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Katharina sighed and rubbed her eyes. Sometimes, she hated the amount of reading that went with her duties as a noble of Cadomyr. She looked to the window and frowned, when she noticed that it was dark already. Standing, she cursed herself for likely missing Amanda getting home and thus the chance to sit together for a while before going to bed. Maybe she would at least catch her in time to go to bed together. She walked down the stairs from her office and heard keys outside the door. She could not help it, when a big smile spread over her face and she rushed over to hug Amanda the moment the door opened. But when the door swung open, it wasn't her who stood in front of her, but a tall man with orange-red hair and a rather wild beard. Her eyes widened and she stared for a moment. She noticed how her eyes filled with tears, when she rushed over and wrapped her arms around her son, sobbing against his shoulder. She hasn't seen him ever since he went off to find traces of his father. To ask him about why he had left him and his mother. Two years. It had taken him two years and in some restless nights, Katharina would have stared at the ceiling, wondering whether he was alright. Of course, he was 18 by now, and of course his journey wasn't all _that_ dangerous, but still... Two years with barely any word or letter had her worrying.
"My boy...", was all she managed to say, her voice full of relieve and her heart beating like crazy inside her chest. The boy, or rather the young man, by Zhambra did he grow in those two years, patted the back of his mother.
"It's alright, mother. I am back. Don't cry. Come, have a seat." Leading her over to the large table and then pulling a chair over for her, he smiled at her. His right cheek had a small dimple when he smiled, just like hers. These eyes that looked down on her, were of the same green shade as hers.
"Tell me everything!", she said and he pulled over a second chair to sit down with her.

Days and weeks passed. Despite not living in villa Annabeth, Einar became a frequent guest. But something troubled him. As his mother, Katharina could sense it, but she was hesitant to ask him about it. She was too happy to have him back to make things difficult again. After a while, though, she decided that whatever it was, should not stand between them for longer.

Some hours after the talk, she sat alone on the balcony and watched the sun go down over the ocean. "What's wrong?", a soft voice came from behind her, and she looked back to see Amanda. She could never hide anything from Amanda, so it didn't take much before she told her everything. She told her about Einar's decision to see more of the world than just Runewick, Galmair and Cadomyr. She told her about his decision to travel, which he made while he was searching for his father. The breathtaking places of unspeakable beauty he had described, that had made him come to this decision. Amanda sat down next to her, listening and wrapping an arm around her shoulder to comfort her, as she talked. When Katharina was done talking, she felt lighter. This wasn't the first time talking to Amanda about her problems had made her feel that way, though she didn't value the feeling any less for that reason. After she had told Amanda everything, she felt that it was right to support her son in his plans; who was she to trim his wings and tell him to stay? He was an adult by now, and it was his life, not hers to decide about. "He'll come tomorrow again to say goodbye... we should prepare him some provisions to support him", she said eventually, "but only after the sun settled completely". And so they sat on the balcony and watched the sun disappearing at the horizon. Despite seeing it disappear in the distance, it was a beautiful sight and she would not have wanted to miss it.