Chapters 1 and 3 are written, Ch1 being posted and I'm still working on ch2. Keep an eye out for them, I'll try to have it done by halfway through July at the latest!

Mother

Her smile was a mere spectral of what it had once been as she numbly opened the door and cordially welcomed the foreign visitor into her sparse home. She had found the travel-weary stranger mere seconds before the unusually suspicious bartender had begun to harass him, and brought him to the slightly friendlier atmosphere of her home.

With a deep and reassuring voice he spoke, "I thank you for your kindness in such turbulent times, when so many of us are treated with nothing but contempt and malevolence."

With confusion and a slight curiosity in her airy voice she repeated the part of his statement that had struck a chord deep in her heart, "So many of us?"

At her truly perplexed tone he turned to her in astonishment. "Kind lady, do you mean to say that you know nothing of these recent times?"

In the vernal room that had always been her refuge she sank into a chair and quietly answered. "We live on our own, as you have seen; each home is a long standing sanctuary, but only to those who rightfully own it. We are at peace here; news does not come, that which does has no meaning for us. Only recently,"

Here she paused, and her voice grew sardonic, tinged with a brittleness that manifested only in times like this, "Only recently has such news been so important that we act upon it lest our refuge be destroyed."

At this the stranger bowed his head, grieved that it was he who brought such terse danger to these people. "It is evident that such information means far more to you than it does to myself and my people. I am indeed sorry that this had been brought upon you."

At this the placid woman became choleric from a pain long buried and lashed out, her voice steadily growing in volume and anguish.

"How would you know? You have not lost everything you once cherished, lost each of your loved ones to them. Have you watched, helpless while your only child lies frozen with terror in her bed, and then see her be taken away? How would you know what it is like to draw each breath, knowing it could be your last! You know not what it is to live in constant fear; the nightmares never cease!"

Her eyes moistened and she almost sighed, the pain more than evident. "Do not say you are sorry, for you know not the meaning of the word."

At her words the travel-weary stranger turned away, his eyes distant as he was reminded the true heritage of his people, and of the pain at the realization that yet another village had been lost to them – one that the men of the ancient West could have saved.There was nothing to be done for these people; they – like so many other villages – had been hurt beyond all healing.

With a heavy heart and grieving soul he walked back into the dark night. He was not needed here - none of his people were. There was now nothing left for his people to protect.