“I’ve never been to Jardal.” Nicolai tells her, and he seems unphased by her telling him that she’d stabbed a man to death in what was once their home. Which is good, because she’s killed a lot of people since then, and she will probably have to kill a lot more before this is all over. She might even have to kill a queen.

     She didn’t really want to think about that right now.

     With a deep sigh, she says, “I know that now. I wish I’d known it then. That’s where I put my hand on a body I thought was yours and said the final departing prayer. I wept for you as that poor stranger faded into the light.”

     “What made you think it was my body?”  

     Nearly in tears remembering those moments, she explains, “I wasn’t in my right mind… and he didn’t have a head.”

     Nicolai stops walking and reaches a hand out to caress her cheek. It’s the first time he’s touched her with any affection, and something inside her breaks, releasing a flood of tears. She buries her face in the crook of his neck and breathes in his scent. Gods, she’s missed the smell of him, the leather on him warmed by the sun, accented with hints of the rich floral tea they’d had, and even now, he smells faintly of the salty breeze she remembers from the docks in Tavedor. 

     He wraps his strong arms around her and holds her while she cries. After a little while, he whispers into her hair, “I’ve missed you so Gods damned much, Kae.” and that’s when she notices he’s crying too. 

     She takes a step back and raises her hands to his face, gently brushing tears off his cheeks. Gazing into his bright green eyes, with quiet but fierce conviction, she says, “I’m here now. We’re here, together. I don’t ever want to have to be without you again. “

     He only gives her a moment to worry that maybe he’s moved on, before he crushes his mouth to hers in a kiss that nearly incinerates her with the emotions, the love behind it. She pushes her body against his like she wants to fuse them together in the heat of the moment, as his fingers tangle in her still-damp hair. 

     They stand in the forest path, so close together it’s hard to tell where she ends and he begins, kissing like their lives depend on it, with tears drying on their cheeks, and for the moment nothing else exists. There is only here and now. There is only this blissful reunion of their hearts, their bodies, and their souls. 

     Gods, I thank you for returning him to me, she thinks. 

     She can feel that Nicolai’s body has beyond risen to the occasion, and as much as she’d love to get more tangled up in him, this isn’t the place for it. So, she steps away and tries to steady her breathing. 

     He looks at her like he’s considering backing her up against a tree and showing her just how much he’s missed her, but he takes a deep breath and says, “We have a long road ahead of us. Let’s go home.”

     “Tavedor doesn’t feel like home anymore,” she tells him, “but you do. As long as I’m with you, I’ll be home.”

     With one last lingering look into each other’s eyes, she drops her hands from his body, and starts walking again. 

     She wonders what it will be like returning to Tavedor. She wonders what has happened to their old house and their things. She wonders if her friends at the tavern are still working there. 

     “Why didn’t you go home after you thought I was dead?” he asks, walking beside her.

     “How could I?” she responds, shrugging. “I left a dead man in our house with the door wide open, I stole a horse, and I didn’t know if Queen Nola would send others to find me. You were gone, and I couldn’t face all that. I couldn’t go home. I couldn’t look into your mother’s eyes and tell her that you were gone, that you’d been executed without even committing a crime, and that I'd said your final departing prayer without her. How could I? No. I decided to run away from it all, and I headed south on my stolen horse.”

     She didn’t know the mare's name, so she called her Mist, and they became good friends. She was a gentle beauty, and seemed happy enough to travel with Kaeda. Mist even saved her life once, but that’s a story for another time. She was sorry for stealing her, but she can’t regret it after all that she and the horse had gone through together. She still misses her.

     Kaeda traveled until she grew weary of sleeping on the ground and eating nothing but the things she'd foraged. 

     When the thoughts of having a hot meal and a soft bed became louder than the thoughts about everything she was running from, she stopped in the next town. The people there seemed nice enough, and there were no docks to remind her of Nicolai and all that she’d lost.

     The first thing she did was ask for work in the tavern. After explaining that she had a couple years experience and really needed to earn some money for a place to sleep, the barkeep not only agreed to hire her but also told her she could sleep in the small room off the side of the stockroom in the back. He said it was already furnished from a time when his nephew had stayed there, but hadn’t been used since. 

     She offered to start right away, but he insisted on serving her a large bowl of stew with bread and ale before sending her to get some rest. She knew then, with her belly full of deliciously seasoned meat and veggies, that she’d stopped in the right place. 

     The room was small, only big enough for the cot against one wall and the small chest of drawers next to it. There was a window to light the space, with a thick curtain she could close if she wanted to. It was perfect. 

     The cot looked freshly made up, maybe Tomas, the barkeep, had asked someone to do it while she’d been eating. She was grateful as she tumbled into that cot and fell fast asleep.