Had he traded a father who wouldn't listen for an uncle who doesn't either?
Aren visited the Kolten family house, for want of something better to do. He'd been with Tosie earlier, which was good, but had begun to feel lonely and bored since then.
Morrinth and Blince where there when he arrives, and Blince hands him a mead before interrogating him. He asks about what Aren will do while in Bree to earn money and so on. Aren, who didn't have an answer, only shrugs in annoyance. So Blince moves on to Rin. He spotted a ring on her finger, and he frowns at it.
He seemed to think it was a ring of proposal from her lover, who he doesn't seem at all fond of. A shouting match ensues, in which Rin says Blince is many of the things Logan was. Were the two Kolten parents more alike than he had hoped?
It ended when Rin threw a cup at a wall and Blince leaves quietly. Ardyth, Aren's other cousin arrived during the argument, and attempts to calm her half sister. It does little to help, Rin storming out after declaring she was moving out. Aren watches, keeping his stony expression, hiding the worry that Blince would be like his father.
Ardyth comes over to were he was sitting, and they talk a little, about his opinion on Bree, and life there. She asks about his past and so on, and agrees his father was in the wrong. They head out to the Pony to grab a drink, Aren wanting to get away from the Kolten house and the worry in his belly.
After his cousin had left the inn, Aren was sipping his drink when a stranger approached him. A sellsword as it turned out, offering his services. He only crinkles his nose and turns away. Writing messages could often be frustrating and tiring, and didn't want to waste the effort on such a man. He gets another ale and the man leaves him be, probably assuming him to be rude, but Aren didn't care.
The next day, he met Tosie at the Prancing Pony, where she bought a cup of tea, unfamiliar with the hot drink, Aren decides to try it. It wasn't until she added mint leaves that he felt that it was nice, it wasn't his favourite drink, but it was good. She liked the drawing he did, of her sitting beneath an oak tree and smiles feeling proud of his work.
On one hand, there was a lot of worry about this new life in Bree, but on the other, there were some definite positives.
