A short one shot - enjoy!
Karigan sat at the old mahogany dresser, and stretched to release the stiffness that plagued her nowadays.
She caressed the battered box in front of her, running her fingers over the once-smooth surface. Running her thumb over the surface of the metal latch, she opened it slowly. Inside on the velvet lining lay the comb and brush set her beloved Zachary had given her all those years ago.
She had arrived back from the Blackveil mission, injured and bruised, inside and out. When she finally escaped from the mending wing, trying her best to ignore the whispers about the King's marriage, the new Queen, the speculations about possible pregnancies and heirs – she arrived back to her room to find the silver set laid carefully upon her desk. Since then she had carried it on every mission.
Reverently she reached out a hand to pick up the mirror, turning it over to examine the beautifully carved Hillander terriers on the back. Karigan turned it again and looked into it's carefully polished surface. Her reflection looked steadily back at her, with more wrinkles around the eyes, and a few extra scars. Many joys and sorrows had followed in the intervening years, a war, too much death, and yet so much life. Her life as the Green Rider Captain had been as adventurous as her first few years before that night on the astronomy tower changed everything.
The night he openly declared his affections. The night she ran in fear. So many times she had wished she had done otherwise, but still her conscience whispered that, even had she stayed, the outcome could not have been any different. And yet it was one of her most precious memories.
She was shaken from her musings by the sudden appearance, behind her in the mirror, of a pair of almond eyes. They were much as they had always been, bright with mirth. Although right now they looked a little drowsy.
"Come back to bed, love" Zachary murmured sleepily. "There's no need to be up and at it this early, is there?"
Karigan leaned back into his warm arms, her chuckle spoiling the disgruntled look on her face. "Well darling, I would have preferred to sleep, except it was interrupted by your loud snoring".
And she turned and tackled him onto the bed, amongst his protestations and denials, and soon were both sound asleep, dreaming of telescopes and terriers. Perhaps life wasn't so bad after all.