The village was small, but large enough to have a post station. She landed there, and was actually in the middle of writing out her letter when a voice called from behind her.

"Ariana!"

She blinked in surprise, then spun around to see a very familiar face. She flung herself at the tall, redheaded form of her younger brother. "Alan! What on earth are you doing here?"

"Roaming. And I thought I'd look for you while I was at it. Tara said you were staying near here."

"I am. I'm sort of a farm hand, I suppose! Working at a farm not far from here. I was just about to write home. Are you going to be headed back soon? You could get word there a lot faster than the post service can, if you are."

"Oh, probably. I hadn't planned on going very far. So tell me about this farm, and everything else you've been up to."

They sat together at the one modest inn and talked for a long time, catching each other up on their lives. Then Ariana glanced up at the darkening sky. "Guess I won't be making it home tonight after all," she said.

"So that's 'home' now, is it?"

She smiled. "It's starting to feel that way. I'm not ready to throw away my sword just yet, but... there's nothing that says I can't farm the rest of the time, you know I don't get called in all that often."

He chuckled. "True, true. I don't think I could be a farmer, too much work! But it sounds like you're very happy with it."

"Yes. Very happy indeed," she said.