Lotusa Quote:
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Still looking, yet nowhere, still wandering,
Tired, frustrated, need sleep,
Tavern ahead, maybe what I am looking for?
Maybe not?
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The storm raged through the tavern like a hurricane as a suspicious character held the large oak doors open as he scanned the tavern to see if his contact was waiting for him. The initial reaction from those within, shouted and threw glasses along with pieces of food and peanuts, towards the stranger as the wind blew in knocking off the glasses and crashed their drinks.
After which the room became silent as they looked towards him in vexation over the disruption caused by the wind as it blew in cold air. The smell of beer filled the room and fire could be smelt coming from the corner of the room where three dwarfs were in deep conversation, plotting their next move in regaining their lands.
Mixed conversations filled the tavern as people were drunk from alcohol, fights one after another over petty situations as the room was neither happy or solemn.
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The smell of meat was ripe and strong as he sniffed, then coughed due to the sweat from the bodies that was crammed in to the building. The barmaid dressed in the traditional wear of a black frilly dress with a white apron, threw her cloth down on the top and placed the glass to the side in frustration and shouted towards the stranger at the doors.
“Well don’t just stand there, if you are coming in, come in, you are causing a lot of disruption.” She paused and waited to see if he would comply to her words, yet feeling fed up over the repeating the same message, many times, to others this evening.
This character however, was different, she felt him and there was something about him. Those within the tavern felt the same, it was like something about him was drawing all in to watch, something had penetrated their hearts, drawing their attention to him.
It was an uncomfortable feeling, a feeling that no one would ever forget in a hurry and it did not help when he had covered his face with a hood and hid his identity from them.
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He rolled his eyes and looked to the floor from underneath his black hood from his cloak and allowed the doors to shut behind him which made a thud and a clunk from the knocker. The bar maid again looked in frustration, shook her head and tried hard to ignore the situation and carried on with her work at the bar. Every one felt uneasy about the way he looked, they stared as if a diseased dog had walked in. He felt their eyes and the muttering under their breaths but he ignored them to the bar at the front.
He thudded across the stone floor with a squishing sound from the water stuck underneath his boots, walking to the bar as though he owned the place.
He stopped suddenly as he thought he heard what he thought he did, ‘hey look, its him it can’t be?’ He turned with his hood and stared straight at them, with his face and hood dripping with wet, with a look that could kill. In turn the on lookers quickly looked away and pretended as though they never looked in the first place.
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He decided to ignore them as he thought, ‘they were not worth the effort.’ Beside because of the type of work he did, people were always trying to hunt him down, mostly because of revenge so in the end he thought nothing of it and carried on with his life, regardless.
He came to the bar and flicked out his cloak behind him to sit, which in turn drops of water splashed on to those sitting round the area and grumbled about it but did nothing to cause a fight over it. He rested his arms on the top and gazed in to the mirror in front where the glasses and drinks were hanging and noticed a weird looking goblin looking his way.
The stranger turned in the other direction as it was normal for him not to receive a nice welcome, however, he himself did not help the situation as regards not only his demeanour but the way he looked too.
For example the way he carried himself when he walked in to a building, he walked in as he owned the place. People did not like that and it gave a bad appearance on first glance, so he made enemies by just the way he looked.
He was not shaven so the stubble gave off a bad vibe and wore a black cloak with a hood hiding his physical appearance. He had scars from battle over his back which he covered by this one tattoo that stood out. The tattoo was in the shape of a white dragon that covered half his body, front and back, which he held dear as it meant something that he loved dearly.
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He called over the barmaid and said in a husky voice, “one glass of ale, a full glass.” He sat up straight, turned on the stool, looking for his contact while observing the people inside the tavern. He turned back round, gazed into the barmaids eyes and threw a hexagon coin in front of the ale, “thank you sir,” said the barmaid as she slid the drink over to him.
She turned away from him grabbing the coin, wondering where she had seen him before as he looked familiar to her as she placed the coin in to a jar full of other coins. He grabbed the glass and took a sip out of it and while he did he looked over the top of the glass and saw a scruffy dirty Orc watching him, gave him the nod and sat back down on the other side of the tavern.
He knew this was his contact as it seemed very hush hush and slowly walked over to him. As he did he wondered that, ‘if anyone should have giving off suspicion it should have been the Orc,’ he obviously had no pride in what he was wearing.
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The Orc had the traditional brown fur pants that really only covered his modesty and had no shoes as Orcs never needed them. The Orc had a tattoo across his left arm, near his shoulders in the shape of a heart with the words, ‘mom’, in the middle of it with a scar through it from a slash wound and he stank. He had very large hands, fangs for the teeth and pointed ears which were good for hearing but the intelligence of the Orc was left to be desired and a hooped earring through his right ear.
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The stranger stood in front of the Orc and gazed straight in to his eyes, “I assume you are the one who claims to have found evidence of the Mirocons?” The stranger said with doubt as the Mirocons were very difficult to prove and if the Orc had found some evidence then finally after years of searching he had proven to himself, they existed.
He would be able to put to rest the jeering he received about mentioning the Mirocons to others over his belief in them when no body else thought they existed. He had searched all over the world of proof these Mirocons had lived in history at one point but it all came to no avail, however, he carried on regardless and preserved.
The stranger pulled up a wooden chair and sat as though he had authority in the Orcs presence all the while not letting him out of his line of sight.
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The orc leaned forward and realised who the stranger was as he had heard about him with two glasses ready and crumbs of food left over on the table and said, “if I knew it was you, I would have thought twice about meeting here!” The orc slid his chair away from behind and in a sudden change of heart he slammed his fists on the table, making all in the tavern aware, “this conversation is now over!”
The orc stormed of passed the strange, however the stranger grabbed his arm, leaving prints on the skin. The orc looked down at the hand and then the strange shocked over how strong this human was compared to how he looked.
The stranger looked at the two axes shaped in to a cross on the other side of the tavern for decoration purposes and pulled the orc towards him, “think about your next move buddy, you don’t want to be embarrassed by making the wrong one!”
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The orc looked round and thought about what he heard from the stranger had said and knew that making a scene would prove fruitless, he had a reason why he called the stranger and letting go of the opportunity is something he did not want.
The tavern was placed in the middle of nowhere so problems rose quite frequently and everybody knew everybody here because of the locals in the surrounding areas. The stranger was known but only for the type of work he did no one really knew what he looked like so when the orc said about he knew the stranger he wondered how and used it against him.
People had heard of someone travelling making a stir about the Mirocons and the type of work he did was hush hush but no one knew for sure, so when he walked in to the tavern, people muttered wondering if it was him or not. The orc could not risk it, he needed the gold from the sale so he thought twice.
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The orc smiled nervously, laughed and said, “come one now there is no need for that we are only talking right?!” The orc thought that was enough to settle the people and the strange but it did not as some goblins came crawling out of the crowd, heading to them with weapons on hand.
The stranger could see the orc was nervous which he thought was weird, orcs rarely got nervous about any situation let alone a small threat inside a tavern. The stranger stood, leaned in the orcs ear, “lets not do this here, come on out the back we will continue the trade there.”
The orc soon realised how he had underestimated the human, he thought being a human was such a disadvantage but this stranger had a quality he had not seen in a human before.
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The stranger had a price of 20000 pieces of gold for his head for treason from the tribes of the Nacbals in the north so when he heard this he thought it would be easy money. However, the way this stranger carried himself was way different to what he assumed and so going out the back to solve the problem was a bad idea for both of them.
The orc, showing his strength yanked the strangers hand of and they both walked towards the back of the bar and in to the stock room. The barmaid looked in to the strangers eyes and they looked concern as she had seen this type of thing many times and she knew that only one of them would walk out and it would be her to clear up the mess.
The orc walked in first and leaned on some beer barrels at the back and waited for the stranger readying his daggers.
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The stranger stopped just before the door and lowered his hood to reveal his face and winked at the barmaid. She now knew and was convinced she had seen this man before but where she could not figure out and it bugged her not knowing.
“I know you from somewhere don’t I?” the barmaid said before he walked in. “I am very sorry but I have never seen you before, if you must know my name is Lotusa and I am not from around here.” He paused and looked in to the room with the orc, “sorry but I have more pressing matters on hand right now?!” he replied and felt the need to get this meeting over. He stepped in and noticed the puddles of beer on the floor along with the odd rat laying dead in the corners.
“So Lotusa is it, now I know who you are!” said the orc looking straight at Lotusa feeling some what cocky and over confident. The orc walked slowly over to him and thought about the gold that soon could be his, which also was one of his greatest weaknesses, doing anything for gold.
The stranger stood watching his every move as he saw the orc get closer to him as he grunted.
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The orc now ran towards him with dagger in hand, shouting at him, “THIS WILL BE YOUR LAST BREATH!” Lotusa lowered his head in disappointment knowing this was all a ruse grabbing his sword form underneath his cloak and raised it in front with no concern over the attack.
The orc ran closer, however, Lotusa with a quick slash, that quick the orc had no time to react and sliced his head off clean. Lotusa stood in the stance position with his eyes focused in front of him stood with the orcs blood dripping from the sword. His eyes gazed towards the orcs head in front on the floor and a tear formed in his eyes then rolled down his face as he felt there was no control over the situation or himself as some one was controlling him.
The tears were a form of sadness within his heart, he had no intention of killing, he was just good at it, came natural. The real pain came from his past with his sister being kidnapped while he was off guard and when he searched for her he just found this pendant.
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He was shocked to know that a dragon was inside the pendant, he had heard of the dragons before, they were supposed to be non-existent. A legend, a story that people told to frighten children but over the few years of searching he had found out that they once did exist and he now wondered after seeing the pendant, ‘what did this dragon mean to her?’
He had searched for hours after finding her but to no avail, just realised that a race called Mirocons were behind the whole situation. This was when he decided to get the tattoo of this huge white dragon across his body and search for her and take revenge on these so called killers.
Part of him died that day, always blamed himself over what happened and vowed never to let his guard down ever since.
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Lotusa placed his sword back underneath his black cloak and wanted to get away from this place as far as possible due to the scene. He went to open the door and head out of the room leaving the Orc laying there but the door swung open and the barmaid was standing in front wanting to ask the same question she had asked before that had bugged her.
She leaned on the door frame, “I know you, I swear I do?” she said, without a blink of the orc in the back room as it was a regular occurrence and did not concern herself over it. Lotusa looked back at her, “please get out of my way!” He gestured to the orc, “as you can see I am not having the greatest of days!” He felt no need to explain and walked through her but stopped at the bar and leaned his hands on the bar and noticed all in the tavern staring because the orcs blood was still dripping from the sword under his cloak.
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Some were ready for a fight while others were ready to flee at a moments notice, either way, he raised his sword in front ready to defend himself just in fear of an attack even though he did not feel in the mood and stepped back.
Lotusa felt the barmaid behind her as her chest pressed against his back and whispered in his ear, “listen you can’t win this, even I know that. Go up stairs to room 204, nobody goes there since its mine, stay there and I be up in a small while till things cool off down here, because I seriously need to talk you anyway?”
She slipped him a gold key and slightly nudged him to move but he refused her help and shoved her hand away, “I don’t need your help, girl!”
Lotusa did not like help if he could help it, pride always set in and took over which meant no matter what situation he found himself in, he refused. She ignored the arrogance off the stranger as something in her was saying that he was connected to her in some way and till she found out what that was, she would not settle.
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She had felt that feeling since he arrived hours ago and at first she tried desperately to forget it and just go about her night but the more she tried the more it became worse so she decided to find out. “Listen, stop being stubborn and just go up stairs.” He gazed back at her and he knew she meant her words, even if she did not know, she carried herself well.
After some time and gazing round the tavern, he considered what the barmaid had said and knew she could be right, there was no way he was walking out alive if he ignored her advice.
He also realised how tired he was, he had travelled far to get here and the fight with orc took a lot out of him and held his arms in surrender showing them, there is no problem.
He stepped backwards slowly and towards the door at the far side where the rooms were. The barmaid looked towards the crowd that were ready to pounce and rose her hands up, “its all a misunderstanding.” The barmaid paused, “forget this ever happened, you know what’s it like here!” She said as she went back to what she was doing still time came to close. She never did like fighting, at times she had to get involved with those within the tavern who started fights and she had learnt a thing or two but in reality she hated it.
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Most of the people carried on with whatever they were doing in the first place, however, an elf wanted to start something more so he walked up to the barmaid while shoving chairs out of his way to prove a point. Most elves apart from the dark elves, were mostly a peaceful race. The only ones who came here were those exiled, betrayed or lost favour with their own kind. The barmaid who really was the owner, had no concerns who came to her tavern.
As long as they paid for their drinks, she had no worries. She did have the odd nation leader come and try shutting her down over them ones being allowed here but because the tavern itself was in an area where no one would really be, there was nothing anybody could do about it.
The elf looked in to the barmaids eyes, she was not phased by it as he spoke. “If I am mistaken I would say you are protecting that man?”
The elf looked at here like a bit of meat and looked towards the back where the dead orc was. All knew what had happened, it was a regular occurrence here. The difference was here that most people never worried about it, but this time round the elf concerned himself to much about the problem.
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The elf wanted a fight and spoke aggressively. “we all here know what has happened to that orc back there, two went in but only one came out, pretty suspicious if you ask me?” He said and gestured toward the people in the tavern but by now no one else cared so he felt quiet put out by it.
Her heart started pumping heavily and started feeling nervous about the circumstances, “what is the matter darling, something I said!”
She stepped back behind the bar and placed her hands on the top to compose herself but not obviously and raised one palm up to the elf as she grabbed some coins from the till. She then placed them in front of the elf on the bar top hoping he would get the idea of what she was doing. The elf stepped up to the bar and saw the coins on the top and her face looked soft to look at as her eyes had these piercing blue eyes and he thought about it for a few seconds.
The elf picked up the coins and put them in his pocket and turned round but turned his face to the side, “since I am a regular here I understand what you getting so this time I will leave it but trust me when I say, one of these days you will be killed for protecting strangers!” He said and walked out of the tavern.
The barmaid held on to the bar top tightly and in relief over the fact he was gone and put out a big sigh and gulped a drink of ale down by grabbing a bottle from the back, “man, glad he has gone.” She gazed towards the stairs and thought about Lotusa, she knew she had some connection to him and she wanted to find out.
So she decided to close early and walked up to the doors and opened them, “right all of you hounds in this place. I’m closing so everybody needs to leave and please don’t waste time, other wise I will release the hounds on so go, now!”
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All inside the tavern were grunting and murmuring towards the barmaid as none of them were happy about leaving since it was still early evening. She shut the door and bolted it up with the three locks and chains for safety and leaned back on the door and sighed, thinking and having the feeling the night would be long.
She looked round the place and saw the amount of rubbish left behind, which was normal and would spend the night clearing up but this time round she decided the leave for morning at least.
She grabbed the Campbell and started to cover up the fires hanging on the wall round the tavern to close. As she was walking round covering the fires she kept thinking about Lotusa and the more she thought about it the more question of who he was became prominent.
On one fire cover up she paused just before and had this sense, this feeling never before had, it was different than just knowing someone, it was more.
“Why is it that this guy is so familiar to me,” she said and covered the fire.
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She came to the last fire near the window and covered it up, then she looked outside and saw the storm raging just as much as it was when Lotusa came in. She herself knew that she was risking her life in some way trusting this guy, knowing that she had never seen him before. Her mind had a moment of concern because of what had happened with the orc and there was proof that trust here was an issue.
She looked at her bracelet and it reminded of her past as a child, as it was engraved, ‘I will always protect you.’ It reminded her of her past as a child about her family which now was only her and her mother.
The bracelet was giving by her brother as a gift to remind her how important her family was. She grew up quicker than most kids her age, by the time she was 15 years of age, she might as well been 30, she was smarter, more intelligent and wiser.
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It all changed when her brother left, she had this lack of attitude in her that never really left, she was still smart but she took it for granted ever since. When she was older enough, she started searching for him but it came to no avail because she hit a dead end every time, since then she gave up the search and just accepted the idea he was dead.
She walked over to the door where the orc was laying, wondering what to do about the body. She grabbed an ale from where the drinks were and drank. Lotusa however was sitting in the hallway on a bench up on the landing and not inside the room the barmaid had said as he did not want to impose.
He was miles away in his thoughts, or the lack of them. His lack of thoughts always got the better of him as it always made him rush into any situation without thinking first.
He felt gutted because he was so concerned about his sister and where she was, he never even thought twice about that the orc was lying out the back of his teeth. Now he just sat for hours feeling sorry for himself over the fact that the orc never really needed to die in the first place. He was a good fighter but fighting was not what he wanted to do, it was just a means to an end but felt sad every time.
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HE drifted of to sleep and started to dream about the Mirocons and how just knowing them had changed his life. He thought he could hear his name being called but ignored it as he thought it was inside his mind and dream. However his name calling was from the barmaid calling him as she was walking up the stairs as to not startle him.
She saw him asleep on the bench at the end of the hallway and decided to leave him be for now and placed the ale glass she still had in hand on a table with a draw that was more of a decoration than anything else.
She slowly walked down the hall admiring the paintings she had hanging all the way down and meditated on them.
She had painted every single one hanging, where as most people wrote down their thoughts, she painted them and it relaxed her after a long day at work in the tavern.
She made most of her life decisions within this building over these paintings, she would paint what she thought she did not understand and then meditate on them. Her life had not been easy and she painted most of the questions she had about her past that made no sense and seeing them would help her to understand them even if some were a mystery.
She looked up and saw the painting of a golden framed picture of a little girl holding her brothers hand. She weld up in tears and wiped them with her hand as she continued to think about him and thought, ‘one day I will find you and we will be at peace again.’
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The reason why she felt connected to Lotusa was he reminded her of her brother and after the idea of thinking he was dead and searching the odd times, she felt that he knew something. She could not explain why she felt that way, it was something inside her that was triggered that she had never felt before and to solve it meant to follow it through.
She turned and slowly walked near him and stood in front watching him and her eyes became wider then ever after seeing the pendant round his neck. She remembered the same pendant that her brother had and her mind went back years in a flashback that brought memories back to the fore.
Her emotions went wild as she thought about her brother thinking this could be him but at the same time killing him thinking he was part of his brothers murder.
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In an instant reaction she grabbed her blade out fro underneath her black skirt from her stocking and placed it firmly on to his neck to the point of blood forming.
Lotusa felt the prick of the blade and woke and saw the barmaid with the blade looking tense and angry, thinking, trusting her was a bad idea. Puzzled and not moving much as to not allow the blade to get deeper he said, “what the hell do you think you are doing?” The barmaid pressed harder on the blade on to the neck and he struggled to breath for a few seconds. She looked at the chain again and back in to his eyes, “this chain, where the hell did you get it?”
She noticed how puzzled he looked when she asked the question as though he had no idea or what and why this was happening to him. Struggling to catch a breath he said, “it was given to me by a close friend, a comrade in arms, why?”
He hesitated to tell the truth because situations came up like this before where they claim to know him but in reality they were just there to rob him clean as the pendant had value to it.
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The barmaid did not believe him and his words so she hit him on the side of his head, “liar!” she shouted as she got the feeling of him not being honest. She pulled out her ribbon and tied his hands up and leaned forward, pressed her dagger again and put one leg on the chair, “now tell me truthfully, where and how did you get this chain round your neck, I know you are lying?” Lotusa quickly thought about why this barmaid wanted to know so much about the pendant because even though this has happened before it was the first time that someone had actually shown emotion.
Lotusa noticed that she released the dagger slightly and could speak more freely, “what is it about this pendant you want to know about so much, you have gone from friend to foe in a matter of seconds, why?”
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The idea of death for Lotusa was not a big deal for him, this he accepted as part of another life to live if he ever did die. What bothered him more was the idea of betrayal, he had been betrayed once before and he vowed never to fall for it again.
Lotusas words hit her like a tone of bricks, as her mind went back to the painting on the wall of her and her brother standing on a large rock underneath a water fall. She realised, this was no way to get any information and her emotions got the better of her and her actions, so she lowered her dagger. She placed it back inside her stocking and sat down next to him, “I am very sorry Lotusa, I allowed my feelings to better me!”
She untied his hands which was not tight at all and wondered why he never broke free and wipe the drops of blood with the ribbon off his neck.
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She tried to compose her feelings as she looked at the chain round his neck, “its that chain you have, the one your wearing.” The barmaid paused and carried on, “I had the same pendant when I was a little girl and it reminded me of a few memories that’s all!”
She looked into Lotusas and was very sincere about what she was mentioning, “again I am very sorry, Lotusa” she added again and emphasizing on the apology. Lotusa was slightly angry over what she did to his neck but now was more interested in the chain and pendant as his mind travelled back to when his sister had vanished.
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He completely forgot about the orc downstairs and the more he thought about the barmaid and what she had said the more he felt that he was drawn here. Admittedly, he came for the orc and what he said he had on the Mirocons but now that situation had gone he had felt a drawn effect to the tavern, he just ignored it. Almost in tears over the situation, he got up and wiped them hoping he would not see and walked over to a painting on the wall. She staggered on her feet as she realised who Lotusa was and who the person was in the painting. Lotusa ran over to see if she was alright and saw her weeping bitterly.
She looked up at him with eyes red sore from the tears, “oh Bilbo, why?” she said to Lotusa as he rubbed his back trying to comfort her.
“Listen, it will be fine, everything will work out, I’m sure?!” said Lotusa.
She wiped her tears and rubbed her eyes, “how do you do it?” she said.
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He helped her up off the floor and looked at the painting then back at the barmaid and moved away her hair and wiped the odd drop of tear and realised who she was, “NO!” he said shocked. He looked at her bracelet and gazed in her eyes as though he was possessed, almost coming of a bit creepy.
The barmaid sniffed, “what is it?” she said feeling a bit uncomfortable over what he was doing as he grabbed her arm and read the bracelet which said, ‘I will protect you.’
She jerked herself a step away from Lotusa, forgetting about who this could be because of the weirdness.
“What the hell are you doing and why are you reading and fascinated by my bracelet?” she said as she snapped.
Lotusa in this moment had no words, it was like some one had cut out his tongue and just repeated the words, “yo, yo, you.” He turned away from her and felt sick to his stomach, “could it really be her, after all these years, I have finally found her!”
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He turned to face her again and held out his hands, “don’t you recognise me!” Intrigued by what he said, she took a step closer and concentrated on his face and, “Lotusa, I mean Bildo, is that really you!”
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