Next picture: Jotnar ! (https://www.renderosity.com/gallery/items/3077565/jotnar) Precedent scene: The Gift - Le cadeau (https://www.renderosity.com/gallery/items/3070369/the-gift-le-cadeau) First scene of the story-arc: Chaos and Death (https://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/chaos-and-death/2889324/?p&ca) Texte en français ci-dessous ____________________________________________ After their last night in Herrshilta, the group was now ready to leave. All the family of Romatzo was here to see them leave, Musin included, although he stayed a little away and did not participate in the farewells. Beotna was crying big tears. She just reunited with her brother and he was already leaving. Inan was keeping his composure, but it was cleared he was moved too. Minalva was crying as well. Even if it was not her family, big moments of separation always had this effect on her. Romatzo, although moved, was happy to leave. The tensions of these last days had been hard. Though, he was regretting one thing. He regretted to not have had this serious discussion with his mother that he wanted. Maybe it would have happened if they had stayed a little longer, but time had fell short. After the last farewells, Romatzo and his companions started to leave, when they heard: " Romatzo, wait ! " It was the voice of his mother, Enina. He turned around and saw her coming close to him. Enina gazed at his son intensively for few seconds, then she took him in her arms, holding him strongly. Surprised, Romatzo did not reacted right away, but he ended up putting his arms around her too. The embrace lasted few long seconds, in front of the glowing eyes of a statue of the Goddess Vaïla, the Mother of the Dwarves. When they left each others arms, Enina smiled at him and said : "Good luck, my son." He did not responded, it was not necessary. He smiled at her and he gave her a nod. He looked a last time at his family, then he left, followed by his friends, without looking back. Having passed the corner of the street, Marina came next to him. " Are you ok ? she asked. - Yes, I am alright. I am happy that we are finally gone." he responded with a sigh of relief. He stand quiet for a short moment, then he added: " Though, I have to admit, I am a little sad too." His friend put her hand on his shoulder. " I think I understand. Of course, I haven't left Húsjaðriáin in the same condition than you and even if I don't regret my choice to leave, seeing my family and my town again has made a lot of forgotten feelings coming back to me. - Without talking of the state where you've found your village. - Ha ha ! Yes." she laughed sadly. "You as me would have definitely preferred to come back to the good old Hvittland in better conditions." She laughed more happily this time and Romatzo, agreeing with her, joined her in laughter. Meanwhile, Delphine was trying to reconfort Minalva who had not recovered from her tears. Romatzo joining her soon after to also help her to recover. They walked some hours, crossing different quarters and levels of the city, until they reached one of the gates leading to one of the exit tunnels. They chose this one because it was the one would lead them, at the exterior, in the direction they wanted to take. They passed to door and finally left Herrshilta. The more they walked in the tunnels and more Romatzo felt satisfied. He had greatly feared his return in his birth town and the few days spent there had not been easy, but the more he was thinking about it, the more he was coming to the conclusion that things had happened pretty much for the best. He had reunited with his family, who did not push him away. His father and him did not came to hands, or even worst, to weapons. He had reconnected with his sister and his grandfather and he had even seen a few familiar faces who had welcomed him well. Of course he did not manage to have a true conversation, during his short stay, with his mother. But these few seconds in the arms of each others and her last few words, had said well enough and this is with the feeling of a lightened heart that Romatzo was finally walking away from Herrshilta. ____________________________________________ Après leur dernière nuit à Herrshilta, le groupe était maintenant prêt à partir. Toute la famille de Romatzo était là pour les voir partir, y compris Musin, bien qu'il resta un peu a l'écart et ne prit pas part aux adieux. Béotna pleurait à chaudes larmes. Elle venait à peine de retrouver son frère qu'il repartait déjà. Inan gardait sa contenance, mais il était clair qu'il était ému aussi. Minalva pleurait également. Même si ce n'était pas sa famille, les grosses séparations lui faisait toujours cet effet. Romatzo, bien qu'ému, était heureux de partir. Les tensions des derniers jours avaient été éprouvantes. Pourtant il regrettait une chose. Il regrettait de n'avoir pas eu cette discussion sérieuse qu'il aurait voulu avoir avec sa mère. Peut-être aurait-t-elle eu lieu s'ils étaient restés un peu plus, mais le temps avait manqué. Après les derniers au revoir, Romatzo et ses compagnonnes commencèrent à partir, quand ils entendirent: " Romatzo, attend !" C'était la voix de sa mère, Enina. Il se retourna et il la vit s'approcher de lui. Enina regarda son fils intensément pendant quelques secondes, puis elle le pris dans ses bras, le serrant fort. Surpris, Romatzo ne réagit pas tout de suite, mais il fini par l'entourer de ses bras aussi. L'étreinte dura quelques longues secondes, sous le regard flamboyant d'une statue de le Déesse Vaïla, la Mère des Nains. Quand ils quittèrent les bras l'un de l'autre, Enina lui sourit et lui dit: "Bonne chance, mon fils." Il ne lui répondit pas, ce n'était pas nécessaire. Il lui sourit et lui fit un signe de tête. Il jeta un dernier regard à sa famille, puis il partit, suivi de ses amies, sans se retourner. Ayant passé le coin de la rue, Marina vint vers lui. " Ca va ? lui demanda-t-elle. - Oui, ça va. Je suis heureux que nous soyons enfin partis." répondit-il dans un soupir de soulagement. Il se tut pendant un court instant, puis il ajouta: " Mais finalement, je dois avouer que je suis aussi un peu triste." Son amie lui posa la main sur l'épaule. " Je crois que je comprends. Bien sûr, je n'ai pas quitté Húsjaðriáin dans les mêmes conditions que toi et bien que je ne regrette pas mon choix d'être partie, revoir ma famille et mon village a fait remonter tout un tas de sentiments en moi que j'avais oublié. - Sans parler des conditions dans lequel tu as retrouvé ton village. - Ha ha ! Oui." rit-elle tristement. " Toi comme moi aurions définitivement préféré revenir dans ce bon vieux Hvittland dans de meilleurs conditions." Elle rit un peu plus gaiement cette fois-ci et Romatzo, convenant de ce qu'elle venait de dire, se joignit à son rire. Pendant ce temps là, Delphine essayait de réconforter Minalva qui n'était toujours pas remise de ses pleurs. Romatzo la rejoignant peu après lui aussi pour l'aider à se remettre. Ils marchèrent quelques heures, passant par différents quartiers et niveaux de la ville, jusqu'à ce qu'ils atteignirent l'une des nombreuses portes menant sur l'un des tunnels de sorties. Ils avaient choisi celle-là car c'était celle qui les mènerait le plus près, à l'extérieur, de la direction qu'ils voulaient prendre. Ils prirent la porte et quittèrent enfin Herrshilta. Plus ils marchaient dans les tunnels et plus Romatzo se sentait satisfait. Il avait grandement redouté son retour dans sa ville natale et les quelques jours passaient là-bas n'avaient pas été faciles, mais plus il y pensait plus, plus il arrivait à la conclusion que les choses s'étaient passé plutôt pour le mieux. Il avait retrouvé sa famille, qui ne l'avait pas repoussé. Son père et lui n'en étaient pas venus aux mains, ou pire, aux armes. Il avait renoué avec sa soeur et son grand-père et il avait même revu quelques visages familiers qui l'avaient bien accueilli. Ils n'avaient bien sûr pas réussi à avoir une vraie conversation, durant son court séjour, avec sa mère. Mais ces quelques secondes dans les bras l'un de l'autre à la fin et ses quelques derniers mots, en avait dit suffisamment et c'est avec le sentiment d'un cœur plus léger que Romatzo s'éloignait finalement de Herrshilta. ____________________________________________ This time it did not take too much time between the moment the picture has finished to render and the moment I have finished to write the text. ^^ Now that we have left Herrshilta, we are entering in the last part of the story and the encounter with the Orcs is not very far away. I have to work on some details and to create some new characters for the next scenes, but I'll try to not let too much time go between each storyline pictures. You know, I am very happy with this arc in Herrshilta. I think the different texts are well written and when I look at all the pictures in order, I think they are very consistent in term of lighting, framing and mood. Which is not always easy to do.