I had never seen anything as bright as the fire that engulfed Archet. I watched from Bree, alongside Sophie, who kept giving me words of comfort. Both of her parents were already dead, but I was watching the scene that killed mine. We left Bree after that, her only at the age of eighteen, and I being twenty-one. We went into the Lone-lands, two very broken people, and then traveled through the Trollshaws. After a nasty encounter with a troll that left Sophie a gash on her forehead, and a scar on my stomach, we went into Eregion.
Sophie loved it there, and was reluctant to leave. We spent years traveling, but eventually we found ourselves back in Bree. I am now twenty-four and Sophie is twenty-one. While traveling, you don't really notice the time pass, unless you're trying to reach a destination at a certain time. I suppose that means we were wandering, instead of traveling. Either way, I had not realized we spend so many years wandering around, until we finally got home.
That's when I finally grieved. I hadn't mourned at all during the trip, I just kept pushing myself and going and going until I pushed it into the very furthest part in my mind. But being home, everything was so overwhelming. Archet was still burnt down, my parents were still dead, I still had nothing left. The first night back, I spent most of the time drinking away in the Prancing Pony, until Sophie came and got me.
She lives with our uncle, Sid Mandrake. There's hardly enough room for even one of them there, so she rented me a room at The Combe and Wattle. The first night I stayed there, I found an orange and white kitten that I named Fiddlesticks, and he lives with me now. Sophie has started up a nice business for herself and I decided to get back into woodworking. I don't think I'll ever have a shop as father did, but so far I do not mind working for myself. That's when I met Ildrand. He was kind, and funny, and spent several nights in my room, simply talking. He's a good friend and for a while I thought he was interested, but it seems that is not the case.
Lately I have been spending most of my time with a Watcher I met, Penham. He walked me home one night (since Ildrand was not around to do so, as he usually does) and decided to stay. We talked and he ended up spending the night, and then he came back the next night, and then the next. By now I have saved up enough and have just bought my new home, and he has already been here two times. I am kind of embarrassed of the decorations, for I made it very festive. Like my mother, I love the festival I was named after, and my house looks exactly like it, except for the snow.
Penham is going to The Forsaken Inn to look for one of those Stone Quarter Bandits. I'm really concerned, and I hope he doesn't get hurt. He'll return soon enough, though, and my worries will be at ease. That's what I am telling myself, anyway.
