One day a carriage rode into the town of CunStead. It wasn't that a carriage was unusual. What was unusual was what happened afterward. People of status normally rode the carriage all the way to their destination.
This one stopped at the warehouses and let off two passengers. One with blond hair got off and headed towards the edge of town. Another one hugged the first one and then headed into the warehouse.
To everyone who looked they just looked like passengers who had been on a trip together. For one family they had no idea what was going on.
Priya had traveled with the LeLiss family back to her hometown. The trip wasn't entirely about fun and reunions though. As will any merchant caravan you never wasted a good trip and southern goods were brought north. Many of these fine wares would never be seen in CunStead and so they could be sold for more than normal due to demand.
One passenger was still on her way. She was a matronly woman working with the coachmen to help make sure that her cargo made it safely. She had every means and opportunity to ride in style, but this time she reserved that for the two young ladies in the front.
Priya walked out of town. She counted the steps and noted how many things were different. She also counted how many things were the same. The young calves were now old cows. They wandered around the fields. The older cows lifted their head and mooed at the familiar sight of an old friend. They were the first residents to acknowledge her.
Priya stopped at the hill looking down onto her family farm. She saw the new house for her brother and his wife had new rooms added to it. Two pre-teens were running around the yard doing chores completely oblivious to the passerby on the roadway.
Priya smoothed down her dress. It was dark blue velvet with a green sash. Her blond hair was tied back in a blue bow made from the remains of her old dress. She reached up to her hand on it and looked down at the farmhouse. The drapes still hung in the window.
The first step off of the road opened up something in her heart. Every step before that felt like a dream. When her feet touched the soil around her house it was like her body remembered where it belonged. Each step opened up more emotions. She was a woman hardened by adversity. She had survived as a merchant as well as a slave. This moment should be easy for someone with her pedigree. The tears started to flow from her eyes.
"Mom...." Priya said quietly, afraid that the farm would shatter like many a dream she had while she was in captivity.
She took a few more steps forward and then raised her voice again. "Mom! Dad!"
She started to walk faster, turning into a quick gait. "Mom, Dad? Corvus?!" She took a few steps and tried to remember the twins' names in her race to the house. "Lucas? Lorie???"
From inside the house came a crash like someone falling downstairs and then the sound of breaking china. Priya almost stopped, her mind ran to something bad happening. But what happened next only drove her forward.
The front door slammed open. It moved so fast that it almost appeared to have gone from open to closed without moving at all.
Juniper stood at the door. She had broken shards of dishes in her hair and clothes. She looked older but Priya didn't care. She still looked like love, she still looked like comfort. She was her mother.
"PRIYA!" Juniper yelled and ran through the front yard. The sound of the name carried across the wind and every person standing across the entire farm stopped and looked towards the house. They all saw the blond-haired woman running towards their mother and stopped. Corvus had been walking from his house to his parents when he heard the name. The twins were carrying supplies across the field. They turned so fast that their vision took a minute to correct.
From the barn, a short man came barrelling out the doors. They swung open on a high-pitched creak.
All across the farm the word "Priya!" was screamed one person after another. The neighbors heard the noise a few acres away and started to come out. Soon her name was ringing across the farmlands as the whole south of CunStead knew she had finally made it home.
Juniper grabbed her daughter and refused to let her go. She held her daughter tight. She was almost taller than her now. Juniper tried to tell if Priya had grown or if she had shrunk. She ran her hands across her daughter's face and turned it every which way. She was inspecting for scars and other things. She wanted to make sure this was her daughter.
When she was satisfied that it was her daughter she smiled and grabbed her one more time. Jorgen came running over and saw his wife grasping what looked like his daughter. "Is it?" he said quietly.
"Yes, you damn great fool! Who else would walk in and scream your name?" Juniper pulled back and leaned over to look at her husband. "You going to hug her or not?"
Jorgen smiled and dove in to hold both of them together. Priya started to realize they were squeezing her a little too hard but she didn't care at that moment. She could breathe and she had dreamed of this before.
Corvus walked up to the group. "Before she suffocates why don't you take a step back you two?"
Corvus was a man now, his face was starting to weather and no longer had the look of a young man. He had a small child in his arms. "You finally decided to come home?"
Priya smiled and stepped forward to punch her brother in the free arm. She smiled, "You ass, I got here as soon as I could," and she threw one punch. Corvus took a step back as the hit landed on his shoulder. He hadn't braced himself for the power behind his sister's arm. He wasn't aware of all the work she had done in the south, and how strong she had become.
The twins came running up on either side of Corvus. "Sis? That you?" Lorie spoke first as Lucas walked up behind her. "Are you really home?"
Priya wiped tears from her eyes. "Yes, I'm home guys. I made new friends. I made it back. And I found him."
Juniper looked at her daughter. "You can't mean Erust... You still looked for him after everything the dwarves said happened to you?"
"Damndest thing mom..." Priya started.
"LANGUAGE." Juniper corrected her daughter, realizing that she may have picked up some road habits.
"He found me, mom, entirely by accident." Priya continued, ignoring her mothers' complaint.
Jorgen took his daughter's hand. "Well we are going to have dinner and you will tell us all about it after dinner."
Priya looked at her father. "Tomorrow maybe? I have been on the road for over a month. Can't a girl get a bath and call it a night?"
Juniper pushed her daughter back and looked at her face. She could see her young daughter's smile on this grown woman's face. "Of course. We will get you clothes! Lorie, go find clothes. Lucas, drag out the bathtub and get water boiling. Corvus! You have a room free over there right? We are not putting her back out in the barn!"
Juniper's quick orders brought everyone back to life faster than Priya could object. "Mom..."
She finally had to grab her mother's hand to get her attention. "Just send Corvus to the warehouses. There is a carriage with my belongings. I have clothes in there, okay?"
Juniper smiled. "Of course honey, I'm just excited to have you home."