“Where you were born and the place you call home are rarely one and the same, and that is fine. People have their own lives and move about. Others might stick to their hometowns and remain there all their lives, and that would be fine as well. Everyone has their own path in life.” - Saying attributed to the Silver Maiden.

After their vacation and getaway on the southern shores, Aideen’s group headed back north, but went past Tohrmutgent and instead made for La Fiachna. It had been many years since Aideen visited her birthplace and hometown, as she visited more rarely with the passage of time. For Rhys and Eilonwy, the visit also had some additional meaning, as the two were also Fiachnas by blood, and technically even far higher up on the family hierarchy compared to the Fiachnas living in town.

One of Maebh’s descendants still served as governor in the present time, and her branch of the family had been fruitful over the centuries too, with there being at least over a hundred people in town who had the Fiachna name and blood. Even so, Aideen had minimal connection to their generation, as they were so far apart from hers that they were practically strangers to each other, despite the familial link.

La Fiachna remained prosperous in the present day and age, its inhabitants walking around with carefree smiles on their faces. If there was a noticeable change, it was how the garrison forces of the town had been greatly reduced compared to the past. After all, La Fiachna used to be right on the border to both Antemeia and Vitalica before. Now that both of those nations were respectively assimilated and annexed by the Lichdom, there was no longer any need to maintain a strong garrison force.

If there was one thing that could be considered unusual about La Fiachna and the region around it, it was the presence of horses in the region. Horses were uncommon in the Lichdom as they were not needed as beasts of burden, but they were commonly used in the other former nations. The region around La Fiachna happened to be home to a breed of horses that had particularly desirable qualities.

Commonly called a Fiachna Destrier, the local breed of horses were tall and muscular, with a sturdy build, great strength, and endurance, which made them great warhorses, as Aideen remembered from her youth. Her father and eldest brother used to ride such steeds into battle, and while their later incorporation to the Lichdom meant that they no longer needed warhorses, the locals still bred and raised them, regardless.

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After all, it turned out that the Fiachna Destriers were extremely popular and prized greatly in both the Jarldoms and in Elmaiya, with a few enterprising merchants even buying some to sell in Alcidea, though Aideen had no knowledge on the results of said venture. People who used horses as mounts knew quality when they saw them, and as a result, raising the horses became a popular business in the region surrounding La Fiachna, one that contributed to the town’s prosperity.

The group visited the town quietly, as they were there more to pay a visit to their hometown, as well as the cemetery where Aideen’s father, mother, and eldest brother were interred. It was a somewhat solemn procession, though one that attracted minimal attention. There were apparently many visitors who came to pay their respects to Aideen’s parents, many being other descendants of Maebh who had moved and lived elsewhere.

Aideen felt somewhat nostalgic as she walked through the familiar yet foreign roads of the town she was born and raised in. Naturally, after well over three centuries little of the town remained as she remembered it, with the one thing that remained the same being the renovated mansion she once called home that had served as the governor’s office for centuries by that point of time.

For better or worse, the town of her birth had moved on, while Aideen herself sometimes felt as if she had been transfixed in time. Logically, she knew that it was not the case, that she too had changed and grown with the years that passed, but sometimes the feeling still nagged at her mind nonetheless, and she couldn’t help but wonder about it.

It was something she had to keep in mind for the future, Aideen guessed. To ensure that she didn’t stagnate. She doubted that she’d like it if the world moved on while she remained stagnant, so she noted that in her mind and resolved to continue pursuing her path, no matter where it led her, in the eternity that awaited her.

When she was first risen into unlife as it was, she was uncertain on how long her second life could last. Centuries had passed and she remained in existence, but the nagging worry and doubt at the back of Aideen’s head remained, nonetheless. Immortality had sounded too good to be true, even with the pains it brought along with its blessings.

The “talk” she had with the Deity pretty much confirmed that she would remain in existence so long as she still had any desire to exist, however, and unlike others who had risen into unlife but chose to shuffle off the mortal world in the end, Aideen still felt content with her life so far. She strived to enjoy what life she had and make it as meaningful as she could.

Whether her thoughts might change or otherwise in the coming centuries, she had no certainty, but she liked to believe that she would be able to hold on to her convictions to make her existence a useful one for the world at large. There were many ways one could do that, both directly and indirectly, as she had learned over the years.

As for her own dream, to make a place for those like her to truly call a home of their own, that too remained in her mind. The undertakings involved for such a thing would take a while to prepare, and Aideen felt that it wouldn’t be too early to start her preparations even then.