Waking up he watched as Master Pierce sat in a chair at the foot of his bed his head buried in a large tome mumbling to himself through heavily veiled eyelids. His body was more a mass of aches and pains than the raw unbridled pain of the previous day. Letting his eyes close again he tried to fall back asleep but a chuckle from Master Pierce caused him to peek at him again from under his eyelashes.

“You know that I am aware that you are awake. Yes?”

Painin groaned and opened his eyes fully as the Mage looked at him over the top of his book. He motioned to the small table next to the bed that had yet another small bottle full of blue liquid and mimicked drinking it. Popping the cap, he sipped at the cool liquid and he felt the chilled flush rush through it his body, and the feeling of pain lessened further. Master Pierce took a sip from his cup as he silently watched the young man.

“I wanted to apologize to you.” The Mage stated with a sigh.

“I wanted to apologize to you for using you in the manner that I did. I put you into a struggle that you had no business being involved in. My issues with my family are and should be my own and not involve you. Let alone almost get you killed.”

“Your family?”

“Yes. I am not proud, but I was in line for the throne until I went to the Citadel of Magic. My older brother was marked for leadership and I was more than happy to follow my heart and pursue magical inquiry and training. When my brother died our youngest brother stepped into the role of next in line.”

Painin pushed himself more upright in the bed with a groan from his struggling muscles and looked at the Mage in disbelief.

“The Prince is your brother? Don’t you think that you should have let me know that before now?”

“Yes. You have a valid point and sadly I don’t think of myself as part of that family anymore. But no matter I shouldn’t have drawn you into my family drama, I am sorry for that. I had no way of knowing that Reckin would react like that during the fight. He took his anger for me out on you and it wasn’t fair or right in any instance.”

Painin stared at the ceiling in the room trying to get a grasp on the different thoughts and feelings that were running through his head. He felt at a loss like the one aspect of his life that was starting to make sense no longer did. He felt anger at the fact that Master Pierce had used him to settle some sort of grudge with his brother and the rest of his family.

“The potions have healed you, but you will still feel the aftereffects for a few days.”

“Shut up.”

“Look, lad…”

“Shut up! Shut the fuck up!” Painin yelled at the Mage slamming his hands on the bed.

“Shut the fuck up and get out of here!”

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Master Pierce nodded his head and closed up his book and slid it under his arm as he rose from his chair and moved to the door.

“Again, for what it is worth lad I am sorry.”

“Get out.” Behind him, he heard the sound of the door closing as the Mage left the room.

“Don’t come back.” Said Painin to the now empty room.

Things around the Keep returned to some semblance of normal in the weeks that followed the fight. Painin found himself avoiding Master Pierce and his rooms and focused more on busying himself with his work with Commander Novik. The Commander was getting ready for the annual purge of the mountain passes. He informed Painin that he was able to go and take part this year and would be his valet.

When he wasn’t running errands for the Commander, he divided his available time working with Master Nich in the forge and pulled extra details around the Keep with Marki and the guards. One night he found himself on duty walking around the parapet with Kemp their measured steps keeping time as they made their rounds. Painin enjoyed the act of doing guard detail it allowed him to feel as if he was adding to the security of the Keep and not just enjoying its benefits.

The wind coming from the passes to the West still carried a chill to it that said that Winter had not released its grip from the mountains just yet. They paused to look into the distance and Kemp sighed deeply before he began to sing a song his deep voice traveling out into the desert beyond. The song was one that Painin had not heard before and though he didn’t understand the words it spoke of loss and pain. He had never heard Kemp sing before and it was beautifully haunting in the darkness of the night. Even the carryings on down in the drinking establishments in Wildrest seemed to go quiet as he continued his song.

Painin lost track of time as he listened to the man sing and thought he caught a glimpse of a tear as it escaped his eye and rolled down his face where it was carried away by the wind. The pair stood quietly just looking out in the darkness before he found the silence to be too much.

“Kemp. That was an amazing song. What was it about?”

“It is an old Retae song of loss. I would honestly be surprised if you had heard it before. Most do not know it any longer as the younger generation of my people have forgotten their past. I was once apprenticed to a minstrel who went from town to town and entertained the people there.” He went quiet again and looked out into the darkness.

“I didn’t know you were a minstrel.”

“No reason for you to lad. I don’t go around talking about my past. Just made stupid choices and had to pay for them. It was either join the guards out here on the edge or go and do time in Edrag. I choose to join the guards.”

“Why would you have to go there?”

“Like I said lad I made stupid choices. Becoming a guard and giving up the drink though has turned me into a new man.”

“Well you have an amazing voice and it would be a waste to not share it with people.”

Kemp chuckled and motioned for them to continue their patrol, but he did start to hum under his breath as they walked. Finally, they were relieved and Painin made his way down to his towards the Commander's room. He went about setting out the Commander's uniform and quickly polished his boots and belt for the morning. He checked to make sure there was water in the pitcher next to the basin before he let himself out of the room and past the guards that nodded to him.

His room had a slight chill to it despite the small fire that was still smoldering pile of embers inside the fireplace. Tossing some wood onto the pile he was rewarded as they quickly caught fire and began to put out more warmth. He took off his sword belt and hung it on the wall and began to get ready to go to sleep. Painin took a sip of water from the clay mug that sat on the little table next to his bed. Holding it in his mouth he slowly let it run down the back of his throat savoring the coolness.

Laying back on the bed he closed his eyes and said a quiet prayer to the old gods for the souls of his family. The morrow was the day they would begin their ride to clear out the mountain passes. He struggled to clear his mind and it took some time for him to fall asleep, but finally he did though his dreams were troubled.