While the men were far away on the mountain top, Zeta had risen from her deep slumber earlier than usual that morning. She got up and quickly left the bed chamber. She walked down the stairs to the main hall, where she ran into George her faithful servant, advisor and best friend.

"Good morning to you miss." George greeted her.

"Good morning to you too. Thanks for suggesting I get out of the castle. I ran into the other women and had a lot of fun." Zeta told him with a smile.

"Glad to hear it miss. Oh I meant to tell you Ralph the shopkeeper is supposed to get a good shipment in today. Maybe you'd want to do some shopping in the village." He advised her.

"I may do that, it sounds great to me. Would ou like to sit and have a cup of coffee with me?" Zeta offered to him.

"I would love to." George answered with a smile.

The two headed into the kitchen and George began brewing the pot. He grabbed two mugs from the upper left cabinet and waited for the coffee to brew. Once it was ready he walked the two mugs over to the small table where Zeta waited. He gave her a cup and sat down across from her. She thanked him for the cup. She then stared at it for the longest time before saying anything, she took a sip of the brew. As she set the cup on the small table she looked at George, then down at her cup.

"I miss my Daniel.' Zeta told him in a half whisper.

"I/m sure that you do miss him. Have you befriended the other two women?"

"Yes why do you ask?"

"It would be a good thing, isn't miss Veronia with Daniel's best friend Richard?"

"Yes, that's right." Zeta answered him sipping her drink until it had been emptied.

"If you invited Veronia over here, get to know her, eventually she'd bring master Richard with her. It would be good for you and Daniel to have company over. Plus I think miss Veronia probably feels the same as her love is on the quest, too." George explained in a fatherly tone. He got up and poured each of them another cup of the steaming brew.

"Thank you again George. I think I may go off to the village soon maybe Veronia or Ravenessa may be out shopping today as well." Zeta informed him as she blew on the coffee to cool it before taking a large gulp of it down.

The moment that she finished the mug of coffee she said goodbye to George and left the grand castle. It was a long way to the village but she enjoyed the stroll through the forest. It was relaxing to just be out there with our thoughts, to stop and see all the lands natural beauty unfolding. It was near the end of the winter life cycle, Spring had slowly begin to resurface in the enchanted forest. The snow had thawed back into the earth for another year as the emerald green grasses began to show up here and there. Zeta knew the flowers and trees would be next. She did love the scarlett willow tree near the castle grounds, a magnificent sight. She thought of some of the other things she would look forward to this spring as she walked quickly through the forest. She day dreamed of picnics with her and Daniel in a secluded place out here. She kept going thinking of Daniel and reminding herself he would be home any day now. Before she knew it, Zeta reached the outskirts of the village.

By the time she reached the village square it had gotten to be mid day, she found a little out of the way spot to rest. She liked coming out to the village but it was a long strenuous walk no matter how many times you walk that far it took a lot out of you. After a short rest she walked around through the square, then in and out of some of the shops. She knew Ravenessa's bonding ceremony was coming up shortly, maybe she would be running errands today too. She kept a look out for her new friend Veronia but hadn't spotted her anywhere. Zeta continued to walk around the village square, hoping to have a nice afternoon out. She needed to keep her mind off of missing Daniel so much.

Thousands of different thoghts invaded her mind at once. Is her soul mate okay as well as his kinsmen? Have they finished the quest, have they found it yet? It was enough to make even the most stable person suffer from lunacy. When would they return? What could be keeping them? She strolled through the village lost in her own mind until she heard someone call her name. The sound was familiar to her. She halted abruptly and scanned the crowd in the village. Then she turned around and looked to see who had been shouting her name.

"Hey, I was hoping to run into you today." Zeta greeted her.

"Join me, Veronia is in the dress shop now." Rae informed her.

"I'd absolutely love to, thank you." She replied.

Zeta walked with her friend until the got to the dress shop around the corner. It was one that she had gone into quite often. She walked in behind her and they both saw Veronia looking through a few clothing racks. She waved them over to join her. When they walked over to her, Veronia had put her arms around Zeta and given her a hue hug.

"I'm really glad that you are here with us, when it comes to shopping it's more fun with great friends." She told Zeta.

"Thanks for inviting me to come with."

"Sure, any time."

The three women walked around the dress shop then headed off to their favorite antique shop to look around a while. They were having so much fun, the sting of missing their mates didn't seem quite so painful to them right now. They were preoccupied by their love of shopping as well as an everlasting friendship between the three of them. After visiting a few more shops, Veronia was getting exhausted.

"Rae, do you need anything else for the bonding ceremony?" Veronia asked

"Just Stergis. I have everything else."

Zeta giggled at the comment. Rae was a great person to be around with a twisted sense of humor. She was so glad that she had come out today, these two were great to be around. They seemed to lift her spirits whenever the three of them spent time together. Once the three of them had finished their shopping in the village, Zeta invited the other two back to her castle for a little girls night in. Zeta was as excited as a twelve year old having a slumber party with her best friends. The witches loved the idea of a get together at Zeta's. The three witches quickly headed out of the village and back through the forest. It would be dark or near there by the the time they'd get there. They walked quickly, occasionally sprinting through the forest to make the walk there go a little faster. By the time they had gotten to the grand castle, it had become very early evening.

When they entered the enormous castle, both Veronia and Ravenessa were impressed with it. The front entrance was big enough for a small giant, it was a gorgeous classic style home. They were having a good time admiring the castle with Zeta. She was of course a wonderful hostess to them. Taking them on a guided tour of her grand castle, then taking them into the monstrosity of a library for great conversation and drinks for the night.