[Sophia the Thunder Mistress]

Morwyn took the wooden flute in her hand, running her fingers over the grain. She glanced up graefully at Nahai, through eyes that were red and beginning to puff.

"Thank you, my friend." She she said softly, "your gift means much to me." She shook her head ruefully, with a crooked smile, "I know not how to play..." her words trailed off. She didn't want to offend Nahai who offered her such a gift, it looked old.

Nahai reached a hand hesitantly across the table and pushed to flute back toward Morwyn, as she tried to give it back. "Keep it." she said gently, "you will learn to play in time. Mimic the birds..." Morwyn smiled at her friend's words and clutched the flute to her chest.

The elf girl, Annalaliath, had finished and was now drawing, a portrait of a child in colored inks. Morwyn had been crying too hard to notice when the girl rejoined the group, but she had heard her kind words to Nahai, and she turned to her. "Thank you, also." she said with a slight smile.

"Now," she continued, "the time for tears is ended!" She wiped her eyes clean with the heel of her hand, and called out to a server who was passing, "Another drink for me, and for my companions!" She knew that the others could see that her gaity was false, but there was a limit to how much of her grief Morwyn could expose to the world. It was threatening to overwhelm her.

The drinks were brought, and the three women sat and sipped them reflectively, despite Morwyn's call for mirth. After finishing her drink Morwyn excused herself from the table, in desperate need of solitude.

Leaving the inn she made for the stable, pressing her face into the warm neck of her horse. She drew strength from him, as she always did, going about the everyday tasks of caring for him. Even though the inn's staff fed Leofa while she stayed, she went through the motions of checking his water, running her hands over his legs, picking the knots from his glossy tail.

When she finished she remembered Nahai's flute. It was tucked down the the side of her skirt. She pulled it out and looked at it carefully. The delicate elven carvings all over were deeply shadowed in the dim light of the stable. She breathed in deeply, smiling at the kindness of the woman who had given it to her. Putting it to her lips she blew it softly. A clear note emerged. Shifting the position of her fingers she blew again. A different tone, piercing and lovely, greeted her. She smiled again, this time broadly. She would learn to play.