Kahn returned home today, and mother nearly died of shock. I can't honestly say that I didn't nearly do the same myself. It's been over a year, maybe two since we last saw him, and even then he wasn't home for more than a week, if my memory serves me right. I took him for dead.
He seems different, in a sense. His brutish manner is gone, as if he had lost the bit of orc he had from his father. Something has changed in him, something that neither mother nor I had expected to ever change. He speaks with more charm, and his responses are never simple and blunt as they used to be. If I didn't know better I would think he'd been living with the monks all this time.
He came riding back on an enormous black steed with a cart full of knick knacks and riches behind him. He showed us some of them at supper his first night back, and I can't believe some of the trinkets he's come into possession of along the way. I'd never imagined there were so many rewards of adventuring.
Mother is happier than I've seen her in many years. She had always neglected Kahn when he was younger, although he never seemed to notice. I think his time away had planted a seed of longing in her heart, for now she moves about and performs her duties around the house with jubilance, and her youth seems to have even returned to her.
I feel a nagging sorrow whenever I look at him, though, for I know that he won't stay forever. He could never linger in one place for long. Not even here. I don't think mother knows, but he'll be leaving again soon I suspect. I wish he would stay. He's a great help with the crops, and the entire town feels safer with him around, even if some of the folk aren't fond of him. I just hope the days that he's here for are long.
(diary entry of Kahn's brother, Kohl)