She was weak, very weak. I was standing on the threshold of the manor house with one fist up ready to knock and the other barely holding her up. I thought better of it but as I moved my hand to catch her as she began to shudder, my hand hit the door. Moments later a well groomed man later in his years, yet his eyes held more wisdom than the high priest of Helm. He didn’t ask he simply stepped out; put his body under her other arm and we carried her inside. He began calling out orders but the words escaped me. As we lay her down on a bed he called for the house runner to fetch the town healer. By now the whole house was moving quickly except for the stately man who put his hand on my shoulder. His eyes were kind and warm. He pulled a chair up next to the couch for me to sit in and then pulled one up for himself. “My name is Lord Sarent,” he said, “You are welcome to stay here till she is better; I will have a cot brought in. You should know that times are troubled here in Shadow’s Edge. I hope you will get some rest and we can discuss this in the morning.” Standing he reached the door before I stopped him. “Lord Sarent?” He turned and looked back, “My name is Loddick and this is my mother Kathryn.” He smiled and closed the door. I don’t think I slept that night, but I must have because Ysfel woke me up in the morning, and I thought I was in heaven. --- “Wake up sleepy” I rolled a little but slowly came to my senses. “Mama” I spoke in elven, as if waking from a bad dream of exile from home, and diseases, and exhaustion. “You must call all the girls that.” A giggle and my senses returned. My eyes opened to what must have been the most beautiful young woman I had ever seen. Slightly disoriented, I quickly observed my surroundings and found myself in a simple guest room with moderate furnishings, until they came to mama. She was covered in blankets, a cloth on her forehead, and pale from fighting the disease. Sighing deeply I turned back to the girl. “I’m Ysfel, food should be ready soon. I’ll see if Caid* will let me bring some up to you.” Before I could open my mouth she floated across the room and was out before I could say something stupid and ruin all my chances with her. Not that that would stop me. I turned back to mama and took her hand and simply held it. It was cold to the touch, but still was strong. “I love you, mama” I whispered in elvish, “Come back to me, I need you.” Holding the moment I hoped for some answer, but received none. Looking at my pack I locked the door and changed quickly before breakfast came back. *Caid is the cook before he died to the plague. He accompanied Lord Sarent on a few adventures. Mercy was hired after he died. --- Over the next few days I didn’t leave that room, Lord Sarent and the staff was kind enough to me, each in their own way. Darse was like a father to the staff: Warm, friendly, correcting, and resourceful. Ysfel was an angel with a rough past. It only took me three days to stick my foot in my mouth but she smiled and laughed at me and then continued to visit and talk. It was easy to talk to her about anything, she had similar disenchantments with life and we helped each other overcome some of the smaller things in life. Caid provided me with enough food for regaining my strength, I enjoied spending time in the kitchen watching him cook and recount some of Lord Sarent’s adventures, only to have The Lord enter on multiple occasions and deny the entire story. One week after arriving I left my room and wandered outside to get some fresh air, something that I had not had in sometime. Mama was having a good day and some of her color was returning. That day I met Martis. The stable hand was trying to talk some sense into Pendro a rather large horse. “Pendro, your starting to eat too much, you know if you get too big they will start making you do hard work. You don’t want to do that, you are better for carrying a rider than supplies or pulling a cart.” Pendro snorted a retort and turned his head away. This continued for some time with Martis making various comments about working too hard and Pendro snorting a reply and eating some feed as if to spite Martis. “Ever ridden a horse Loddick?” Turning with a jump I found Lord Sarent standing not five feet from me. “No my Lord, I haven’t.” Having not seen my host I began to thank him for his hospitality but he held my praise. “Well I think you should learn. Will you ride with me for a bit? I’ll go slow and help you out.” Without waiting for an answer he began heading towards Martis and Pendro. Blinking once I took a few quick steps to reach his side and then kept stride with him. After asking Martis to join us as well he mounted a black Morab stallion named Tarmoon. I mounted Ginger, and Martis took Seeva. While I didn’t know their names at the time the ride would explain how I came to know them. He talked of duty, service, valor, honor, kindness, gracefulness, and service. At the end of the ride I still had trouble handling Ginger, but I was going to learn how. I was going to work with Martis as payment for staying in the manor house and the watching over of my mother. --- 2 weeks later Martis was what I would now call a good friend, something that I didn’t have in Highcastle. He was demanding as someone to work for, constantly grooming the animals, feeding them, making sure they had their exercise, cleaning up after them. It was good training, kept him in shape, and allowed mama and myself to stay and for her to rest and regain some strength. Half the town had some family member that had the plague by now but no one blamed one person or another, they just suffered, prayed and moved on. “Quit daydreaming over there Loddick, we still need to make sure the blankets are in good repair and do some knitting with Ysfel and then feed the horses.” “Alright Martis, I’m just finishing up with Tarmoon. I’ll be in with the blankets in a couple of minutes.” He walked over to the stables from the main door of the manor hall. He looked at me grooming the last few hairs into place. He was staring at me trying to measure something but I couldn’t figure out what it was. “What?” Chewing his options in his head he shook his head, “Nothing, tell ya what. Take the rest of the day off and see your mum. She’s having a good day so go see her, Lord Sarent’s orders.” Taking a carrot off the shelf I fed it to Tarmoon, gave the horse a final pat and went inside. Behind me Martis began with a loud cheer as his two kids came downstairs and they ran up and hugged their daddy. Opening the door to the lord’s hall Mercy was cooking up something good. The cooking helped her not think of her husband she said, but she still hurt inside. Taking my mind off food I went down the hall to our room. Turning inside the room I saw her head turn my way and smile. Walking over I held her hand as I was used to. We talked for a while, she in whispers, and I responding with similar whispers. Before long Ysfel came in with dinner, I thanked her and mama did what she could for a thank you. She just smiled and my eyes followed her out and she closed the door. “You like her don’t you?” a soft whisper came from behind me. Turning my head to mama she was grinning with a grin that only a mother could have when inquiring about her son’s love interests. “Yes I do, she is beautiful and strong of heart.” I answered knowing that I could not avoid the question, “Every day I see her, I see more than the outside and the beauty inside the beauty.” “You should tell her then,” came the whisper. Her eyes were peering as if measuring something. “Besides everyone else in the manor already knows it, you should see your face lighten up when she is around.” Sure that my cheeks were burning, “That obvious?” She simply nodded. I bent over and kissed her on the forehead, the last kiss that she would remember. --- I remember pacing the stables with tears in my eyes; I had been there for some time because Ginger was giving me a rather odd look. Martis was standing there waiting for me to come out of my daze. I stopped in my tracks and looked at him, he shifted his look to a question of if I was alright. Slowly the past twenty minutes came swirling back to me. Mama had lost the fight against the plague that morning, she was gone before I had woken up. I remembered the crying, then weeping till I didn’t think I had tears left, but more came. Then Darse was there for a blur of a moment or five minutes, it didn’t matter. I looked around; most of the manor staff was standing at the door just watching me, some with tears beginning to form. I turned my attention back to Martis and held his gaze, He didn’t say anything but we talked in that minute. My eyes and his eyes were good enough that he knew my actions before I did them. “Behind the stables ok with you?” I said weakly. He sighed, walked over to the shovels and grabbed two. “Let’s go.” We spent the next five minutes digging, at which point Lord Sarent joined us with a shovel of his own and we worked in shifts. No words were spoken and the work too my mind off things that I didn’t want to think about. I speared the ground with my shovel and returned to the manor house. Darse had already covered her with a white linen sheet. Finding strength from somewhere I lifted her up and put her in the hole we had dug. When the hole was filled I placed a stone to mark the site. The manor staff came out to observe silence with me, and one by one they left with a pat on the shoulder till only Martis was left. Again we talked with facial expressions and eye contact. When we were done he said, “You could stay you know.” “I know.” I replied, “This is the only place that I would call home in my entire life. Yet it is full of pain and hurt. I have to go.” Martis nodded and knew he couldn’t stop me. I returned to the manor house and gathered my things without a word to anyone. When I had slipped out of the manor I found Martis upon Seeva, and Ginger saddled with no rider. Mounting I took one look at the manor house, one look to where my mother lay in the ground, and then giving Ginger a pat on the neck we trotted off. For once, it was Ysfel watching me go instead of me watching her. At the outskirts of town we reigned up, dismounted, shook hands and I walked off in an aimless path that would lead me to Archwood. That is another story for another time.