I thought about doing this as a separate story (and I might, since this is becoming so Ben/Rose centric) but for now here is an interlude. I did say I was going to do lots of characters after all... I just got distracted by the awesomeness of Ben XD

Though if lots of you object to the random interludes of other characters, I'll move it all to a separate story to keep it out of the way – it's just a bit easier for me to have it all in one spot, that's all :)

Anyway, onwards – because Jasper needs some love too!

NB: I mentioned in the last chapter that Rose had the guild seal as a pendant around her neck. I'm mentioning it again in this – I think the seal has multi-dimensional properties like the Sanctuary and as a result can change its size to suit. Otherwise Rose would be carrying around a metal disc the size of plate everywhere, which is not what you want XD

x.x.x.x

Jasper was not a religious man, but he couldn't help but pray to the Light that Walter knew what he was doing.

He wouldn't deny it – he was a little hurt that his old friend had kept in the dark for so long. Clearly Walter had some bigger plan in mind that he wasn't willing to divulge, even when they were fleeing the castle. When they arrived at the Sanctuary, Jasper had intended to try and get some answers (thinking perhaps Walter had been reluctant to talk in an unsecure location) but then he got distracted by the King's note and journal (and the obscene amount of dust about the place) and before he knew it, Walter and Rose were spirited away to the Mistpeaks.

Jasper set the duster aside and sighed as he sank into a chair by the map, pausing with his hand on the journal's cover. He recalled Sparrow always carrying the book with him wherever they went, but never thought to ask what was in it (friend though he was, Jasper knew his place, and prying was improper). Sat in the now clean Sanctuary, suddenly many of the King's mysterious disappearances were all explained.

Part of him regretted that he was waiting in the Sanctuary while Walter and Rose were traversing Albion – but he knew, with the years having been rather unkind to him, that he would just slow them down. At least with the Guild Seal he wasn't being entirely useless.

The butler was, believe it or not, no stranger to adventuring. True, he was never the sort that thrived on the frontlines like Walter or Sparrow, but he was more than familiar with the less-than-savoury results of battle. Even Hero's weren't invincible after all, and Jasper was always on hand with the needle, thread and bandages to assist with the patching up.

Walter made a terrible patient when he was forced to sit still, always grumbling and griping, making sarcastic comments about Jasper being a torturer more than a healer and generally being an earache. The jibes were never meant seriously, and Jasper learnt to work with the running commentary – it became a sort of pain-gauge for Jasper to read. If Walter was being quiet, then something was definitely amiss.

Sparrow, on the other hand, was much more stubborn about his injuries. Secretive and proud, in the early days neither Walter nor Jasper would ever really notice something was wrong until the King was nigh-on unconscious. Jasper learnt to read Sparrow eventually, and was quick to corner His Majesty and inflict his healing skills on him before whatever the injury was got out of hand.

When it came to pain, Rose was much the same as Sparrow, despite never really being able to learn any habits or mannerisms off the old King (she was only nine when he died after all). Luckily, like her father, Jasper learnt to read her forced expressions and was always on hand to deal with any cuts and bruises sustained in training. They may not have been as dramatic as a sword wound, but as far as he was concerned they were no less important.

It was when she stumbled in shortly after her victory over Saker that he was immensely glad of this magical dimension, his medical skills and his ability to read Rose's face. She stumbled in from the portal, one hand at the guild seal pendant at her throat and her arm clutching her ribs. Her mercenary disguise was torn and bloody, and one sleeve had all but been burnt clean off, her skin underneath red and blistered.

"Light preserve me!" Jasper swore. "What happened?"

"Just a few mercenaries, Jasper," she replied with a weak smile. "Nothing to worry about."

"With all due respect, madam, I heartily disagree with that statement," he said. "Now, if you would sit down, I'll see what provisions we have."

This was a lot more than cuts and bruises. Rose said nothing as Jasper went to work – she had at least two cracked ribs, her left arm was badly burnt, a sword slash across her back and half a dozen gunshot wounds that were thankfully nowhere vital. Patched up and dressed in clean pyjamas, Jasper guided Rose to the small bed that was tucked away in the corner of the sanctuary.

"Jasper?" Rose said sleepily as he tucked the blanket around her.

"Yes, madam?"

"Thank you."

Jasper smiled a little at that –she was more like her father than she would ever know. "You're more than welcome, madam." He set about dimming the gas lamps that lined the walls around her, pausing when her voice rose up from the corner again.

"Jasper?"

"Yes, madam?"

Rose hesitated before continuing. "Can you not tell Walter? Please? I don't want him to know that... if he finds out that..." Rose huffed as she forced the words past her lips, not wanting to admit it out loud but not having much choice. "If he knows that I got hurt he'll only get all guilty. You know how he gets."

Jasper hummed softly to himself. Yes, he knew how Walter got sometimes – protective to a fault, sick with worry anytime she got ill or hurt herself (there was one time, when she was twelve, she fell out of a tree and broke her arm while he was supposed to be minding her – and he barely let her do anything strenuous for more than a month), not to mention how he was whenever she went off with young Elliot. But Jasper couldn't help but feel that this was, in part, his fault – somehow, in between planning a rebellion and finding out Rose was a Hero, Walter had forgotten that she was a young woman with very little knowledge of the world, let alone battle. It also seemed that he had forgotten that Hero's are not invincible. Personally, he thought that Walter could do with the reminder but...

"Please, Jasper," Rose implored.

The old butler let out a long sigh. "As you wish, madam."

x.x.x.x

Yay, for randomness! I nearly started a whole new story called "A Butler's Tale" but I think I've got enough on my plate, so I condensed what was really pestering me into this ehehe.

May write a short NSFW interlude to put up sometime midweek, and then update the chapter next Sunday :)

Hope you're all well, all the best

~paa xx