Port Cos

Trusk went to Tharna to deal with some business so that left me some free time. The ship should be finished by the end of the hand. I am rather excited about the prospect of travel and exploration.

The few days I had sent me to Port Cos to see my children. The reunion was incredible and I found myself buried in a pile of children, happily hugging and kissing each, inspecting each for grooming and grilling them on their studies. They seem just as happy with Max as they were with me so some of the anxiety has melted away but nothing can take away the hole left in my life without them there with me. Maximillian too has benefited from his sisters and brothers in the same house with him. He is a wonderful child and while I was respectful of his mothers place, I had plenty of love and hugs for him too. The four of them soothed troubled soul.

Max could see there was much on my mind. I wonder if he realizes how many years we have been in each others lives. We have found a contentment in each other. There is a new honesty between us that marks us forever together even if we will probably be apart. The love for him has never faded but time marches on, things change and lives take different paths. I know he feels the same for me and the few days in Port Cos were truly remarkable and peaceful. Ah Maximus, love of my life. Never will the first time we set eyes on each other be forgotten. All the hurt of prior years has worked its way to oblivion yet that moment is still there. Perhaps I have grown up, mellowed.. something.

The last say there each child had several ahns of alone time with me so that I could catch up on every moment of their lives and to play or talk with them depending the age. Maxine my brooding young girl on the threshold of womanhood. I worry over her at times. She is very intelligent as is showing in her studies. It won't be too many more years before Max is fighting off suitors and he will be. She is very beautiful. My young warrior, Maximus. He is at that awkward age where he is very serious about being a warrior. Proper and circumspect, treating me like a free woman, not his mother. But then there is a side that will show, a young boy needing to be held and nurtured by his mother. I have to smile in those moments and enjoy them because soon they will be gone. He misses Aris but that is understandable. A bound had been found between the two. Aris has been part of the children's life since they were very young. I do hope young Max didn't inherit the roving eye of his father. My sweet little Madeline. She is much better than I thought she would be without me. She did get teary telling me of her first few days but she has a spirit unlike the other two. She is fun loving and resilient and still so needful of both her parents. Once I had time with each, the entire family had time together. The four children so fun to watch and even Max with that proud father like smile. In the course of my travels once the ship arrives, Port Cos will be a regular port of call. While I know we can't be together right now, I need them. They sooth something untameable in me.. being a mother was the one thing I did right.

Once back to the Inn I spoke to the Inn Keep and had the extra furs I had put to the tarn cot for Trusk taken back. He was not yet back so I was sure he would not need them, why pay the coin for them. Too, I am considering docking his pay for the days he is gone, pay he already has!

Yes, I have missed the man these last days and I hope he will return soon.