Bitterroot Valley ✢ I can't find one good reason for leavin' here alone

Though Elowyn was greeted with deep happiness, Angel was quietly horrified when Miska showed up instead of Callahan. Her last impression of him was of a bawdy but sentimental man — but she still remembered her first, and she could see how well it might go if that was to be the man that would meet with her family.

Sega bid them go, but Angel stepped forward to bid them wait. To Elowyn, she begged, "Just remember what I told you," her voice almost too low to be overheard. And to Miska, "Thank you — this is important to me."

She did not let herself beg him. Instead she left him with the weight of her hope and confidence. Perhaps it would make a difference for the better, or perhaps for the worse. She supposed that all she could do now was hope.

To them both, she offered the traditional Morningside blessing: "Be strong and vigilant. Protect one another." And here, she hesitated. Easy always said, know that I love you so, at the end. She wanted to say this to Elowyn. Part of her, even, wanted to say this to Miska, and to have it be true. Instead, she went with the typical, "I'll see you on the other side."

For now, that would have to do.