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Aethra didn't know how long she stood there, stock still, before she found herself moving. She wasn't sure why, but to even her own surprise, her feet carried her closer to old ivy-clad tavern, rather than back into the forest from whence she'd come. It wasn't that she expected to be welcomed here -- of that much, she was sure. But... After seeing that the others had kept their promises, she felt ashamed of herself for considering running away. They had come so far, and... well, even if they hated her for it, a part of her wanted them to know the truth. That she was still alive -- that she still had a [i]reason[/i] to live. Those who had once been her friends deserved to know that much, at least -- to have some closure.

It was the hardest thing she'd ever done, but she reached out, and took hold of the door. She steeled herself, took a deep breath, and then gave it a gentle push inward, but even as it moved aside, she once again found herself suddenly rooted to the spot. Try though she might, she couldn't seem to bring herself to take a single step over the threshold. But, as fate would have it, at that moment, a gust of wind blew the door the rest of the way back, revealing the occupants of the tavern to Aethra -- and revealing her to them.

Standing in the doorway, she appeared as a figure all wrapped up in her ragged black cloak and the similarly tattered gray dress she wore beneath it. She leaned upon her thin staff of black wood, atop the head of which was mounted the pommel of a broken sword, hunching over so that the brim of her hood would hide her eyes from view a little longer. Yet, from underneath the mantle, her long, messy silver-grey hair spilled out in streams, and the light spilling out through the doorway cast her bone-white horns into stark relief.

Her ragged appearance and hunched, unnatural posture coupled with her hair to give her the aspect of a withered, ominous crone -- but when she at last spoke, the clear and soft voice that emanated from under her hood could only have belonged to a fair young woman.

[color=#FF8758]"...P-please excuse my intrusion... May I come in?"[/color]