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Maercwen had been sitting by the kitchen window, staring listlessly up at the sky. She heard Hearpwine enter the Common Room of the Inn but she did not go out. It was odd that the sky was so blue; why was it not grey and stormy? So much would leave when Hearpwine left. The happy days they had spent with each other, the songs he would sing to cheer them when they were feeling sorrowful... and Gomen. That was the most bitter of all. Gomen had counted so much on learning the ways of a bard from Hearpwine, and now Hearpwine was leaving. And more than the loss of a teacher Gomen would lose a dear friend. She, too, would lose a friend.
She felt that she should go out to bid him farewell but she also felt she could not bear to do that. To say farewell in the Common Room with all those eyes watching her, and all those minds wondering if she were still in love with Hearpwine. She had known well the rumors that had been going about in the spring. She could not bear to say goodbye to him with such thoughts lingering in the others' minds.
The door to the kitchen opened softly and she twisted in her chair, and stood when she saw it was Hearpwine. He looked rather breathless, as if he had been confusedly running about, and she smiled faintly when she imagined him trying to prepare to leave in his excitement. He spoke slowly. "The Lady is waiting for me in the Common Room. I cannot linger long."
"No," Maercwen said, "and no again. I would not ask you to try the Lady's patience." She stepped forward to him with both hands outstretched. He took them. "We will all miss you deeply," she said, "and I not least of them, yet we will wait eagerly for your return, and we will not weep that you are fulfilling your dream." She smiled. "Do not consider yourself above a poor stablemaster and his family when you return a true bard." She hesitated slightly and glanced at the door. "I must not delay you any longer," she said, "but here where no one will see and gossip, I would ask a favor." She stood on tip-toe and kissed his cheek. "Farewell, dear brother," she said. "I will not leave this kitchen with the others, but if, when you ride out, you look to this window you will see me wave you farewell." Hearpwine smiled at her, kissed her hand, and then turned and left the kitchen.
Maercwen returned to her chair and gazed at the sky once again. No tears came to her, for she had resolved as she had said that she would not weep because of his dream.
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