Pushing past the makeshift doors of flora, Casper exits the camp and returns to the open wilderness beyond.

Unable to raise his voice, for the fear of alerting the nearby travelers to their camps location, Casper instead channels the mark just enough to quickly catch up to Annabelle, who had already managed to cover a fair bit of ground.

“Annabelle!” Casper spoke her name as firmly as he could in a low whisper to get her attention, but was shocked when the large woman didn’t stop her stride at his word.

Acting quickly, as she continued to press on despite his protests, Casper did the only thing he could think of to get her to stop, to prevent making a mess of things.

Casper reached out his arm and grabbed Annabelle by the wrist, digging his feet into the ground he pulled hard enough to force her into a spin mid step.

The ex-bandits eye went wide at that, but only for a moment, before narrowing again as she was forced to turn and look Casper in the eyes.

More surprising than her unwillingness to listen to him, was the anger and frustration he saw on her expression, all focused on him.

It gave Casper pause for a moment, though he didn't let go of her wrist despite her attempts to free herself from it.

“What the hell has gotten into you?” Casper asked genuinely, though he didn’t let her go he leaned in and spoke with concern for the woman.

That only seemed to make her even more upset, because her chest heaved as she took in a huge breath ready to explode.

More frustrated now, and still aware of the stillness of the night air and how incredibly easy it would be to pick out their location should they make too much noise, Casper used a trick from Annabelle's own playbook.

Just as the words were about to escape her lips, Casper drove his forearm into her mouth, forcing it open and causing the words to spill out around the muscle of his arm.

Annabelle was furious at that, and moved to pull away from Casper again, only for Casper to follow her in lock stop, preventing her escape by using his body to block her path forward.

Then, the most surprising action of tonight so far.

Casper rooted his body to the ground and pushed back against Annabelle as she brought both of her hands to his chest and tried to shove him.

Moving only slightly, Casper didn’t allow himself to be forced from his position, which turned Annabelle's frustration into a snap moment of rage in the form of a fist she sent flying in his direction.

Casper brought his arm up and deflected the blow with little effort, allowing her momentum to carry the strike a bit further, he grabbed her by the elbow and stuck his leg outward, tripping her and sending her stumbling forward over his outstretched shin.

Without giving her another chance to recover, Casper twisted the woman's arm behind her back, dropped her to the forest floor with his other hands pressed hard over her mouth and his knee between her shoulder blades to keep her still.

The thump was audible, as the mass of her collided with the earth followed by a brief exhale from his knee in her back, but it was better than letting her shout.

Pinning her there, Casper extended his senses to feel out for the travelers that were supposed to be around here.

He picked up the sounds of steady footfall navigating the darkness several hundred feet away.

Their path of travel would have been from the stream in the far distance. They must have broken away from it in an arc to avoid the more heavy flow and uneven terrain he figured, as he picked up the context clues of their travel from the other pieces of sensory information in the distance.

They were far enough away that they wouldn’t have been able to hear him taking down Annabelle, and likely would have never encountered their camp at all. It was too far away.

Thinking about it, he was honestly impressed that Annabelle had spotted them at all. Then again she was trained to notice people in just about any condition so it wasn’t too far fetched that she had managed to pick them up even in the dark.

Still… her insistence on interference was very very strange, furthermore her outward hostility towards himself was even more unnatural.

He wanted to ask her about it, given that seemed to be the trend the night was going, clearing the air on things, but he needed to be sure she would scream or shout at him, so he would have to hold off on his questions for a little while.

Annabelle struggled underneath him. She might have been around the same height as Casper, and while Casper himself was very physically fit, Annabelle had him beat in sheer mass.

Unable to keep her pinned, given that his weight was too easy for her to lift, and hearing another intake of breath which was likely to be followed by some combination of curses, Casper took on a different position.

He let Annabelle lift him up, but he just as quickly drove his right foot into the ground and rolled her over in one easy motion.

Bringing his hand up to her mouth again, prevented yet another shout from interrupting the travelers late night walk, and then got to work on making sure she stayed down.

Casper wrapped his legs around her hips from behind hind, locking his ankles together to pin her knees tight. He then wove one hand under her armpit to bind her arm to her head, and with his other arm, pinned her left arm to her head and pressed the palm of his hand to her face to keep her mouth shut.

Annabelle bucked and struggled against him, but Casper didn’t let up. He kept her pinned and restrained there until her struggling turned into passive jostling, which eventually gave way to accepting the fact that he had her beat.

Still, even after she stopped struggling, he waited for several minutes until he was positive that the travelers were far enough away to be incapable of hearing them, should she try something.

Casper released his grip on Annabelle, and as he did so she quickly scrambled up and wheeled on Casper.

She clenched her fists and scanned him as he moved to get up off the forest floor, wanting desperately to say something but not being able to suppress the mounting rage enough to conjure up the correct words.

At least, that is what Casper assumed, given that even after he finished standing and brushing his clothes off, Annabelle still stood facing him with her fists in tight balls and her eye narrowed to a slit.

There was only one direction this was headed then, and Annabelle wasn’t the type to just let something go, if her life debt wasn’t proof enough of that. That being the case, it was better to get it over with.

“Should we settle this then?” Casper asked coolly, squaring his shoulders to the woman and looking her straight in the eye.

She faltered then, though only for a moment as she considered the implication of the challenge.

“No…I owe you a debt and-” She started, only to be interrupted.

“You owe me a debt, but you are also clearly pissed off, so, let's settle this then” Casper pressed, taking a step forward.

“I’m not going to fight you-” Annabelle tried again, doing a half turn as if to walk away, only for Casper to shove her with his next step.

“I do something to piss you off that badly? I get under your skin that much? You owe me your life, not your respect.” Casper pressed harder. It wasn’t particularly like him to be so flagrantly combative but he could tell Annabelle was damn close to snapping and it would be better to do it in a controlled environment alone than when they were out and about next.

“Casper, I was out of line, I don’t want-” Annabelle tried again, ambient unconvincingly as she flexed her hands, only to once more be interrupted as Casper shoved her once more, causing her to stumble backwards.

That seemed to have done it then.

Annabelle quickly regained her footing and accidentally let out something akin to a snarl to accompany the right hook that nearly caught Casper across the chin.

He had no idea where the hell any of this was coming from, but it would be better for everyone, and especially better for Annabelle to get it all out now.

Casper ducked under the hook and closed the distance fast.

Willing the mark to leave his body, as to not accidentally hurt her too badly, he delivered three quick jabs to her ribs from within her guard before she could step back out of range.

Casper side stepped left followed by a right cross, only to leave himself too open and get hit hard in the liver as Annabelle countered with a middle kick.

Before she could pull her leg away, Casper grabbed it and locked her leg in under his arm.

Taking a big step forward he caught her off balance and almost sent her to her back, but Annabelle was quicker than he expected.

She allowed herself to fall and took Casper with her.

Using her other leg, Annabelle kicked hard at Casper's stomach, tearing him off her leg and sending him sliding across the ground.

Stunned by the move, Casper barely had enough time to regain his senses of position before Annabelle was on him again.

She pulled him up by his shirt and struck Casper hard across the cheek with left, then again with his right.

He let it happen, it wouldn’t have been fair to avoid every single strike. Even without the mark he could have blocked and countered but he figured Annabelle needed this, so he would make sure she got her fill.

Spitting blood, Casper ducked the third strike and shoved at Annabelle with both hands, sending her backwards again.

Sweeping her legs he took the woman down, and hit her with an arcing kick as she tried to get back up.

Stealing his move now, she grabbed hold of Casper's foot and pulled him in to drive him to the ground again.

Casper instead spun, giving Annabelle his back for only a moment, before launching himself up with his free foot and spinning that one around in a hide kick.

Unable to block effectively, she let go of the captured leg but just a little too late.

The top of Casper's foot struck the woman hard in the face, sending her to the ground just as he landed.

Casper approached cautiously, and offered a hand to Annabelle, but she slapped it away and went for his legs.

Not quite done yet then, very well.

Casper sprawled his legs out and wrapped his arms around Annabelle's middle as she failed her takedown.

Squeezing hard around her abs, he brought one leg up and over just as he released his grip to force her into an armbar.

It worked, mostly, were it not for the fact that Annabelle was damn strong, and instead of locking her arm up, she simply lifted him with her arm outstretched, and slammed him into the truck of a tree.

Without the air of the mark to increase his durability, the wind was quickly driven from his lungs as he released his grip and slid to the ground.

Annabelle was on him again, trying to get him into a pin, but Casper wouldn’t allow it.

Regaining his breath, Casper let out a flurry of punches without holding back, though still without aid of the mark.

Annabelle blocked a few, but not all of them.

Blow after blow landed hard on the woman's body, across her ribs and stomach and chest and face, unwilling to go down.

He could feel the rage building up inside of her, as she too matched his flurry with one of her own.

Casper tried to dodge and block, but he wasn’t fast enough without the mark to dodge them all.

The two traded blows off one another in rapid succession. Blood and spit spraying between the two as their knuckles split and lips bled and bodies bruised.

Casper could feel his energy waning as his ribs throbbed with every strike, he could feel Annabelle falter every time her knuckles cracked against the bone of his arm with a block.

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The ground underneath them turned to mud as they shifted, moved, spun, and tried to get the better angle on one another, causing their exhausted bodies to slip and stumble.

Casper needed to give her a release, but he couldn’t let her win, not if he wanted her respect.

She would likely know he allowed her to beat him, if that was the path he chose. Sure he would let her get her licks in, but at the end of the day he wanted to be an honest man.

Casper clenched his teeth as Annabelle drove an uppercut into his stomach.

Bringing his head down her headbutted the woman hard enough to send stars through her vision and end the seemingly endless assault on his body.

It was about time he finished this.

Casper kicked her hard in the head once, and then followed it with a downward kick directly after, forcing her to the ground.

As she went she grabbed his foot and pulled him down with her.

Spinning around in the mud he backfisted her stomach. Which she caught, and tried to follow up with a strike of her own only to slip in the mud they had created and land next to him in the earth.

Casper remained on his back, having gotten the last blow in, while Annabelle laid panting next to him, looking up at the canopy of trees above.

Their breathing filled the night air, joining in with the crickets and frogs and nocturnal birds who had sat in as the audience for their bout.

Unfortunately for Casper, he couldn’t just heal himself. Annabelle herself had been the one to deliver the injuries so it would be too suspicious for him to be miraculously fine now. Which meant he needed to bear the pain much the same way Annabelle did.

Casper clutched his ribs with each breath. He spit out blood as it pooled into his mouth from the myriad cuts caused but her cheeks scraping his teeth from her punches, or split lips. One eye was already starting to swell shut, though Annabelle didn’t look much better herself.

She tried her best to keep her breathing steady, but she was visibly exhausted. Blood pooled from the reopened wounds in her abdomen. Casper had avoided striking her good eye, though the other already damaged side of her face was swelling more and more with each passing moment. He could hear her grunt as each unintentional movement sent a lightning bolt of pain through her bruising muscles.

The two laid there for a time. Looking up at the leaves on the trees above and listening to the sounds of the night, letting the lingering bit of anger drip into the mud underneath them.

After a time, Casper sat up with no small effort, and turned to offer his hand once more to Annabelle.

This time, Shame was the only expression he could read through the swelling on her face, as she took his hand firmly and used it to aid herself upright.

“I… don’t know how to explain myself” Annabelle said somewhat slurred through her swollen lips.

Casper shook his head, though it still throbbed from the countless blows it took.

“You went easy on me” Annabelle said next, a little bit of thanks breaking through the shame.

“Well… I'm injured already and tired-” Casper tried to explain, though he trailed off as it was clear Annabelle wasn’t buying it.

“No, I appreciate it. I wouldn’t have lived if you didn’t hold back.” She admitted.

Casper chuckled silently to himself, as Annabelle was so terribly unaware of how true that statement was.

“Why did you let me fight back?” She asked next, turning to look at him.

“Because you needed it, and honestly because I needed it too.”

“You needed it too?”

“I gave you all punishments, didn’t I? But ultimately the plan that got us in this mess to begin with was mine. So…” he shrugged.

Annabelle nodded at that. Letting her head fall as her lips were too swollen to effectively spit the blood in her mouth. So instead she just let it fall out for a moment.

“So, are you going to tell me what the hell all this was about?” Casper asked pointedly, taking his turn to look at Annabelle.

The air hung silent between them for a moment, before Annabelle gathered her thoughts enough to speak.

“The marked girl, namely. Adding her to our ranks… Casper I know you are a capable fighter, hell’s you are the best fighter I have ever seen. I know you are intelligent, I know you are clever and much much more. But bringing a marked girl into our ranks has got to be the single most moronic thing I could possibly conceive of. It is beyond foolish Casper, it is a death sentence!”

Casper let her speak, confident that even as her voice rose the others wouldn’t be able to hear.

“But besides her, as incredibly foolish as I think that is, it’s made worse by that damned Half fiend. Not only is her kind not to be trusted on principle alone, I have seen what they do to men and women. They are monsters, Casper.”

Annabelle realizes her voice is getting louder, so she takes a moment to gather herself once more, and start again in a lower tone.

“The half fiend slave practically worships the marked, and that combination together is dangerous… I am furious. Furious that they have entered our ranks, I'm furious with you for not just allowing it, but then demanding we all cooperate in spite of the risks, but most of all I am furious that I could do nothing, while these monsters do everything…”

Ah, that was the true crux of the matter then, Casper realized. Though she was right to be angry with him given the new context, it made sense that she too would be angry with herself in all this.

It looked as though Annabelle was ready to shut off however, as the conversation began to dive to a place she wasn’t familiar with going.

This would be good for her, Casper thought, so instead of allowing her to close up, he decided he would push

Besides…as much as he told himself this was for her benefit, he would be lying were he not to admit that he desperately wanted to know more about this woman. As selfish as it was, he was infatuated with her in a way he couldn’t quite describe. He needed to understand the inner workings of her mind. He wanted to be here for her, to talk to her, to be a shoulder to lean on for her. The fact that it helped herself was more a bonus to the selfish nature of his desire.

“You protected Elisayra I hear, during the fortress’s explosion. What do you mean they do “everything?”

“I protected her in the fallout of actions so incomprehensibly strong the only thing I could think to do was shield her with my own mortal body.” Annabelle dismissed. “Nephinae can repair our clothes, heal our wounds, cook our food, clean our linen, remember the positions of the stars in the sky to tell our direction, and she is a slave. Alex is more informed about the inner workings of politics and regional history than anyone I know. Elisayra saved my life on the boat with that captain because she was skilled in stealth enough to slit the man in black’s throat without him even noticing her approach. Laihal is stronger than me, faster than ma, more perceptive than me. She can track and stalk and hide out camp. The marked girl is beyond strength. What am I Casper? What am I but a human woman? I have no incredible strength, not when compared to the others, I have no insight or skill I can offer not already done better by yourself or someone else. Everything I have built myself up to be has become overshadowed but the things I hate.”

Annabelle lets the words spill out in a steady flow of catharsis as Casper just listened.

He recalled a lesson from his father, who had said that it is in our nature to solve the world's problems. To solve people's problems. To us, the expression of malcontent means there is something in the world that needs to change. And while we take pleasure in creating the change to prevent further problems, that is not the end all be all. Ultimately, a person may just want to express themselves. To release the pain they hold inside and to be heard in that pain. Do not try and solve the problem, not yet. The problem can always be solved later, and will ultimately be easier to solve than attempting to repair a relationship with someone you simply didn’t take the time to listen to.

So, Casper listened. He nodded, and watched her, and let her know that she was heard as she let her heart bleed out before him.

“You are wrong, by the way.” Annabelle continued. “You said before all this, that I do not owe you my respect. That's false. I do owe you my respect.”

Casper cocked his head slightly at that, curious for her next words.

“I do owe you my life, but you forget the manner in which that debt manifested. You saved my life Casper. The life of not just a complete stranger but the life of a bandit who, as far as the world was considered, deserved no more chances. You saved Alex’s life, her slaves life, you saved Elisayra's life in a way too. You are exceptional Casper. Sure you pissed me off with your decisions regarding the half fiend slave and the marked girl but you have nothing but my respect and admiration… I…” Annabelle turns away slightly.

“What is it?”

“The day you saved me, and we were forced to rest at camp, I thought you to be the embodiment of what a man is meant to be.” Annabelle admits with a faint blush, though it could also just still be the swelling.

“If the men of this world were even but a fraction of the person you are, perhaps things wouldn’t be so bad…” She speaks low, embarrassed.

Casper smiles at that. The genuine sincerity in her tone making the pain that much more manageable.

“Why did you take the girl, Casper?” Annabelle asks quickly, turning the conversation from the compliment back to the real matter at hand.

Casper wanted to be an honest man, but the reasoning for picking up the marked girl was so deeply ingrained into his own personal dilemma that it was hard to come up with any lie that would seem reasonable.

Given Annabelle asked the question once again, it meant she didn’t fully believe his earlier story of conveniently finding her ownership documents. Or maybe Annabelle did believe this but didn’t accept it fully yet.

How much of the truth could he say, without revealing something that would permanently ruin their relationship?

How much of a relationship did they even have at all though? He wondered.

Even if their relationship was no more surface level than passing attraction and occupying the same space and having a dozen or so conversations, and a life debt, he still wanted to foster something more.

Maybe he could foster something more, by being honest in a different way. They had shared stories during their time around the campfire, but it was never anything that offered much insight into the person. Maybe now is the time to tell something more personal… something he hadn’t ever told anyone.

“Do you remember the first person you killed?” Casper asked.

“Where is this coming from?” Annabelle turned, clearly a little frustrated that this might be a deflection.

“Trust me… I promise I will answer your question” Casper reassured her. “Do you?”

Annabelle thought for only a moment before nodding her head.

“He was an older man who tried to take me, likely to sell me off at an auction somewhere. I didn’t want to go so I fought back. It was an accident, killing him I mean. I shoved him and he tripped down a flight of stairs and never got back up.” Annabelle explains plainly, recalling the memory like she would recall any one of her several dozen stories of roadside banditry, though in those stories she put in alot more dramatic flair, this one was spoken plainly, as if entirely unremarkable.

Surprised at the candid nature, Casper shivers as he recalls his first…

“My village had very few issues. It was small, hand made by my father and his friends, his family. But you know all that” Casper skips past the beginnings, having mentioned it many times by now. “We didn’t allow any outsiders, even on the off chance one happened by. Everyone in our village were people we were close to.” He explains.

“Everyone knew everyone, and everyone talked… well, mostly everyone.”

Casper's mind returned to the village for a moment, as if he was still there among the houses and rolling hills, a young boy again trying his hardest to be a man his father would be proud of.

“A friend of mine, Thomas, never spoke much, not to anyone who wasn’t me. He was a few years younger than I, and though he was too small to keep up he always tried to tag along with me and my other friends and cousins.”

The image of the boy flickered past his mind then too. The small frame, the curly bright orange hair that bobbed up and down visible from anywhere. His emerald green eyes that always looked so tired… the kind of tired sleep wouldn’t ever fix.

“One day, my other friends were out with their parents on a learning day. My father had gone off on some manner of important business so I was left to my own for the most part. Well, Thomas approached me that day, which was strange because he should have been with his uncle for learning. I told him off at first for skipping out but he begged to stay with me and to teach him instead. I gave in after a while and thought that was that… It wasn’t.”

Casper can still hear the boy's voice, though it was fading over time. He was a sweet young kid, even though he was only 3 years Casper's junior, he was tiny and looked more like an 8 year old than 10.

“We do lessons twice a week, and every time after that first he snuck off to be with me instead. Father was gone and I didn’t mind the company so I let him stay until his uncle came knocking. I should have known something was wrong by the way Thomas hid. He didn’t want to go with him but I was young and stupid and didn’t know much better so I told Thomas to go back to learning with his uncle…”

Casper took in a deep breath then, as the images flicker through as moments forever frozen in time.

“Father was still gone, and would be for a while longer. Thomas never came back to my house, so I went looking for him… I knew I wasn’t meant to enter other people's houses or peep through their windows, but something in my stomach told me I needed to today. I snuck in, and that's when I saw it… “

Casper shivered, choking on the words as they rose in his throat.

“Thomas’s uncle had managed to sneak a slave boy into the village, about the same age as I was at the time. Young kid, maybe 13 at most…. Thomas’s uncle was watching, as he made the slave… and Thomas…”

Casper couldn’t stomach it then. As the words came from his mouth, so did the images appear in his mind. The mark threatened to rise over him at the mere remembrance of what he saw.

“I’m sorry” He breathed, shaking his head. “The next thing I knew I was inside. I stabbed that man with a knife from his kitchen until he stopped moving'', Casper spoke the last words with no small amount of pride in his tone. Because he was proud. He would do it again in a heartbeat.

Annabelle nodded along to his story, unfortunately unsurprised. What was a pivotal, earth shattering experience for Casper must have been relatively normal in the cities and towns of this country after all.

“All that to say. From that day forward I made myself a rule. A rule that I would never allow any child to suffer the way Thomas and that slave had suffered. to endure what they were forced to endure in order to satisfy the sick perversions of that man.”

Casper steadied his breath, and willed the mark to leave him as he realized the power moving through his was starting to heal his wounds.

“Why did I save the marked girl? Because the circumstances of her birth should not be an allowance for suffering. Someone born a half-elf, in my opinion, should not be treated lesser than any other person. No one should be judged by any metric other than the merit of action. Because despite her power, she was weak. You can see for yourself how skinny she is, how malnourished, how sickly she is. I saved her because it was the right thing to do…but beyond that, were I to save her and release her, who knows what other forces at play would want her? Who’s to say some other monster wouldn’t use her, treat her as a weapon or a tool for their own designs… I know what I can do, and what I can do is help her become more than a “marked” person. I understand that you might not see the mark the same as I do. But for a moment consider that the things you have been told are wrong. Look inward at yourself! How many times have you personally been told that you as a woman would never be as capable as a man?” He asked.

Annabelle remained silent at that, so Casper continued.

“How many times have you heard that a man can take any woman he wants without consequence? How many times have you proven these men wrong? How many times have you been told that elves and celestials are higher races? Yet you have seen them as slaves. How many times have you been told that lowborn peasants shouldn’t be allowed to read or write, and how many times have you seen the opposite? Consider just for a moment that the men in power within this god awful kingdom, who allow these horrors to transpire, might, just might be incentivized to sow distrust in the one thing that is a threat to them.”

Casper turned to face Annabelle completely then, searching her expression for some indication of the thoughts running through her head, hoping, praying, that his words were getting through.

“Laihal is a half-fiend untrustworthy savage, and the marked girl is a monstrous force of nature just as you are an untrained bumbling harlot who only exists to pleasure men. You of all people Annabelle should be able to look beyond the superficial, look beyond the ironclad box this kingdom wants you to spend the rest of your life inside.” Casper pleads.

He watches her expression firm up for a moment, and for that moment his heart sinks as he sees the walls being built in her mind.

Casper then hates himself for doubting this woman, as her expression soften and her jaw unclenches.

“Don’t ask me to all of a sudden be perfectly content with this… but… I thank you for respecting me enough to speak to me without trying to honey coat it. Too often I've had men talk down to me, or doubt my intelligence because of the profession I had taken up.” Annabelle smiles. “I won’t promise I will outright accept everything you’ve said, not entirely at least. But…” she pauses for a moment “I will take your words to heart Casper.”

“Thank you.” Casper sighs. “Besides, as I said, you have my word she won't harm any of you.”

“I believe you” Annabelle confirms, her eye glancing back in the direction of the camp. “You mentioned before you had her ownership documents?” she asks.

“I do.” he responded curiously.

“What else did you manage to get from the auction house?” Annabelle leads, raising an eyebrow with a crooked smile.

Ah, there she was, the Annabelle Casper was familiar with, returned to him one more at the prospect of loot. Sure it was a little jarring going from a heartfelt conversation about insecurities and the past to discussing finances, but he figured this was just the kind of woman Annabelle was.

After all, they did just beat the shit out of each other and then go on to talk like they didn't have busted lips and broken ribs.

Casper matched the woman's expression with a smile of his own. Having forgotten about the money almost entirely given the events of the previous days.

“Great question," Casper returned the smile with one of his own, eager to put their moment of disagreement behind them. "would you like to see?”