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Relvin sees the halfling walking up as he's brushing the horses. One of his daughter's fellow travelers, maybe her friend. He walks with strange combination of grace and heaviness that reminds Relvin of some of the soldiers he used to know.
He lost a lot of folk in the Apex War. Lost a lot of folk since then, too.
The halfling walks alone now. Relvin continues on his business until he's close to the stables, then washes his hands before meeting him.
"Sir? I'm Orym. I was a friend of your daughter."
Was. Oh. He'd thought that might be the case. Had been bracing for it. He'd been expecting a version of this conversation for years, but it still feels surreal. His skin tingles as if numb.
A small grunt escapes as a reply. "She pass, then?"
Orym nods. His hair falls into his eyes, and he brushes it out of the way as he looks back up at Relvin. "I'm sorry for your loss."
Relvin can't deal with sympathy right now, he'll pack it away and poke at it later. "How'd it happen?"
"Well, you know about the solstice? And Ruidis?"
"I know the ruddy moon was up in the sky for a few weeks, and now it's not." He'd heard more about that, of course. He'd heard a lot about the Ruidisborn looking to kill the crops, or the gods, and rumors of telepathic moon people coming over to looking to rule Exandria. And sometimes about a purple haired magic user helping them. People had been talking - not to him, but around him. About whether Relvin with his strange wife and daughter knew more. Whether or not he was going to join them soon.
Relvin had went on about his business. People'd talk. They'd been talking for years. Nothing he could do to stop it.
"We went in to try to stop Da'leth- he's the one behind Ruidis staying in place - and Predathos - he's. Uh. Well, that's not as important anymore. But Imogen. She, ah - how do I put this."
"She was trying to do what's right?" Small comforts. He'd never wanted a hero, he'd wanted a daughter.
"Yeah. I think they both were, really."
"Her and that … girl of hers?" He didn't mean to be rude, he just didn't know how to refer to a half-rotten corpse politely.
"Oh, no - well, Laudna was also helping, but I was referring to Imogen's mother."
That struck like a blow, even without her name. Relvin feels himself visibly flinch, and notices Orym noticing, too. Perceptive fellow.
"We found her. She's pretty beat up, and her hair's white now. She's probably different from when you knew her."
There was a lot hidden in those words. A lot that Relvin wasn't sure he wanted to ever know. He thinks he would have been happier as a widower. But he'd loved his wife, once. He still doesn't want her dead.
"Liliana is still walking around, then."
Orym nodded again, then swallowed. "She wasn't sure if you'd welcome her home."
"I'm not sure I'd welcome her home, myself." The way Relvin sees it, you abandon your husband and daughter for a couple of decades, you don't get to walk through the door like nothing's happened. Especially if the daughter doesn't.
"Fair enough. Do you want me to pass anything to her?"
Relvin thinks of saying something, anything, but his tongue feels like lead. He thinks he'd rather talk to his daughter again, but he never spoke to her when she was living. Not really.
He'd never figured out how to talk. How to have the conversations he should have had. Way back when, during the good years, Relvin had never really needed to with Liliana. She just always seemed to guess what was on his mind. He thought that was love.
She'd reached out to him a couple of times. In dreams - for a while he didn't know what was happening. And then he did, and she was asking about his daughter, and he was so scared that he was going to lose them both that he refused to answer.
But it's hard keeping secrets from a telepath, much less two. And soon enough Liliana just spoke to their daughter directly. He'd lost her anyway.
Orym is still waiting for an answer, and Relvin remembers to shake his head no.
He feels a hand on his forearm, and he turns to face the halfling again.
"If you don't mind me saying - I lost my father and husband, I know a little bit what you're going through…"
"I think I do mind, and I don't think you do." Relvin breathes. He didn't think this man understands what it means to bring up a woman who was always destined to give him sorrow, one way or another. He couldn't stop the world from being cruel. He hadn't been able to protect her.
Maybe he could have tried harder. Maybe Liliana would have known what to do with her. Gods know that Relvin didn't.
"Son, I know you were trying to be kind, but I don't think that's what needed right now." Relvin is proud he is able to get the words out of this throat, at least.
"Yeah, I get that."
Relvin clears his throat again. "You, uh, need a horse to get back? Or a pony? We got a couple of mounts for folks your size."
"Oh, no, I don't want to put you out -"
"It's no trouble at all. It's what I do. I've got agreements with most of the local inns - you just let them know, and they'll send a message for me to bring them back." He felt himself retreating into formality, but he also was able to stand up a little straighter.
Orym smiles, looking a little sheepish. "I've got my own mount on the other side of that hill. Didn't want to spook the horses with it."
"A riding dog?" Shouldn't spook any horse worth more than two coppers, but Relvin decided that Orym probably didn't know that.
"Oh, not exactly. Uh, a dragon-horse?"
All Relvin could do was nod. A lot more of a concern, then.
"Well then, thanks for letting me know about Imogen." Relvin closes his eyes, swallows, concentrates on breathing.
"You raised a wonderful daughter. She was kind." Orym says, then raises a hand uselessly before lowering it again. He turns, with that military grace and precision that Relvin had noticed as he was walking up, and walks away.
Relvin watches him go over the hill, out of sight. He then makes it to the house, sits down at a kitchen table with far too many chairs, and lets the tears fall.