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((ooc: CW for a brief mention of recreational drugs.))

[For two months, more or less, she's been in mourning. She hasn't shown her face much. And there's been a lot of crying.

But sentimental though Ariadne can be, she's also practical. Which means she recognizes when it's time to try moving forward.

So behold. Not Padmé, not Jane. Just a sad Ariadne, her hair in a loose braid, with a few tendrils curling around her face.]

I've decided it's time to clean through the rubble that was the Winchester cottage. The ground needs to be cleared so someone else can build there. And I'm sure a few things survived the fire which need to be sorted and placed.

I guess...I mean, I'll do it myself. But if anyone would like to help I would...appreciate it. I can pay you in fruit or herbs from the orchard.

[Her face is like porcelain. She's not letting a single crack show, even though it still hurts.]

I'll be there for the next week or so. Please let me know if you'd be willing to join me. At the very least, I think some of his--some of Dean's--marijuana plants survived. I'd like to try to replant them in my garden.

I can pay you with that, if you like.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

The soil is trickier with vegetables. Marijuana doesn't require as much.

[A pause.]

Although, I suppose there might be a demand, given how stressful Trench can be.

[She's no farmer, but that makes sense to Maria.]

It's certainly different from anywhere I've ever been. And I've walked the battlefields of war.

Oh.

[She blinks.]

Oh. I'm so sorry.

Don't be. It was my choice to be there.

I understand that.

But it doesn't make it any easier.

No, it did not.

[Tales of pursuing honor and glory in the Crusade had done nothing to prepare Maria for the reality of the long, dirty war for control of the Holy Land. It hadn't made her regret coming, but it had certainly shifted her perspective.]

But even a difficult thing may be worthwhile if it's reached through walking one's own path.

I like that.

Very prettily said, my lady.

I've never been one to value the prettiness of words over actions. But thank you.

It's mostly for diplomats and royals, really.

[She shrugs.]

Or artists.

I was nobility once, if that counts. But I'm very happy that is no longer the case.

Happy?

[She looks genuinely shocked.]

But...why?

Because I had no interest in being valued only for my ability to produce sons and manage the estate.

[Well that's...that's actually somewhat reasonable.]

Oh. I see...

Uh...if I may ask...do you practice a trade now?

[Maria's not amazing at social graces but even she can tell she's driven this somewhere slightly awkward.]

Until recently, I was a soldier. Now you could say I'm finding my feet.

You left the nobility for the military?

[She lets out a low, impressed whistle.]

I can't imagine how hard that must have been!

Hard in some ways. Easier in others.

[For the first time in her life, she'd felt free.]

It helped that for the first while, my fellow soldiers thought me a young boy.

I...I'm guessing that assumption was by design?

[She's heard of such things before. In some of the kingdoms less kind to women.]

They wouldn't have allowed me into their ranks if they knew I was a woman. I've...learned since coming here that such a ruse would be unnecessary in many Sleepers' worlds.

[And she's jealous.]

It would be unnecessary in mine but...

[She shrugs.]

There are very few nobles I know who would want to make the transition.

How many are you acquainted with?

Well...

[She considers it.]

Princess Tranns Harkin ran away from home when she was seventeen and ended up in a militia.

But she eventually came back home.

That's hard to believe — that a princess would want to leave her luxuries or that she'd be able to.

[Not that she thinks it's a lie. It just sounds so unlike anything she's ever observed.]

Why did she return?

Everyone else in the militia was killed...

[Which doesn't sound very nice, when she says it out loud.]

Did they face a particularly brutal enemy force or was it a spectacularly incompetent militia?

[Which sounds even less nice.]

Oh, well.

[She winces a little.]

Maybe both? Their leaders were great military strategists. But their members...weren't exactly soldiers.

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