Aleris

It was with a certain tentativeness that Aursra approached The Chronicle Office. The key was on a length of cord around her neck, and she eased it off over her head to line it up with the keyhole. A turn and a click, and then she was turning the door knob to push the door open. Inside, there were the familiar smells of ink and parchment, but the place was too quiet. A newspaper office should be buzzing with life as new stories came in. There should be the scratching of quills, calls of various employees...

She sneezed.

Apparently, the most predominant thing in here just now was dust. She was going to need to tidy up a bit before getting down to work. That still didn't dampen her excitement. Writing was her birthright. It had always been what she'd been called to. The dreamy eyed girl always had some bit of poetry or prose that she was working on, and there had been a time when she'd worked as Editor in Mystra Amor.

The thought brought up a pang. That had been a happy time, until it all came crashing down. She took a deep breath. Just because she had been trying to rebuild her life then as she was doing now, did not mean that history was bound to repeat itself. She had a daughter now, and a bit of unexpected (but not unappreciated) romance. Besides that, she couldn't bear to think of a place like this going unused. The people deserved to know what was going on in Aleris.

It was with these thoughts that she found the supplies she would need. Tying back her hair with a ribbon, she set to work scrubbing, dusting, and sweeping. Fortunately, the office just wasn't that large. So it only took a couple of hours. Finally finished, she went to the editor's office and sank into the chair with a sigh. Here she was able to look over the notes of the previous editors and work on a general plan of her own for getting the ball rolling again.

Another hour or so of scribbling down her thoughts, and then she was going to the printing press, setting out the letters the way she wanted them for the notices that she needed to send out. The first step was to try to get more in the way of staff. The other thing was to let the general populace know that The Chronicle was going to be up and running again. This would allow businesses to advertise, and hopefully people would come forward with the things they feel were newsworthy.

It was a rather exhausted young woman who left the office as the sun was just beginning to set. Her fingers were stained with ink, but that was hardly anything new. There were even some smudges of the stuff on her clothing and on one cheek. In her arms were dozens of newly printed bits of parchment.