We had come to Hannover triumphant. Our long quest satisfied and the future as hopeful as could be. Reunited with my childhood friends in a city of magic made it all the more gloroious. I was a girl last time we were together. Now grown, I had proved myself equal to the task. The Island of Sidhe Lara had not destroyed me. The meddling Hag and her coven had shown me a way of life that now served me in my adult life. From that tiny island I was vaulted into the world and so much more for it. Alonce Cateras had shown me a world far beyond my imaginings. My traveling companions becoming a new family as we delved ruins and tombs. I felt as if I could touch the sky, held aloft by our successes. The contrast of my current circumstances feels like fate was conspiring to ensure that no light will shine for long on me.
Keld and I searched the camp of Hod followers for some time before we found picks and shovels. In the nearby fields we burried out friends. Their final resting place marked by freshly turned stones. I held a bundle in my arms, a collection of memories swaddled in a soiled cloak. These were the spoils of the evening. The bearable items from our fallen friends. I wished for rain; A downpour to wash away this charred strip of land and flush the artifacts of this evening into the river. The Gods creulty was affirmed when a cold dry wind came in answer to my prayer. Had the Hag curesed me with these powers. I was not ignorant of the origins of my powers. Was it this source that would always spoil the outcome.
I longed to return to the busom that was my Hlofreden home. Return to the boys who once vied for my affections. Would I spoil their world too. Curse them with my company? I couldn't be sure. Keld had already confessed a homesickness for Akeron. It would take him some time to raise the funds to return home. He would work as a mercenry here in Hannover until his purse was satisfied. Where did that leave me? There were witches in Hannover. High-brow and secure in their positions. Thats not who I was, or who I wanted to become. Could I go home again?
I looked back towards the camp. Embers of orange and deep red looking like starfields under the men as they rounded up survivors and pillaged the dead. I could not discern one person from another in the half light. Would they even accept me if I could go to them?
I pulled my bundle close to my breast and turned to the distant lights of Hannover. I would consider my options from the soft bed of the Inn we had secured for our prolonged stay here. Perhaps the morning light would shed a bettler light on my future.
