Realms of Shadow

4

The man's greeting, when he returned, was flat and pained, the result of an hour's soul-searching.

"I can't stand to be apart from you." He saw that the cow had gone, but he suppressed the urge to ask whence. "I couldn't stand to have you out there in the world without knowing whether you lived or died, whether you loved or hated me. I can't allow this to end bitterly."

He noticed her mountain gear, packed and almost ready to go. She had not yet added Chever's notes.

"I'll come with you," he said. "You're going home?"

"Yes, but first I'm going to try to find one of those creatures you told me about. The ones that live higher up in the mountains. "

It had occurred to her that it might be nice to bring home a little something for herself, an addition to her collection.

"Then I'll go home," she said after a while. "If you really want to honor our love that far, you should bring anything you wouldn't want to lose."

She nodded meaningfully toward the back door-the rose.

The man nodded, tucked the notes into a pack, and took a shovel and a large pot through the back door.

The druid-wizard removed one of the spellbooks from her pack and studied it idly. She had time to wait. Her only imperative was that she return when the Shadovar summoned her, and that wouldn't be for a while yet. She would sense it when that time drew near.

After an hour or so, the man reentered carrying the newly potted rose plant and a leather sling he had fashioned for carrying it mounted upon his pack. The rose had flinched as he had cut it from the ground, as though the unavoidable loss of some of its roots brought it conscious pain. It had wilted in his garden the past few tendays, largely neglected for the company of a flesh-and-blood lover. Its leaves had yellowed, and some of its petals drifted to the floor.

“I’m ready," the man said.

He eased into his pack and rose-carrying contraption, and the druid-wizard closed and repacked her book.