Still Tos and Sray, Kayrin and Tira
Sray turned at the touch and looked back at him, studying Tos carefully. Searching his face for what he might know. Sometimes he said things that just made her wonder, but she wasn't quite brave enough to ask and she was afraid of assuming too much and saying more than she felt was safe.
"I've wondered that myself." She admitted. "We came here to escape what happened in Kamenlohn. To find some peace in a place that didn't know, and more importantly didn't care to know what had happened or who we were back in Kamenlohn."
Tos moved his hand from her elbow down to her hand and lifted it between them as he brought his other hand up to cover hers. She finally turned to face him fully and allowed him to gently hold her hand within his. "Sray Hillenbohn, of the distant land of Kamenlohn, you are the bravest, most tenacious person I have met. As a child you left everything you knew through tragedy and grief to travel hundreds of miles over mountains that rise thousands of feet to reach beyond the clouds themselves to come here and start again in a foreign land where the language and customs were strange to you. Here you grew up into the most capable young woman. When that letter came and the weeks before your departure I could tell you were afraid-"
She looked down and away. "I know you too well to not notice." He said softly and reached up to gently touch her chin and turn her back. She met his eyes again, intent, but concerned and focused entirely on her. His hand returned to cover hers. "Fear is nothing to be embarrassed about. I think you knew it was going to be a dangerous path to walk, but you did it anyway. It would be worth more than it cost you is what you said at Behlstice. You faced exposure of your family's secret and you went back. There was the fire and you went back again. You have grown and changed and learned and I don't think you would want to throw away all that to take back a single act of malice against something that was beyond your control. The people who attacked you are of the same type who forced you out of Kamenlohn. If you are sure they would follow, then the only real choice is to stand and face it, but you don't have to do it alone."
Kayrin held the baby and rocked it gently as its dark eyes grew heavy. Tira sat down with her food and looked over at the older woman so tenderly engaged. "Do you think you will ever have your own grandchildren?" Tira wondered aloud.
Kayrin looked up. "I don't know. It's a miracle we had any children, let alone three. I don't know what the future holds, especially right now with Kallon." She sighed and adjusted the baby higher in her arms. "If I could have carried every pregnancy we would have had at least a dozen." She smiled sadly. "I imagine our children might have similar difficulties."