The Landen Village of Gorby, Askavi, Kaeleer, Sunday, Fandom time.

[glacial_witch]

Warren was probably confused. At least, Karla hoped he was.

They were standing in front of a small cottage at the outskirts of a small, slightly ramshackle village that was most certainly not Halaway. When they had climbed into the Coach this morning, Karla had told him that they were going to see his surprise now--a surprise that she had very

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[not_a_parakeet]

"Oh my--" This was not at all what Warren had been expecting, no. But on a scale of one to ten, with ten being the leather pants and leather pants being the awesome end of said scale, seeing this particular little face again was very easily scoring at least a twenty. "Cora!"

Best weeks-late birthday present ever. And Warren was demonstrating that he thought just that by crouching down and holding his arms open. He was tempted to just scoop the girl up and spin in a circle with her, but after everything she'd been through at Agio, he also had enough discretion to realize that just snapping her up without warning was probably not the greatest of plans.

[had_a_birdie]

"Warren!" Cora was missing a front tooth, now, and the air whistled a little as she spoke. She had no compunctions about throwing herself forward for a hug. "Are you surprised? Lady Karla said you'd be surprised! It's a good surprise, isn't it?"

[not_a_parakeet]

"It's the best surprise," Warren replied, punctuating that statement with the squeeziest hug he could manage without accidentally squishing her or something. "You're getting so big!"

He pulled away a little to get a better look at her, smiling brightly. There was surprise in his expression, yes, but also a lot of relief, too. Since leaving Agio behind, there had been a lot of thoughts that had followed him around. Wondering how the little girl that he'd befriended was faring wasn't remotely the least of those things.

[had_a_birdie]

"I'm seven!" Cora announced. "We live here, now. It's far away from A--" her face darkened and her voice dropped. "From where we used to live, but Mama got a nice job sewing for a fancy lady in Doun. Mama can't walk so good, so I help. I am a very good helper," she added.