Thom handed Jeanne a bowl of stew. She rested the food on her lap as he took his seat, stilling eyeing the rest of her friends with suspicion. He sat on the other side on the hearth, his wife placing more wood into the fire as their children watched their guests with curiosity. The Wolves sat around Jeanne silently.

Thom cleared his throat. “Well,” he said finally, “it seems you’ve been busy since you left our little spot of earth.”

Jeanne nodded. “Was trying to put some distance between myself and … everything here as I could.”

“Yes,” Thom said, nodding, “that would do the trick.”

“I’m surprised you had been a member of The Cold Company,” Estelle said, sitting down next to her husband.

“They were the first group to take me in, Cid was my commanding officer and Kel was in our squad.”

“I could imagine she was something of a Firestarter when you first met her,” Thom said to Cid.

“And you were in the middle of the whole mess over in Koulberg?” Thom asked.

Jeanne nodded. “Would you believe me if I said that was supposed to be a simple bounty contract.”

“I’d say you were pulling both our legs then,” Thom replied.

The Wolves chuckled amongst themselves. “Sorry,” Cid said to Thom. “Just old memories.”

“Well,” Thom continued. “As you can probably imagine there was a lot of … things that happened after you left.”

“I can only imagine,” Jeanne replied, looking around her former home. “I’m surprised this placed wasn’t damaged at all.”

“Well, it wasn’t for a lack of trying,” Thom replied. “You see, Old Lord Kolville sent his men out trying to find you. The Kolville Gang tried to force the village to give you up, but they learned seven wasn’t good at taking on ten times their numbers at once. Then when their father sent the hunters after you, it was too long to find anything worth hunting. So he sacked them, usually by sending them into a dungeon pit, which didn’t help in finding new people to go out looking.

“By that point Old Kolville was preparing to scour the whole county to burn you out. Even went to the king to seek proper permission to do so. While he was gone the local monastery decided to incorporate the entire area as its own property.”

“Why would they do that?” Maeryn asked.

“If the church owns the land, a lord can’t vandalize it without serious repercussions,” Jeanne replied.

“On top of that, you have to get the Supreme Lord Cleric to consent to march on their land, let alone anything else,” said Estelle, “And I don’t see that happening. Now that caused quite a conundrum between the church and the king, but it did the trick in keeping the Kolville’s men from burning the place to the ground.”

“I would thought that’d create an investiture issue between the monarchy and the church?” Silvius asked.

“It did for a while,” Thom replied. “Though they were able to work that out between the monastery and the Kolvilles, which more or less reestablishes some semblance of stability back to the county.”

Jeanne looked out to a small patch of land outside of a nearby window. “Thank the gods for small favors.”

“We … we’ve made sure to keep her comfortable,” Estelle said to her.

“Sabine,” Jeanne said nervously.

Both Thom and Estelle nodded. “We’ve been taken care of her resting place since we moved into here. We’ve even placed flowers on her grave whenever they bloom.”

“Oh” Jeanne said weakly.

“If you’d like you like to go visit her, that wouldn’t be an issue at all,” Thom said, adjusting in his seat.

“I think I might do that that,” Jeanne replied, rising from her seat.

“You want us to come with you?” Leonidas asked her.

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Jeanne shook her head. “No, I want to this alone.”

Making her way out of her old home, she moved down a small winding dirt path leading to a tree standing tall in a tranquil meadow. The grass was trimmed short around a stone headstone with the etching, “Sabine Marais, Aged 21 Winters, Wonderful Daughter & Sister.”

Jeanne sat next to the headstone, curling her knees up and looking around at the tree and its large, spanning branches. “I didn’t expect the tree to grow this tall since I left,” she said aloud. ‘I remember trying to climb it as a small child and you’d have to grab me before I fell and hurt myself. I thought you had no spirit of adventure in the slightest, Sabine.”

Jeanne turned as a flock of birds flew from the tree lined, formed in a V-formation as they journeyed across the sky. “I didn’t appreciate how simple things were. No worrying about where food would come from. No concerns about whether the next day would be the one where our stories would end. No ill thoughts from dark places in your mind you never knew were within you.”

She looked back at the grave, running her hand over the stone surface. “This isn’t fair, this isn’t right. You deserved to grow old, find someone who made you happy, have whatever number of children you desired and find your conclusion in a soft warm bed surrounded by family and friends. You didn’t deserve …” She paused, beginning to choke up, “you didn’t what happened. I still don’t know why it happened. Why you? Why anyone? Even if what we do requires penance, what did you do to deserve that?

“And … now you’re here, resting until whatever god is out there decides to end this world and restart it anew. And here I am … I don’t even know what I’m doing half the time. I used to think this was a good thing, but now I’m not so sure of that.”

A butterfly fluttered around Jeanne and the headstone. She slowly lifted her hand and it gently rested on her finger, its wings moving up and down until resting completely. “I think you enjoyed the little things, Sabine. A lot mor than I did. And I know you understood more about responsibility, too. You’d be amazed how much I’ve had to come to grips with that little imp. Gods, you’d be amazed what I’ve been doing the last few years. I don’t even know how you’ll be when you meet Doc.”

Jeanne turned back to the headstone as the butterfly lifted itself off her finger and away over the tall stalks of wheat and barley. “I know, I didn’t think be here either.” She let out a heavy sigh, tears now forming in the corners of her eyes. “I really wish you were here right now, Sabine. I wish I could take all the things I said, all the things I did. Show you that I really did care about you, that I didn’t think you were a horrible person. Gods why didn’t I see everything until after it was too late to make amends.”

Jeanne wiped away some of the tears running down her face as she tried to hold back the pain inside. “Sabine, I’m so sorry. For everything. And I’d give anything to have you back again. I don’t even know what I’m going to do now that I’m back. Honestly, I didn’t expect to be alive long enough to reach this point. Part of me is wishing I hadn’t made it this far, because I don’t know how I’m going to find these men, and then there’s this whole vampire artifact that I hardly have any idea what the hell that’s all about. Gods, there’s so much going on and I feel like a small drop in a big ocean and I don’t know how to feel about it.

“I guess that is the rub isn’t it? You don’t know how to feel about something until after the moment’s come and gone. And then you’re left with something of an experience to color your view next time something similar happens. If you’re lucky enough to survive the whole thing.” Jeanne looked at the headstone, a gave a heavy sigh. “I know they say you don’t appreciate what you have until it’s gone. And gods know I learned that lesson, with terrible advantage. But I wish I had never learned it this way. I love you, Sabine. And I am so proud to have had you as a sister, even if I never showed it when you were here.” She hugged the headstone and made her way back to the farmhouse as she the faint neighs of horses.

Moving around the corner of the farmhouse, she saw several riders situated a short distance down the road with a man speaking with Cid. He was dressed in well-made cloak, a sword draped at their side and a gold and silver necklace adorned around his neck. Jeanne too a deep breath and after taking a big gulp, marched forward towards the two.

Both noticed her as she neared, the man lifted his eyebrows. “Well, I see the reports were true. You’ve come back home, Jeanne.”

“Sigismund,” Jeanne said to him, “It’s been a long time.”

“It has, and I think you know why I’m here.”

“I didn’t think it would be to reconnect.”

“Partly, though my lord and master has requested I escort you to the keep if I came across you.”

“When did you become a patsy to a glorified bandit leader?”

Sigismund let out a long sigh. “I should’ve known this wasn’t going be easy.”

“Did you forget who you’re talking to?”

“I was trying ever so much when I received the order.”

“How do we know she’ll be leaving this your lord’s keep alive and unharmed?” Cid asked.

“I can assure you that is the last thing Lord Kolville wishes,” Sigismund said to Cid, “But I am afraid you will have to take my for its worth.”

“It does even much given who you work for,” Jeanne replied.

Sigismund jutted his lower jaw to the side. “There is much you will need to be assess on when we get to the keep.”

“Let me grab a few of our numbers,” Cid said.

“I don’t want –” Jeanne began to say before Cid interrupted her.

“Jeanne you are not going into that place alone, and that’s final,” Cid insisted.

“We would prefer –”

“This is not a debate, captain,” Cid replied. “And my Wolves have been itching to put this problem down, quickly and permanently.” The rest of The Wolves began stirring, their hands moving to their weapons as Sigismund raised his hand.

“All right, if that is everyone’s wish, you pick two other’s to come with and we will be on our way.”

“Sil, Ben, we’re heading out. Kel, you’re in charge until we get back.”

“Right,” Kveldulf said, turning back to the others.

“Well,” Jeanne said to Sigismund, “Let’s go see the old bastard.”

Sigismund chuckled hoarsely. “Oh aren’t we in for a surprise.”