Hanna's Harbinger of Hope

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The carriage pulled to a stop, and Hanna got her first look at the small town of Einbraun. What she saw wasn’t what she expected. The snow had been falling steadily since they left Dema, but it hadn’t seemed too deep until now. The dusting of white atop the roofs was too thick, and even the boards that made up the pathway to the town entrance were covered in a layer of snow. It looked like it would be almost impossible to find anything beneath all that white.

“This is… different than I expected,” Hanna said quietly to herself. She turned back to inside the carriage and met eyes with Sage and Hanam. “Did something happen here that I don’t know about?”

Sage gave her smile, but it didn’t reach his eyes. He opened his mouth to speak, but then closed it again without saying a word. Hanam leaned forward over her husband’s shoulder and placed a hand on Hanna’s knee. Her eyes were filled with concern as she said, “We will explain everything once we get you settled into your new home, child. Just… take my hand and let us help you down from here. You must be exhausted after your journey here through this storm. We have much more important things to worry about than how you feel right now; saving our town takes priority over everything else.”

Hanna nodded and extended her hand out towards them both. Sage took her arm gently and carefully helped her step down from the carriage onto the snow-covered ground outside their home. Hanam followed suit by taking Hanna’s other arm with both of hers and helping guide her down from the carriage. Once they were all standing safely on solid ground, they all turned their attention towards the town gate before them in earnest silence. All eyes searched for signs of movement beyond the heavy wooden door, but there was nothing - not even a breath of wind or sound of footsteps or voices within it. It seemed completely quiet beyond its stone walls, as if no one lived there at all anymore.

Sage sighed heavily and shook his head as he trudged through the snow beside his wife towards Hanna who still stood beside their carriage. Hanam spoke softly to him as they walked past her, “I know you wanted me to wait until later to tell her our news, but we really need to go see father now if we want any chance of saving our town from those monsters! So please just keep your temper in check while we speak with him today! And whatever you do… don’t tell Hanna what we are about to ask of her yet! Not until we have more time to answer all her questions first! This is going to be hard enough on everyone without telling an outsider about this whole mess before she even gets settled in here!”

Sage stopped in his tracks when she said that last part about them asking something of Hanna later on today, but he didn’t say anything back to his wife because he needed some time alone with his daughter-in-law before they went off talking with their father about anything important at all! He could feel himself getting angry just thinking about what their father might have done while they were away at Dema for the past several months! He knew well enough already that their father had always hated him ever since he chose Hanam over him for marriage! And now that Sage had married a musician instead of a merchant like him… he couldn’t help but wonder what sort of trouble their father might have stirred up while they were gone! But there was no time for worrying about things like that right now; they needed answers more than anything else right now! They needed to figure out just why this town had been so damned silent lately! And hopefully it had nothing whatsoever to do with those monsters from The Darkness Beyond Time who destroyed his own village years ago before eventually moving on towards Einbraun many months ago - because if those demons were somehow responsible for this silence… it would be up to himself and his wife alone to save this city from certain destruction by either fighting against The Darkness Beyond Time or somehow finding someway around them altogether! He didn't want Hanna getting hurt trying to help them if either option failed; she was only passing through on her way somewhere else entirely, not staying in this city forever like he had hoped she would have chosen when he finally got her alone in front of him again after all these years! So maybe he should ask Hanam if it would be okay for him to tell Hanna why they picked her out specifically as their savior when she arrived here at Einbraun? Perhaps that would make things less confusing on everyone's end? Oh Gods… please let him get through this day in one piece before making any rash decisions regarding anything at all that involved Hanna being involved in any way whatsoever?!