Adriellyn

The bright afternoon sun shone down onto Hookworth as Arenborn strolled leisurely through the village, breathing in the warm summer scents. He made his way along the well-maintained paths to the Sizzling Turtle Tavern and strolled through the grass to sit at the base of one of the tall trees in the yard and settled between two large roots.

Evening sunlight filtered through the windows of the tavern, small particles of dust floating in the beams of bright light. Arenborn Kolten was sat inside the Sizzling Turtle tavern of Hookworth beside the fireplace, taking advantage of the light from the windows to write in his book. It was one of his many drafts of a letter to his parents. Every time he had tried to write one they had ended up crumpled up and thrown away. They didn’t even know he was knighted, let alone married.

I been making myself feel all right about the fact that I can't go back and live in the Mark no more, by thinking of how I'm in a life I chose, and a life where everything goes right on account it's what I chose. It's like I'm the hero of a minstrel's tale; once I chose it, it's like it's fate, so everything got to keep going right with it. But this ain't no minstrel's tale, and I ain't no hero, and things go wrong, very wrong. Sometimes when something's too good to be true, it's too good to be true.

Hardly feels like any time passed since we left the Mark, but it's been a long journey, with many settings of the sun.

We been keeping away from the cities of the Mark considering on what the Thane told me, that my welcome ain't what it were, now I'm no longer a Man of the Mark. Probably it would be fine, on account the lands are not at war, and we're peaceable visitors. The one éored we come upon didn't even stop us. Still, we thunk it were best not to test it. But when we come to Harwick, not stopping didn't seem possible, because we had to inquire after any news since we left.

I've noticed, when on a journey more than a few hours, how the way back goes much quicker, but feels much, much longer.

So it turns out the Sea does look just like a big lake, or leastwise, that's what it were like when we first saw it. That's on account our first glimpse, a couple days out of Mundburg near a city they call Pelargir what's at the mouth of the Great River, is in the narrowest part of the Bay of Belfalas, so you can see the other side easy enough. During the next few days of riding, we followed the shore, and the Bay got wider and wider. Couldn't see the other side fair soon, and it got to looking like a vasty, threateningly wide bit of wet nothing.