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Amara nodded. "Like when you were younger, then?" she asked. "Actually ..."

She gently shifted the chair so that Lin could look into the mirror above the dresser. "There, now you can direct me as we go, how does that sound?"

"Sure," Amara smiled. She wrapped the sheet around Lin's shoulders and tied it at the back, then took a brush from her dresser and began to brush through Lin's hair.

"I have to say," she smiled as she worked, "it's been a very long time since I've had the opportunity to do this for anyone. Fletcher doesn't count, his hair hardly grows anymore."

And from the length of her own hair, it was clear that she only trimmed her own. It was braided, but even so it went to her knees.

"Well, that's what I mean," Amara explained. "Fletcher gets a trip once in a while, but that's it. Never a real cut. I don't think I've actually cut anyone's hair since ... well, since my daughter left."

She finished brushing Lin's hair and measured it with her fingers, then began to cut a bit.

"He did," Amara laughed softly, "but he got it caught once in a tree when he was riding ... since then he's kept it short. He swore he would never let it grow again."

She smiled. "I find that as long as one is careful what one does, one doesn't have to keep one's hair short."

"I must admit, that is one nice thing about living all the way up here," Amara smiled softly. "There is no rush to do anything at all. Wood for the winter, food all year round ... besides that, we have no pressing needs. With just the two of us up here, we have all that we could ever want."

She continued to cut Lin's hair. "Once upon a time, we also traveled, but we have discovered that there is no place like home," she murmured, "and no matter how much we liked to travel, we always looked forward to returning home."

"Since the day I was born," Amara replied warmly, her eyes sparkling happily. "At least, the valley has been. Fletcher and I moved up here when I was ... oh ... seventeen? And we've been here ever since. Traveled once or twice to visit people, but that's it. We've no real cause to leave. Even when we were having trouble with bandits and freebooters, back when Terexin was killed ... about eighty or so years ago now ... we didn't have to worry about a thing up here."

"Maybe ... once?" Amara tried to guess. "But there's plenty of game on the mountain, and in the spring I do plant a garden on the next plateau up. So we don't have to worry about food. Likewise, trees: the mountain is covered, and we plant more than we cut. So we lack nothing in resources."

"Lonely?" Amara smiled. "No. We miss our children from time to time, but ... other than that we're quite happy here. We have each other, what more could we want? And trust me," she laughed, "with Ulrich always giving us news, we feel as if we have a lot going on, even if we're not really taking part in it."

Snip snip went the scissors, and locks of Lin's hair fell to the floor.