Simon recruits a leader.

The Inn, if you could call the dilapidated building any such thing, was covered in moss and looked ready to tumble. Sean eyed it critically "What a shit hole". I swung a leg over my saddle and lowered my foot into the ankle deep muck and dropped my other foot beside it.   It sure smelled like one.  Slapping the reigns against the wooden bar I watched as they wrapped themselves around it. Sean just tied his.

Stepping onto the landing I shook the muck from my boots before scraping them on a muck caked boot scraper with questionable results. Opening the battered door I was hit by a stale wall of sweat, smoke and spilt ale. Breathing through my mouth I pushed into the common room and quickly spot William sitting at a table by himself, eyes staring distantly into the feeble fire of the hearth, lighting his wild hair and a long but scraggly beard. The floorboards creak as I approach and William's head snaps up. I immediately notice that his visage had changed since I last laid eyes on him. Gone was the emptiness in his eyes.

"You look like shit Will" Sean eloquently put Will's appearance. To me he looked alive. "I've been meaning to do something about this but.." he shrugged his shoulders and looked about ".. i've been a little busy".

He didn't need to explain it to me, I'd seen him crumble before my eyes when I read the letter from his lover that explained she was marrying another man. His eyes had gone blank and he had walked away, shaking his head when I had called his name. I'd kept a discreet watch on him for the past five years and it seemed the right time to bring him back to the company. I got to the point "where's your head?".

A grin split his face. "You know, the more I figured out, the stupider it was". I smiled in response while wondering how he could grin at a tragedy that had altered his dreams. Then I understood. "stupid you can forgive". He nodded and took a sip from his tankard.  Sean cut in "So I guess you're finished your mourning then?".

The silence stretched as Will seemed to look inward. I held my breath. He shook his head. "No, but I only mourn in the morning in the moment between waking and opening my eyes and at night, when I close my eyes before I fall asleep".

Will's words had revealed to me just how deeply he'd been hurt, but also how determined he was to get past it. It also showed  me he understood when he was vulnerable, in the moments when he let go. Everything I would need, eventually. "Well, that leaves plenty of time for soldiering. I'm reforming the company. Trouble's brewing, I know it".  Will ran his hands through his hair. "Yes, you need a fucking haircut Will" Sean grumped.