#(;;running)

        She’d been running for what seemed like         ages -- running from her home, from those         who wished her harm. She wanted to be         better than that -- she wanted to be stronger        .... But it seemed as though running was all        she knew as of late. 

                { txghut }

She frowns, looking to her brother. She knew that the day would come when she would see them again – she didn’t know when, but she knew it would happen… perhaps she hadn’t expected it to be Asher, but she had been expecting it nonetheless. 

            “ Are you going to make me go back home?”               She’d been gone for a little over a month.               She didn’t want to go back – she was afraid               to go back. 

She often tried to keepa good attitude – she wanted to keep a smile on her face.  But she was still a child – she was still a human. 

Genevieve had offered nothing but kindness since her arrival… SoShe fell into her arms, hugging her tight as anyone could. 

      “ I miss them. I miss         my family – I miss my         father, I miss Ryon… I              miss    E t h a n .”

She rarely spoke of her twin. She had not said his name aloud since she hadarrived here. it felt wrong to say it and not have him near.

She felt tears sting at her eyes that she willed not to fall. 

Talia was posing as a serving girl in some inn. She wouldn't linger there long. She never lingered anywhere long. She missed her home but dared not return. She had fled years ago, her mother sending her from Ironrath for surely anywhere was safer than there.

Now  Talia Forrester was Alira the serving girl.

She often found herself slipping away from her temporary workplace to think of happier times. She tried to keep her spirits up, how else would she make it through a world as terrible as this one? She walked with every ounce of grace and pride a lady might, holding her head high as she might have wen walking the place she had grown up as. She met eyes with a stranger and offered a smile. It was an unfamiliar face.

       "Hello-- I'm not sure I've seen you         around here."

         " I didn’t think I’d see you again.”  Ranmsay Snow had returned for her. She had run... At first, she had had others. Since then, they had either died  or deserted her.

Though she had been hiding for so many  years, she had never returned home... The gods knew she wanted to, but there  was something forboding about it. She  would be welcomed into her mother’s  arms... but she would also be welcomed  into the hall where her own twin was  slaughtered. She had been posing as a  serving girl for some time now. It had been  hard at first, but now she was used to it.  She was Alira the serving girl now...  Not Lady Talia of house forrester.