Ever so often in the course of a lifetime, the Fates intervened and their cosmic events were unstoppable. Death and birth, and all the inbetween. Interestingly in his life, death had not been the end, but the beginning. He was no great warrior hero that poets would sing of, and it was lilkely only fragments of his history would be recorded in the scribes' annals for Thentisian posterity. But truly, no one else's unfolding adventures could equal his, and no love could rival that he held for a woman once his sworn enemy. Whether free or enslaved, or somewhere in between, it mattered not. Everything else in life had paled by comparison.

The very last trip to Thentis had proved a turning point in the long absence of Athos' third and favorite son. It was doubtful he'd come to any conclusions about Neva, but he no longer had the desire to remain apart from his Home Stone. Prior to the return trip to Ar, the metal worker had met with someone about acquiring a property that was at least several hundred acres and sandwiched between the south mountain foothills and the Olni river.

The grazing tabuk and wild verr were plentiful and the settlement reached after a few lengthy negotiations between the two men was one both were quite happy with. The bungalow style house on the property was rather sprawling and the immediate property tended and cultivated for centuries. It's sweeping trees and foothill perch made the scenic view rather spectacular, and though he'd not mentioned anything to anyone on the previous trip back to Ar -- this was what had made the man rather elated. He would be coming back home. And coming back to stay.