The Right Time

Writers: Jane
Date Posted: 31st May 2009

Characters: Zandreu
Description: Zandreu sees the first snow of the season and thinks.
Location: Vintner Hall
Date: month 3, day 2 of Turn 5

Snow.

The thin face with the broad, flat cheekbones lit with a smile as the
Tavern Master of the Vintner Hall's tavern at Amber Hills Hold glanced
out the window as he drew back the drapes.

Large, strong hands unfastened reluctant latches and then wiry muscle
pushed the window up so that the dark head could poke out into the
half-light before dawn.

Not much snow, to be sure, just enough to cover the fields between the
Hall and the river with a picturesque blanket, though it hadn't settled
on any of the cobblestoned areas which resulted in everything being
neatly delineated into snow and no-snow. Similarly the banks of the
wide river were covered, but the river flowed on uninterrupted.

Zandreu made time to appreciate the view every morning but some mornings
were notable; this was one of them.

There had been snow on the ground when he had arrived at Amber Hills and
here it was, back again. It was the beginning of winter where he had
arrived at the tail end of the previous one, so he hadn't been Tavern
Master for a Turn yet, but something about the return of the snow made
him feel as if he had been in this one place for longer than he usually
stayed.

And he liked that feeling.

For the first time in Turns he wasn't starting to look for another job,
another temporary appointment, though if the former Tavern Master had
come back for good he supposed he would have been happy enough to move
sideways into a job at the Hall itself.

He liked the Tavern, though, and the Hold in its setting beside the
river and above the gorges. It was a pleasant place to learn new things
- like settling down and settling in as part of a community. He knew he
didn't have the same feeling for the Tavern - and Tavern - that the
former Tavern Master had, but that was likely his part of the problems
in his past that continued to ripple into his present and no doubt would
continue to do the same in his future.

Despite the cold, fresh air the Tavern Master smiled at the view and his
thoughts. Here he was, for another winter and another step forward in
his life ... staying still.

He couldn't help but wonder if this development was an indication that
there were some other things he should think about.

A wife, somewhere. Though if she had had any sense she would have
petitioned to end their marriage.

Adult children that he heard only a word about here and there, and only
about the boys who were in the craft.

Family that he had left behind long before he had finally faced his
battle with himself.

On this first snowy morning he thought about them and wondered if the
arrival of another season heralded 'the right time' that he had always
promised himself would turn up ... sometime.

The right time to find out what had happened to the family he had
abandoned long ago.

Last updated on the June 21st 2009

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The Right Time