Amara sips the water slowly, aware suddenly of how different the world seems right now -- brighter, more detailed, somehow more<em>there</em>.  The sunrise is unlike any other she's seen, more colors there then she ever thought existed.  She looks down at the curious, awkward fish, almost laughing out of sheer wonder.  But she never misses a syllable of what Marius says, not a single hesitation gong unnoticed.  He is perhaps the most vivid of all, the most complex, in spite of the very real simplicity about how he looks and the way he speaks.<br/><br/>She'd seen the town fade more gradually, and that had been bad enough.  How much worse would it have been for him to be confronted, in a moment, with the results of a decay that had taken years?  "I'm sorry about your father," she says, awkwardly.  It is the correct formula, she supposes, and she means it far more than most who said those words, but it's still impossibly far short of enough.<br/><br/>She hands back the wineskin, still serious.  "You did help me," she says, with grave understatement.  "You always do."  Her eyes are drawn to his hands as he checks his gear, and she recognizes the automatic, efficient movements of someone who never knows when he might find himself dependent on the few things he carries to survive.<br/><br/>She has nothing against the boat, but there is still a sense of relief in having the ground beneath her feet again -- after feeling such helplessness, there is a great deal to be said for the simple ability to choose her own direction.  With a smile that is, at last, just as happy as the smiles Marius remembers from those long-ago times, she takes his hand and hops lightly up next to him on the dock.  "M'lord," she says, and for a moment they're both children again, amd the world is new and enticing and terrifying again.<br/><br/>She looks around at the trees, and realizes just how much things have really changed.  There isn't anything left in their village, not for either of them, but there is a world to be discovered again, even if neither of them is quite so starry-eyed as they'd once been.  The road stretches away to left and right, each path equally appealing, and equally unknown.  "That way?" she suggested, gesturing at random to the left.  Her eyes shine at the prospect of adventure, though she can hardly believe that she still has any sort of taste for travel.  But Marius is here now, everything is different, and in that moment, nothing can stop either of them.