Emily let out a soft groan as she woke in a surprisingly soft bed; her bed wasn't this soft... As she opened her eyes to look around the memories came rushing back to her along with an unexpected heartache. While she cried silently for Acer who was surly dead she failed to notice the stranger who had entered or the surprising lack of medical equipment. A good ten minutes later once she had managed to quiet and then altogether stop the tears that were soaking both her cheeks and the pillow beneath her she noticed the distinct lack of noise, if she was at home she would at least hear the children from the family who lived above her unless they had already went back to school but if that was the case she must have been out for quite a long time because the winter holidays had only just started three days before the crash.
She could be in a Hospital but like she had noticed before the bed was too soft and she didn't hear any beeping from the equipment that should be there to tell all and sundry that she was still alive however dead she might look.
Emily sat up to look around and check that she was indeed in a Hospital and had only gone deaf, temporarily of course. She gasped and stared wide eyed as she caught sight of the old man sitting in the corner by the door while scanning the otherwise almost empty the room. After a second look even without her glasses it was clear that the "old" man was in fact a fairly young man looking no older than perhaps thirty- five, except for his hair. The next step was to reach blindly for the nightstand wear she somehow knew her glasses would be and slip them up her nose. That completed she looked back to the man hoping that her eyes were playing tricks on her. Unfortunately he chose that moment to stand and walk over to her in the unfamiliar bed dispelling any hopes that she had gone deaf and blind.
The stranger sat on the edge of the bed and all the while keeping eye contact said in heavily accented English "I'm glad to see that you're awake. You gave us all quite a shock when you turned up unconscious six candlemarks ago." Emily blinked stupidly at this statement and took a minute to process what the man had said. Candlemarks, Was that really what he said? No his accent was thick she had probably misheard him. Yes, that was it because if it wasn't that would mean she was dead or hallucinating because the only place she knew of using candlemarks were the Valdemar books.
After the thought of being dead struck her Emily, seemingly from out of nowhere blurted out "Am I dead? Did I have a heart attack?" The white haired man paused for a moment to think of a reply and responded with " I do not know what you are speaking of with this attack of the heart but, physically at least your heart is in one piece. As to your first question that would be one way to phrases it." Oh thought Emily I guess the crash really did happen, I hope that Ace' is happy wherever he is... At this point Emily began to cry again at the thought of her beloved cat and everyone she was leaving behind. The stranger moved to comfort her but at the idea of being hugged by this strange man after losing Acer and discovering that she was dead Emily turned away from him and buried her face in the pillow.
The stranger stood quietly and left the room quickly falling into step with his shey'kreth'ashke who has been waiting outside the door for him.
Once they were far enough away from the room of their unhappy guest to not risk being overheard by her Starwind turned to his ashke and said "I told you that we should have given her some time alone at first to mourn for her Companion and I don't envy you the job of explaining why you didn't tell her about all this in the first place" Starwind made a sweeping gesture when he said 'all this.' " A phrase as simple as Welcome to the havens would have at least given her a hint." Moondance sighed, "I know but I thought it best to avoid all explanations considering hot insistent the shadowlover was about letting her figure it out in her own time that she had a Companion that I thought it best no to explain anything to begin with." "Oh well" said Starwind "what's done is done and can't be changed."