The rest of the day was rather relaxing, after I received my Guild reward for saving Orchard Farm from the bandits, and I spent the rest of my time in the Bowerstone Quay on the docks, sitting on the railing as I used to do at the Guild. I had left James a note in our home that I would be there if he wanted to meet earlier so we could chat. I really just wanted to be alone at the moment, but I knew that wouldn't last long, especially after my task of saving Orchard Farm from the bandits. I had so much yet I had to think about. Oakvale was my top priority for the moment. I had to do a couple of quests so I'd have some money to get a permanent residence there as long as it had been rebuilt, and protect Oakvale. That's what I wanted out of life, I believe. As of now, I was just enjoying the feeling of people looking up to me. I felt like a real Hero, like one of Maze's status. I remember seeing him in Bowerstone South and before we had reached him, women and men alike were fawning over him, madly in love. I just hope that kind of thing doesn't happen to me. I wouldn't be able to handle that.

Behind me, I could feel a presence approach. I could feel the energy before they began to walk forward, but it was a calming yet strangely familiar energy, and I knew it was not lethal. As they neared, I instantly identified them. Correctly, at that.
"I knew I'd find you here." Maze announced as he stood next to me. I smiled softly at him before glancing back at our reflections on the waters surface.
"How so?" I asked serenely.
"I know you by now, I suppose. When you were still an apprentice, you were usually over near the river and waterfall after a hard day's work. I heard about your quest at Orchard Farm from a guard out near Bowerstone North." He said. I nodded.
"He was hired as well to protect the farm. I can't really say much for the other, however."
"He told me that his brother was murdered by another Hero you knew, and appreciated the fact you held no mercy as you tried to kill her. Whisper, I imagine." I nodded in agreement.
"She believed it to be a game, and heeded no interest to the fact lives were at stake. I found it to be my responsibility to punish her for what she had done."
"The guard had told everyone in town that you were the type of Hero the town of Bowerstone needs around. He's even gotten the mayor thinking about discussing live-in arrangements for you to be the sole protector of the entire town of Bowerstone." He told me. "It's quite an honor."
I was a little stunned by his news, and found it wonderful for the town to think of me so highly, so well-respected. "I suppose it is." Maze looked over at me by the sound of the apathetic tone in my voice.

"Something bothering you?" He asked. I shrugged slightly, mentally noting the wind was picking up.

"I can't stop thinking about Oakvale, and about Theresa." I responded. He nodded knowingly.
"I figured that news would bother you." He remarked. "You must think much of your family." I nodded and looked towards the water, letting my hair fall around my face so he didn't have to see the tears now rolling down my cheeks. I paused for the longest time.
"If I had only invited my brother to come with me, he would still be alive." I replied, the shake in my voice that I struggled with so hard to hide alerted Maze immediately. "That was my only job to do that day. Watch Blaise. That was all I had to do." A silence had fallen in between us, and I had gathered myself.
"If Theresa survived somehow, there's always a chance that your brother is still alive and well somewhere." He replied. I shook my head.
"I'm not going to get my hopes up for something that may or may not be true." Once again, another silence shadowed over our conversation. I decided to break the stillness.
"So, is that what you came here to tell me? About the mayor and Bowerstone?" I asked.
"I suppose." He replied as we overlooked the sunset, as he now was leaning against the railing casually. I'm not sure what had jogged my memory, but Briar Rose had entered my mind, the lady from before who had insulted me.
"Oh, and some woman from the Guild, Briar Rose was her name, thought it'd be okay to look down to me, and I thought you should know that she's not alright in my book." Maze began to chuckle softly.
"Something about her, just something, thinks that it's perfectly acceptable to look down to others as long as she assumes she's better than them." He replied. I felt reassured, and smiled kindly once again. "I wouldn't worry much about her, she's much more talk than action."
"I just thought I'd share that with you." Upon looking at the sky, I felt it was time to turn in. "Well, I'm off to find James." I announced, jumping back onto the docks from my perch on the railing. Maze turned to me.
"I expect I'll see you again, sometime in the near future." He concluded. I nodded, now smiling brilliantly.
"I'm sure you will." And with that, I turned on my heel and headed to the most northern part of South Bowerstone, where I would sleep for the night after briskly talking with James. I felt Maze's eyes on me as I walked away, and wondered what had brought this on. I was beginning to have weird feelings about Maze, feelings I haven't had in awhile. To be honest, I was still a little suspicious about him. He seems to be gone a lot, traveling to and from places I haven't been in years and places I haven't even been to yet. I always found a counter thought to erase anything that he might be doing was evil. But there was something about him, something that gave me butterflies. This feeling was always there whenever I thought about him, or even got a glimpse of something that related to him, whether it be a vague or obvious way. I figured it was just a fluke, but now it was becoming more obvious.

Maybe I just needed rest. Yeah… I just needed rest.

I awoke in the morning and found James sleeping silently on his bed. I rose from my bed and found a note on my nightstand.
I'm sorry that I've been so busy lately, Lillian. Yesterday, I took a quest to protect Orchard Farms from Hobbes. Whisper was there, and decided to make a contest out of it, so we fought to see how many Hobbes the other could kill. I won, of course. You know me. I'm better than her.

I chuckled softly at his superciliousness.

I know that you want to rush back to Oakvale, to see if it has been rebuilt, but I'm going to stay near Bowerstone for awhile. There's a quest card at the Guild. A couple traders want to be escorted through Darkwood to Barrow Fields. If you take the quest card, and make it through successfully, you can travel through and get to Oakvale.
Be sure to come back and tell me all about it.
And be careful. I know you well enough that you enjoy the thrill of danger. I'll talk to you in a couple days.

I smiled, rather grinned, at the note. A quest card that would take me home? It was the perfect idea.
Prior to leaving for the Guild, I headed over to the armor shop near the front gate to Bowerstone. I talked to the owner, and haggled the price of my new armor down to about 100 gold less on each piece. I had bought bright leather armor. [As soon as I perfect my drawing of the human body, I'll post a picture of what it'll look like on my DeviantArt account]
I used my Guild Seal to teleport back to the Guild via Cullis Gate. Upon arriving, I quickly grabbed the quest card and looked it over. I began my travels to Darkwood at once. I was to anxious to be getting home to let anything bother me. And time passed like nothing as I headed through Greatwood to the Greatwood Cullis Gate. And once again, I came to the Bandit Toll that had been set up. It was still there, which I found surprisingly amusing. I figured that it would have been torched by now. I walked forward, and the Bandit recognized me immediately.
"It's you again." He remarked. I smiled and he looked me up and down. "You've changed." He was right. Upon leaving the Guild from my apprentice-ship, I had changed into my leather armor prior to leaving.
"I've graduated." I told him. "And I'll be needing through."
"You know the price." He replied, holding out his hand. I pushed his hand down.
"I'm not paying. And you know why?" I asked, pulling out my sword. His brow furrowed, and he pulled out his weapon.
"Why?" He growled.
"Because I don't serve bandits." Instantly, I swung my weapon and severed off his head. Blood sprayed and gushed from his neck and his body fell to the ground. I heard the loud infamous bandit cry from my left and my right. I looked around with a glare, keeping my cool, and charged towards the bandits. Pulling out my bow while I had the chance, I loaded it over and over again as I released the arrows in every direction and watched solemnly as bandits dropped left and right. Every time a bandit would drop, another appeared behind their corpse. Retracting my bow, I unsheathed my sword and swung aimlessly as the bandits neared me. Without sorrow and without tranquility, I slashed everything and anything that got in my path of destruction. And before I knew it, the last bandit had fallen at my feet with blood gushing from the only sword wound in his chest, from where I had plunged the point through his sternum through his heart and straight through his back. Without bothering to wipe off the blood from my beautiful sword, I placed it back into its scabbard and continued on my way to Darkwood.

Arriving at Greatwood Caves, I looked around cautiously. No Hobbes, no bandits, no enemies in sight. I quietly snuck my way through, watching the enterance to the Hobbe Caves and entered the short tunnel that lead to Darkwood. I walked through and met the eyes of a scared trader, standing next to another. They were shivering and clearly frightened.
"Oh, thank Avo you're here!" He screamed in joy, falling to his knees and breathing rapidly yet relieved.
"You're not hurt are you?" I asked. The one who was still standing, keeping his cool, shook his head.
"No, but there are creatures so vile that they wouldn't hesitate to hurt us. Please, just get us to Barrow Fields." He begged, started to look as if he were going insane.
"Don't worry, you'll be safe as long as I'm around." I replied, and helped the weaker, probably younger, one stand up.
"Thank you, now let's get going shall we?" He replied. I nodded and stood in front of them, leading them towards the Marshes. Walking down the larger slate hill, my eyes glanced towards a man and he was screaming for help. In front of him sat a Balverine.
"Wait here!" I told the two traders and ran forward, pulling out my sword. The Balverine caught my ruthless eyes before he ran off at full speed. I knew chasing it would be of no use, so I placed my sword away. The traders I was escorting ran forward.
"That thing bit me and left me for dead. Please, let me come with you." He begged. My two accompanying contacts decided to put their two cents in.
"We can't let him come. He's infected! He'll be eating our guts out before we know it." The shorter one, who had had a meltdown earlier, stated.
"We have sworn a trader oath! We have to help him!" The other one had stated. I listened to their opinions effortlessly.
"You can come with us, my friend. But I must warn you. If you turn into a Balverine, I'll be forced to kill you." I told him. He nodded.
"Thank you, Hero." He grinned. We began walking forth, heading towards the Marshes.

This was going to be one interesting journey.