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“The elders have made their decision,” you say, with a little bitterness in your voice. “All we can do is abide by it. All we can do is hope that other villages will heed your warning and take action.” Ralia seems a little disappointed by your response, while Akane lets out a laugh that is tinged with hysteria.
“Fat chance of that! Every day, I've stopped at a different village and all of you have been the same. 'The spirits will protect us!' I've seen their boats, I've seen their armour, I've seen how many of them there are. The spirits won't protect them against that, and they won't protect me either. All I can do is run, run for as long as I can, as hard as I can. As long as I stay one step ahead, I'll be safe...”
All you can do is watch as the tired fellow stumbles off in search of his bicorn. Ralia shakes her head and turns to you, a troubled frown spoiling her features.
“A part of me is tempted to go with him, but I don't think that it would do much good. Let's hope that the spirits will answer our prayers, like the elder says.” She glances over your shoulder and gestures past you. “I believe that your teacher is waiting for you.”
You shouldn't test Sanao's patience more than you already have. After murmuring a farewell to the wind-weaver, you turn and trudge back to the old steel-shaper, to accompany him back to his workshop. The two of you are silent for most of the journey, with an uncomfortable tension in the air between you. Your teacher only breaks the silence once his abode is within sight.
“I had hoped that you lacked the foolishness that so often accompanies youth,” he chides. “That was a gathering of the elders, of those old enough to know what wisdom is. That girl had no right to speak and neither did you, Nayen. I expected better.”
“You are the one who parades around that sword of yours,” you snap back at him. It's difficult to contain your frustration, knowing how eager your elders are to surrender to the invaders. “When you were my age, you were wandering Ionia with a blade by your side and going on all sorts of reckless adventures! What gives you the right to judge me and call me foolish, when you did far worse?”
“You do not know the life that I led beyond this village,” Sanao mutters in return, somewhat subdued after your retort. “I thought that I would find glory and earn fame, by fighting demons that dwell in the shadows and protecting the weak and needy. I was wrong. I lost everything that I gained, and there was only one thing that I brought back with me to this village – the knowledge that a life lived by the sword is a miserable one without a happy ending. Should you fight back against these invaders, your soul would suffer for it, as mine withered during my 'adventures.' The people of our village needn't lose their innocence, especially not you, Nayen.”
