The following excerpts are copied from Sand’s Diary. Unlike in the popularly sought after copy of The Travel Log of Sand Ashōran, these excerpts are unedited (mostly) and unabridged (also mostly), taken directly from my diary.

P.S. Please don’t try to go to these places. You will not have a very good time (if you even manage to get there). Just in case, I’ve changed up the names of the locations.

P.P.S. Thank you to those that have purchased this incredibly more expensive copy instead of the edited and polished up one. If you have both in your possession, I must ask you, why would you do this to yourself? Regardless, many thanks to you, dear reader, for supporting my travels. I would’ve eventually got the money somehow (is what I tell myself), but this makes it so much easier. (it doesn’t help that much, but my sister has informed me that I should thank you, so, there you go. Thank you.)

Entry 7

We are back at the ship now. We only spent three of the five planned days here, because another member of the party fell to the vasii. As much as I would like to push forward and see the wondrous vigaito birds and their vile offspring, I agree with the captain that it is better to cut our trip short and return when we’re better prepared to deal with the dangers. The captain seemed very set on exploring Kokuru (the ‘ringed’ forest) no matter the dangers, even after Tibar’s death, but now she agrees that this is too dangerous.

I think one of the reasons -- or, well, the only reason -- for why she agreed so quickly is because, um, I might have -- ok, I have -- somehow captured a vasuu. It has been one hell of a day. The little brute has no eyes that I can see, yet I can feel it staring at me from its container.

Okay, the container is now covered, but I swear that it's still staring at me. Perhaps the Omido locals know more about the vasii? They do so love to keep to themselves and stick to their island, but this area really does not seem that far from them. Judging by the way it seems to stretch across a larger area than I originally thought, it might be just a few days away from them (as long as I’m not mistaken about the outer layer surrounding the sought-after middle on all sides, like a circle). For now, I need to sleep. And I need to get myself a new canteen, or find a way to get mine back (who knew that the vasii appear to have such a fierce liking for water, of all things?).

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Entry 8

I will arrive at Omido later today. It is... it really is a sight, and I’m not even there. My understanding is that they lived on one singular island, Niraupa, just off the Sykaigan coast, but I appear to be wrong. The town I am going to is indeed just one island -- but I counted at least 10 different ones on the horizon, and they all seem inhabited. Niraupa seems to be the collection of islands, not just one.

Some of them are more spikes jutting out of the sea than islands, the ones that are close to each other connected by bridges. I'm completely surprised. It's going to be an honour to finally be able to step foot in this place. They are so secluded and closed off from the world, always turning visitors away, that I really don't know how to expect. There is no precedent for this, nothing that I can read to prepare myself. I still have the correspondence between myself and my Omidoan contant, and these past few days I fervently reread every single one of them multiple times, trying to discover every last bit of information that I could. Other than becoming very familiar with Nada’s handwriting, there hasn't been much. (At least if he doesn't recognise me, I can recognise him by his handwriting. I somehow doubt that it would set a good impression if I went around asking everyone to write down a sentence so I can check the shape of their letters. But perhaps they already do have very low expectations, in which case, I don't need to feel as bad!)

The ship that I have hired to bring me this far will not be allowed to pass. We've been waiting in these waters, anchored down, since yesterday's evening. Today morning we were greeted by a small boat that came to tell us to get lost (and they didn't say it quite so politely as I have put it, either). After some yelling and wild gesturing, I think I finally managed to convince them that they should get someone more qualified to check that I am indeed allowed to continue forward. I'm hoping that the next ship we see is the one that will carry me for the last leg of this part of my journey, because I really don't know what I'd do if they turn me around. Wills Willing, they'll be here soon.

I already said my goodbyes to the captain and the crew. She tried to swindle me and get me to pay "compensation" for the two deaths of her crew. The gall of that woman! I swear, I will never hire a pirate to ferry me about places ever again. The only thing they think with is with their purses!* Her eyes flashed when I firmly told her that I would not allow myself to be extorted for any more money than I had already paid her, especially because I had no idea that there even was such a thing as a vasuu, and because I did -- mark this down -- I did warn her that it was dangerous. I think she reacted quite well to that. Only rolled her eyes and told me that I better had a solution by the time they came back for me, or I'd be dead (her exact words were... more detailed in my mode of death, but I have omitted them for brevity).

*(Looking back on this, I suppose they also do enjoy thinking with their weapons, and I should count myself lucky that I only had to deal with their greed here and not their bloodlust or penchant for violence too).

It seems like my days in Omido will really go by quickly. I didn't envision myself having any free time -- I came to immerse myself in their way of life, after all, and learn more about them -- but it seems like I'm going to need to have to make some. Not because of her bullying, of course, but I myself am also interested in learning more about those small leaf-like killers. Speaking of free time: since I have plenty of time to spare for now, I will take this opportunity to write down what I found so far about the vasuu specimen in my canteen, whom I have decided to call Happy.

I finally managed to recover my canteen! I did so by carefully transferring Happy to two glass jars that are much more spacious (and were supplied by the cook). Happy is in only one at a time, but I change its jar several times a day when I feed it. It is a very, very voracious little creature, and as much as I try to portray a fulfilling, happy (ha) relationship between the two of us, I am utterly terrified of it.

Come food time, I place one or two items in the spare jar, then transfer Happy over to that one. It's time consuming, and I'm always scared that right as I move the vasuu a wave will hit the ship and cause my hands to slip, allowing Happy to escape. Still, it seems better than the alternative of just keeping a lid on the jar and opening it every time I need to feed it.

Having said that, I’m not entirely certain about its diet, but it seems to enjoy everything except cooked stuff, which it doesn't even touch. I also have a new theory about how Tibar was killed. The vasuu didn't poison him; it ate him. Or, rather, it ‘ate’ the water out of him.

Happy mostly stays in what I'm calling its 'rolled-up' shape for the majority of the time, but when I transfer it over to the food jar, it 'unrolls' and flattens itself onto the food (note that Happy also sometimes does this against the side of the jar irrelevant of whether or not there is food. I can't tell if it's because it's happy to see me, or because it wants to kill me. I hope for my sake that it's the first, but I've resolved myself to the latter).

Back to my theory of what killed Tibar -- Happy never fully consumes the food that I've given to it so far. The closest thing it came to fully 'eating' was a tomato, which I believe to be because of its high water content. It also seems to particularly enjoy cucumbers, lettuce, carrots, and strangely enough, nuts (Happy seems especially... happy if I soak some nuts, let it ‘eat’ them, re-soak them, and repeat. Happy only seems to stop when it gets bored, so maybe it’s like a game to it? Either way, it really just goes... nuts for the nuts.)

What does Happy’s eating habits have to do with Tibar’s death? Like I said, it never fully consumes the food. After it’s done, it goes back up in its ‘rolled-up’ shape, and the food is left behind looking all wrinkly and dry. Depending on the food, the extent of this ranges from extremely dehydrated to just slightly dehydrated (like the nuts).

When there are little droplets of water on the sides of the jar, it seems to ‘suck up’ those droplets (through the same means as it eats -- by flattening itself onto what it wants to eat ...or drink? I haven’t quite wrapped my mind around this year). I need a bigger container to test out how Happy reacts to a larger body of water, such as a filled-up bowl, but that seems like an especially dangerous thing to do (I really don’t want it to escape -- did I mention how easily the vasuu killed Tiber? It’s scary!)

Regarding the nuts thing, I mentioned that it gets bored at one point and stops going after them. This is only if it is the same one. When it no longer went for the same re-soaked nut, I gave it another one, and it again flattened itself onto it and ate (drank? Like I said before, I have never seen anything like this, and I still don’t know what terminology to use). Currently I suspect that it has a never-ending appetite. I don’t know if this is just a Happy thing, or a bigger, vasuu behaviour. I would need to catch more specimens to compare their behaviours and better generalise what is a common behaviour and what are quirks (can it even have quirks? Like I said, I really would need more specimens to figure this out).

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Entry 9

These past couple of days have been an absolute whirlwind of chaos and activity. Several days have passed since I arrived in Omido, and I've only had time to sit down and write everything down now. This will be a long one, probably over several pages. There is just so, so much to share!

First off, I want to talk about my whole 'entry' and acceptance into the town. It was quite astonishing -- I can still feel the energy of that whole night.

After the first boat that greeted us in the morning, another came about noon to confirm my identity. I gave them my correspondence with Nada, and waited tensely until they returned the letters back to me and told me I would be allowed to proceed. There wasn’t enough space on the boat so I had to part with all my belongings -- including Happy, which they didn't know about because I hid its jar in the box among all of my papers -- and wait until a separate one came to pick me up. I thought that they were going to just take all of my possessions and leave, laughing at themselves at how gullible I was, but luckily the canoe came soon enough after and I left on it.

I was blindfolded once I got onto that boat -- for what purposes, I don't know, but I assume it was so that I could not see their homes until I was formally accepted. Apparently, the first people that came to confirm my permission to be there was just the beginning of a very lengthy process. It felt like it took ages until we finally landed at an island, because the weather felt cooler. It was about early evening, if I had to guess?

After we landed, I still wasn't permitted to take off the blindfold. I had to follow my two guides the best I could up the side of what seemed like a steep mountain (I still have bruises and cuts on my hands from all the times I fell), and I was utterly exhausted by the time we arrived. At the top, I was given a series of tests, of which I am not allowed to talk about other than to say that they were absolutely terrifying and I will always have nightmares. Apparently those tests are supposed to show if an outsider is worthy of entering their homes, but all I could think of during that time was that they were tests to see how naive someone is and that they aren't actually that intense, and that it's a show put on to scare people away.

Oh, how wrong I was. I mean, yes, to some extent, it is a sort of show that they put on to find only the 'worthy' (meaning, to scare all -- well, the majority, I suppose -- of the foreigners away). Except they, so far, are even more intense than my first impression of them; I expect it to only get more so. This place truly is amazing and I can’t wait to become more familiar with it.

Anyways, getting off topic. After that... ceremony, I was finally introduced to Nada. He's the leader of Omido, the island I'm currently staying on. He’s also a member of the collective Sykaigan council, which is made up of members from the various islands. I am honestly still very humbled by this discovery. He still hasn't agreed to my request for an interview, but I'm going to keep trying

(wow. the leader of one of Niraupa’s communities! I had absolutely no idea. To think that I was trading insults not with a messenger, but with the very person that would decide if I could visit or not. If this isn't humbling, then I don't know what is. Perhaps I should apologise for how I treated him, but I feel that this has somehow brought us closer. It makes it all the more awkward to call him --------. Oh, that was absolutely mortifying. I bet that scoundrel enjoyed the look on my face when I realised what a mistake I'd made. Ho ho! I hope he and the others are having a good laugh -- they certainly won't let me hear the end of this anytime soon.)

I'm staying with Nada for the remainder of this week, and then I'm going to shadow different people and learn about them the best I can. As distrusting as they are of me, they seem to enjoy having someone to tell their stories to; and what stories they have to tell!

Just yesterday, for example, Nada told me more about the vasuu, whom they actually call “samwa”. He accidentally found out about Happy when he saw me feeding it, and I think he nearly had a Whims-attack, he looked so scared. For the people here, these vermian creatures are sort of like pets to them, but the wild cousins are a no go. From what I can tell, the domesticated ones are quite a bit larger than Happy, but also not as dangerous, at least not towards people. They can still kill -- or, rather, consume -- but it is a suppressed instinct, and they are trained to only do so on command. Nada did get me back when he pulled out his own from his pocket and just laid it on his arm. Wills, I thought I’d inadvertently killed the poor man! He's agreed to let me take a look at Rig; I have hopes that this will get me to a better understanding of the vasii.

As a side-note, Happy doesn't seem to like Rig (Nada's samwa) very much, and always gets very aggressive when Rig comes close. It's made studying interactions between the two of them nearly impossible, and I also can't tell if this is a natural reaction or just one of Happy’s quirks. Rig, on the other hand, seems absolutely smitten with Happy.

So far, the main differences I've discovered between my vasuu and Omido’s samwai is that the latter are much larger, but docile. They don't seem to be able to jump as powerfully as the vasii (from what I remember of them jumping about in the forest, because short of being possessed by the Whims, there is no way I'd let Happy out to measure its jumps). However, they glide just as well as their smaller, wilder cousins, if not even better.

Nada tells me that they use the samwai to help them with fishing. I still have my doubts about their ability to swim -- Happy seems afraid of large bodies of water, I forgot to mention that I transferred it to another enclosure yet again (a bigger one this time, like I’d planned) and finally did my 'bowl of water' experiment -- but I shall find out more in the coming days. Nada has invited me to go fishing and see Rig in action, and while I won't have any time tomorrow, I certainly plan on taking him up on his offer eventually.