Mysteries Start Small: New fan-made RP start go initiation

[Tbolt]

"Well then," Trajan said, "if there isn't anything else we can do tonight, then perhaps we should turn in for the evening. But we still need to get word to Jasper, or at least see if he has found out anything else of use. I'd recommend that at least one of us keeps an eye on the hospital to make sure Aven doesn't pull another disappearing stunt, but even if we all stayed up through the night, the place is too big for a group our size to watch." his tail twittered in agitation.

"At this point, the matter is probably out of our hands. I recommend that somebody investigates Barret's private residence first thing tomorrow, if that is at all possible."

[BlasTech]

Kahlin's reaction to Ayshe's departure was probably the most subdued of the lot, he hadn't even turned to look. He just continued to sit there in his chair and drink in the words of the others while he tried to play out different scenarios in his mind. It was his way of trying to ensure that they covered all the bases.

He spoke up again softly, clearly addressing Dornigan. "Just out of interest, how often does the Guild deal in dwarven artefacts?"

[Tbolt]

Ayshe had left them. Trajan kept his silence. Dornigan explained that no one had in fact been to Barret's residence since he died. Once he was done talking Trajan looked up. “OK, well then that settles it. First thing tomorrow we get up bright and early. Faris, and Greystar will you check on Aven, please? Kahlin I would like you to accompany me to Barret's private residence to see what we can find there. We will meet back at the whim at noon to compare our findings. Master Dornigan do you or Lady Vilnas have a key to Barret's residence? If not then we will have to break in.”

Lady Vilnas's tail flared at the suggestion. “You can't break into someone's house like a common criminal!”

Trajan looked straight back at her. “You're right, but if this thing is as weird as the feeling I'm getting about it, I'd be willing to wager rings to doughnuts that we will not be the first persons in that house. I'd just rather look at things in the light of day, when it's easier to see what you are actually doing.”

Now he turned to Kahlin. “Kahlin, I really don't feel like riding in the carriage right now, but I would appreciate it if you would walk back to the Whim with me tonight. I've had it with getting surprised by myself. Faris, Greystar it would probably be best for you to take the carriage back. It would be ignorant for all of us to refuse he resources offered to us by our gracious host. I'll see you tomorrow morning for breakfast at the whim. Maybe Jasper will have something for us by then.”

[BlasTech]

"Hmm?" Seated as he was he didn't have the option of studying the other's expression so all he had to go on was the voice. He sounds serious enough, but I think the real reason is that he wants to talk, probably to sound me out or call me in on the argument. He considered, the thought of it didn't deter him and it could be helpful to get his reasoning out in the open.

Then again, I might just be reading too much into this. He rolled his eyes at the thought

"Sure ill come"

[RedSquirrel456]

After Ayshe had left, there was a moment of silence from both Vilnas and Dornigan, having observed the scar of the young hero. It seemed now to them both that this was far more than either of them could have anticipated.

"Well, before you both go and decide to break in windows, I'll have Lady Vilnas provide you with the key so no further criminalities are needed," said Master Dornigan.

"And I'll be going along to make sure nothing else of the like enters your heads," sniffed Lady Vilnas, her tail still twitching.

"As for Dwarven artifacts, there are hardly any," continued Dornigan. "You may know that the crisis with metals is reaching a high water mark since the Dwarves became, if anything, even more reclusive following the Near War. The two may have some connection, but there isn't anything solid to pin any suspicions on. I'll get you documentation for study, and as Ayshe requested, anything involving Barret's expeditions will be sent to the Whim, but I'm afraid there isn't much. The Dwarves were never ones to share. The most we ever saw of them, after all, was on the boats of the Misty Lake during our sparse trading sessions. You'll be able to garner assistance from a few of the apprentices I will send your way tomorrow to help you sift through everything..."

He sat back in his chair, hands folded over his chest.

"Now then... is that all?"

[Tbolt]

"And I'll be going along to make sure nothing else of the like enters your heads," sniffed Lady Vilnas, her tail still twitching.

Trajan cracked a smirk, he looked to Kahlin while still keeping Vilnas in the corner of his eye. “Awwww, did you hear that Kahlin? She wants to be with us!”

Additional tail flare, more twitching, eyes starting to widen, better cut it off here before she explodes or zaps me...

Dornigan spoke his piece and concluded.

"Now then... is that all?"

Trajan closed his eye to give Vilnas a little time to recover her composure before he turned back. “No, sir, lady,” he nodded to each, serious once again. “That's all I have, we'd better get some rest, something tells me we will have a long day tomorrow.”

[Doink]

"Um, right," Faris mumbled, looking a bit perturbed at Trajan's taunt.

"Is she gonna pop, Faris?" Greystar asked, looking at Lady Vilnas's reddening face.

"I hope not," Faris whispered before smiling at the three of them. "Well, good luck -hic- with your mission."

Trajan chuckled. "Are you telling her, or Kahlin and me?" he asked.

"Both."

[GrayTiger]

Ayshe bolted out of the building, visably distressed, and dashed into the now darkened streets of Sanctuary. His eyes were clenched tightly shut but he ran guided by his lux-boosted senses through the crowd with perfect sight. He found himself in the alley near the Whim where Trajan had been attacked. He gritted his teeth and held his cane in both hands, shaking as if he wanted to snap it in two. His eyes opened, glowing the unnatural red color and he snarled as he fell to his knees in a fit of rage. For a split second his body seemed to pulsate a strange color and he raised his fist and brought it down hard on the pavement, cracking it. He went to raise it again until he saw remote traces of the night's earlier battle and he felt the fury leave him as quick as it came.

Ayshe slumped, holding his cane. 'Fine one to talk about being useless I am. The old man is right. I'm not the same person anymore. I'm more like da...'

The thought stuck in his mind, not wanting to come to maturity. He slumped like an old man, a tear winding down his face.

'I need someone. I need help. But who can I trust with who I am? Who could love a.....'

He wasn't sure if it was his voice or his father's voice that spoke aloud the last word. '...monster...'

[Tbolt]

Trajan and Kahlin walked in silence for a moment, finally Trajan started, "Are you going to be all right?"

Kahlin cracked a wan smile at that "Thanks Trajan, but ill be fine. Believe me I've been through far worse"

“A few tails got flared a bit, and I'll have to admit mine was one of them. Sometimes talking things out helps.”

Kahlin smiled, it looked like he'd been right in his suspicions when Trajan had asked for his company.

Trajan paused to take a breath "In one way Ayshe is right, we will have to work better as a team from now on, I just don't like his method, shame doesn't always produce the desired results."

"I don't think coercion or disrespect can do that either" Kahlin quipped, bitterly, getting a bit hot under the collar at the memory. However a glance at Trajan's concerned face shut him up. He shook his head "Sorry ... look I don't want to start griping about Ayshe behind his back, as a rule its not something I stoop to doing" he sighed "But I guess you do need to know the reasons why I'm upset"

He stared at the footpath, stared beyond it in fact, thinking back through memories and organizing his thoughts. "I've been part of several different kinds of groups before and have led them on occasion; project groups at the College, groups of friends and workers here and back home, I've even taken part in a guardsmen cadets program when I was younger" He felt a little melancholy recalling these when the last few months of his life had been spent in near-solitude studying for his coursework.

"While I'm sure there's a lot I don't know about the world, I feel strongly that respect is a key part to working together in any group. I've seen what can happen when respect goes astray, when groups fracture along lines of animosity. The work they need to do becomes a secondary concern, they can't work together anymore, they can't jump when they need to jump. In some situations the damage is not that important but consequences can easily be more severe" He looked sadly at the ground "It's one reason why I don't stand up for myself as often as I could or why I concede points or arguments and defer some decisions to others"

He turned worried eyes to Trajan "But it gets old fast, and on things like this I really don't know what I should do. Ayshe basically walked all over me in there for no good reason, he insulted me, spoke for me, then just handed me assignments without my input and I'm supposed to just accept that in the name of getting along?" He could feel tears welling up behind his eyes but he controlled them, although his voice held a faint quiver of emotion "He has his pride, but I also have mine and I don't know if I have the strength to swallow it after that show in there."

He turned away, not wanting to get overly emotional over it. He spoke slower and softer, letting the night air cool both him and his temper. "Ayshe's intentions may be good but I'm afraid that what he actually achieves could be just what he wants to avoid. A large part of me wants him to clean up his own mess, but another part knows that I will bear some responsibility if I go through with it, or if I don't give in first."

Trajan thought for a moment, he gently put a paw on the younger rac's shoulder. “It's OK lad, that is why I wanted to walk back with you tonight. One thing I learned in the guards is that there is no room for individuals in a team. Especially when our lives might depend on one another. If we have a problem we need to talk it out with each other, some things need to be said in private, some things need to come to the attention of the group.”

Kahlin nodded, glumly. "Well, personally, I find it a serious problem. I can put up with it for a while ... maybe ... but a lack of respect in dealings with my friends is not something I can reconcile to in the long run."

“I can understand that, Kahlin, but we will have to give each other a chance and a little time. Teams don't just form out of the blue, they need to be forged. We've been together barely a day, I'd almost be suspicious if everything had gone flawlessly from the start. Look at Faris and Greystar, they are brother and sister, so they have had their entire lives to form a bond and a system. It might be a good idea for us to see how they work together and see how we might apply some of that experience to ourselves.”

"Are these just teething problems though? What if they keep going on?" He snorted in frustration. "I guess you're right, we haven't been together nearly long enough to draw conclusions, but its just ... ahh I don't know"

Kahlin thought things over for a minute, his ears swiveling back and forth pensively as they walked. “Trajan, do you mind if I ask you a question?"

“Hmmm?”

"You said you were in the guard, I guess that means you had to get used to forming new teams quickly if you got swapped to a new post. How did you handle things like this?"

“Well, Kahlin, it wasn't easy.” Trajan Replied “Sometimes it was like you had to relearn everything from scratch. Group actions that were second nature with your old outfit now became unfamiliar with the new crew. You mess up doing a couple basic tasks, and everyone thinks you're stupid. But after a while, you learn how the new team works, and with any luck, you fit in. But the first few weeks are never easy on the new guys. I wish I had something more helpful to say, but it all boils down to this: Survive, do your job, that's all anyone can ask of you. Once the group knows you're serious about staying, they will come to accept you.” Trajan's tail twittered a bit. “I hope that makes sense.”

Kahlin nodded, he might not have had the exact same experience but it sure sounded familiar. "You basically have to relearn how it's all run, not only structurally but also the relationships between the established members and where you fit in the grand scheme." He took in a deep breath of the cool night air. “Not that we really have any "established members" just yet.” he thought, “and something tells me Ayshe wouldn't like to be compared with a new recruit. But I think the topic of this conversation is diverging from its parallel with the current situation."

Not that it mattered to him, he was more interested in satisfying his own personal curiosity now. He turned back to Trajan with the aim of asking the questions he most wanted to know the answers to. "What was life like in the guardsmen for you?"

Trajan inhaled slightly, and thought a moment. “It was a job, like any other. We got up in the morning, we trained, we hunted down the parasites of society. We helped some folks pick up the pieces of their lives, and we burned the remains of a few others. There were good times and bad.

"Was it worth it?" This was one that he'd wondered about many a night, thinking about whether he could've done more with his life than just devote it to books and study.

Trajan's ears flicked at that, his tail slightly twitched as well. That was a good question, he stroked his muzzle as he thought. “I guess you could say yes” he replied unconvincingly. “When I was fourteen at the soothstone, I really didn't have a clue what I wanted to do with my life. The guards seemed the best way for me to get a little respect from my peers, so I figured that would be the easiest route to take. Don't get me wrong, it was a lot of hard work, respect is something that has to be earned, especially in the guards. When your life is on the line, you need to know everyone can do their job, there's no room for slacking. I found that out in the first week of training. Once we got into training and we started to work together, we formed bonds like I had never had before. If I had to re-live my life, that is one thing I would not change.”

Kahlin paused after Trajan's reply, he'd answered the most important question Kahlin could ask him from a personal viewpoint, but there was just one more that curiosity demanded an answer to. Kahlin just hoped that by asking it, he wouldn't drive another wedge into the party.

"If its not too personal; then why did you leave?"

Trajan stopped dead in his tracks.

When he saw hesitation on the part of the older Rac he added quickly "You don't have to tell me now if you don't want to" he smiled in what he hoped was a reassuring manner "just tell me to shut up and you won't hear me ask it again"

The question, so simple, hit Trajan like a wall. Here he was talking about trust and respect. How could he explain? Confusion reigned momentarily in the big rac's mind. “I ... ” he looked away from the youth “I made a mistake, and I lost a lot of friends that day, as well as ... The most precious person in my life.” He turned back to Kahlin, eye still on the ground, his tail dragging. “I just couldn't return to the routine after that.”

Kahlin winced, but kept it to himself. He could hear the sorrow in those words and they caused a sharp pang of guilt in the wizard. He'd known he was poking at old wounds when he asked the question, even though he didn't know exactly what those wounds were like. And now, like an incompetent healer he'd just gone and made things worse. He placed an arm on Trajan's shoulder, his sense of heartfelt loss weighed down on Kahlin who took a few seconds before speaking again, softly.
"I wont pretend that I understand what you've been through but if anything you've earned the right to decide when or if you ever want to discuss it." He smiled, trying to cheer up the other but still maintained a grave tone "In all probability, I won't be able to offer anything more than the advice given to me by a person far more experienced than myself; that "sometimes talking things out helps""

Trajan looked "up" at the shorter rac who said nothing more about it, but directed him towards a last flight of wide open stairs that led up towards the luftship district of the city. "Come, we're almost there"

After thinking about it for a second, Trajan smiled, clapped his arm around the smaller rac and ruffled his shoulder a bit. “What a fine pair of councilors we'd make.” They were almost in sight of the Whim now. Trajan whispered conspiratorially to Kahlin. “Here's a little secret for you, the the main reason I left the swamp is because I didn't want to die there.” Although he didn't say it, Kahlin knew it was implied: “I didn't want to die there alone.” “Let's get inside, this day has gone on too long”

[RedSquirrel456]

Aven had many problems when he woke up late next morning. For one thing, he was aching all over, and for another, it was actually still quite dark outside. As his golden eyes flitted open and chanced a glance around the room, he suddenly discovered, to his obvious and great dismay, that a man dressed like a thief was getting ready to plunge a dagger into his stomach. Aven's breath caught in his throat as memories suddenly flooded back to him. A warehouse, in the dead of night, chasing a shadowy figure... who looked just like this person, incidentally, now that he thought about it. The thief stepped forward and grabbed Aven by the collar, the goggles over his eyes and scarf over his snout preventing any good description. The darkness in those goggles seemed to swallow Aven whole.

"You're more trouble than you're worth," said the thief in a scratchy, rather indifferent voice. He shoved the dagger in, eliciting a sharp gasp from his victim. Aven's thoughts were in a whirl, as he felt the cold steel part his flesh and sink into his gut, saw the freakishly large, black circles of his attacker. He... he was bleeding! To death! His scars began tingling as they felt like they were re-opened. Out of breath... things were... green? Suddenly, Aven went from shocked to realizing. His eyes narrowed as he saw the familiar green tinge, and the sudden mush the figure seemed to be turning into.

"Get away from me!" snarled Aven, dispersing the night terror with a vehement swing of his hands. The action suddenly made his head spin, and he tumbled forward, falling head first to the ground. Dizziness swept into his head with the force of a maelstrom, and he flailed about, grabbing at anything to help steady himself. What had happened to put himself into such a state? He was still dressed in the same clothes, still had his... his hat! Where was it? Hadn't he dropped it in the testing area? Where he had...

Oh no.

Suddenly, he was overcome with a desire to vomit. Doctor Evergreen poked his head in when he had heard the noise in passing by, and his eyes widened as Aven ran to the nearest trash basket and expelled virtually all that he had eaten the past day or so.

Oh, Lord... Yeshua, please, forgive me! This can't be happening! What have I done? This-...bleeaarrggh!

Evergreen was suddenly pushed aside by two large Guardsmen who moved inside when they saw Aven was awake.

"You can't be thinking of taking him yet-" he began, but the Guardsman in front silenced him with a look.

"When he's done, we’ll be taking him."

"He only just got up!"

"Then he’s healthy enough to move about." He looked over at Aven, staring at the shivering youngster with indifference. He was here to do his job, not worry about the ethics of dragging a child with murder charges to prison.

Adjucator Stiles had chosen the men well. The Guardsman stepped forward just as Aven was about to begin heaving once again.

"Master Aven, you are hereby placed under arrest by-"

"Hyuuuurkk!"

"By order of-"

"Blaaaggh!"

"By order of the Gu-"

"Awwwwrcck!"

"...You're under arrest."

Aven sat there for a long time, breathing hard and trying to keep himself from fainting into his own vomit. Ew... he certainly did seem to have a problem with keeping things down. He wiped his lips free of excess.

"I know. It's 'cause he's dead," he answered in a dull, small, broken voice. Heaven preserve him. He was a killer. A murderer! And he had used that dagger to do it! He shook his head slowly in disbelief. This... couldn't be happening. Any moment now he would wake up in the library, surrounded by books. Lady Vilnas would be there, waking him up and taking him to see Master Barret. They'd have breakfast. He’d be happy. Everything would be normal.

Forgive me, Yeshu above...

Evergreen bustled forward to clean the youngster up, feeling powerless against whatever it was that had been planned behind his back. They waited until Aven could stand on his own, and took him away, just like that, without warning or pretense. After being given the barest of rests and being told what his charges were, he was placed into a carriage and dropped into a holding cell at a nearby Guard station, a rather comfortable one at that. His hands were weighted down by manacles as he sat, motionless, on the side of his bunk. The ache in his chest refused to leave; they had probably locked the dagger up again. His anger flared. Damnable, cursed thing! To the Deeps with with it. To the Deeps with Barret who had given it to him! To the Deeps with it all! That dagger had just let him commit murder!

He stood up and smacked his fists against the wall, kicking it repeatedly until he was sure he had broken something. After that, his thoughts a jumbled, incoherent mess of curses and apologies, he sank onto his bottom in the middle of the cell, put his hands over his eyes, and proceeded to bawl his brains out, which only made him cry even more because he had always been ashamed to cry in the first place. His stomach was still tight. Yeshua curse those books he had read! This wasn’t the way of a proper Rac’Conan. He had heard stories about what it was like to first kill somebody. Surely it had had to be done. But never out of spite, or rage, or hatred. He'd never been strong, or a killer, or a fighter, or a destined one, or some special youngster blessed by the White Stag to have his dreams come true. Yeshua never answered him in the depths of his sorrows or sent that special someone. He wasn't even someone interesting who had... well, done what that human had done. He had just been a lost boy too, right? Oh, but yes... from another universe. An innocent person who had been equally reviled and pitied, with a loyal cadre to shield him from the ones who had wanted to use him.

Aven wasn't anything. Just a strange little boy who had somehow lost his way at some point, and was being shoved about by bigger forces than him. He felt violated, confused, and alone. His supposed 'friends' were nowhere to be found. Ayshe the mighty hero couldn’t help him. Trajan and Jasper, the old guards, couldn’t help him. Kahlin's expertise, Aiden's consolation, Faris and Greystar's... well... special skills (whatever those were) couldn't do a thing down here. He was at the mercy of the court system. And murder meant one thing: death. A life for a life... like he deserved, no doubt.

Oh, sweet Yeshua have mercy, he was still just a kid!

Fortunately, nobody else was around to hear him cry, or so he thought.

In the cell across from his, somebody stirred, having been jolted into wakefulness by Aven's sobbing. He had sat there for some time, figuring it improper to interrupt. At last, when the noise died down, he stood up to get a look at the new arrival. Well, he was new himself, but all night and most of the morning alone in here hadn’t improved his outlook on things. He put his hands on the bars.

"Hey..." he said softly. "Aren't you... that person I helped?" No answer. Only a bit of whimpering.

"M'name's Ampiere," he said sullenly. "You can... call me Amp... if it, you know... if it makes you feel better..."

It was a very long time before Aven answered him.

"Why are you here?" he asked, head bowed. He almost couldn't be heard at all.

[Fusion]

Amp shrugs, “Keeping the that guy from killing you, or 'Aiding a murder suspect' if you want to be official.”

Aven droops a little more as Amp accidentally hits a tender nerve.

“Sorry...” he mutters.

[BlasTech]

Kahlin awoke the next morning bleary eyed and still feeling sleepy, he wondered whether he should bother trying to drift off again but he knew it would be pointless. Years of a constant college schedule had meant that he naturally woke up at a specific time and once up he always found it extremely difficult to fall asleep again.

Unfortunately, this habit persevered regardless of when he actually fell asleep. So after tossing and turning restlessly for several hours after retiring for the night he'd ended up getting much less sleep than he should've. There were two sources for his restlessness last night, the first was the mild discomfort caused by all the little aches and pains he'd picked up yesterday. Sore muscles from the running, the bruised arm from the alley fight the mild headache that he'd gotten from the dagger's back blast all combined to frustrate his attempted slumber. The second source was that he'd made the mistake of reading the book he'd picked up from the library right before bed, and as any person should know, an active mind is not conducive to sleep.

He lay there for a few more minutes until his eyes stopped feeling like they were gummed shut before forcing himself out of the bed. He pulled some clothes from his night bag; a comfortable but otherwise plain shirt and trousers and got dressed for breakfast which he guessed would be starting soon. He left his robe airing on the back of the chair in his room and his staff warded and propped in the corner but strapped on his belt and sword in case he needed it for training afterwards. Tucking the traitorous, sleep-depriving book under his arm he wandered out of his room and downstairs, hoping to find the others.

[GrayTiger]

One of the staff members saw Kahlin and approached him. "Ah, you are awake sir. Mr. Aushwaan will join you for breakfast shortly, he is doing his morning exercises in the gym where his private residence is." The young girl leaned forward a little bit. "He has extended a personal invitation for you to join him before breakfast if you were awake, I can lead you there if you wish to go."

[Tbolt]

Trajan yawned profusely as he, quite literally dragged his tail up the stairs to his room on the second floor of the Destiny's Whim. He really had wanted to speak with Ayshe, but fatigue washed over him like a storm driven wave on the lakeshore.

His boots were placed neatly by the door, but that was it. A trail of discarded clothing led across the room to the bevy nest. Without ceremony, Trajan burrowed into the pile of pillows and cushions, the only thing indicating his presence was the large fluffy tail draped over the edge of the nest. Soon he was enshrouded in deep dreamless sleep.

Too soon, dawn rousted him from his slumber. The mound of cushions stirred and Trajan emerged. He stretched experimentally. His chest was still sore from the beating he took yesterday, but Andrea's massage seemed to have eliminated any and all muscle pain.

In short order Trajan cleaned himself up, dressed and exited in search of breakfast. The gaping hollowness in his middle added spring to his step.

[BlasTech]

Had he gotten the same request before his conversation with Trajan the night before Kahlin may have been inclined to view Ayshe's persistance at trying to corner him with heavy skepticism. He'd have seen it as an attempt by Ayshe to explain why he'd been right in doing what he did without the pesky hassle of having to explain himself before the other party members.

As it stood now, he was willing to make allowances that Ayshe might really be trying to repair some of the damage he'd done. However he could feel the effect of his lack of sleep. I can almost hear cogs upstairs turning over at a snail's pace ... and I think I'd do more damage than good myself if I have to do any delicate talking before I fully wake up.

"With respect to Master Aushwaan, I think I'll have to pass on the invitation until later in the day. Although I do look forward to talking to him I think I need to wake up properly first" He stopped when he heard footsteps heading down from the sleeping quarters.

"Good Morning" he called out, not too loud, hoping to not wake anyone else who was asleep "Is that you Trajan?"

[Tbolt]

Trajan smiled at the smaller rac once he came into view. “Good morning to you Master Kahlin! I'd ask if you had a pleasant sleep last night, but the additional rings around your eyes tell me that is not the case, are you feeling well?”

[BlasTech]

"Well enough" he said with a tired grin "Im used to operating on less than a full night's sleep, just give me an hour or so to wake up properly" he stifled a yawn. "We're just on our way down to breakfast if you'd like to join us?"

[Tbolt]

A pippling growl from Trajan's middle was Kahlin's immediate answer. The big rac's ears collapsed in embarrasment. "Breakfast sounds real good right now!" he smiled sheepishly.

[BlasTech]

"Onward to food and nourishment then!!" he said with an overly theatrical sweep of the arm before realising he had no idea which way to go. "Uhh" he felt his face redden so he bowed to cover his embarrasment "that is, if the young lady would be so kind as to lead the way"

[RedSquirrel456]

"Hunh. As if you have anything to be sorry for," said Aven, slumping down in the middle of his cell. His eyes were bleak and seemed almost angry.

"You were only trying to help, I suppose," he declared, looking down at his manacled hands, the tears still sporadically spilling down off the edge of his snout. He didn't bother wiping them away; it'd be a long time until he was done.

"It's all I ever wanted to do. Kinda funny... how opportunities like this sometimes just don't go the way you want. I've had a problem with that. You know all those other stories... people who do great things and get lucky. Maybe that's what it is... luck. Heh, or maybe I'm just stupid."

He got up and moved to sit on his bunk.

"You've never been... ehh... chosen for anything, have you?"

Ampiere didn't answer, not really understanding the question, and in a way, not really caring since this didn't have anything to do with their little problem of being locked up for no exact reason. Aven went on nonetheless, taking his silence for assent.

"Neither have I. Sometimes I wonder if Yeshua purposefully punishes people who try to do stuff He's already decided it's someone else's job to do. I've certainly had my fair share of it."

Silence.

"Maybe this is my job."

"To kill people on a whim?" asked Amp, clearly being rhetorical. It was sort of this guy's fault they were both here, anyway. Aven ignored him, speaking to himself now.

"To not have one... to follow other people's footsteps. Provide a... flavorful contrast to all the heroism we've been basking in recently," he said bitterly, thinking of Ayshe and all his success. How many people did they kill? Who did the long ago (and one not too long ago) Questors have to kill and ruin and step over? But being a hero gave one a license to do all that and never get it printed. He'd be lucky if he got out of this mess with his body, let alone his dignity, intact.

"Anyway, I'm rambling. Sorry I got you into all this... I got in over my head with something I shouldn't have been given in the first place... but maybe that was their plan all along. Whoever 'they' are."