She arrived with her coat torn and her boots red with dust.75Please respect copyright.PENANAEgBbBoAbJk
Not fresh blood.75Please respect copyright.PENANAqdQ8qlJx61
Old earth.75Please respect copyright.PENANA6CPez1V59u
Walked too long and far to care what clung to her.
She did not collapse.75Please respect copyright.PENANA3yJKaZzYoR
She did not cry.
She ordered nothing.
She sat, looked at the fire, and said:75Please respect copyright.PENANAwQznZu1QUK
75Please respect copyright.PENANAkGhQgyOJ0K
“Even if I die here… I shall have no regrets.”
She said it simply.75Please respect copyright.PENANAP9mq9aoL3X
Not to me.75Please respect copyright.PENANAtUQwT9AnKl
To the room.75Please respect copyright.PENANAyIgDlH5YST
To the fire.75Please respect copyright.PENANAMcb2JRzYDa
To herself.
There was no ceremony to it.
I brewed something light, fragileroot and sunpetal,75Please respect copyright.PENANA6TQcH1b9jt
the kind that holds no bitterness, no memory, only warmth.
She smiled, touched the rim, but did not drink.75Please respect copyright.PENANAzVyFzGNKOv
75Please respect copyright.PENANAnYvCWnKoKD
“This place… I didn’t dream it, did I?”
I shook my head.
She nodded once.
And then, she closed her eyes.
Not in death.75Please respect copyright.PENANA2UudUbDq9Q
Just in rest.
She stayed the night. She left at dawn.75Please respect copyright.PENANAuEsCQX43Jk
Left the drink untouched, glowing softly.
I do not know if she is still walking.75Please respect copyright.PENANAnRqBI7k9Qo
But I know she was here.
And if that moment was her last.
She chose it.
And the tavern remembered her without needing to ask her name.
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