... but you can travel on ten thousand miles and still stay where you are ...


I've roamed many lands for years, searching, as I thought, for a revenge that would bring me some peace of mind. And yet, in spite of all the years and all the travelling, I am not far from my homeland. Now, as I have done in the past, when I have a heavy heart or am unsure of my path, I have come back to the place I used to call home.

The town has been rebuilt gradually over the years since that fateful day. There were no more raids after the one that took my parents. I hunted down the raiders, following their trails or sneaking into their camps, taking them out one by one. As I pass by, some of the townsfolk recognise me and call out a greeting, though they address me using a name other than that by which you who read this know me.

At last I come to the site of the one house in the town that has not been rebuilt. I never had the heart to rebuild the family home, knowing that I would never again live there. Using money taken back from the raiders, I had the remains of the house taken down, and built a garden in which my parents could rest. It's a peaceful place, in its way. A few trees, a small pool fed by a spring, the two graves, and a seat where I can sit and think, or talk to my parents as I would have had they been alive, telling them my news, asking them for their advice. The garden is looked after for me by the townspeople, a debt they feel they owe me as I left most of the money I took from the raiders to pay for rebuilding the town, taking just a small amount to start me on my travels.

In the past, when I have come here, I have had a feeling of coming to a place where I can just sit and reflect in peace, away from the cares of the world, to sort out my mind and find my way once again. But this time, the journey felt different. I seemed to be journeying not toward something, but away from something.

I did not tarry long there. This time, the journey and not the destination had given me my answer, and I retrace my steps with a lightening heart, back to the place and the person I
should not have left in the first place.

... who knows how long I've loved you?
You know I love you still ...