Darin couldn’t help herself. She moved to wrap her arms around Ridahne’s waist in a desperate hug, a human sign of trust on level with the Azurei touching a loved one’s face. Ridahne was easily one of Darin’s most important people in all of astra, in all the world. It had been that way for a long time now. And yes, they were sisters now, thanks to Hadian, but Darin wasn’t sure she had ever told Ridahne just what the warrior meant to her. Right now, might have counted, but the human wasn’t sure. This moment couldn’t last forever, but Darin really wanted to take this moment and stretch it out to eternity.

Darin still couldn’t help herself, “I love you Ridahne. I’m so glad that you’re here, with me. I’m not sure I could have ever done this without you.”

Okay, that was a total and complete lie. There was no way in all of Astra that Darin would have been able to do this without Ridahne. If it wasn’t for the warrior Darin would probably be dead in a ditch somewhere. Or worse, she be using her powers of communication with Astra more than she currently was, which might have led to The Tree helping her more, which would have meant The Tree would be dying even faster than it was currently. Right not Darin had hope of actually traveling all of Astra the way she really needed to. Without Ridahne, Darin’s entire strategy would have to had altered after meeting The Tree, which would not have been ideal at all.

Darin finally pulled away, “Okay. I think I’m okay. For now, at least.” She counted off on her fingers, “For today, I need to write my letters to Ravi and my mother. I need to talk to Harai, and we need to resupply, since we leave tomorrow.” She pressed the heels of her hands to her eyes, “I’m confidant I’m missing something.” Her hands dropped to her lap, “Can you think of anything else?”

Darin still wanted to head to Atakhara early the next morning. She had spent more than enough time in the city of Tasen. Not that her time in Tasen hadn’t been productive. She had learned a lot about Azurei and its people. She had also learned what being The Seed-Bearer openly would be like. All in all it had been a good stay, but it was starting to drag on, and Darin didn’t have the time to spend too much time anywhere. Tasen was a good place to rest and do things she couldn’t do in other places, like write to her mother and think. However, although this was Ridahne’s home, or one of them, it was just another market.

Darin suddenly remembered, “Oh! Is there something I can read about Azurei weddings? Or someone I can talk to? I don’t want to mess up yours, and I know you say I won’t, but that doesn’t give me an excuse to not know the basics.”