Old Habits Die Hard Part Five, New habits? Or just old ones recycled? Options

[haute ecole rider]

It's now time to start a new thread for Julian of Anvil. Now that she returns to her hometown, it's rather appropriate to start a new thread to celebrate!

Thanks to all who have read and posted input on Julian's story.

For those coming in late, if you've got the time, here are links to the previous threads:

Chapters One through Seven
Chapters Eight through Thirteen
Chapters Fourteen through Eighteen
Chapters Nineteen through Twenty-two

I hope you continue to enjoy this story as Julian works toward the inevitable conclusion!

[Thomas Kaira]

Got a little behind there for a spell. Not for long, though. I'm back and up-to-date.

My heart twinged at his words. If not for those goblins thirty years ago, the man standing before me repairing my cuirass would have been my brother. But if not for those goblins, I would never have joined the Legion. So my brother would not be repairing a cuirass for me. If not for the goblins, who would be following the path I have followed these past few months?

Just one pebble of what I'm sure will be mountains of backstory for our dear old Redguard here. I believe I will be enjoying this next section immensely.

“I’ll give you a hand,” I said, putting my weapons down beside my pack. First we stripped the tack from the animal, then together we grasped the horse’s forelegs and pulled him to the side of the road, where we rolled him over the edge to drop down the slope. “That’ll keep the wolves and the lions happy for a while,” I added.

Poor horsie. But you do what you have to do, and let Y'ffre do the rest.

Is it true what they say? You can’t go home again?

Home is not a noun, Julian, at least not in the traditional sense. You may have history here in Anvil, but it has not been your home for such a long time. Dear old Count Umbranox has been absconded from history altogether and his wife given up on ever seeing him again, and now as we learn, a dear friend's wife has passed on. Your home is now at Martin's side in Cloud Ruler. So much has changed in Anvil that it may have become a different town from the one you remember... that is to say, the Anvil you once called home.

Home is not the walls in which you live. Home is familiarity, a feeling of belonging. If Julian has lost the feeling here in Anvil, how could she then still call it home? I will totally understand if this makes you feel empty inside, you have every right to feel that way. No one likes to be away from the one place they found shelter and solace for so many years, and then they come back and discover that sheltering feeling has disappeared. It's... well... it's sobering, to say the least.

Nevertheless, it is where you were born, so it will always hold a place in your heart. I'm sure whatever time you spend within the walls will be spent well.

This post has been edited by Thomas Kaira: Feb 5 2011, 10:27 AM