Jeanne sat on the steps on the fortified manor, her arms wrapped around her bent legs as her head rested against her knees. She tried remembering her breathing lessons from Benkin and steady her heartbeat. But as the words from Ollen came back into her mind, the deep hatred came back with a fury.

She heard footsteps from behind her, she turned to see Benkin coming up to the steps. “Doc is almost done with Ollen. Thought you could use some company,” he said as he sat down.

“Thanks,” she said faintly.

“How are you holding up?”

Jeanne shook her head. “I don’t know.”

Benkin nodded. “I can’t imagine what this is for you. I mean that.”

“I know you do, Ben.”

“I used to be afraid of going through what you are, and did what I could to avoid making any connections with people so when they were gone from my life, there was little to burden me with.”

“That almost sounds like a good way to go, right now.”

“It does sometimes, though it reads a lot better on paper,” he said.

“What do you mean?”

“Keeping everyone you know at an arm’s distance is fine for some people. Moreso if that’s the path they wish to travel. But I didn’t find it to my liking. It’s lonely on the road when you only have you, yourself, and the little voice telling you to burn down the forest.”

Jeanne smiled. “That voice can be a real troublemaker sometimes.”

“But I think there something to come out of what I thought was the best way of handling relationships.”

“What’s that?”

“Life is fleeting, whether we want to accept it or not. And everything will have to go away at some point. That is the real constant in life. But that also makes these moments worth more than all the treasures in this world. Because they’ve shaped you, changed who you are as a person, for better or worse. They stay with you until its time for you to pass into whatever is waiting for us after death. And the best way to approach these changes isn’t the fear them but to cherish what’s there while you have it, and value the moments you had with the people who cared about, not just the end.”

Jeanne wiped the sweat and tears from her eyes. “That’s a lot to think about.”

“I’m still trying to find my balance that all, myself,” said Benkin.

“I just wish the world wasn’t so damned messed up sometimes.”

“I do, too,” Benkin said. “Be nice for things to be simple, a lot simpler.”

Jeanne rose to her feet and brushed off some of the dust and debris from her clothes and armor. “I think I’m going to walk around the perimeter, get some air,” she said to him.

“Would you like some company?”

Jeanne shook her head. “Not right now, I just need to clear my head.”

“I’ll be right here in case anything happens.”

Jeanne smiled, patted Benkin’s shoulder and made her way to the hewed wood palisade. She looked from the palisade and over the countryside the tall blades of grass swaying back and forth as the wind gently moved across their tips. She saw a figure leaning against the palisade to her left. She didn’t turn her head as he began speaking.

“That was a fight,” The Stranger said to her.

Jeanne nodded. “It was something all right.”

“You all made it out of their in one piece.”

“A lot of those before didn’t.”

“I know, they were good people. They didn’t deserve that end.”

“I’m gonna assume that was something else out of your control?”

The Stranger took a deep breath, a slight moan coming from him as he exhaled. “I wish it was, Lady Marais. I wish it was.”

“I guess this isn’t the easiest for you either.”

“It breaks my heart to see this land tear itself apart. Watching it grow through the generations. Face invasions, plagues, destruction of whole civilizations, only to return and thrive that much stronger. Now I see the blood, sweat and tears of so many, being thrown into a fire which may consume all in its path. It’s like watching your children fight amongst themselves, and you know you can’t step in to stop the madness. For whatever peace may be gained, it’ll only last until you leave and they rush back to fighting each other. You want them to thrive on their own, not rely on constant vigilance of some divine being to keep them from madness.”

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

“I guess it isn’t all heavenly judgements and decrees to make on the little people.”

“I wish that was all there was, it would make all of our lives better.”

“Do you know how this will all turn out?” Jeanne asked The Stranger.

The Stranger shook his head. “I can’t say for certain, but many of these shallow conflicts tend to end when both sides simply do not have the will to fight anymore. Or there is no one left or willing to die for such things. Sometimes you find the stars will align in such a way that one side will come to some upper hand, but in reality, it is just a prolonging of the next phase of killing. How long before this war reaches such an end, even the wisest cannot tell.”

Jeanne scoffed. “So this could go on well past our lifetime?”

“For over forty thousand souls, it already has,” The Stranger said somberly.

Jeanne watched The Stranger bow his head down and tears fall from his face. “I hear them praying, I can hear them pleading, crying, cursing, blaming, all of it. Yet, the only thing I wish to do is pray myself, pray for someone to take this away and let me find some peace in obscurity.”

“At least you’re not alone in that sentiment,” Jeanne said.

“No, no we’re not.”

Jeanne looked up at the stars above them. “You think about just leaving this world and finding a new one out there?”

The Stranger looked up and let out a heavy sigh. “If only it were that easy. But I think you’re familiar with that sentiment.”

Jeanne turned back to the mansion, watching through the windows of the highest level of the central tower as the others burned the bodies of Ollen and the rest of the undead. “You’re not wrong. This was supposed to be a simple bounty job,” Jeanne said, beginning to feel her muscles ache from exhaustion, “take these bastards out and then go home.”

“And you thought this would stay simple?”

Jeanne shook her head. “No. I wish it was. But no.”

“Did you truly want to do this for the money?”

“The money definitely helps, but we both it wasn’t for that.”

“Was it for the bounty on your head?”

Jeanne looked at The Stranger from the corner of her eye.

“Of course, you’d know about that. But that isn’t it?”

“Is for your kin?”

Jeanne back up to the heavens. “I just wanted her to find some peace, knowing these men would never have the means to harm another person.”

“And that was it?” The Stranger asked.

Jeanne closed her eyes. “No … that wasn’t it.”

“Then what was it?”

“When I ran away, I told I had gotten vengeance of Sabine’s murder. Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, a kin slain for a kin slain. But I should’ve known better. You don’t start a fire and not expect the flames to spread. And when the truth was I ran because I was scared of taking responsibility for what I did. I ran to avoid facing the repercussions. But you can only run for so long before it catches up to you. I let my parents, my friends and neighbors live with that anxiety for too long. Far too long. It wasn’t fair, it wasn’t right. And in an unfair world, it’s about time someone did something to make it one.”

“Such a task is more than what one person can handle.”

“One can inspire many, who can inspire others themselves.”

“This is a world where it can be hard to tell friend from foe.”

“I’m not a mind reader, but I’d like to think I’m good at telling when someone is trying to kill me.”

“There may be times when you might have to sever bonds of fellowship to achieve justice.”

“If you have to sacrifice kin and companions for the pursuit of justice, then it isn’t justice.”

“There might be those who call on you for protection and safety from those who wronged them.”

“Wouldn’t be the first time I’ve done that.”

“You may have to stop the wanton brawls you’re keen to enjoy.”

“What if they’re asking for it?”

“How about you don’t start one without a good reason.”

“Define ‘good reason’.”

“ … I’m starting to regret this conversation.”

“Anything else you’d like to bring up before you have your fill?”

“What if this pursuit brings you closer to your end?”

“I’ve been running from it long enough. It’s about time I faced it head with whatever dignity I have left.”

The Stranger nodded slightly before reaching in a pulling out a chained necklace, the pendant was a black eagle, with golden eyes looking outward. “I think this may serve you well in your endeavors, Jeanne Marais of Teeg-Upon-Avon.”

Jeanne took the necklace with a suspicious gaze. “What exactly will this do? It doesn’t look like a mere decorative piece to show off my neck?”

“No, there is far more to it. But I see you where the pendant of the old paladins of these lands, do you not?”

Jeanne looked down at the dragon pin she was given by Gareth Kolville before they left Teeg-Upon-Avon to hunt the rest of the Kolville clan down. “The lord of my old village thought it would give the people hope. Though I’m not certain how.”

“Hope does not have to be something great to be meaningful. It can simply be awaiting the day without the same dread which plagued you the day before.”

“But I don’t see what this has to do with the medallion or necklace.”

“That pendant was a symbol of the Paladins of the famed Lion King, they roamed these lands, and those of the continent you came from, searching for wrongs to right, people to help and give them the hope that there was still something worth fighting for. They fought the chaos of the king’s great fall with every fiber of their being, and they died for it. Their legends grew in fame with their tragicend, but slowly people’s memory of them began to wane and falter.

“The lessons they taught were lost, shirked by those who knew not the times or the conditions they endured, the hardships they faced, and looked down on them for acting in ways no longer in vogue with the eras that followed. Their judges too frightened to put themselves in such considerations while preaching more empathy for fear they may find themselves acting hypocritically to their superfluously sacred beliefs. But now the people have no examples to give them inspiration to strive to be better than they were before. They look up to the heavens and all they see is empty skies. Nothing more. Their search for perfect heroes has robbed them of the very thing they needed. Hope. I feel the time has come for this to change.”

The Stranger pointed to the necklace. “You carry the badge of the old guard, first to do so in a long time. Do so with my blessing, and show the people that evil will be punished, and no hardship, regardless of how daunting it can be, is impossible to overcome.”

Jeanne gripped her fingers around the necklace, feeling a slow tingling all over her skin before it ebbed away. She looked up and The Stranger was gone and heard Leonidas walking up to her. “How are you feeling?” she asked him.

“Tired,” Leonidas replied, placing his arms on top of the palisade. “Bastard’s head kept trying to reattach, and his heart kept replacing itself. But it’s finally done. How are you holding up?”

“Tired, too,” she said. Feeling the necklace in her hand.

“Cid said he wants to head back to two tomorrow. Get Cyneswith out of jail along with the other two bounty hunters.”

Jeanne nodded. “Glad we can do some good for someone,” she said.

“Yeah, about time we had some good news,” the doctor said before they went back into the mansion turned mausoleum to get what little rest they could.