the homeless who
sought the Light's succor were not the thieves, the young priest bravely
stood his ground before the taller and stronger, albeit older, krokani.
Eventually, with the coaxing of many, Alexei cooled somewhat, and Lyfon
of the Paladins agreed to stand watch that night with Alexei.

As morning came close, and no perpatrator was found, Alexei and Lyfon
had spent much of the night in conversation - and, in an act of
generosity, Lyfon gave the old sexton a large sum of gold, to cover both
commodities and workers to build a larger wall between the small camp of
the poor and the old cemetery. Taking his rest before beginning his
morning labours, Alexei thanked Lyfon, who stood guard throughout the
night. After a few nights of pounding and bricklaying, the wall was
completed - though the superstitious old krokani soon found that it did
not solve all of his problems, for the artifacts would need to be
returned. Quickly Celest set to hunting down the sticky-fingered
thieves, and found them within the Oleanvir Valley - a group of raccoons
had come out of hiding, scurrying about, some in possession of the very
artifacts thought to be missing. As thanks, the old krokani opened the
mausoleums to New Celest, who soon delved into them, discovering bits
and pieces of lost lore, including a sacred holy place among those
devout to the Light, long thought to be destroyed: The Memorial of the
Saint of Rapturous Ardor, wherein the only possessions of the child
priest, an artifact from the Supernal Raziela and the robes he wore to
his untimely departure from life, have long been entombed.

Many came to see the spectacle, such notable visitors coming from not
only the city of Celest, but the Arysian Isles as well. As all began to
quiet down, many thought an end was brought to the saga of the old
sexton and his protectorate.

Not so, Learyn and Lyfon later found out, as the old krokani began again
to complain of spirits and spectres plaguing the mausoleums. Discovering
the boy Evgenii had delayed his chores, they quickly assisted him in
finishing them - while the boy lounged away upon the banks of the
Estengare. Discovering the source of the old krokani's alleged spectral
activity to be that of a family of raccoons that had began nesting
within the mausoleums, the three set out to begin the trapping of the
raccoons, deciding to assist the boy in capturing them rather than
killing them outright - declining the proferred gold of Alexei, in
favour of the whimsical desires of the young boy Evgenii. Paid only with
a bouquet of wild flowers, Learyn soon discovered that there might yet
be something to the belief of spirits lingering in the mausoleums...


Penned by My hand on the 1st of Tzarin, in the year 243 CE.