I knew not what to expect anymore. It was just yesterday that I had dragged Mr Cedar into becoming a mercenary, yet already pain found it’s way to me. I wished to be free of such hassles and chains, but the baker was dead.

Mother had hired the man from the capital, a feat I found miraculous. Her actions were one of awe not only because the barony was not only a barony, but also had the tax revenue of a barony. It utterly baffled me how she snagged him.

Confusion aside I stood in the training yard as bells tolled for the man. I hardly knew him apart from mother’s relentless bragging… I wanted to laugh, to cry, to feel something at the loss of someone from the same species.

I let my mind have its way and let out a few audible huffs. The feeling never came, and I just went on with my training.

In terms of exercises most of my training was dull, the only thing that ever changed was the number or effort I put in. sparring was far more interesting, not only the actions themselves but also the thoughts of my opponent.

I wanted to crack open their skull and see inside their mind. Each and every thought, I wanted to see them all, to understand them, to feel them. I knew that it wasn’t a great method, but I tried to read them. Each action they took I rationalised with the factors around them, but it never clicked.

So many things I wished to do, yet so little time, so little motivation.

Finished with my training I decided to walk around the manor. I wasn’t in the mood to be pestered in my room if mother came looking for me.

Possibly just to defy my expectations mother never came. I knew she hadn’t forgotten me, but I was no longer on her mind. This spelt good news for my trips outside, however there was bad news too.

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Debt, and a lot of it. all the servants seemed to know, yet I the heir had to hear it from gossip. The servants in their hustle and bustle talked incessantly about the incident prior. The day was filled with gossip about murder or suicide, even motivations.

Some of the servants had hypothesised that mother had the baker killed. The man was paid handsomely and surely, he would have some savings. The theory was far stretched, but debt shouldn’t have been an issue. The only place one could legally take a loan out was…

So the empire still stands. It is reasonable to assume that it was always the case, the manor had never been in a true panic. But I was ill informed, I knew too little of anything worthwhile. Some of the blabbermouths had spoken of a white crest with wings on the letter. I didn’t even recognise the crest from any of its mentions.

I may not have enough information, but I can guess. The letter came from somewhere legit, and it made debt an issue. The only conclusion I could think of was they wanted their money back. It seemed reasonable. the empire went through a catastrophe and now they need the funds to rebuild.

The servants talked less than I had expected. Once the day began to stretch on they settled back into their normal gossip as they worked. There was still some mention of the day’s main event, but it wasn’t worth much mention.

I still felt it was unwise to spend the ret od the day in town, so I sat on the roof. It was a completely logical action with no drawbacks whatsoever. I climbed out the attic window oof a two-story building and sat on the roof.

The main building of the manor was three floors, but I had only ever seen the third and first floors. There had never been much reason to explore the second floor, so I never bothered.

Not a single servant made an exclamation, nor did they look up. It was unsurprising, what lunatic would climb on the roof? There was hardly any reason to look at the roof. In truth I had no idea that I would be on the roof either, I just wanted to… so I did.

The timid bite of the cold drenched me with every gust of wind, but it was strangely pleasant. My arms were wrapped around my legs, and I rested my chin on my knees. I stared out into the horizon as time seemed more like a concept than actuality.

The sun kept running away and soon the sky turned into a deep orange. The colour had swept in like water lapping at the sandy banks of a river. the colour came, the colour went, it changed, it was covered. There was nothing else I did, just watch.

The warmth from inside the annex slowly seeped out and I knew it to be time. I wanted to stay there staring at the darkening sky, but I knew that I couldn’t. there would come other times surely, the sky wasn’t going anywhere anytime fast.