Forgive me. This chapter is sickenly romantic. But yay! Here it is!

Chapter Three

The uncomfortable silence was held in Great Hall until Rose took the step forward to find Martin. Once she had left the Hall, the Abbeybeasts turned to one another, as if the creature next to him might have an answer. Rose followed where he went. She hadn't even had a tour around Redwall yet, yet somehow she knew where she was going, following some hidden instinct.

She found herself on the Abbey lawns, surrounded by piles and piles of snow. As she looked around, she could see in the barren boughs of the trees the possibility of beauty that spring would reveal. When she looked toward the ground, now covered in the whiteness of winter, she saw the possibility of grass—and Martin's paw prints.

She didn't stop to inspect them; they were too recent to be anyone else's. The wind would have blown any others away. Realizing at that moment that she had forgotten something warm to put on, she pulled her arms around herself, vainly trying to stay warm. She looked around the expanse of the Abbey, marveling in her walls.

It truly was a place of beauty, even in the most dead of the seasons.

Rose watched the ground as she followed the paw tracks. At first they were tracks made of a beast running, then stumbling, then walking. Rose followed his steps—she walked where he ran to the pond, walked where he stumbled toward the wall for support, and walked where he walked to the… Rose didn't know where she was going. As she looked up, she saw his tracks continue toward a house on the side of the wall. The gatehouse.

Coming up toward the door, she saw that it was slightly ajar. She raised her paw to knock. Deciding against it, she pushed the door open.

Martin sat with his back to her, staring at a newly lit fire in the fireplace. His legs were drawn up and his arms were wrapped around his knees. He was breathing heavily, rubbing his paws together, he waited for the warmth of the fire to heat the room.

Shutting the door quietly, Rose turned to walk over to him. Her footpaw hit a floorboard and it squeaked. Martin winced.

"It's you. The maid that said you were Rose." His voice was weak.

Rose walked around the table until she was in front of him. Martin's eyes stayed riveted on the floor.

"Look at me, Martin. I am Rose."

Martin shook his head, eyes now closed.

Shaking her head, Rose sighed. "Why don't you believe it's me? You won't even look at me!"

Martin jumped out of the chair; his eyes wide open, staring her in the face. "I'm looking at you now! Are you happy? I can't, and will not believe that you are Rose. Rose died—seasons ago! How? Because of me! I saw her, dead, in front of me. Dead! You're nothing more than an imposter! Leave this Abbey at once! Go!"

Rose smiled. "It is interesting to see your reaction to my 'death', Martin. But I didn't die. I'm right here, with you. I know what it seemed like then, and I know what it seems like now. But I am her. What will it take to convince you?" Her voice was serious now.

He laughed. "Nothing can convince me, because you are not Rose! The Rose I loved is gone in Noon…is gone." Martin turned to leave. As his paw clasped the doorknob, he heard the maid behind her start to sing.

In my heart I have always loved you,

As I do now that you're gone.

The love that we had was honest and true,

Our two hearts beat as one.

How unlikely we were and are,

A daughter of peace and a son of war?

My love, no prince can steal my heart,

My heart is entirely yours.

Neither slavery, nor fortress, nor my father's will,

Could keep me from following you,

Through forest, marshland and hill,

Nothing could stop me from loving you.

But came the end, our various wounds

Both hurt in different ways,

Both by Tyrants gone from battlegrounds

Leaving the peaceful to peaceful days.

But in my heart I've missed my warrior,

Since I never said goodbye,

I stand by the still water in Noonvale,

And cry for our times gone by.

Martin's paw slipped from the doorknob. His eyes opened wide as he turned around to face the mousemaid.

She laughed. "Does that convince you?"

He stumbled forward. Holding his paws out to hers. Rose ran forward into his embrace. Taking his paws, she stood back an examined him. "You have hardly changed, Martin the Warrior, though you are blind to your past."

Martin took his paws from her and threw them around her waist. He picked her up and swing her around in circles, both of them laughing. "Rose, I have waited my entire life to hear your voice…I hear it echo in my dreams, when I'm awake and when I'm asleep…but I've wanted more than anything to hear your voice, to be with you again. I thought death was the only thing that could bring me to you."

Rose laughed. "No, Martin, no. It would have taken you farther away. I never died."

Martin set her back on the floor. He rubbed his paws up and down the sides of her arms. "But…how?"

Rose lifted her arm and steadied his paws, taking them again in hers. "That, my love, is another story entirely." She lapsed into their memories, commenting offhandedly. She lifted one paw and drew it along a scar on his cheek. "Do you remember this scar? The Gawtrybe." She dropped her paw and drew his along his side. "That little ruffian, Dinjer, ran off and you got hurt by that seagull. Dinjer's probably a grown beast now. He's probably even taken over for his mother. She gave you her little sword, and she gave all four of us our freedom back." She lifted her paws and held his face in them, searching his eyes. "And those, those eyes are the same gray eyes that met mine outside the tunnel the day Grumm saved you from Badrang the Tyrant. I'd know you, Martin, a thousand miles away. Like I knew you before I met you." Rose fell into his arms again, resting her head on his chest. Martin's arms tightened around her shoulders.

He breathed into her neck. "And you are the same maid I have loved my entire life, the only one I ever loved."

Rose looked him in the eyes and smiled. "How did I fall in love with the son of war?"

Martin smiled as Rose's song replayed in his head.

"How unlikely we were and are?"

Rose frowned then. "The song is true, Martin. I did cry for you everyday in Noonvale."

"Rose, Rose…" Martin soothed her. "In my heart, I did the same."

The Redwallers continued with their breakfast. Whatever the history between the beautiful mousemaid and the fearless warrior, was a history that was between them and them alone. Every beast had their own thoughts, but Gonff more than the rest cared most. For the first time in his life, he played with his food and didn't eat it.

Columbine looked him over carefully. "Are you all right?" She quickly ducked under the table to snatch Gonflett as he went to run away.

Gonff shook his head, playing with a cold scone.

Taking the hem of her apron, she cleaned her son's face. "Martin never told you anything about a mousemaid before?"

Gonff dropped the scone on the ground and watched it roll away, only to be snatched by another dibbun. "Martin never talked about anything before I met him."

The Abbes Germaine tapped the table loudly. She cleared her throat and waited to the talk to die down. Once it did, she spoke. "Redwallers, Martin's relation with this mousemaid is a topic of curiosity for us all, but I am afraid we cannot find the truth of it unless we consult Martin directly."

Bella nodded. "Agreed. But let's not go at it too quickly, Martin didn't seem to excited to have her here."

The door opened, and in came a blast of cold winter air and the two mice. Martin and Rose talked animatedly, holding paws and smiling at one another. They both seemed completely unaware of the creatures around them. They walked out of the room and onto the staircase, heading to another level.

Bella burst out laughing. "I believe it's safe to say I'm wrong. He seems happier than I have ever seen him!"

A young ottermaid named Taerla laughed. "I think…I think our warrior is in love!"

The Redwallers laughed with her.

Bella coughed. "Taerla, apologize for your statement!"

The Abbes placed a calm paw on her badger friend's arm. "No, Bella my friend, I think our young maid here is right."

Rose took the steps two at a time. She held Martin's paw and practically dragged him after her. "Tell me more about this place, Martin, it's beautiful!"

Martin laughed. "What more is there to know?"

She turned her hazel eyes and locked them with his. "Everything, you foolish beast."

He smiled and sat on the up most step. Rose sighed reluctantly and sat with him. Rose leaned against the wall, staring at Martin.

Martin laughed. "What? Is there some shocking deformity you're trying to find?"

Rose smiled. "No. I just don't ever want to forget what you look like right now. Can you believe it!? We used to be so young! We're as old as my parents now!"

Martin fell into a fit of coughing. "We're not that old…are we?"

Yawning, Rose looked around. "Close enough, anyway. It never really occurred to me how old I was until a season or so ago. Watching Brome…it took the heart out of me. I realized how much time had gone by, and I went to find you."

"Brome! How is he?"

Waving her paw in the air as if proclaiming something unimportant. "He's the Chieftain of Noonvale."

Eyes wide, Martin exclaimed, "I see why you think we're old now! He was so much younger than us, even then."

"Still the same age difference, Martin." She laughed.

"Well, yes, but you know what I mean."

She smiled and leaned back against the wall, eyes closed. "You've said it twice now."

"Said what?"

"That it was you're fault."

He looked away from her. "But it was."

"No, Martin, anything that happened was all my fault. I choose to leave and follow you. If I didn't want anything adventurous to happen to me, I would have listened to my father." She smiled at him.

"I should have protected you better."

"Eh," she shrugged. "Nothing bad came of it."

Martin scoffed. "Half of our lived have been spent without each other! More than that, even…"

Smiling mischievously, Rose asked, "Have you missed me?"

"More than anything."

"Do you love me?"

"With all my heart."

"Was the wait worth it? For us?"

He met her eyes.

"Yes."

Rose leaned in and rested her head on his shoulder. "Then that's all that matters."