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For Ashlynn, the night passed with the most blissful, relaxed sleep she’d enjoyed in months. In time, she became accustomed to the hammock in her small hut in the Briar, but no matter how comfortable it was or how welcoming Amahle tried to be, the Briar never felt like home.

The High Fen wasn’t home either. Ashlynn had been here for close to two weeks and she had yet to rest as peacefully as she had the night before.

It wasn’t about the soft, pillowy mattress on the oversized bed or the warm crackling hearth that kept the evening chill at bay.

Those were certainly more familiar things than dangling from the ceiling in the middle of a swamp, but they couldn’t make a place feel like home.

Nyrielle’s arrival had changed everything for Ashlynn.

Her lover’s presence provided more than just a sense of physical safety and security, or the soft comfort of intimacy.

Now, she had someone she could share her burdens with.

She didn’t have to be the imposing and strong Mother of Trees around Nyrielle the way she was when she toured High Fen City.

She didn’t have to carry the weight of planning for their return to the Vale of Mists.

.. at least, she didn’t have to carry those things alone.

She didn’t want to be rescued from those burdens.

Owain might have thought that it was his duty as the husband to relieve her of all burdens but that wasn’t the kind of woman Ashlynn wanted to be at all.

She had no desire to be a beautiful songbird in a gilded cage, kept for the enjoyment of a select few.

She wanted to share her burdens with Nyrielle and for Nyrielle to share them with her.

With that in mind, when Ashlynn rose in the late afternoon, she asked Heila to bring company to share a late lunch with her.

Unlike her previous visit, this time she’d made sure that the palace staff understood her need to replenish herself after Nyrielle fed on her and by the time she had washed and dressed, not only had her oversized meal arrived, but her guests had as well.

"Captain Lennart," Ashlynn said with a welcoming smile that faltered when she saw the ragged scar that distorted the bearish man’s face. "Things must have been hard for you since we last saw each other," she said simply.

Her hand twitched at her side and it took every ounce of restraint she possessed to keep it there.

After months under Amahle’s tutelage, her first reflex had been to offer to heal the old wound, fading or even erasing the scar.

But for most Eldritch clans, including the Clan of the Great Claw, scars were either badges of honor or marks of deep shame, depending on how they were received.

In either case, erasing them was taboo, and offering to do so would only offend the man who had guarded Nyrielle this whole time.

And so, rather than comment further, Ashlynn turned to the other warrior who entered the room, giving her a wide smile when she saw no obvious signs of injuries, whether they were honorable ones or not.

"Virve, it’s good to see you again," Ashlynn said before gesturing at the small table in her sitting room. "Please, join me. Take as much as you’d like, there’s no way I’ll eat all this, even after Mistress Nyrielle drank her fill last night."

The food on the table consisted of several dishes of spiced and roasted meats, sliced thin, and served alongside a large pile of flatbread and nearly a dozen small bowls of dipping sauces. For a moment, both soldiers looked uncomfortable with the casual atmosphere.

After months of formal negotiations with more than a dozen clans and almost as many Eldritch Lords, the relaxed, comfortable relationships they’d previously enjoyed with Lady Nyrielle and her progeny felt like memories of a different time.

Too many times, they’d been reminded of their stations while Nyrielle pushed forward ruthlessly to secure what she needed to defend the Vale.

Neither soldier blamed her for that, but the way Ashlynn acted as if nothing had changed caught both of them off guard.

"We’re all family here," Heila said, reaching out to add a few pieces of rich, herb-crusted pork belly to the pile of vegetables on her flatbread. "I told cousin Talauia that this was time just for us from the Vale, so you don’t have to act like there are outsiders watching," she said with a smile.

"In that case," Virve said, leaning forward eagerly to pile succulent beef that smelled of warm cinnamon and hot peppers onto her flatbread before slathering it with a bright green sauce so spicy that Heila’s nose twitched at the mere thought of eating it.

"To family," Virve said with a smile before taking a hearty bite, flashing Heila a challenging look before licking a stray bit of green sauce from her lips.

"I wish you could have stayed with us, Virve," Ashlynn said between bites of her own sweet and spicy pork. "I think you would have enjoyed some of the sights in the Briar."

"It wasn’t a bother, was it my lady?" the bearish woman asked. Both Ashlynn and Heila seemed to be in high spirits, but she couldn’t help but notice when she saw them the night before that the Sandbox Witch was missing and the Thistle Witch, Talauia, had appeared in his place.

"That leather-skinned brute didn’t do anything inappropriate, did he? "

"Jacques was fine," Ashlynn said, giving Heila a knowing look. "He’s just a bit awkward. There were misunderstandings between us when we first met but those have long since become water under the bridge."

"He’s really not that bad," Heilla added with a warm smile of her own. "He stood guard over Lady Ashlynn while she prepared my seed of witchcraft, and he stood guard over me while I faced my trail to master it."

"He’s a good man," Heila added a touch wistfully. Despite everything that had been rough and the ways he could occasionally be infuriating, she’d come to find a strange sort of comfort inside the prickly bubble he surrounded himself and his loved ones whenever he felt that there might be a threat to a person he had resolved himself to protect.

Now that he’d stayed behind in the Briar, she found that she missed his reassuring presence more than she expected to.

"But he didn’t accompany you?" Captain Lennart said with a raised brow as he tried to understand the implications behind Heila’s description of the Sandbox Witch as a ’good man.’ "Did something happen?" Lennart asked as he finished adding sauces to the plate he balanced in his large hand.

Unlike everyone else, the bearish captain had filled his plate with what seemed like one or two pieces of every dish on the table along with a spoonful of every dipping sauce and he was slowly working his way through the combinations of flavors in a way that made Ashlynn wonder if he and the chef Georg were somehow related.

"It’s nothing complicated," Ashlynn said lightly. "The Rose Witch and Blackberry Witch are each away on business of their own. We’d hoped that one of them could have returned before we left, but we couldn’t wait any longer if we wanted to ensure that we could cross the mountains before the pass became blocked with snow.

Someone had to stay behind with big sister Amahle and since Taluia came with us. .."

"I’ve heard the Thistle Witch only leaves the Briar when someone has offended the Mother of Thorns so greatly that they have to be killed no matter where they’re hiding," Lennart added moments after his face contorted around a particularly sour combination of vinegared grouse and a pale yellow sauce that glistened like honey but tasted like lemons and ginger.

"She’s not here on some business of the Mother of Thorns, is she? "

"Talauia will be accompanying us back to the Vale of Mists," Ashlynn said carefully. "We believe it might be wise to put some additional distance between her and certain individuals who wish to capture her. The Briar is a safe place most of the time, but even big sister Amahle has limits."

"I see..." Lennart said delicately. "Is there anything I should do to prepare defenses for her while we travel?" he asked, instantly regaining a measure of his professional demeanor.

"No, I think we should be fine between myself, Mistress Nyrielle, and everyone else you’ve brought along," Ashlynn said confidently.

"But, on the subject of the people who have come with you," she said slowly.

"Can you tell me what happened that you came to possess such a large army?

I knew that Mistress Nyrielle was looking for allies but this.

.. this was a bit more than I think any of us expected. "

"It may take a while to explain," Lennart said carefully. "And Lady Nyrielle will likely be able to provide you with many details that I can’t. If you’d like to hear the general shape of things, I think I can tell you that much at least."

"Please," Ashlynn said, leaning forward eagerly in her chair. For months, she’d had almost no news of how her lover had faired in her mission. She only had the faint echo of Nyrielle’s heartbeat in her chest to reassure her that her love was still alive and that her heartbeat was strong and vigorous.

But beyond alive and healthy, she knew almost nothing, and now, she wanted to hear as much as she could about the victories that Nyrielle must have won to return with such an impressive fighting force.

"Anything you can tell me will be welcome, Captain," Ashlynn said, a touch more formally than she had been now that the topic had become more serious.

"In that case," Lennart said smoothly as his demeanor shifted to match Ashlynn’s tone. "I think I should start with what happened at the Tangled Tower..."