*~ Melody's Nursery ~*

[Chinchillie]

Dear Diary,

Is it strange to say I'm perfectly content?

Yes, I usually have to get up in the middle of the night to comfort Melody. She's usually pretty mellow, but from time to time...and there's been a few nights we've had to stay up ALL night long. And most of the day. But oh lord, after taking care of a picky, nocturnal, angry, scratching cat baby last year, this is like a piece of cake.

Melody's beautiful. She likes the color blue, just like me, and has these dear little horns and pointy ears and bright eyes, and is impossibly cute. Darby's not a baby person, but even she's enchanted. Ohhh, and Mel also likes birds and comfy pillows and did I say she's really cute?

Sabriel's about the same. The HQ is strange nowadays. We can go into our room and wander the hallways, but many of the doors are locked and you can't hear anything on the other side, not even in Jabir or Maggie's places - not that I've tried! And it's very, very quiet. Sabe still spends a lot of time there. I can't imagine what he's doing in that big, empty place.

In general, times are happy here at the Hampster House. The peace is welcome after our dramafest awhile back. But we don't need to mention that.  

[Chinchillie]

Dear Diary,

I guess it's true when they say good things never last.

It has been a long time since I saw the back of my first son. That angry, fierce teenager must surely be well on his way to being a man. I blamed myself when Aramae left home: if I had been a better mother, maybe he would have stayed. As the long years passed, I realized that the blame lay elsewhere, on the shoulders of the children and guardians at the Galatean temple. While bright at the beginning, it soon became a place of quarrels and drama neverending. He saw his childhood fall to pieces around him and left it behind.

But maybe my first assumption was the right one. Now it's Sabriel. Darby says he was a bad seed from the start. This is probably true. The Mishaps HQ gave him to me, though, because they thought I would raise him right and take away the unfortunate burden he had been born with. Were they the wrong ones in asking me to change his very soul? Was that right? Somehow, I don't care. I'm a muse - I have powerful allies and abilities at my disposal, ones that may have helped, had they been used.

Sabriel had become a different person when he discovered his magic. He disappeared without warning one night, without a note to explain himself. His room had been torn to pieces. We hired a mage to try and figure out where he had gone, but the mage had quickly backed out of the room, muttering dire things about dark magic. According to him the room was awash with negative energies, drowning out any information that could be taken from it. He also suggested we burn the room. What an a**.

Long story short, we had the room cleansed without burning it down. Now all I have is Melody, and I'm not sure that's the grace it should be. If I'm this terrible parent, shouldn't she be put up for adoption to give her the best possible chance? That's awful. I know. Darby would clout me over the head if she read this (she probably does), but I can't help worrying.

~Chinchillie