OOC: OPen by request only. PM for details.
How many years had it been since he'd gone home? Allar City was never the same after the great flood, and after the turning hands of power since Calent Allarick had left to rule in the capital. It was strange to see new buildings there, and old ones destroyed or just completely gone.
The Iron Star had always been his favorite, a massive war monument erected to the great generals of the Duchy of Allar's past. It was strange now that, in passing, he himself, more or less still new to the shoes of his position of General, may someday come to make a name for himself there. There was a strange sense of pride, and also a strange sense of self worthlessness, and a sense of emptyness. He still hadn't let his entire position sink in.
General. War General. A war general of connlaoth.
He knew his mother was proud, and she wrote to him often enough and he- when he could. No doubt she was excited to see him. He was on his way home for a brief break after having chased out a few straggling Turgullian army numbers lingering too close to the Allarian boarder.
There was even to be a feast, a ball in his honor at the very castle to which he served. He knew his mother would look lovely in her evening dress. She always had. It was at this he recalled his other plight- that many others of his age had been well married before the war, and would have their wives, probably now with round bellies of pregnancy from their last mission home, and would be escorting them to the very same ball in their honor.
He had even surprised himself at how many victories he had made which lead to very little casualties to the Grand duke's men. It was a strange sensation, to be always hunched ina tent, low at night, by candlelight, and reviewing letter of letter of intel and flitting between maps and known positions of men and guerrilla fighters that opposed the crown.
A war hero, some said he was. Funny.. why didn't he feel it? Sure he smiled about it, but he was always smiling. And he found himself stopping atop the crest of the Allarrian City bridge, and just taking in the sights in the warmth sun of the spring day. Everything here was beautiful and outside of these walls you never could have guessed war raged on in the blood and mud.
Same streets, different man..
Or perhaps it was odd because he was the same man and though the streets were different...
The air had changed. Time had passed, and he stared up from the buttoned up uniform he was studying, and the stars he wore and how well polished he looked (as he could see himself int he reflection in the river. His hair at least looked good, and he - well groomed, thanks to a good shave to remove his beard and trim back his hair, that was now layered about his face. It was like a weight was lifted frmo him when he had finally shaved and got his hair cut back. It had gotten so long he had to wear it in a tail.) He looked from that image now and upwards towards the windmill he knew indicated he was getting closer to home. He lived just on the other side of that windmill, and just admired the fact there was at least that similarity in the sky line from days gone past.
But that lead his eyes astray, brown eyes falling behind a new sign of a place that's always been there but had evidently changed hands.
The River Den.
Curious, he approached the waterfront business, wondering just what it was, and who might have run the place. After all, the place had once been one of his many locations where he ran his business before he sold it off. Evidently, it was no longer presiding at this location and he had to wonder just where it had gone. He sold it to some old man who was into trading longer than he, the Mennings family. Good people. Short on words, but good.
He saw his reflection in the window, and moved to fix the layers of his black hair that kept falling over just one eye. Maybe he should have taken more of his hair off, but it was still strange to stare back at his face. He looked almost as he once had when he had lived here by the trade nearly a decade ago except.. upon further examination, he noticed the smile creases on the sides of his eyes, and the faint ones by his lips.
