Dear Diary,

Axelotl is an incredible idiot and entirely wrong about almost everything. He's going to lead his bandit like locusts until they've devoured everything weaker than themselves, and then they'll devour each other. I don't need to be able to see the future to see that coming. 

He's a little bit right about a couple of things, though. We both have power. He's conflated power and strength, and thing that having power gives him the right to take from those that don't. What him nearly killing me reminded me is that I have a lot of power, and unlike him I can share some of it. 

I've been trying to protect the town by putting myself between it and danger. That's how you protect a child. The people of the Reach aren't children. They have the strength to take care of themselves, just not the power to fight the things that the world throws at us. 

So obviously I'm giving up the school. 

I can't teach people to fight like me. If I'm perfectly honest, I don't know how the panther's claw style works at all. Stellar does. I'm going to ask them to take over training. Between her and Vanayo, they could actually teach people how to fight. I expect we're about to get a collection of strong angry men that need some focus, and have nothing to do until the bandits get kicked out of their logging camp.

What will I do with my time? I'm thinking that we currently have two problems that could sort of solve each other: too many spiders, not enough food. I'll go with the hunting parties. Help keep them alive, help hunt spiders and game, lend them some of my power, and collect venom sacs.

Oh yeah, that's plan C. The town has competent archers and an alchemist, we have an imminent bandit problem. Arrows dipped in paralytic poison seem like a great deterrent. Plan D is to have enough surplus to feed the Bandits. I figure about three-quarters of them or more would rather be well-fed, well-paid lumberjacks than outlaws. Just gotta get them comfortable and give them a sense of community. 

The other quarter, we're probably going to have to fight. That probably includes Axelotl. I'm gonna carve that ember out of his chest and give it to joyful steel to help make something to knock Odam back into the history books. Nobody cuts out the good parts of my brother without consequence.

Yours,

Mauritius