Hey Diary,

  I just got back from a day and a half of hiking! It was super fun!!

  My job in this town was to find a pack of dire wolves and get them to live further from the town! So yep, I got to meet a pack of giant, fluffy wolves!!!

  Dad is going to be so jealous. I guess there was a pack around Fish when he grew up? But they moved before I was born. So I've never met them before.

  But yeah! We hiked all afternoon, made camp, and at dawn the wolves came to check out who we were!

  I guess I should say, the group I was in was me, Maki, the town guards Sara and Pop, and a guy named Joe who has a farm with mostly chickens.

  Joe said the chickens haven't been laying well since the dire wolves moved closer. Well, Joe asked if I could get the chickens to not be afraid of the wolves, and I said it’s a really bad idea to make something as dumb as a chicken fearless. He thought it over for three seconds and agreed.

  Anyways, the wolves came by at dawn just to see who we were and if we might taste good. I told them we’d taste nasty, but they didn't believe me. So I asked if one of them could bite me, very gently, to prove it.

  The leader was willing, but Maki apparently hadn't understood the whole “very gently” part, and freaked out when the wolf stuck her mouth around my arm and started chewing.

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  That almost started a whole thing, but it turned out ok. I still have both arms! Maki has all his limbs, too! And no one else got bit, either. Charm magic sure does have its uses.

  After I’d charmed the leader into thinking I’m about the worst-tasting thing to exist, I asked the wolves if they wouldn't mind living further from town. They said they couldn't, because an ursa major had recently moved into their old territory.

  Ursa majors are one of the biggest, scariest things in the whole world. One full-grown ursa major could easily kill a whole pack of dire wolves.

  They eat magic. They don't kill things, exactly, they just trap their prey and drain all its mana. A lot of things, after having been pinned down by a house-sized translucent bear thing, die of fright. I’d probably die of fright.

  So yeah, they’re kinda bad news. Maki said he’d alert his contacts in the Royal Guard that there’s a beast out here they need to take care of. And as soon as the ursa is gone, the wolves promised to move away from the town!

  Then we had breakfast, packed up, and came back to Dogroofs! There was a tiny earthquake on our way back, but nothing else interesting happened.

  When we got here, Luke was teaching a group of kits how to pass elements with runestones. It’s not really “passing”, it’s just timing activating your stone as soon as their summoned element gets within range. I joined, and we showed off some of the really cool tricks we’ve figured out. For some reason, having a group of nine-year-olds think I’m the best and greatest feels good.

  According to one kit in a small town, I am the most awesome lightning-user in the history of ever. Take that, famous people with lots of degrees and awards!

  It’s silly. But I had fun.

  Anyways, as soon as the sun sets we’re going to have dinner. The sun is almost gone, so…

  Signing off,