Hoofs echoed as they impacted the cobbled streets of Morgrush, they soon turned to dull thuds from the grass path. The route through the woodlands would have been difficult to navigate had it not been such a popular path. It was a little bit all over the place at points but travelers had worn the woods into an antiquate transport route over the years.

Although there was no physical indicator he knew he had crossed the boarder into his home country of Olorian. He thought it might be the heat in air but if he had to wrote a study on it, he wouldn't be able to put his finger on it.

Hamish knew he was nearby, the countryside began to look a lot more familiar. Although some trees had gotten taller since he was here last, he could feel the surroundings nostalgia enveloping him. The small community of a dozen or so farms was quiet, as it was every evening. Hamish was sure the arrival of himself and his sister would be the the biggest news in the community, unless the Montano's scarecrow got blown down again.

Hamish pulled off the main trail into a pathway signposted

L'Asino Bellaluna, Effie and Hamish.

The path lead up to a modest sized white stone, two floor house. He guided his horse into the small stable just a few yards from the white wall and dismounted. His horse was not alone. He hitched her next to a strong looking black stallion. 'Defiantly purebred.' Hamish thought, taking of his bag from the back of the saddle and scattering some hay for his companion.

He took a swig of water from his canteen and noticed a few wisps playing at the edge of the field. He took in the surroundings, it'd been nearly a decade since he'd been through this door. He knocked.

The door opened and was immediately hugged by an elderly elf of similar height, 'Oh Bellisimo!' his face was enveloped by her frizzy Auburn hair.

'Why you not say you were coming?!' She asked grabbing him by the shoulders and pulling him into the house. 'You have a gray patch, how do you not have a wife with this face?.'

His Mother, Bellaluna L'Asino, kissed him on each cheek and hugged him again. 'Such a handsome face, just like your father, rest his soul.' She spoke into his shoulder.

'It's nice to be home Mum.' Hamish said into the mass of hair. 'I'm sorry it's been so long.'

'Don't be a silly boy.' Bellaluna tapped him lightly on the arm as they headed towards the dining room, 'From what your sister has been telling me you've been very busy.'

'Oh god, what's she told you?' Hamish asked, he noticed the offender sitting at the dining room table nursing a cup of tea. She was an Elf, like her mother, but with a mountainous frame. 'What did you tell her?'

'None of the bad stuff.' She said getting up from her chair, she towered a good foot above both Hamish and their mother, with matching auburn hair cut short and neatly.

'Didn't think you'd have time for this, how was the ride in?' She gave him a quick hug with the tree trunks that were her arms, they both sat down, he quickly checked that his ribs were not broken

'I've been further quicker before.' Hamish looked toward his mother fussing by the sink, 'Mother, come sit down.'

'You need tea.'

'I can get my own tea.'

'But you're my son.'

'I'm thirty three years old.'

'My thirty three year old son.' She said, placing a kettle and mug on the table. 'Who is still not married.'

'Why am I the one who has to get married?' Hamish asked exacerbated. 'Effie isn't married either.'

'Time is on your sister's side.' Bellaluna said pouring tea for her son.

'Pure breed advantage.' Effie's hands were immediately slapped her mother.

'Don't say things like that to your brother.' She warned. 'Besides your father may have been an elf but he certainly wasn't pure.'

Effie threw up her hands, 'Goddammit Mum.' Hamish chuckled.

They finished dinner, the plates, pots and pans were crammed into the sink. They'd had steak with grilled prawns and spinach perogi. As it had been when they were growing up, Effie's meal was twice the size of Hamish's.

It wasn't favoritism on their mothers part, Bellaluna knew before they'd began walking what everyone else now saw. Effie was a mountain, Hamish was a rake.

The table was clear save for three glasses of Merlot and four cards in a line. Hamish put his hand face down on the table and took a sip of wine before continuing, 'and this half-orc jumps form the ledge right next to me, knocks me on my ars...' He remembered his mother was present. 'on my butt with a face like I've just pissed on her kids on their birthday.'

'Why do you break my heart bellisimo?' Bellaluna whispered, despite this story ending with his survival as evidenced by his presence of the table, she was still on edge at the thought of her baby boy in such dread.

'If she grabs her axe, I'm done for. ' He continued, pretending to ignore his mother. 'So I, bravely, hold my hand up, the deck of wonders my hand and, I will never know how I convinced her, but she pulls a card, blinks and after the longest three seconds of my life, she picks me up and takes me over to Aramil who heals me up.' He placed a card face up and took two from the center.

'That's not diplomacy, that's lucky.' Effie pointed out as took a large swig of wine.

Hamish shrugged. 'What ever it was, she wanted to join us and I think Gideon kinda fancied her.' He pulled a card. 'After we got back to the rest. Turns out she'd had a bit of accountancy training, so we put her in charge of that food project I was telling you about.'

'So did your little friend find love?' Bellaluna placed a card and took two from the table.

Hamish shook his head. 'Turns out he wasn't her type.'

Effie placed a card. 'She not into men?'

'Not into Halflings.' Hamish sighed. 'Mum if you think I'm unlucky with love. Don't get me started on him.' He took two cards. 'Unlucky as a hydrophobic man overboard.'

'I just want one of you to have a child.' Bellaluna took a sip of wine. 'I've waited too long to be a grandmother.' She admitted, she'd avoided mother hood for centuries to climb to the top of her academic career but since she fell pregnant with Effie some fifty years ago, her maternal instinct went into over drive. She wanted to have a big family, but only managed to mother Effie and Hamish before her body failed her.

'You might be waiting a while from me.' Effie said

'I've been waiting for you both!' Bellaluna quietly yelled, she played a card and took the last two from the table. 'Just one of you have a child already.'

'I'm getting you a pet.' Hamish tossed his had and finished his wine.

Bellaluna tossed her cards in the center and pointed at him. 'Don you dare.'

'Not even a nice fox?'

'Don't be a silly boy.' Bellaluna looked him dead in the eye. 'They'll eat the junipers.'

Hamish let out a half cough, half laugh. His sister and mother both smiled. It had been almost a decade since they had been in the same room and despite that amount of time, nothing had changed between them.

Effie gathered the cards back into a deck and looked at her brother. 'Check on the horses?' She gestured her head to the door.

He nodded. 'Better had do.'

Bellaluna stood up, 'I'll make you some night tea and then I go bed.'

Effie sighed. 'Just go to bed mother, we can make our own tea.'

'It'll just take a second.' Bellaluna headed towards the stove.

Hamish cut her off. 'So will going to bed, OK?'

'Fine.' she pouted 'Hay is in the log store.' She kissed both her children on the cheeks before retiring to her room.

In the stable, Hamish threw the hay onto the holder. Effie replaced the water bucket with a fresh one.

'She's gone doolally.' Hamish evenly spread out the hay, making sure none of it had clumped together,

'Gone? She's always been like that.' Effie peered toward the house. 'She definitely went upstairs right?'

'Yeah, why?' Hamish wiped his hands on his handkerchief.

Effie let off a sly grin and rummaged around in her horse's saddlebags. 'I may have acquired a certain something.' Rummaging alone wasn't working, she peered into the saddle bag. 'From the other side of the jungle. Ah there we go.' She pulled out a tightly bound leather tobacco pouch. 'Ta-dah.'

Hamish let out a very, very long gasp and very, very slowly raised his pointing hand.

'Shut up.' Effie smiled as she skinned up the tobacco.

'Thought this kind of moral depravity would be banned by your employers.' Hamish took a seat at the bench attached to the side of the stable.

'I hope not, here.' Effie passed him a smoke and sat down, with a creak. 'Fire me.' She put the smoke to her lips. Hamish lit it with his pointer finger before lighting his own. 'Like half the veterans use this junk daily.' She took a long drag. 'Dulls pain, so all the aches and pains from a long time of fighting just flutter off.'

Hamish nodded, 'And the other benefits.'

'That too.' She leaned back. 'Now it really is like we're kids again.'

'Can't believe it's been nearly a decade.' Hamish exhaled deeply, hazing his view of the colorful whisps frolicking in the field for a moment before the smoke was lost on the gentle night's breeze.

'It's our curse. Some reason god made us live a stupidly long time.' She took another drag. 'It's value is lost to us.'

'You worry about that?' Hamish's eyes were following a purple wisp ducking and diving around an olive tree to avoid being caught be a green wisp in pursuit.

'Yeah I do, I see these old elves treating people like shit cause the last thing they want is to make an emotional connection.' Effie shrugged. 'It'll just be another funeral to attend.'

Effie stood up and rubbed her temple. This had been on her mind for a long time.

'Think about this, when I'm mum's age, you'll have been dead for half a millennium.' She took another drag. She was pacing now. 'And I'm going to have to turn into one of those emotional elven husks just to stay sane and even then a day will seem like a minute and I'll be some constant in time while the world moves around me. I might as well be a goddamn Ent at this rate.'

She stood still. 'You remember that Halfling friend of mine from school, patchy black beard, about this high?' Effie's arm gestured he was a little over five foot tall.

'Vaguely.' Hamish nodded.

'I kept in touch with him, his daughter had a kid to some blacksmith in Torm's Light about a year back.' She took a drag. 'Few month's back, get a letter from the daughter. Dead.' She resumed her seat on the bench.

She shook her head. 'Not killed. He'd kicked the booze in after wee Erin was born. He was a masseuse for some fancy spa in Monfri for fuck sake!' She threw her arms up. 'Safest job you could get.' She slouched down, brought her hand up and took another drag.

'Just natural causes. Forty nine years.' She stared off into the distance. 'Same fucking age as me.'

Hamish scooted over and gave her a one armed hug. He didn't know what words to say to comfort her. There wasn't a way to avoid it. She was an Elf, a pure blooded Elf, and she would most likely outlive everyone she'd meet outside of her race.

'Sorry, I'm rambling aren't I?' She sniffled slightly and sat up properly again, rubbing one of her eyes.

'Don't sweat it.' Hamish pulled out his handkerchief and offered it to Effie. 'It makes me feel better about being a half breed.'

She laughed taking the hanky and lightly dabbing her eyes before handing it back. 'Glad my turmoil is helping you.' She stood up and stomped out the smoke. 'This job isn't going to be pretty, you know what I do. We go to the Black Isle, we fight any resistance and I kill her.'

'It isn't my first time on this ride.' Hamish stood up and they started making their way back to the house. 'Besides, I'll only have to remember it for a century or two.' He shrugged.

Effie chuckled. 'Oh shut it.' She gave him a light shove, he stumbled a little but managed to keep his balance.

Hamish jolted awake to a loud clanging. 'Come get food!' His mother's voice called. He opened the door and looked down the stairs in just his under garments to check if he hadn't been thrown back to his youth. 'Does she know we're adults?' Hamish said to Effie who had done the same. She pointed to the side of her head and made a circle motion with her finger. 'Doolally.'

They got quickly got dressed and went down for the lovingly prepared breakfast. Bellaluna was in her mothering element. She loaded a couple of metal canteens with coffee for their journey, explaining that they had been charmed to keep the contents warm.

Outside, the siblings loaded their horses, Bellaluna made sure to ask a dozen if she could do anything to help. She resided to shining Effie's shoulder armour, the engraving of two swords in a cross shined to a almost mirror finish.

Effie gave her mother a huge hug, picking her up in the process, before mounting her purebred stallion.

Hamish hugged his mother too. 'I'm not gonna pick you up.'

She fussed with his coat collar, 'Much too skinny for that, thank the gods you're handsome.' She then tried to brush his hair with her fingers. 'Mum stop it.'

He protested, lightly slapping her hands away. 'I'm your mother, shut up and let me mother you.' She said as she dodged his parrys and made sure his hair was swept back the way he always had it.

He mounted his horse and the siblings set off, their mother waving until they were out of sight. She dabbed her eyes with her handkerchief and went back inside.