Chapter One: A return home.

It has been just over a fortnight since I returned to Caledonia. Just over a fortnight since I returned to the land of the living. Travel by airship, although faster than by sea, does not do much to settle the nerves. By the time it finally "docked" on the shores of my familiar and beloved homeland, it had already begun to snow.

The carriage ride home was quiet and slow. Maisie and I had not talked much since I walked through the Vail. She had done something stupid and taken her own life, thinking that is what would be needed for me to come back to the land of the living. She is young, and the magic in Arrakis is different than it is here. She is home now, however, and now she can go back to her life the way it was before she was foolish enough to play with the fairy stones.

As the carriage bounced along the rocky road way, my heart hung heavy and my mind drifted back to Arrakis. Or rather, to the friends I had left behind. Kampi, Ajax, Cypress.. I couldn't help but wonder what they were all up to. I had left a letter and a small gift for kampi, I would have sent a letter to Ajax and Cypress as well, letting them know I was alive, however, I would not know where to send it, and paying someone to find them and deliver the letter was pointless. If Ajax did not want to be found, he would not be found.

All those heavy thoughts left my mind as we rounded the bend and looked down on the family farm. Even from the distance we were, I could see father out tending to the cows, smoke rose from the chimney of our old family home and I couldn't help but smile at the scene. Finally, after such a long year, I was home!

As we grew closer to the farm I could no longer contain myself. Taking in a deep breath I let out a loud battle cry. Creagh dhu echoed loudly in the valley. I could see my father stop and look toward the road. He gave the last cow a firm slap on the backside and made his way toward the house. The front door whipped open and I could see my mother exit the house, still washing her hands on her apron from whatever meal she might have been preparing inside. After her, six wiry haired Deerhounds came bounding out the front door. I jumped from the back of the moving cart and raced toward them. I love my family, and I miss my home, but I missed my dogs the most. With no claymore or hammer to way me down I met up with them no problem. I dropped to my knees and was plowed over easily by the bulk of all six of the dogs. There was not enough love to go around, right there on the cold wet ground, the seven of us rolled around in a mock wrestling match in the snow, which continued on well passed the carriage passing us. 

By the time I had reached the house, mother had Maisie wrapped in her arms and was well on her way to crying. Father approached me with a firm hug and a "thanks for looking after your sister." When she was finally done with Maisie, mother turned her attention onto me, her huh was just as tight, but she had no years for me. Unlike Maisie, Mother knew where I was, and of all the years I have been a Nomad, is used to my coming and going by now. My sister's however, have never left home, except when mother and father sent them abroad for schooling. 

"Come, come, inside out of the cold, both of you!" Mother ushered us into the house, which was warm, and full of the smells of a cooking stew and crackling fire. I removed my coat and went to hang it on the hook but mother stopped me, "I won't have you hanging that thing on my walls after you have just been rolling around in the mud with the dogs, here give it to me" she grabbed it from my hands and pushed me and Maisie into the centure room of the house. I was all to happy to kick my feet up infront of the warm hearth and have a pipe with my old man, well Maisie went upstairs for a warm bath. Something neither of us had had since leaving Arrakis.

I do not own any of these photos. All and full credit to the owners.