There is a sickness here in the Lagoon.

It wasn’t entirely a surprise to hear Tyr speak those words, but it was his tone and the look in his eyes when he said them that made something go still inside her.

There has always been unrest in the bachelors…. But this is different.

When Zevulun had told her the Lagoon had been needling them more frequently, even going as far as to successfully snatch away a young mare of his son’s, she had simply assumed it was the reckless bachelors being themselves. But the warning in Tyr’s tone, the heaviness that lay there, made Oswin feel like she had ice in her veins, despite how she tucked into his much larger, broader figure to the point his body heat was blocking out the autumn chill. She shivered against him.

It’s my fault. He kissed her softly and despite the heaviness of their conversation, his affectionate touch was enough to bring a ghost of a smile to the corner of her lips. The Boss is my son.

There were arguments that could be made, sometimes children seemed destined to become a thing all by themselves despite how you raised them… but Oswin understood why Tyr shouldered this blame and why it affected him so greatly. It’s time for you to go back to the Peak. Her white lashes fluttered quick as her eyes opened and she pulled just away enough to glance up at him. A flood of emotions rushed through her at the thought of returning to the Peak and most of them she remembered from the times before she’d been away from her home and returned to it.

Love. Excitement. Longing. Determination.

This time, though, there was something new. Fear. Would she return to the Peak as the strong warrior she had been? Or would the sad sickness that’d robbed her of herself before she left come creeping back in? If it did, could she fight it long enough to wait for Tyr to return to her?

She thought of all he would be facing through staying here until he could be free. Oswin thought again of the Peak, and nodded slowly. “You’re right.” She admitted, and rested her cheek against him again, enjoying the physical touch of skin to skin, trying not to think of how long it might be before she had it again. “I won’t be able to keep myself from getting involved in their politics,” she admitted, knowing herself, “but I have no idea what the Peak has become since I left it.”

She sighed and added softly, “It seems there’s work left for us yet, my love.”

oswin
this is as brave as I know how to be.
I know it’s gonna hurt you, but please… be a little proud of me.