Rowan stood before her sister, sword in hand and a face full of uncertain joy. She sheathed Elan Fiir quickly and rushed over. However, a large, incredibly well muscled young man stepped between them as she approached.

"Who are you?" he asked in an interrogatory tone.

"I could ask you the same thing," Rowan challenged.

"Byrden, blacksmith."

"Rowan, Ardent, and that girl's sister." Rowan recognised his name from the letter and she would likely need to thank him later, but right now he was in her way and she wasn't in the mood to be polite.

The man turned to face Tehri and asked her, "Is this true?"

Tehri simply nodded in response and Byrden cautiously stepped aside.

Not wanting to waste another second, Rowan jumped into her sister's arms. "I've missed you!" she cried in melancholic joy. She felt Tehri's arms wrap around her. At long last, they were together.

After a few, probably awkward, minutes Tehri pulled away and reached up to her neck. Rowan instantly noticed that Tehri was wearing the bracelet that she had commissioned back in Tærin. It had been meant to help bridge the distance that had grown between them. She was glad to see that it had reached her.

Tehri's hands continued and she unclasped something from her neck. Before Rowan could see what it was, Tehri wordlessly reached forwards around her neck and fastened it in place. When Tehri pulled back the second time, Rowan saw her twin moon pendant hanging from her neck. Tehri smiled at her warmly and Rowan hugged her tightly.

"Miss Rowan, I think you're crushing her," the blacksmith interrupted.

Rowan immediately let go and clambered back several feet. "I'm so sorry, Tehri. Are you okay? I didnae hurt you did I?"

Tehri waved her hand and shook her head as if to gesture something that Rowan didn't quite understand.

"Is something wrong?" Rowan asked anxiously.

"She can't talk," Byrden answered.

"What do you mean?"

Instead of Byrden answering, one of the women in the small group decided to interrupt them. "This is all well and good," she said, "but don't…"

Rowan stared daggers at her and prayed it wasn’t the woman mentioned in the letter. "Shut the fuck up or Goddess help me. Please continue, Master Byrden"

"Right well she's been unable to talk the entire time that she's been with us. We don't know why. Even when we got her checked by a doctor, they couldn't think of a reason why."

While Byrden talked, Tehri signed something. "She says that she's trying."

"She can talk with her hands?

Tehri nodded smugly.

"That's great!" Rowan beamed. "You'll have to teach me, Tehri, and I'll help you find your voice."

Tehri nodded again, only this time she did so with a massive animated grin.

Rowan then stood up to address the group as a whole. "Hello everyone, my name is Rowan. I'm sure you must be exhausted after trekking all this way from Aran Village, but this is no place for a group of unarmed civilians. I can escort you to Næmyris, but we need to leave now before the mandra brings in anything more dangerous."

She was exaggerating the danger a little bit. Most of the more dangerous creatures were situated deeper into the forest or closer to the mountains. A mandra that close to the buffer zone was an anomaly.

"How much further is it to Næmyris?" one of them asked, a boy around Tehri's age.

"I'm not completely sure with how fast I was running, but it can't be much more than a few hours."

"A few hours?" It didn't tell them much, but it certainly put Rowan's speed into perspective. Rowan saw several jaws drop. This was likely their first time being exposed to what an Ardent was besides hearing the name.

Rowan held Tehri's hand firmly as she guided the group through the forest. She quickly identified Hana from the crowd by how Byrden helped her through the undergrowth. The woman that had interrupted her reunion with Tehri kept to the back while the boy that had asked how far away they were was hovering nearby. Rowan wondered what relation he had to Tehri or the Kaafasts if any.

"You're going to trip if you don't watch where you're going," Rowan told him.

He fumbled over his response as he very quickly went flat on his face.

Rowan laughed as she stopped and faced him. "Told you so," she said, reaching out to help him up.

"Thank you," he replied, taking her hand. With him once again standing, they started walking again.

"So, care to tell me your name and why you were hovering?" Rowan asked inquisitively.

"Oh right, I haven't introduced myself, have I? I'm Kamren, Tehri's, ah, friend." He stammered awkwardly towards the end there.

Rowan caught onto the implications in his introduction pretty much instantly. She could recognise that tone from a mile away. "Just friends?" she asked with a knowing smile.

"Yes, ma'am," he answered almost immediately. If that wasn't enough to confirm Rowan's suspicions, Tehri's rising blush certainly was.

"Well thank you for taking care of my sister."

"Yes, uh, thank you, ma'am." Rowan could see the awkward embarrassment practically oozing out of him. It was adorable. She'd still need to test him at some point to see how worthy of Tehri he was, however.

"With that said, if you do anything to hurt her, you'll answer to me."

Kamren paled visibly from the palpable threat in Rowan's voice as he retreated slightly. Tehri pulled slightly on her arm and gave her a look of protest.

"I'm mostly just teasing him," Rowan whispered. "At the same time, I'm not going to let anyone hurt you. Not if I can help it."

Tehri gave her a small, awkward smile in response as they then went on with their trek through the forest. Not long after entering the buffer zone, they were joined by a group of rangers. With a full escort, the rest of the journey occurred without incident.

All in all, it took them just under four hours to reach the treeline. Rowan had covered that distance in just a few minutes. She wasn’t exactly sure how many. Even with her enhanced reflexes, she was too focused to even think about it.

The rangers left them as they stepped out of the forest. Næmyris was close enough that people could almost touch it. They only had roughly two more miles to go. Rowan took them past where she had been doing her high altitude scouting to see if Seres was still there with Lochlan and Liadra. Unsurprisingly, she wasn't. Rowan might have slapped them if they had left her there in the cold.

Next stop was the town proper. The group managed to garner a significant number of looks from the people going about their business. There wasn't any helping it, they were all dressed in rags and mismatched clothing whilst being led by the extremely well dressed, crimson haired Rowan. People were starting to recognise her on account of how much she favoured her mother. It wasn’t enough for people to be certain, but it was certainly enough to get the rumour mill rolling.

Rowan took them straight to a tailor so that they could get out of their clothes and into something fresh and new. She didn’t waste time trying to find the perfect store like she had done with Seres in Feldran. All that mattered here was speed and the clothes having a good enough fit.

Some of the people in the group tried to pay for their own clothes, but Rowan waved them off. "I've got this," she told them. When they tried to object, she simply told them, "You've just survived a hellstorm and your village has been destroyed. You'll need that money to start a new life so keep it. Trust me, I have enough to get you some clothes along with food and shelter for a few days."

She got a few doubtful looks right up until she started pulling out gold chain coins. The group needed no more convincing after that. Rowan bought everyone two sets of clothes. It almost felt wrong spending that much money at once. The 'almost' came from Rowan realising that her coin pouch was barely any lighter and remembering that she had spent about as much buying clothes for herself in Feldran. Having money directly from the Crown was ruining her perspective

Getting everyone shelter was the next priority. She would also need to reserve rooms for Seres, Lochlan, Liadra and herself. Ideally she would rather sleep in her own bed, but her house was nowhere near clean enough for that.

When Rowan considered all the inns in town, she decided on The Crimson Drakiir. It was the largest inn in Næmyris and it would serve as the perfect place for Rowan's plan to bring back some of the town's spirit.

Næmyris had suffered a disaster like no other. When the raiders attacked, they destroyed more than lives and families. They decimated the townsfolk and spirited away what little strength the survivors had left. After five long years the scars were still raw. Rowan knew that she couldn’t restore what had been lost but she was determined to give people the strength to start moving forwards. She wanted to give the town and everyone within the chance to live again.

When they entered the inn, they were greeted by the owner who immediately turned pale. It was like he had just seen a ghost.

"Long time no see, Master Reiman," Rowan greeted him. He didn't look exactly like how she remembered him, but he was recognisable enough, even with his greying brown hair and beard.

"Is that really you, Rowan?" he asked.

"The one and only," Rowan replied.

"We heard rumours and someone mentioned seeing someone with your hair walking through town, but no one dared believe it was true. Have you seen my boy? Did he escape as well?"

The question pained Rowan and she knew how much the answer would hurt Reiman. At the same time, lying to him would be too cruel; she couldn’t do it. "I'm sorry, Master Reiman. I haven't seen him in over a year. I'm sure he's still alive, however."

"Is that so?" The moment of hope on his face vanished into shadow.

"With that said, I'll do all I can to free him and everyone else. You have my word as Ardent Flame of Midiris."

"How can a lone woman free so many?"

"I'm not alone and I'm not just a woman. I'm an Ardent and a sister of the Crown."

Rowan could feel the jaws dropping all around her from the proclamation and Reiman started looking a little brighter. She felt a little smug from the reaction.

"Unfortunately, that is a quest for the future. Right now I need to reserve every single room you can spare for these poor people. They came from Aran Village after it was destroyed by the storm. I'll also need a place to stay along with the second princess and her two guards. One room for Seres and myself and one room for the guards. We would stay in my house, but it is in dire need of a clean. I can pay for weeks worth of room and board up front for all of us."

This time, one of the barmaids dropped a dozen or so pints of ale and the colour fled once again from Reiman's face. She should have expected something like that would happen; offering to pay for seven days worth of room and board for nineteen people up front was not a thing that normal people would do.

"Are you sure you can afford that?" Reiman asked hesitantly.

"I was given more than enough by Her Majesty," Rowan answered.

"Is there anything else I can do for you?"

"Write up what I owe you and spread the word that I'll be singing tonight. I might not be my mother but I learned a lot from her and I am an Ardent."

"Understood." Rowan could almost swear that he was smiling.

"Great! Now I just need to find Seres and bring her over." With a smile on her own face, Rowan then turned to Byrden and Hana. "I won't be long, but please take care of Tehri while I'm gone. I'll thank you both properly later."

"You've done more than enough," Byrden replied sincerely.

"I really haven't. This is only the start of my gratitude."

Rowan then left Tehri in their care and left for home. She wanted to make sure the house was more presentable before bringing her there. It was going to be painful so Rowan wanted to numb the impact as best she could. There was also the issue of their father. Rowan wasn’t sure how well he would handle seeing Tehri. For now, things could remain as they were. The first steps towards change were set for later that evening. Until then, Rowan had to prepare.