Life And Death Decision 6 6

"I don't know. I'm sorry, Sage." She still sounded distraught, her mood worsening with every second that pa.s.sed by.

"Thalis, you don't need to answer him if you don't have an answer." The life-giver's voice rang in my head. "For now, rest. I will take care of everything." After he spoke, both of them remained silent. If even the G.o.ds are struggling with this choice, then this is a burden that I couldn't bear. But I had to, this is something that only I have the power to change. I took a deep breath to regain my composure, sorting out the funeral arrangements for Rose's family; it was to be in a few days.

"Is it done?" Baz asked me once I got out of the building. He and Tyme were twiddling their thumbs while waiting for me, counting their coins and playing a card game; Tyme was noticeably happier than Baz and had a larger stack of coins. I gave a silent nod to confirm, getting into the cart to unload the corpses.

"They'll be taking the bodies in order to prepare them for the funeral, help me move them inside." I took the mother's body, carrying her carefully as Tyme took the child's body and left the father for Baz. We walked inside, lead down the stairs and through halls until we reached a room that smelled of incense. "Please, take care of them..." I asked the cleric, leading the party back to the cart so that we could talk to Rose again.

The child greeted us outside of her home, her grandmother, who seemed ancient since she couldn't open her eyes anymore, standing beside her holding a cane for support. "Sage, can we talk later?" Tyme whispered in my ear before she ran off to pick Rose up in her arms again. "When it's all over, what do you want to do?" She asked the kid, who in turn, s.h.i.+fted her gaze toward me. "Do you want to come adventuring with us?"

"Tyme, she's just a kid." Baz tried to be the voice of reason, but the hesitation in his tone implied that he, or at least a part of him, wasn't too opposed to the idea.

"A kid with magic powers! She'd make an amazing adventurer. If that's okay with you ma'am." Tyme set Rose down, prostrating herself in front of The kid's grandparent. "We promise to protect her, so if it's possible, please let us take her with us!" Just how attached had she gotten to Rose?

"I want to go too, but..." Rose lowered her gaze, taking a few steps toward me.

"Let's deal with that when the time comes. We have around a week before the burial." I interrupted the conversation, slowly moving the horses back toward the main road. "Baz, Tyme, it's late. Where have you two been staying?" I called them back to the cart, waving goodbye to our new friend as we went to get lodging for the night.

"Sage, you awake?" I heard a knock on my door a few minutes after I settled into my room at an inn. I opened the door, welcoming Tyme in as she started the conversation she said she wanted to have. "I know I asked her earlier, but what do you want to do with her once this is over?"

"I..." I didn't know. What Rose asked me to do, if I told Tyme about it then she'd kill me. Even then, I wasn't even sure if doing what Rose wanted was the right thing to do. In any case, I had to tell her something. "I think it's for the best if she stayed here with her grandmother. What can we give her? We're not her family, Tyme, but she is."

"And when her grandmother dies? You've seen her, right? She doesn't have long left. What would happen to her then?" She put her foot down, not wanting to concede. "She'd be an orphan! Who knows what kind of people would take her in, if any?"

"Like we're any better? We go on life or death quests any chance we get! That's the life you, Baz, and I live!" I remained steadfast, not wanting to give her hope of anything greater than what would probably happen. "And so what if she loses everything? Does that make us her guardians? Don't be selfish, Tyme, we can't just take her life away from her. She can make her own choices when the time comes."

"We can protect her! She'll be safe! You can heal her wounds!"

"No, I can't! I can't just keep dumping magic into her! You try to do it! It's harder than you think!" I complained, crossing my arms. "We can't protect her all the time, that's just a fact! What would you do if she got hurt?" I took a step forward, getting her to back down. "Why do you even care about her so much?"

"Because..." Her angry and incessant tone slowly faded away, her brows raising from their furrowed state. "She...is someone that I want to be with. I can see a little of myself in her, in a way." She looked away as her usual cold demeanor vanished. "When I was younger, I used to be like her so I can get along with her well. It's hard to act like that around you and Baz, but with her, I can be like a kid again. Climbing trees, playing games, and..."

"I'm sorry." I stopped her, getting her surprised gaze. "But you can't steal her away for just that reason. I'm sure you can find another way to feel the same way, I'll even help you look if you want, but you can't just impose your own desires on someone else." I stepped back to give her some room to breathe, sitting down on the bed. I looked up at her, seeing her watery eyes and a sorrowful, if not accepting smile. "And she might not even want to go with us." Lowering my head at the recollection of my conversation with the child.

"Do you promise to help me?" Her head drooped down, her emotions pleaded with mine. Her hair hid most of her face, but I gave her a quick enough glance to see a bit of red peeking out from the golden locks.
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"You have my word, Tyme," I said, getting myself ready to sleep. "I'll make sure of it; you will be happy." I heard the door shut before sleep took my consciousness away for the rest of the night. It was a calm night, quiet enough to allow me to rest my mind as well as my body. Rose probably told her grandmother what happened. I wondered if she was really okay with what she asked me to do.

"So, what's the plan?" Baz asked me as we ate breakfast the next day. He was oddly contained that morning, eating far less food than usual. "We have a few days, right? What do you want to do?"

"I'm...going to explore the town. Maybe I should get some new clothes." Tyme stood up first, heading for the door. "When this is done, are we still going to that crypt? It's near this town."

"I suppose. But let's take things one at a time." I brought some food to my mouth, my mind wandering elsewhere. "I think I'll just rest here. Or I'll just go with you." I regret adding that last part to my statement.

"So, is there anything you want to do?" He asked, looking up at the girl that climbed onto his shoulder. Rose, enjoying the increased height, pointed toward the town square. We walked there, finding it rather barren, to Rose's disappointment. It was a fairly simple roundabout with a small pond surrounded by bricks

"Aw boo! There's no musician today!" She bent forward, resting her head on Baz's.

"Are there usually bards here?" He asked, walking toward the middle of the square. He sat down, dipping the tips of his claw into the water. I joined him as Rose climbed down.

"Yeah. Mom would take me here whenever she saw one." She looked up at him, seeing his nose flare up with embers as he looked up toward the sky. "Usually they just played music, but during some of the holidays we'd see some sparkling lights."

"Lights, huh?" Baz looked my way, but I just shook my head. If I wasn't going to waste my magic on her, then I'm definitely not going to be a prop for some pyrotechnics. "Well, I'm no good with lights, but look at this." He took a deep breath, puffing out smoke from his nose in rings before blowing fire through them into the sky.

"Cool! Can you do it again?" Her eyes widened with excitement. I'd call them full of life, but something told me that she was only half as amazed as she would've been.

"In a bit. Blowing fire makes me hungry." Baz leaned back, rubbing his stomach to reinforce his statement. "Hey kid, how're you holding up?"

"Holding up?"

"You know. It's only been a few days, and in a few days it'll all be over, right?" He sat back up, leaning slightly forward to rest his upper body on his thighs. He shut his eyes for a few seconds, giving a solemn smile that was hard to see from my angle. "You're doing a lot better than I thought you'd be. You're just a kid, but you haven't cried as much as I'd expect."

"What use would it be for me? Tears won't bring them back."

"There you go again. You say mature things for your age. It's kind of scary." He then turned to face her. "I know that it's painful to lose people you love, but you haven't been showing any normal reactions since the day we saw it. It's almost like you..."

"You don't have to act so grown up, you know. It's okay"

"Well...it's not like I have much left, right, Sage?" Both of their gazes s.h.i.+fted to me, one curious and the other mournful. "Ah, mom used to take us out to some of the farmers. I want to say hi to some old friends." She changed the subject, walking down one of the exits of the roundabout while we followed a few feet behind her.

The days flew by as we set up a semblance of a schedule. I managed most of the behind-the-scenes work for the ceremony, making sure that the bodies were fit and didn't decompose. Tyme went around town doing odd jobs for some of the townsfolk, mostly some missing person searches. Baz also went about his days doing work for the locals, unlike our archer, he did more manual labor as some farmhand. And Rose...she holed herself up in her home whenever we weren't with her, talking to her grandmother while receiving some gifts from some family friends. In the times when she was with me, we both thought about her final request. Things repeated like that until the day of the burial arrived.

It was a very serene scene. Aside from us and her grandmother, there were also the clerics that performed the rituals, and some family friends that the news reached. It was a quiet windy day, slightly overcast. Rose sat silently by her grandmother's side, looking solemnly at the bodies as they were lowered into the dirt. After some prayers, the crowd dispersed, including my team since they escorted Rose's grandmother back home. "Alright, It's time. I'm ready." Rose said, kneeling down before the tombstone.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. Do it. There's...no point in me staying here anymore."

"No." I placed a hand on her shoulder, kneeling down to run my other hand over the stone. "There's a reason for you coming out of that tragedy. You shouldn't throw that gift away." I, from a few days ago, wouldn't be saying this, but, after some reflection, I had a change of heart. "Life, no matter what situation bears down on it, is always precious. Don't give that up. It's yours to live, so I won't be taking it."

"Sage, are you sure?"

"I am. But this is goodbye for us. You have to make your own choices, and I'm sure you can handle yourself now." I got up, turning around to leave.

"I'm coming with you."

"Are you sure? It's going to be dangerous." I looked back, expecting to see her with a wavering drive and trembling lips.

"This is my choice." She looked at me with a resolute stare, her determination s.h.i.+ning brighter than the cyan aura that always surrounded her.