Deorla stood at the threshold of their new house, her heart fluttering with excitement as the early morning light streamed through the trees. The house was smaller than she'd imagined altho still much bigger than the previous one, there was something about it that made her chest swell with pride. The stone walls gleamed in the sun, a clear sign that the work was good, even if the cost had nearly drained their savings.
She glanced over at her guildmates, scattered around the yard, busy with the last bits of unpacking and organizing. Serifien, with her fiery red hair tied back, was helping move crates into the storage inside, while Heligin, as always began to cook on his new crafting place, hoping to get used to all the new fancy tools at his disposal. And then there was Salandril that was bored and decided to do something productive and decided to help at the place. He was digging holes for a fence they would soon have if Guriwen and her team would negotiate a good price for wood and workers from Esteldnin Woodworker Guild.
The cost had been steep—more than half of the guild’s saved gold, and there was still so much more to do. The wood for the floorboards upstairs, more wood for a fence and to improve pillars inside and of course, the workers who would be necessary to finish the finer details.
But as she looked around at her friends—her guildmates—she knew it would be worth it. The years of fighting together, adventuring, and building something that was theirs, a place to call home, couldn’t be measured by gold alone.
For so long, Deorla had been a shadow of herself. A wanted fugitive, hunted by both the law and those she had once served. She had been an officer in Sauron’s army, a position that had brought her to unspeakable places and forced her to commit terrible deeds. She had worn the black armor, given the orders, and stood by as destruction swept through villages and lives were torn apart. She had been a tool of oppression.
But that was all in the past. She had left that life behind, fled from the darkness of her own choices. There had been times when the past felt like it would swallow her whole—times when she thought she would never find redemption, never find peace.
Yet here she was. Standing in this new house, among friends who didn’t look at her with fear or suspicion. Among people who had accepted her for who she was now, not who she had been. People who had seen her past and, rather than turn away, had offered their trust, their loyalty, and their kinship.
She knew that many would have turned her away, not understanding the person she’d been or the choices she’d made. But not them. Not this guild. They’d seen past her past, saw the person she was becoming.
That' why she started to worry even more, alot of the old members knew about her past. But not the new ones, and as the kin expanded the share numbers of recruits was massive.
Would they still see her as one of their own if they knew who she used to be? What if someone in the guild, one of the new recruits, found out and decided she wasn’t fit to stay? What if they thought she was still the same person, just hiding in plain sight? It could be so easy to whisper behind her back, to turn the others against her. They had no reason to trust her beyond her actions, and Deorla knew that in any group, fear of the unknown could lead to suspicion.
Her hand clenched into a fist for a moment, her breath tightening. She hoped not. But there was always the risk—someone might discover something, or worse, someone might decide that her past made her unworthy of being there.
She tried to shake the thought away, focusing on the warmth that the others brought. Still, the doubt lingered, gnawing at her in the quiet moments. Would it be enough? Could the bonds they’d forged in the heat of battle, in the shared victories and defeats, survive the weight of her past?
A soft voice interrupted her thoughts.
"Hey, Deorla!” "Salandril alled from the yard, his voice full of energy. “You coming to help us with the last few holes or you just gonna boss us around?”
Deorla blinked, a smile tugging at her lips. She straightened up and nodded.
“On my way,” she replied, her voice steadier than she felt.
She took a deep breath, and for a moment, the uncertainty faded. The past was still a shadow in the corner of her mind, but here—now—she was with them. Her kin. Even if the new members didn’t know everything, they were here because they believed in her, in the person she had bebecome.D
eorla stepped forward, out of the shadows of her past, and into the light of a new beginning. She was ready to face whatever came next—together.
