Madeline Warmbow

Maddy sat in front of the fire of the tea house, a cup of chammomile tea propped on a stack of books next to her as she wrote another poem in a collection of works for Van.

The past week had been a whirlwind of activity, from contracting Mae to help her design the tea house, to earning the gold needed to build, paying back the Duchy for the loan to build her home and donating scores of arrows bolts and shafts to the town stores, healings, elections...she itched her right shoulder absently. She had taken out the stitches the night before. One had torn, and it left a jaggad scar, but otherwise the healer had done an excelent job. She looked forward to working with him, and in return for what he would teach her in the ways of surgery, she would teach him about Herbal medicine. It was a miracle she had found time to fall in love.

Earlier this evening Van appeared in town with a gift for her. Taking her to the bridge, he knelt upon one knee, and presented her with a ring covered in Rubys. She had heard the gossip in Swaggers and around town. He was a Murderous pirate, A scallywag, drunk and scoundrel. Yet from the moment she had seen him she was drawn to him. Alruaine's reading weighed heavily in her mind. "Most people are ruled by fate and have no choice. You have many options, but you must choose soon and not delay. Your path is yours to choose and yours to rule." Other warnings came with the reading. She would have to guard against Jealousy, both in herself and from the new Baron. From his reputation, she knew it could very well be poison between them. From the start, she took a course of honesty with him, and he promised the same in return. She reminded him of an old saying. "Lies have little legs and sharp teeth. They will catch up with you and bite you in the arse."

It was hard to beleive less than a week had gone by since they had met. Each determined not to take things too seriously or too fast, and both completely failing. They spent days apart, tending to their own buisnesses...but late night they spent in one anothers arms speaking of everything and nothing. Of friends and their past. He had not managed to freighten her away with the telling of his previous deeds, nor did he leave when she confessed she could not remember a time before her arrival in Trinsic. They talked until the tendrils of light from the suns rays streatched, burning into the morning sky, and likewise, he had kindled a fire in her no water would quench.

His light snore from her bedroom made her smile, content. She chuckled, remembering the twisted dare game on that fateful night when he noticed her last weekend. It would be a long engagement as they took the time to get to know one another better, uncovering her many previously undiscovered talents.

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