Listlessness and Intrigue

It's been creeping on me as of late that I need a change.  A waking dream I wander through quietly, my outward exterior rarely betraying my true motivations.  I received a missive of censure from the Council of Alchemists.  The note read simply that I had failed at some small attempt at bureaucracy that these people so loved.  The consequence of failing to remedy the situation would result in a loss of gold...had I been paid by these fools, as some of the other alchemists are.  My profession is my currency,  my passion for transmutation is everything else but the Council's rules are not for one such as me.  I will go rogue soon, practicing without their consent.  They will send their dogs for me in the short term but I can outlast them.  I can endure.  My skills are many, I can find employment in other lands should the fires of the coming war reach my liege.  My failing, my strength is that their consequences have no power to guide my hand as they think on such small levels.

Also of note is that I soon could be fighting war on two fronts.  I have heard strange tidings and seen queer things in the last few days.  Connections being drawn between my Lieutenant and Rival.  I had known of their past, he as a student and she his mentor, but those days had long past I had believed.  I now believe them to be on friendly terms which bodes no great fortune to me.  Also of consequence, another in the field of the transmutation of insects,  a person I had identified early on as a possible ally due to our common goals and similar interests has taken to the Rival romantically.  Whether it is indeed a true romance or another attempt at me, another of these constant attempts to redefine our battle it will need to be answered.  We are cordial in public and scheming in private and I find that it is becoming wearing.  Like those undead sailors, the Vampirates, that have long troubled the shipping lanes she has begun to suck at the last vestiges of my strength.  I have clearly played this game too long. Maybe this can no longer be just a game for me.  Maybe it is time for open warfare.

In times such as these I would turn to the Woman, my own princess, for guidance and solace but she is gone.  Fighting her own battles in far off lands I can only wish her luck.  Skilled and ferocious in competition, I expect nothing less than news of victory as well as no shortage of battle wounds to be displayed proudly.  My resolution without her counsel is that I aim to maintain both my duties for the Kingdom and the facade that I am still in league with the Council until it is time to break with them forever and strike out on my own.  This will be a complex betrayal and I will need more time to put my pieces into place.