Chapter 2 preamble

It's good to be home.Listening to the wind in Icewind Dale, feeling its powerful sting, reminded me that I was still alive. It is such a self-evident thing that we are alive that I am afraid that we are often too easily forgotten, and forget the importance of this simple fact.It's so easy to forget that you're alive, or at least, forget to appreciate that you're alive.Forget that you can enjoy every sunrise and enjoy every sunset.All the hours between sunrise and sunset, all the hours after dusk, are at your disposal. It's too easy to miss an opportunity like this, where every person you meet has the potential to be an event, a memory, good or bad, that helps you fill time with experience instead of dullness and breaks the monotony time.The wasted time, the sameness, the routine, is our enemy, and I think it's the creeping extension of death into our lives.

Yes, it's good to be home, in the wilderness of Icewind Dale, where monsters roam in packs and bandits threaten the way at every turn.I feel more alive and fulfilled than I have in many years. I have struggled with my dark past for far too long.I have struggled with my own longevity for too long, and my death will come much later than Bruenor, Wulfgar, and Regis, and Catti-brie. How foolish I am to mourn her last days instead of enjoying the present between me and her time!How stupid I am, if I let the present become the past, I still mourn the possible, only possible future. We are dying, every day, every moment.That is an unavoidable fact.This fact can paralyze us with fear or animate us with desire, with the desire to explore and experience, with hope, with an iron will—we find memory in every action.Live in the sun and under the stars, in the sun and in the rain.Dancing with every step, through the blooming gardens, through the deep snow.

Young people know this fact, old people, even middle-aged people, have forgotten it.This is the source of anger and jealousy, presented to young people.How many times have I heard the lament, "Wish I could go back to that age, with all the things I know now!" These words make me laugh because, in fact, the lament should be: "If only To be able to return the vitality and joy that I knew back then!" That is the meaning of life, and I finally understood it, and on the basis of understanding, I did find that vitality and joy.In contrast, twenty years of life spent understanding that vitality and joy, understanding this truth, may be far more fulfilling than hundreds of years of dejected life.

I still remember the first time I fought alongside Wulfgar, all smiles and hunger for life as I led him into a horde of eccentric, strong giants.How strange that I allow this longing to go away when I have gained more to lose. It took me so long, through painful loss, to realize how stupid this reasoning is.It took me so long to get back to Icewind Dale, to finally form a friendship with Artemis Entreri after accidentally giving the Crystal Shard to Jarlaxle (I pray it's permanent friendship) after.I wake up in my own life to appreciate the beauty around me, to seek rather than shyly shy away from the excitement that is waiting to be experienced.

Of course there are worries and fears.Wulfgar has left us, somewhere, and I fear for his head, his heart, his body.But I accept the fact that his path was chosen by himself and he had to leave us for his head, his heart, his body.I pray that our paths will cross again and that he will find his way home.I pray that word of him will come back, and either assuage our fears, or prompt us to hit the road to get him back. But I am totally patient and confident.For I would not be able to carry out my life's mission if I were downcast worrying about him. I won't do that. There are so many good things.

There are too many monsters and robbers. Have so much fun. — Drizzt Do'Urden