The days since my return have been strange.
Everything looks the same as I remember, from the tightly packed buildings to the dirt-strewn cobbled streets and yet it all feels so very different. I had certainly not expected everything to be on hold in my absence but even knowing that events occur without me did not prepare me for the changes I am seeing. They have only just begun, I think, for there are still many I have yet to see and much news to hear.
There are so many new faces now, so many people that I have not seen before all passing through the dim lit hallways of the tavern. Whilst it is true that I did not know that many people, still I was able to recognise the countenances of those who I had seen day after day. Now there are so few; the familiar replaced by the unknown.
Blodwynn and Baradar are having issues, it seems. He is being overbearing and stiflingly protective again, so not much has changed there it seems. I have not yet had chance to indulge in a proper conversation with either of them though, so I may be incorrect.
Davick has proved me right yet again, although in this case I would have preferred to be wrong. He and Marinette, I am told, have parted ways; he having realised finally that she would never feel for him the way he wished of her. I suppose I should be upset that he rejected me so readily for something that I knew would never be, but I am not. Rather, I feel that I failed him for not being there when he needed a friend, as I had always promised that I would be. Luckily, he has since found someone to make him happy and for that I am thankful.
Nevertheless, I have opted for avoidance tactics. Tillie I have spoken to and requested that she not tell Wolf of my return or our chats. I need time to adjust to this world and its nuances before I see him again. I have come from a place that I do understand to one that I never did, regardless of the fact that I lived here for the majority of my years. This world was never mine, I never fit in here thus trying to get a grip upon a life that is my own and yet not... it is difficult at best.
The biggest change of all, though, is that I have suddenly found myself to be single no longer. The day of my return I met Haldrid with whom I spent many hours talking. His prior decision to put an end to our prospective relationship in favour of simply staying friends was a mistake, he told me. We discussed it for a time before a joke turned into a hug and the hug turned into a kiss. It would seem that he and I are together now; a happenstance that causes me to smile.
He is a good man with a good heart and I wonder if I have finally found someone who truly will care for me.
