The church seemed cold and dark despite the braziers or the sun shining outside. Alvin was at the pulpit - for the first time on his own? - making the funeral sermon for father Ambrose and Alysanne thought he looked very pale. After all, Ambrose had been a father to him even more than to her, the only family he had since early childhood.
And now Ambrose was dead and Alvin had to step into his shoes at the only priest in the village. Alysanne still couldn't fully imagine it, but the church seemed different now.

And then the sermon was over and everyone gathered outside for the last few words over the father's grave. Alvin looked composed and kept his voice even and Alysanne wondered how he could manage that. She herself felt like screaming, using all her self-control to stay quiet and out of the way. The lord Lorimer was there, together with his new wife, and she didn't want to do anything to provoke him.

Only when everyone else left could Alvin approach her and pull her into a hug. He hugged him back as tight as she could, wanting to give comfort as much as she needed it herself.

When Alysanne heard Tomlin had been caught stealing and was sentenced to a whipping, she didn't exactly know what to think. She wasn't really surprised after everything he mentioned during their... was it even a date? Still, no matter how that date turned out, she hated to see him suffer.

And what if he really was her true love, like the gypsy had said? Alysanne was finding it harder to believe than before, but... what if?
When Tomlin was finally released, Alysanne approached him, hoping to console him after the ordeal. Maybe if she showed support and understanding...
"You again! What do you...?" Tomlin growled when he saw her, looking not in the least impressed. Alysanne swallowed and tried hard not to let the man's cold gaze completely destroy her courage.

"I... just wanted to say how brave you were..." She bit her lip, unsure how to continue. Maybe she should draw the attention away from recent events? But Tomlin was smiling at last, so probably the compliment was the right thing to say after all...

"...you're..." Alysanne stumbled over her words and instead she reached out tentatively to touch Tomlin's shoulder.

And just like that, the smile was gone again.
"Don't." A single word, almost barked, as if she wasn't worth any more. He slapped her hand away and Alysanne took a step back, trying to smile in a harmless, reassuring way and utterly failing.

Unable to say anything else, she could only watch him walk away, head held high and proud, and cringe inwardly.
She could only hope the old gypsy had not been right about true love, because Alysanne wasn't sure she would ever dare try again.

She was just turning to leave, when a silver-haired woman approached her.
"You don't need to run after that criminal, dear. You're not like him, are you?"
Alysanne turned, confused. "No...? But what does it matter when the whole village thinks so?" She said bitterly. "I'm not my father, but no matter what I try to do..." She shrugged her shoulders, now close to tears.
"It will pass in time. You just need a settle down with a good, solid man and everything will be all right, you will see."
Alysanne opened her mouth to say that she didn't have anyone to settle down with, had tried looking everywhere and everyone rejected her, but before she could say a word, the kind-looking lady continued: "I can introduce one such lad to you. You're not the only one with no skills in finding a partner, you know."
Alysanne nodded and allowed the strange woman to lead her towards a young boy in worn-looking but clean clothes.

The two young people introduced themselves and stood looking at each other with unsure smiles for a few moments. Tomas tried to break the silence first: "Um... what do you like?"
He seemed even more nervous than she was, which was certainly new for Alysanne. And he didn't try to insult or lecture her, which was even stranger.
"I don't know... books, I guess, at least when I can get any. And stories. Stories can take you far away, to different times and places, away from everything that worries you..."

As she got into more detailed descriptions and finally a shortened retelling of some of her favourite tales that Tomas had never heard before, Alysanne finally begun to relax. Tomas listened intently to her every word, growing more and more excited.
"And what happened next? Did they escape before the king's men got to them?"

After a while it felt as if they had known each other for a long time. Tomas was looking at Alysanne admiringly and she actually felt hope in her future for the first time in what felt like forever.
She still couldn't forget how Alvin's embraces and kisses felt, but she knew too well that wasn't meant to be. No matter how she felt about Alvin or how he could feel about her, he was a priest and marriage was forbidden to him. It wouldn't lead anywhere. Tomas, on the other hand...
Looking into his puppy eyes, she reached out to touch his face.

And unlike Tomlin, Tomas not only reciprocated but his whole face actually lit up.
"Does this mean you like me? I mean, really like me, in that way? Because I always had an awful luck with girls..."
Alysanne decided against telling him about her own awful luck and simply nodded.

Before the day turned into evening, he held her in his arms, his puppy eyes shining with happiness. And Alysanne could almost forget the gypsy and her empty promises or how different and more mature had Alvin's embraces felt. Everything was going to be all right. Her life could have been turning around and she was determined to take the opportunity and be happy.

"You look great. The robe suits you." Alysanne joked. She tried hard not to be bitter or disappointed about Alvin's choice of life, tried to remember there had never been any question about him becoming a priest one day. She still had feelings for him, but if they coulnd't be together, she didn't want to lose him as a friend at least.

Luckily, there seemed to be no danger of that. Brand new robe or not, Alvin was the same as ever and soon the two of them were deep in a discussion about faraway lands and magic. Alysanne even told her friend about the strange stone circle she had found and about the way the stone in the middle reflected the stars above it. Alvin was fascinated.

Alone with her oldest and best friend, it was easy for Alysanne to forget all troubles ad worries and pretend they were still children. Especially when Alvin threw a pillow at her and she just had to grab the second one and defend herself.
In the laughter, it was almost possible to forget the romance that could have been...

...and that is why it was such a shock when Alvin suddenly pulled her close and kissed her forehead. It felt like a touch of butterfly wings and the spot seemed to glow with bright light. Alysanne grinned like an idiot, but then she remembered to play it cool and easy.
"Is this a special blessing of the Watcher?" She asked.

"No, it's..." Alvin didn't finish, but his eyes spoke volumes. They were drawing her in, caressing her with tenderness she had never seen.
"...you are a blessing yourself." He finished finally. "Beautiful like an angel."

"But...?"
All Alysanne wanted was for him to never stop looking at her like that. She wanted to hug him, to hold him, to kiss him... to marry him. She just didn't understand why it shouldn't be possible. Why had Alvin refused her earlier, why had he chosen to become a priest if he felt the same way as her? She felt like screaming.

Alvin moved first. He crossed the distance between them and caressed her cheek gently. Alysanne let him, savouring every moment, letting him decide the dilemma.
After all, he was the priest, he was the one who was supposed to show the way, to be the example of propriety. If he thought it was fine, who was she to say otherwise?
It felt great not to have to be the responsible one for a change.

Alysanne didn't know how long that moment was, how long they exchanged caresses, both shy and maybe a little stunned.
She only knew it ended abruptly when father Ambrose walked through the door. The young pair jumped apart, trying hard not to look too sheepish.

Alysanne was the first one to come to her senses.
"Father, we... it's not... we didn't..."
"I thought I would find Alvin here." Father Ambrose smiled. "And how are you, dear child?"
Alysanne hesistated for a moment. Was he really as oblivious or short-sighted not to notice anything when he came? Or anything strange in her greeting? Was he just trying to ignore it?
"I'm... fine. It's been raining a lot, which is good for..." Alysanne couldn't really believe what she was saying. Babbling about weather? But anything was better than to continue apologising, she just had to appear normal at any cost. "...for mushrooms." She finished and forced a smile.

When Alysanne's eighteen birthday came, she decided to invite Ambrose and Alvin for a humble celebration, as the only thing resembling a family she had left. Alvin joked that with two priests there it could as well be held in church, but Alysanne could see there was no danger of refusing from him.
She baked a cake and tried to act cheerful for her visitors' sake, even if inside she was nervous about her future.

Alvin seemed to be her only safe harbour, the only thing she could be sure about. At least in the rare moments when she managed to ignore his clerical robe and the vows he had taken.
Still... in his arms she felt secure. And it was he who hugged her, under the guise of congratulating her on her birthday.
It had been all outwardly proper anyway - or almost proper, at least then.

Only a few days after her birthday, Alvin turned up at her house long after dark, after Alysanne had gone to bed and was only in her shift.
She went out to meet him anyway, afraid something had happened, but Alvin quite obviously had other things in mind.
"You look even more beautiful in the moonlight than in the sun. May I come in?" He asked, his eyes shining more than the starts above them.
Alysanne blushed, trying to cover the low neckline of the shift.

"My lady?" Alvin gave her a bow, half mocking, half sincere, and then he took hold of her hand to kiss it.
"I'm not..." Alysanne tried to speak, but Alvin took no notice of her protests and continued kissing her hand and her arm, finally getting to the bare flesh of her shoulder. It felt heavenly.

"Come in, before anyone sees us." Alysanne was still feeling light in her head, but at least some part of her kept insisting that being seen in an intimate position with a priest, at night, in wearing only a thin shift, was definitely not a good idea.
At least Alvin was more than willing to follow her into the privacy of the house. He was grinning as if the most wonderful thing had just happened to him and Alysanne begun wondering if he was drunk.
She smiled uncertainly at him, waiting for him to give her something to hold onto.

She was still wondering what exactly was happening and what to do when Alvin stepped forward, grabbed her and kissed her in such a way she had never experienced before.
It seemed to last for hours and still it wasn't enough for Alysanne to decide whether she was more happy or frightened of the possible consequences. The couldn't be together now, not after Alvin accepted his priesthood, could they?

The next day, Alysanne visited the church to pray for her father's soul and her own future. She threw her humble offering into the bowl for charity, looking at the carved features of the Watcher statue, she hoped it would be enough. She didn't have more to give.

She stayed in the church until dusk, praying for a new and better start.

When she turned to leave, she noticed Alvin standing at the door, watching her. Alysanne didn't know how long he had stood there, but just seeing him made her feel better.
"I thought I saw you come in." Alvin said. "How are you?"
"I'm... fine." She replied and then added: "Happy you're here. So... thanks." Maybe she should have resisted? This felt more even awkward than she had expected and... then Alvin was right next to her, with his hand on her shoulder.
"I will always be here for you."

This made Alysanne's hert flutter. The feel Alvin's hand on her shoulder, together with the warmth and braziers and reassuring place helped her find the courage to do something she wouldn't normally have even dreamt of.
She leant in and kissed Alvin, softly, but without any doubt as to what she meant by it.
And Alvin just closed his eyes and didn't object, so that surely meant...

"Will you marry me?" She blurted out before she even knew what she was saying.
Alvin took a step back with a shocked look on his face and Alysanne suddenly wanted to bite her tongue off, but... what other chance did she have, when even gypsy magic didn't work? And he did kiss her, after all...
"You are my best... my only friend and I thought..."
"But I'm going to become a priest!"
Alvin took another step back, freezing Alysanne in place with one gesture like with a magic spell, and than shock in his slowly eyes gave way to irritation.
"You always knew this was my plan! Why do you want to make everything complicated?"
Alysanne bit her lip, hesitating between an apology and a question whether the plan can't be changed. She didn't want to ruin his life and it was beginning to dawn on her that despite the Father's reassurances, this surely wasn't what he had in mind.
In the end, she just lowered her eyes, saying nothing.

Dejected, Alysanne left the church and the warm light of he braziers for the darkness outside. She looked at her mother's grave one more time before turning home...and saw a glimpse of something white floating in the distance. Could it be the spirit of her mother, coming once again to console or advise her?
Mesmerised, Alysanne made a few steps towards the vision.
If there was any consolation to be had, she definitely needed it.

When she reached the transparent figure, however, she realised something was not right. Instead of the soft face she saw every day smiling at her from from the romantised portrait, the face she had grown to love despite not really remembering her mother, Alysanne could almost make out the features of an old man.
And then, just like it had happened before, the figure snapped into focus right before her. As before, she couldn't hear anything, but the scowl on the figure's face was too clear to overlook or mistake for anything else than displesure.
Alysanne fled as fast as she could, without even trying to find out who the man was.

Alysanne retreated back to solitude for the next few days. She had too much to think about, even if there were not chores and other tasks to do. Her money was running short and no matter how far away it might seem at the moment, she always had to think about winter.
Luckily, the woods all around her house were inviting and generous, with wood for collecing and berries for picking. And peace and quiet for... hiding from the world, probably.

Soon she was so much at home in the woods, wandering deeper every day, that she almost didn't notice where she was. She was used to seeing rocks scattered around, after all...
...but as she came closer to the huge ring of stones, she couldn't help the feeling that there was something strange about the place. Mesmerised, she went forward, until she stood in the very centre.

And there, just a bit away from the centre, stood a stone visibly different from the others, slightly darker and with greenish veins running through it. The veins were what was the most curious about the stone and about the whole place. They seemed to move on their own before her eyes and Alysanne was drawn to come and examine them closer.

She wasn't sure herself how long she stood there, staring at the stone and trying to trace the patterns with her finger. She only knew that when she lifted her eyes from the lines that were starting to look like writing in an unknown language, like a message from a different world, it was dark and the starts were shining above her head.

Back in the Lorimer mansion the air was full of expectation.
The new lady had been lying in bed for the whole day, expecting the birth of her husband's new heir. Only when the moment truly came did she remember how much childbirth was said to hurt.
She got up from her bed, bending over in pain, and yelled for the waiting midwives to attend to her, suddenly terrified.
Liam probably could have tried to console her, but he just prayed to the Watcher to give him a son.

And then it was over, both the baby and mother were washed and the midwives could finally depart.
The baby was healthy and fine and Madeline beamed with pride as she presented it to her husband.

There was only one problem, but for Liam it was a crucial one. The newborn was a daughter instead of the heir he needed so badly.
He couldn't help but snap at the beaming Madeline, taking out the flustration that was simply too hard to bear. "Can a girl take my place as lord Lorimer? She willjust marry, taking a significant dowry. I need a son, you silly woman."
Madeline's smile froze on her face and she tried to mutter some confused apology, but by then Liam was already leaving. This was all a waste of time.

Dorian had meanwhile given up on trying to escape and settled on pure survival.
He had expected to find a way to overcome the far too enthusiastic guard, had hoped all the hard labour forced on him would at least prepare him for another fight. Instead, he grew steadily weaker, the hard life and terrible conditions in the prison camp taking a high toll not just on his appearance but mainly on his health. It was still summer, but there were times when Dorian just couldn't stop shivering and sometimes he found it hard to breathe.

He might even have remembered his little wife during his coughing fits, but he didn't have any time to linger on similar thoughts. The amount of work required of him didn't lessen just because he didn't feel well, and it certainly wouldn't make the guard to go easy on him had he failed to finish it.

Not everyone just wanted to let everything go and get through the next day, however. Liam, quickly bored with his new wife and still nursing a grudge towards Dorian decided to go on inspection of the prison.
The guard welcomed him with perhaps more enthusiasm than he should have, but perhaps he was hoping to win favour with his lord. Or perhaps he was happy to get some action, as days in the camp had been very quiet for quite some time.

For a while Liam just stood there and watched Dorian labouring in the mine, quietly fuming. He might have been satisfied with the humbled state of his enemy, but the lack of any reaction from him had quite the opposite effect. Liam expected and wanted fear, as the rightful ruler over the whole area, but even anger would be preferable to ignoring him like he wasn't there at all.

Dorian was so focused on working, trying not to strain his aching body more than necessary, that he didn't even see it coming.
He only noticed Liam when the lord walked directly to him and demanded proper respect in his most commanding voice. He turned, trying to find his voice, not to mention the right thing to say.
Before he could speak, Liam stabbed a finger into his chest, hurling even more abuse at him.
"I..."

"You should address me as 'my lord' or 'your highness'. And why aren't you on your knees? I suppose scum like you never learns, not unless the lesson is repeated often enough."
Liam slapped Dorian hard across his face, scowling. "Now kneel, you scum."

The slap woke Dorian up. He bunched his fists and almost threw himself on his assaulter, who promptly drew back in alarm. For a while he wanted to fight, to beat the brat to a pulp and forget the consequences.
It lasted for just a few seconds, but it was enough.

"You clearly need more lessons." Liam smirked and called for the guard.

Dorian felt as if he watched what came next from a distance, unable to take an active part in it. He barely felt being chained to the punishment pillar before the whip bit into his bare back again and everything blurred in a haze of pain.
He hardly noticed Liam watching with a smirk on his face or heard his insults.

When he woke up from the daze, he could only cry, now completely broken. The pain and general weakness were bad enough, but the realisation of his complete helplessness was even worse. The brat - the lord - had won and there was nothing Dorian could do. No way to get back at him, no escape.

Dorian never got his strength back after that last time at the punishment pillar. His health was deteriorating fast and the living conditions were no help - he supposed even his mother's hideouts, safe houses and refugee camps were better. At least they were warm and there was more food there, even if the company was boring at best. Still, as his fevers and breathing problems returned in full force, he wouldn't mind being transported back there.
He continued doing his best in the mine, terrified of more punishment, but soon he wasn't able to work at all and even standing took some effort. The guard didn't insist when he made sure the fever was genuine, but other than that there was no help to be had in the prisoner camp and certainly no healers. He was just mostly ignored.

Until he finally collapsed a few days later and didn't have the strength anymore to get up and hide from the cold rain.
The last thing he saw was water running down the cloth of the crude sleeping tents and a dark hood turning toward him.

It was soon after that Alysanne tried to finally visit her father and received the grim news.
She had been to the mines shortly after Dorian's arrest, as soon as her initial puzzlement and anger passed and she started missing him, but her father had been sleeping at that time and Alysanne didn't linger. Whatever she had imagined when she left home, the reality was hard enough to scare her away without a wish to return. Until it was too late, both for her father and for her.
She felt shocked, helpless... and also that she had failed her father, abandoned him when he needed her the most. Too dirty to even grieve.

And the guard, Jorah, certainly didn't make it any better, when he offered to "console her" and moved to touch her. Perhaps it was only meant as a hug, genuinely comforting, but Alysanne flinched away and almost shrieked in shock.
Something about Jorah made her skin crawl - at least she believed it was something about him she didn't like and not just the surroundings and the circumstances.

Still, there was a possible consolation he could give her and it would be better to not make him too angry. Alysanne made herself calm down, not look at the far too prominent pillars with iron chains or think about how repulsive Jorah's touch would be.
"Please... sir... may I at least get a decent burial for my father?"
The man hesitated, his face disappointed. "Are you sure you don't want to warm up in my house first?" He tried once more.
"Please..." It was all Alysanne could say, all she could hope for.
And she was lucky, as Jorah didn't push the idea further and instead shrugged. "Fine. Whatever. It will save us work, anyway."

And then all that remained was to arrange the funeral. Alysanne had hoped to bury her father next to her mother, had hoped to convince father Ambrose that punishments didn't have to go beyond death, but in the end it wasn't the priest's decision at all. Alysanne never knew how had lord Lorimer learned about her plans, maybe the mine guard had mentioned something, but it was the lord who absolutely prohibited his old enemy being buried anywhere in his village.
Instead, Alysanne managed to finally get a funeral in the valley near their own home, in the lush empty land Dorian had hoped to one day rule over.
Father Ambrose helped her get a gravestone made, together with a simple wooden statue of the Watcher to watch over her father in the next life. Alysanne and Alvin were the only ones to pay their respects, and possibly the only ones to even know where the grave was located.

"You are free now." Alvin said when he moved to hug his friend. "You have done all you can and can have your own life, any life you might wish."
Alysanne wanted to protest, to say her stigma probably won't go away and neither will her poverty, but then she just smiled through her tears. She needed consolation too much to push it away when offered. And she was grateful she had a friend.