She lingered there, when asked her who she was she said nothing,she found that she had nothing to say, she had no answer for theses strangers.<span style="font-style: italic">If I spoke my name would anyone remember it? Have I been gone so long that my place here has been lost?</span>Her doubt kept her identity cloistered from the palace guards and attendants.<br/><br/>Perhaps, she had come here in futility, and there was no one left here in the world whom she knew. The not-quite-last-wizard was gone, she could speak that with more certainty than her own name. The others? She had broken her connection with them a long time ago.<br/><br/>Her eyes would stare off past whomever tried to speak with her, her thoughts got lost in these winding threads, never finding sufficient answers to their questions. It had been a long time since she had spoken with anyone at all. She was beginning to think it it would be best to remain that way. Silent, unobtrusive, she could vanish now and sneak back to her forest.<span style="font-style: italic">Yes</span>, she thought,<span style="font-style: italic">that would be best.</span><br/><br/>Until<span style="font-style: italic">he</span>came down the steps.<br/><br/>She didn’t<span style="font-style: italic">sense</span>his presence, as she once might have. Not until she heard the sound of his footsteps with her own ears. Then that dead ethereal thread<span style="font-style: italic">jounced</span>just a little by the sound of his boots. The connection did not return completely, but that tremble was enough to catch her breath, and know with certainty whom she looked upon.<br/><br/>He asked her who she was, and what<span style="font-style: italic">business</span>she had here… He even called her<span style="font-style: italic">madame!</span><br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">How silly he has become![i/i] He had changed, aged, but Haven hardly noticed any of that. She felt other things as well, like a dog smells truffles under the earth she caught the scent of strange magics. She ignored that, and all that [i]time</span>between them. This happiness was a precious prize that she would not surrender. She saw someone she once knew. She smiled, her eyes aglow. She stepped toward him, reaching out, without hesitation. She touched his shoulders, looking into his eyes, then wrapped her arms around him, clutching him.<br/><br/>Haven had never been shy about physical contact, always a wild-thing at heart. Yet, this was the first person she had touched in a very long time. Her lanky arms quickly remembered how to hug, remembered him, and gladly made adjustments for his broader shoulders.<br/><br/>“Anthony.” Her voice cracked, but managed the sounds. She had not spoken in so long… Had she spoken to him before? Her memory was hazy, drunk in the moment, she didn’t<span style="font-style: italic">remember</span>speaking to him before… Was it true? It was too late to go back in time and say more. Now things were different, she<span style="font-style: italic">could</span>talk, she<span style="font-style: italic">wanted</span>to talk, she wanted to<span style="font-style: italic">sing</span>she was so happy to have found him.<span style="font-style: italic">Someone who once knew me…</span><br/><br/>“I found you!” she spoke into his ear as she pressed the side of her head against his. Her voice smoothed over with every syllable as her vocal chords grew accustomed to their task. She spoke cheerfully, as if the had only been playing hide and seek. "And you have found me!"