In the aftermath of anything, healing and reconciliation are ultimate aspirations.
Several days had passed since The Men of the Woods had opened the door and let Taala walk free. They made little to no sense; it mattered not, she believed very little of what spilled from their mouths, fools, half-wits, call them what you may but they had discovered a way to breeze through life negligent in the thought of others. Taala had suffered at their actions, but had stepped from that ramshackle cabin a more adept individual than when she had entered.
Most peculiarly her thoughts drifted to Foxwin whom she had left behind in Evendim some weeks earlier, what may have become of him? She recalled her last night with him atop the Colossus and how she had left without a word. Did she miss him? What was it about this man? He was nothing more than a man after all, was he not? Taala scowled to herself, dismissing the sentiment and threw aside the chain-mail she was making in frustration, slung her bow upon her back and trotted her horse towards Bree.
As fate would have it, by perchance there he was the foolish man, sat upon the fountain outside of the Prancing Pony, deep in thought his cloak floating upon the water. She watched him with a smile when he stood up and wrung his cloak out upon the ground frowning at his own clumsiness. He knew immediately the person who jumped upon his back and smothered his face with kisses was she, and despite her transgression he bore no malice toward her.
They set off to check upon his workshop in Archet, but did not get that far, instead they sat in a field filled with beautiful white blooms, swaying gently in the wind sending their fragrance about them, and it might be said they looked a picture of loveliness.
He told her of his time in Ost Forod and she told him of her recent capture and news of The Bloody Dawn He smiled to himself as he listened to her account, told only as Taala would tell a tale, blunt but entertaining some might concede. And then he lay her down in that field of blossoms and the talking stopped...
The clouds emptied themselves of warm summer rain, but Taala and Foxwin noticed not a drop in the those moments they lay together. There was a peace that had not been felt for some time in Taala, and as that peace descended upon her she knew what it was about Foxwin, this quiet, innocuous man, who accepted every horrible deed she did without judgment... brought a calm into her life that no other could.
And that was how it was for the next three days and three nights until she crept from his workshop at dawn... enough was enough...wasn't it?
