The sun beamed down on a lush meadow three days later as Tom and Alice approached the Delquez mansion. Their travels after the encounter with the unmarked swordsman had been steeped in monotony. Lacking in all but the most essential conversation, it had been a silent plod home.

Tom still held a poultice to his mangled flesh where his left eye should have been, one of a long lineage of the healing solutions. Every time they had stopped to rest the horses, Alice had searched for fresh hesparia to replace the old, and usually she came away with what she'd sought. And the morning prior, she'd found such a large bounty of the herb that they stored the surplus away in one of the saddlebags, more than enough to last Tom the rest of his journey to Monterayne.

Presently, the knight and senator came into view of the mansion itself, and a pair of guards spotted them. Hurriedly mounting horses, they galloped over to the pair. Once they drew close and came to a halt, the two men tilted their helmeted heads.

"Welcome back...good lady," the bulkier man stammered, "but may I ask where Mr. Protenez is? And what about the other Monteraynian?"

Alice hung her head and sighed. "Their fates, I know not. We were attacked in Mintfeld by Innutukian men-at-arms and became separated."

"A terrible misfortune, to be sure. But thank Dove you escaped safely."

Alice visibly bristled at the man's comment, though Tom found himself as confused by her reaction as he was at the words themselves.

"I am indeed glad to be home." she finally said.

The guard nodded before its hooded helmet faced Tom. "Many thanks to you, young man, for returning the lady safely. We are indebted to you."

With a slight bow of his head, Tom acknowledged the man's words. Then he watched as the men turned their horses around, motioning for the blonde senator to follow. At a slow pace, they headed back toward the mansion, leaving Tom where he stood.

After they had taken a few steps away, Alice turned to look back at the young knight. For a long moment, her brown eyes remained fixed on his one cobalt blue eye, and then she gave him a nod. And with that, she returned her attention forward, not looking back again.

How wonderful this is! One of her guards will thank me, but not her herself? After all I endured for her sake? Preposterous!

Blood boiling, he waited a few moments more and watched the blonde and her guards complete their approach to the mansion. Alice dismounted and entered without glancing back even one more time. Tom huffed and prompted Exuberance to turn. Once the horse's snout faced westward, he urged him on, and they galloped off to the hills on the horizon, homebound at last.

****

Five days later, Tom emerged from the stables back at the knights' hall in Monterayne. No longer did he hold a poultice to his eye, as the wound had sealed up, and though it remained tender to the touch, physical strain no longer brought blood to the surface. With a tired gait, he headed inside and traversed one of the central hallways.

He began ascending a flight of spiral stairs and passed a fellow knight with purple shoulder patches who sported a youthful face plagued with acne. The young man grimaced upon eyeing Tom's face, but immediately after offered him a kind grin.

"Welcome back." he squeaked.

Tom nodded and paused his climb. "Thank you. Is the High Council in session, do you know?"

"Yes, sir, they just assembled."

"Excellent. And is my grandfather among them?"

The man grinned. "Indeed he is."

"Thank you again."

Tom ran up the next few steps with a mighty burden lifted in his mind. Alden had survived, and apparently had arrived in few enough pieces to attend a High Council meeting. After all he had endured, Tom craved seeing a familiar, loving face, and his grandfather's would certainly suffice.

When he reached the door to the council chamber, he tapped three times with his knuckles and waited. A brief pause, and then a silver-haired aide cracked the entryway open just enough to slip through. He offered Tom a grin and placed his hands behind his back, visibly lending him a listening ear.

"I'd...like to enter." Tom muttered, "I need to speak with my grandfather."

"Of course! He's been expecting you. I'll be right back."

The aide slipped back through the door as quickly as he'd come, and the latch clicked shut behind him. Tom bounced on the balls of his feet as he waited.

Soon enough, the man swung the door open again, beckoning Tom in. He obliged and stepped over the threshold, glancing over the faces of the ten men seated at the elliptical table as he entered. Besides Juan Feliz and Peter Raska, all the knights sitting there displayed hair in varying shades of gray and white, the High Council being mostly comprised of those in the order worn down by years of work and now only useful for sitting in those stately oak chairs and discussing their part in the kingdom's affairs behind closed doors.

Tom met Alden's gaze next, drawing his lips together as he observed the old man's concerned examination of the raw left side of his face, complete with an empty eye socket. We're much alike, he remarked ruefully to himself, Same scar, same side.

Alden abruptly rose to his feet and hurried over to Tom, snatching him into a tight embrace once he came into arms' reach.

"Thank you, Lord, for preserving my grandson!" the old man cried out before releasing Tom and taking a step back to meet cycloptic gazes. "I could hardly shake the notion I'd lost you forever."

Tom nodded. "I felt much the same, Grandfather."

"I can only hope Lady Delquez fared as well as we."

"She did."

Alden frowned. "How could you possibly know that?"

"Because it was with her I fled. I escorted her safely back home before returning here."

"Ah, I see. I waited a great long time from an elevated distance for you, but I never spotted your escape."

Tom shrugged. "It's very possible I fled ahead of you."

"And what happened to your eye?"

"Well..." Tom began with a sigh, "That's something I need to report. An...unmarked swordsman crossed Alice and I twice on our journey back to Alconte, and whoever he or she was, they were well trained in the Raskan style."

Peter Raska perked up from where he still sat at the table. "How is that possible?"

"The answer to that question is beyond me, sir, but the technique was decidedly of your discipline. Only by drawing on everything in my own training did I escape the first time and vanquish them the second, and that only after partaking of injury myself."

Alden's brow furrowed more every second. "Clarify for me what you mean by 'vanquish'."

"Why, I batted their saber far from them and held my own blade to their throat. However, I refrained from slaying them."

"What folly!" Peter shouted, "You let that wretch go free?"

"I did." Tom replied, his tone resolute, "It goes against my conscience to strike down a man with no means to defend himself."

Peter shrugged and grumbled something to himself, but made no other reply.

Alden crossed his arms. "This news concerns me greatly, as does your folly, Thomas, though it lies not where Peter suggests."

Tom frowned, mirroring the old man's gesture with his own limbs. "What do you mean?"

"If you had emerged from the castle after me, I surely would have spotted you, as I was searching for you. But if you escaped before, then in that case you made foolish haste to depart, and made no attempt to wait for everybody else, as I did. Instead, you opted to escort the senator home by yourself, which very well may have cost her life, and indeed nearly did."

Tom shook his head. "This mystery man attacked us as we made our way out! There was no possibility of us lingering around for others."

"I doubt that. The very hill I waited on was easily defensible, even by one man. Surely if you had sought the opportunity, you would have found it. But verily, you did not, for you revel in needless heroics."

"Perhaps I could have done better than I did. But the fact is, I did return Senator Delquez home safely, and the only person who suffered from the arrangement was me myself. So if any complaint—"

"Do not attempt minimizing your folly!" Alden bellowed, "I condemn your eagerness to resort to the blade, your senseless pursuit of mindless adventures, and your disregard for my counsel. Let it be known to you that the High Council stands not behind your brash actions, and condemns you for it."

Tom barely restrained a glare from surfacing on his face. Only by averting his gaze from his grandfather did he succeed. He rested his attention on the other knights at the table, who all bobbed their heads up and down in agreement with Alden's words. All except for Juan, who shot Tom a sympathetic look.

"What have you to say for yourself?" Alden demanded.

Tom drew in a deep breath. "I say that I'm appalled. I went through hell on earth to return Lady Delquez to her home safely, and she uttered not a word in gratitude. And not even you can appreciate my exertions, merely because you disagree with my manner of protecting her. Some people can never be satisfied, though they leech off others' efforts without hesitation."

With that, Tom spun on his heel and strutted through the doorway. He glanced back one last time, spotting Alden's persistent glower on the one hand and Juan's reassuring smile on the other. The other knights eyed him impassively, as if in the absence of their own individual opinions, they'd reverted to Alden's for convenience's sake. Tom huffed and took a few more steps, soon disappearing from their view.

The End.

****

A/N: Well, we can't always have a happy ending, I'm afraid, and this is proof. But I hope you really enjoyed this story nonetheless, and I hope you came to care for Tom enough to feel his frustration yourself. And this is only the first part of a larger journey for him, so please, bear with me. 😂

But since this is the end, I'd like to ask some questions before we go, if you wouldn't mind, so let's start: Who were your favorite and least favorite characters in this, and why?

Do you have a favorite chapter/scene/arc? If so, which one and why?

What would you say is your key takeaway from this little tale?

And finally, any miscellaneous comments, positive or negative, about the story as a whole?

Thank you so much for reading! I wouldn't be here if it weren't for people like you, so...feel appreciated. 😂

The sequel is coming, though I have no clue how soon. The writing process is honestly kicking my butt, but I'm slowly and steadily progressing. Just keep an eye on my message board for updates, and please bear with me. Again, thank you for reading, and I hope you have an awesome day. 😄