Chapter 25 preamble

After leaving Monchi's grove, my journey was very different from the previous one.I am still alone, except for Guan Haifa, who is summoned.But on this journey, I am only physically alone.There is a name in my heart that is the entity of my precious principles.Monchi calls Merika a goddess, and to me she is a way of life. She was always by my side as I crossed many paths.When I was chased and hunted by the dwarves in Edborough (a stronghold north of Munch Grove), she led me to safety and drove away my despair.Mei Jukai, my belief in my own values, gave me the courage to cross every northern town.The way they greet me is always the same, from surprise, to fear, and quickly to anger.The more lenient ones just told me to leave, and the others chased me with weapons drawn.Twice I've been forced to fight them, but both times I've run away before anyone gets hurt.

A little injury is nothing.Monkey once said that I would die like him, and the old ranger always said it right.There is one thing I cling to on my northern journey: hope, which I will never get if I remain cloistered in the bush.Every time another town looms on the horizon, the feeling of being accepted accelerates my steps.One day, I will find a place that will accept me, my home. Occasionally a scenario comes to mind.I walked up to a door, greeted normally, and revealed I was a dark elf.My fantasies are often shattered by reality because the door never opens for me.I'd be watched and walked in, and it felt like a long walk in Blingdenstone (a city of deep gnomes).Suspicious eyes would hang on me for months, but in the end, principles were always known and understood.People always pay too much attention to the color of a person's skin, and his inherent reputation.

In the past few years, I have repeatedly imagined such a scene countless times.In the town I imagined, every word, every encounter, became my talisman from rejection to rejection.It wasn't enough, but Guenhwyvar was always there, and now I have Merikit again. Drizzt Do'Urden