<div class="floatleft">(http://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/1/14/Momoa.jpg)</div><br/><strong>Who:</strong>Naliya & Lorna<br/><strong>Where:</strong>Near the fire<br/><strong>When:</strong>1st day of spring, Morning<br/><hr/><div style="text-align: justify;">Lars watched Lorna inspect the tool, a lot more confident about it than he had been the first time around. With input from Valko and Tamen, the tool had taken a very nice shape, became lighter and sturdier. “I’ll make one for you, though I admit that it might take a while. Flint-knapping isn’t my strongest point.” Lars said, with a small smile playing on his lips. He was glad that Lorna liked it. He’d work on another one for her soon.<br/><br/>With Naliya close to him, her small pale hand into his bigger, darker one, Lars wasn’t so eager to relive what had started a little over a year ago, but he had to. Lorna had a right to know about it, and Lars felt that Naliya should know before the summer meeting anyway. He expected that things between Siara, Taluk and himself would still be tense. He took a deep breath to speak and started, though his reluctance at doing so was visible in the tension of his shoulders.<br/><br/>“The winter before the last, I grew increasingly close to Siara, the daughter of the Crane hearth. She was not yet a woman, about the same situation as Mira here.” Lars said and he glanced toward Lorna, but before she could jump to conclusions, he went on. “I told my best friend, Taluk, about it, and about my plans to let my interest known to her after her first rites, as was proper. I was chosen to give a girl their first rites that summer. I hoped it would be for Siara, but I was given the care of another young woman. Siara heard about it, and she was mad at me for something I couldn’t be held responsible for.” Lars said. For someone who did not speak much, he was saying an awful lot now, but he spoke slowly, like he was weighing his words.<br/><br/>The truth was simple, he didn’t want the events to be tainted by emotions. Lars didn’t want to become bitter or sound vengeful. He wasn’t even angry anymore, and that was how he wanted to make the two woman aware of the events. “She avoided me for days, and when I tried to speak to her, I was told that she was angry with me, that she didn’t want to speak to me. It was her mother who finally told me that, knowing her daughter, it would be best if I left it up to Siara to come to me. The mother was right, Siara did come to me… she was with Taluk, and it was to announce that they were considering getting married at the last ceremony of the summer, before returning home.”<br/><br/>“I had trusted my best friend with the way I felt, and he turned out to be a not so best friend after all. I could not conceal my emotions and Siara saw I was hurt and angry. Rather than to leave it at that,  Siara tried to talk to me in the following days and I told her everything. Only, I am not a man to break someone else’s prior engagement. When she said she would tell Taluk about knowing the truth, and that she would marry me instead if I still wanted of her, I told her I didn’t. She married Taluk. We returned to the Fox winter camp…”<br/><br/>Lars rubbed the back of his neck with his free hand. He looked up from the fire to both Naliya and Lorna. “The betrayal of Taluk had me hesitate returning to the Fox camp at that point, and while I had not fallen in love with Siara, seeing Taluk and her together was bothering me.  At some point during the winter, they started arguing all the time. Siara came to me to talk to me as a friend, Taluk was jealous and made a scene and that’s when Siara told Taluk the truth about everything. The ambiance in the camp became unbearable and no matter how much I said I did not want Siara this way anymore, Taluk just kept trying to pick a fight with me. We all know how small a lodge can get during the winter… So I packed my things, told my brother that I would meet him at the summer meeting, if I made it here, and I left. I chose to come here because I know Vanyel as the child of the Fox Camp's Mammoth hearth, and because I knew someone else here.” <br/><br/>Lars thought he might have managed to tell the whole tale without sounding too bitter about it. He was only worried about her reaction now, and he turned to Naliya to say something about Siara. “The strongest I’ve ever felt for Siara is nothing compared to the way I feel for you. From the moment I’ve known she belonged to another  man, no matter who, I’ve considered her a friend and no more. You do not have to worry, I promise you.” Lars said and he meant every word he said to her.<br/><br/></div>