"Emily!" Merri exclaimed happily as he stood to greet her. Here she was! Here she was, alive and well, for she was not translucent like a ghost nor of rotting flesh like the undead -- in fact, she was as beautiful as he ever remembered her -- and this certainly could not be a figment of his imagination. "It's so good to see you, too!"
He grasped her hand tentatively, in part to be sure that she was really and truly here, though his hesitance at touching others was obviously unchanged. His smile, however, expressed what his touch could not, and he dropped her hand quickly and waved to the chair before his to invite her to sit. Merri was aware of others staring, and he only hoped that it was because of Emily -- her reappearance and her stature -- and not because of him and something he might have said or did.
"How have you been?" he asked, taking a seat after she did. He meant the question for both in the recent weeks since returning to Emillion and the past few years, but he had a feeling he'd only get an answer to the former. "It's been so long!"