or, Why Elves Go AWOL

It seems to be a particular trait of our particular specie of elf, that from time to time we get this almost unbearable urge to up-sticks and go walkabout. We call this desire "The Yearning". Back home in Alorya this wasn't so much of a problem because our society was geared towards this phenomenon. It was normal, expected even, to wake up one morning and find that your beloved had disappeared in the middle of the night, with no farewell note. Except in very rare circumstances, you would never see that person again. They would wander for a while and eventually settle in a new place, with a new life.

Here however, on Earth, it's not so easy to cope with. We have responsibilities that are not so easily shirked; a mortgage to pay, employment necessary to earn money to pay it, families to be cared-for. When you're an Aloryan and you're also one of the main Fronters in a system, the Yearning is an urge to be feared. It would do no good to the system as a whole if we left home one night and took a train to the other end of the country, leaving the family behind to worry and wonder.

Sometimes though, the urge cannot be suppressed, and if it's not possible for the body to go walkabout, the Aloryan soul will leave it behind. We have already lost Melisa (my daughter) to the Yearning, I do not believe that I will see her again. I miss her terribly, but having been in that position in the past I know and understand her reasons for going.

One day, perhaps, we too may be forced to follow.

--Casteylan (of Doltaghey House)

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