Editing Game-Summaries:11/17/2018 Recollections (section)

==Ci's Shanjiu Inspiration==
Jeroy, Sakura, Ci, Cassio, Ember, Pearl, and Amon have gathered at Shanjiu keep for a meal on the evening before a mission for the Magistery. Their talk expectedly centers around their missing friends, and the mood around the table is dark with worry. Ci, who has been even more quiet than usual has been examining a roasted potato on his plate for most of his meal.

Ember suddenly turns and says, “Ci, what do you think? What fate has befallen our friends?”

“It actually of fate that I have been thinking.” Ci replies quietly. “Do you see this potato? The farmer who grew this, lives a half a day’s journey from the Keep. When he drops off his produce every month or so, he always has a great smile on his face and a kind word for all he meets. On one such visit I overheard some of the servants here calling him ‘Unlucky Liam’, and clucking under their breath about his great misfortune and dubious state of mind. When next he returned, I asked the farmer what tragedy he has seen to be called so.”

“Liam began to tell his tale to me. As a young farmer, he struggled to make ends meet. One day after years of saving he managed to buy a horse to help transport hi crop, The day after he bought it, that horse ran away. Upon hearing the news, his neighbors came to visit. ‘Such bad luck,’ they said sympathetically. ‘May be,’ Liam had replied.”

‘The next morning the when he rose , he found the horse had horse returned. In fact during it's night in countryside, it had met three other horses, and brought them home with him. ‘How wonderful!' the neighbors exclaimed. ‘May be,’ replied the farmer."

“A few days later, Liam’s son tried to ride one of the untamed horses, and was thrown, He broke his leg so badly he thought he might never walk normally again. The neighbors again came to offer their sympathy on his misfortune. ‘May be,’ answered the farmer.”

"A few years later, a vicious mercenary band appeared at the farm. This band was well known to draft all available young men into their ranks, by force if necessary. Seeing that the farmer's son was lame, and the farmer himself was bent from the work of running the farm on his own, they passed them by. The neighbors congratulated the farmer on how well things had turned out. "May be," said Liam."

“Liam went on for a quite a time, telling stories of great fortune, and for each was an equally  great misfortune that he had endured” Ci recounted. “When Liam finished, I thanked him for his tales, and sent him on his way with my friendship. He left as happy as he had been when he first came, and one could hear him whistling as his cart passed on down the road toward his home.”

With that, Ci went back to studying his potato. After a few moments, when it became clear that Ci was not going to speak again, Jeroy spoke up in obvious consternation: “Well!?! What is is we are supposed to learn from that, Ci? That things will always work out in the end? That we can never know what fate has in store? What!??!”

Ci, looked up again, as if startled from a dream and said, “Friend Jeroy I am afraid I have no idea. I know not where all paths leads, only that I must follow them. I was just thinking however, if that poor unlucky farmer can whistle his way through this world, surely I can go on another day with faith in my friends.”