JUL 18 Friday.

I stand up from meditating, my ability to sense the space around me is still very slowly progressing, I walk to the kitchen and make the only tea I've had for over a year now, :I should find out how to make other things with this tea: I do have a cookbook but it doesn't have anything I can make.

I only have one plan today and I won't be doing that for a few hours, so I'm taking a quick trip to the library, I give Entropy a few berries and leave my apartment, I make it to the library not long after and start looking through different cooking books.

After a while I find a few books to read, not just cookbooks but a few others too, I spend the next hour skimming through a few books before opening the cookbook, this book mostly has baked goods, and after a while I find something simple and easy to make with tea as an ingredient.

Tea cakes, they don't need much and go well with tea, I write down the recipe and put the books back before leaving, when I get home I start gathering everything I will need, it takes me a while to mix everything and bake them, but when they are done they come out decent.

They are a little sweet so I probably should add less sugar next time, but they have a slight lemony flavor and go well with the tea so I'd say this went well, after that I spent a while breeding the Rocky Wheat, it took a little longer than I thought but it's finally done.

It took just under five months to complete this project, and I think it's come out great, I'm going to keep some seeds with me so I can still make bread, but right now I have three five-pound sacks I bought that I've been filling, I finished the wheat yesterday day and sent a letter to Celestia.

I haven't gotten a response yet, but I know they will need a decent amount to grow so they can then distribute it, that's why I'm filling these sacks, it's probably overkill but that's fine, she'll probably have either a guard, or me deliver it, I'll give them two sacks and keep the last one so I don't have to grow wheat every time I want bread, the sack should last me a week or two.

I spent a while growing and collecting the grains, I already filled two sacks yesterday so it doesn't take long to fill the last sack, when I'm done I tie shut the sacks and place them on a shelf, I do have something else to do today, if I can.

I want to find someone to keep learning the griffin language from, but I got lucky last time with Gerald, this time I'm going to try and find a better way to do this, but I'm not sure how I could do the same thing as last time? But like I said I got lucky last time.

I could try and find an actual teacher, but I have no idea where to find somepony like that, I could try and ask around? But that's just leaving it up to blind luck at that point, there is a place I could go to that can help me find a teacher, and I don't have any better ideas, so I grab my saddlebags and leave my apartment.

It takes me a while to find the right place but I do find it, there are many guilds in Equestria, some are more frequently used and some less so, this particular guild is decently sized and is also very old, the Information Guild, their name says it all really, they trade information for money.

They have also been around for a long time, you might think a guild like this does some less-than-legal things, and maybe they do but most of their business is trading information that is legal to those who are looking for it.

Let's say you need to find a rare herb? Well pay them enough and they will find any information they can about it, and if you pay them more then they will even help you get it, and that's the problem, they trade information and I have many things I'd like to keep secret, so I'd rather not do business with them, but as the old saying goes, Needs must.

I didn't use their services in the past because the things I was looking for were either something I didn't want others to know about or things I could find on my own without having to pay them, this is why I didn't use them in the past, I don't want to ask them for information.

At least not for important information, but for something like finding a teacher? Well an orphan trying to find a teacher for a skill that could help them get a job isn't all that uncommon, hell I've even seen guild posters advertise just that, this is why I decided to find them this time, as most wouldn't think it odd for me to look for a teacher.

I find the right building after a while, it looks like a regular office building, the only big difference is the sign, Information Guild Canterlot Branch, simple and to the point, I watch the building for a while before entering, and a few ponies enter and exit the building most younger a few around my age, perfect I won't be out of place.

I walk into the building and look around, it's a large room with several counters with ponies behind them, and other ponies waiting in lines, above each desk is a sign, I look through them before finding the line that matches my needs the most, Training Information.

There are a few ponies in the line so I stand behind them and wait, it takes a while to get to the front but when it's my turn I walk up to the desk, "Hello how can I help you?"

"I'm looking for someone to teach me the griffin language".

They nod and flip through several pages before stopping, "We have a few on record, ten bits for the list and an extra five for directions, and their business hours."

They are blunt and to the point not that I expected anything different, I pass them fifteen bits and they nod then spend a moment copying the information with a spell I'm very familiar with, I’m passed the page and leave the line then I place it in my bags and leave the building.

I walk a decent distance away before finding a bench to sit on and read the list, it has several names and where they do business, there are a dozen different options so I have to narrow down my search, first I look through the addresses to see which are closest.

Six are close to where I live, I'll probably need to do this after work so I exclude any with business hours that wouldn't work, I have four options now, I don't know anything else about these businesses so I stand up and start walking, I'll just need to find these places and see them for myself.

After an hour later I've scratched three names off my list, the first was fully booked and couldn't fit me in, the second was not willing to teach me, and the third was closing shop and moving to a different city in a few weeks, so I only have one place left.

The address led me to a small shop that seemed to sell art, I thought I had the wrong place but the address matched, so I entered the shop and looked around, several shelves filled with small sculptures and paintings fill the shop, but it seemed mostly empty with only me and the owner at their counter.

The owner is a griffin, they look to be on the older side not as old as Gerald but still not young, they have a dark blue coat, and slightly lighter blue wings, the feathers around their head are white, and their beak and talons are yellow, they look up from the book they are reading and look at me with their brown eyes.

"Hello, is there anything I can help you find?" Their voice is feminine.

"I was told you teach the griffin language?"

She spends a moment staring at me before answering, "I only teach it to those who actually try, most who come to me don't put in enough effort for my liking, so how much do you know?"

I don't understand all the words missing a few, but I have enough practice to understand her, "I practice some, still need more though, I could use the help to learn more," I answer back, probably messing something up but I hope it's coherent enough.

She looks a little surprised but then gains a small smile, "Not bad, most who come here don't even know a full sentence, and expect me to teach them the whole language without putting in much effort," she says the last part like she had a grudge.

This confuses me, "Really, why? I can understand if you don't want to teach those who don't have a basic grasp of the language, but then why do so many come to you unprepared? Do they just not ask?"

"Well unfortunately the language has gained a bit of a reputation for being easy to learn, not wrong it is easy to learn in comparison to other languages, so a lot of ponies come to me thinking it won't take long to learn the language and then get mad when they have to actually learn a complex language.

"But back to business, you want to learn from me?"

I nod, "Yes I've learned some but can't find any other way to advance at the pace I'd like to, I could just talk to others but that will only get me so far."

"Well, you have enough of a grasp of the language for me to teach you, what hours do you have free?"

I think over my schedule before deciding, "Would Monday work?" she takes out a book and flips through a few pages before nodding.

"What time?"

"Well I'm an apprentice so I'm free after four."

"I can make that work, we may be interrupted by someone coming to the shop, is that fine with you?" I nod, I've been learning it in a market, I can handle a pony or two interrupting us, "Ok then, it will be twenty bits an hour, and we start at four thirty and stop at seven, Does that work for you?"

"That's perfect."

"Well then, my name is Caelum Vi, Nice to meet you, do you need anything else?"

"Shade Evergreen, same, and I think I'll look around before leaving," She just nods, I spend a while looking through the shelves and find a small griffin statue that looks nice, I buy it and say goodbye before leaving the shop and making my way home.

When I open my front door I'm greeted by Entropy waiting for me, like always I have to placate her with scratches and some treats, when I'm done I set my new small statue on my counter top I think it looks nice and it adds yet another thing to fill the empty space around my home.

I don't have anything else planned for today, so I guess I'll just spend some time messing around, I've been learning the magical flows of the Iron Oak for a while now and I think I have a good grasp on it so I want to grow the wood into different shapes and see what I can do with it.

I grow and collect an acorn from the Iron Oak, I then take it along with a pot filled with soil to my workroom, I sit down and push the acorn into the soil, I then grow it into a little foot-tall sapling, I make sure to keep the sapling the same size but let the roots grow throughout the pot.

I use my knife and slice the sapling down the middle, then have it grow back, leaving me with a sapling that splits in two, I cut both a few inches above the split and push them together, I then grow both together making a rough wood ring.

I keep the sapling the same size as I dump life magic into the sapling, the tree stays the same size but the wood gets tougher, when I've used most of my magic I stop and cut the wood ring off, because so much magic was dumped inside such a small sapling the wood is insanely tough.

So tough that even my wood carving knife feels like it's dull while I cut it, when I'm done I place the ring to the side and move the plant back to a shelve, I'm basically out of magic so I'll need to continue this later, so I take out my sketchbook and start drawing Entropy as she sleeps.

I think I'll just relax for the rest of the day.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading.