C Rank
Mark: Good morning, Rath.
Rath: …Mark
Mark: It's good to see you. Truly.
Rath: … It is good to see you too.
Mark: I'm glad you're with us once more. Lady Lyndis is thrilled to know you will fight at our side.
Rath: …
Mark: You have been missed.
Rath: …
Mark: Not that I blame you for leaving as you did; I did the same not long after. I would have liked to say farewell however.
Rath: …I should have said something… before I left.
Mark: Maybe… but that hardly worth agonising over now. Whatever else may have transpired, you are here now.
Rath: …Yes
Mark: If I may, Rath. I would like to talk to you about something that happened between then and now. Something that happened to me; something I did. It concerns you, and I am unwilling to keep it a secret.
Rath: …?
Mark: I don't know if what I've done has crossed a line, and if it has… then I am well and truly sorry.
Rath: What did you do?
Mark: After the Battle of Caelin, I resumed my travels, this time on my own. My first destination was Sacae, I hoped to find something there, sadly I never did. But… on my way out, as I travelled North, I encountered the Kutolah tribe.
Rath: …!
Mark: I shared that I knew you, and some were very interested in speaking with me. So much so that I spent more than a bit of time among them.
Rath: …
Mark: And of course, you're father was among those I spoke at length to.
Rath: …What did he say?
Mark: He asked after you, wanted to know how you were, what you were doing, how I met you. We spoke of things such as these for an entire evening. I told him stories of you.
Rath: Oh…
Mark: But the following morning, it was my turn to ask questions. Up until that point, I remained unaware of why you left the Kutolah. And so he told me.
Rath: …..
Mark: And when he finished telling me the why and the how… I disagreed
Rath: !
Mark: I strongly disagreed. I told him what I thought, that I believed his actions were cruel, and the one who has suffered most because of them was you. His son. The one who needed him most. We fought.
Rath: …
Mark: Rath?
Rath: … I need to go.
Mark: I understand.
B Rank
Rath: Mark.
Mark: Ah, afternoon Rath.
Rath: I will join you.
Mark: Please do.
Rath: …
Mark: Are you angry with me, Rath?
Rath: No…
Mark: …
Rath: Yes, I am… maybe. I don't know. You shouldn't have brought this up.
Mark: I'm sorry, but to not talk about it would feel like deception. And in truth, I was very concerned about you; I wanted to speak my mind.
Rath: Then you should learn to stay your tongue. You had no right. The reasons why I am here are my concern alone!
Mark: Be that as it may, I am not alone when I say that you are cared for, Rath. That there are people who are concerned about you. And I am sorry that this is causing you distress, but I must stand by my actions.
Rath: My father knew what had to be done.
Mark: You were four years old! And had nothing!
Rath: He had his reasons!
Mark: Yes, I know, the prophesy, he mentioned that. I still don't agree! Even if he was correct in his course of action, that doesn't make it right! I could be correct in having to sacrifice a thousand men to ensure victory, I could have excellent, rational, well-thought out reasons to do so. I could balance their lives against the result and rule in favour of their sacrifice and know that a soldier accepts the risk from the moment they take up arms. I could do that and be totally correct. But it wouldn't be right.
Rath: You are a fool, Mark.
Mark: Then I will die a fool.
Rath: …!
Mark: …I would rather die, failing to have done the right thing, than to have lived succeeding in doing the wrong.
Rath: …I've had enough. I need to go away and think.
Mark: Very well. Just know that I am sorry, not for my beliefs, but that I am causing you distress through them.
Rath: I know
A Rank
Rath: …
Mark: …Did you know I hate prophesies?
Rath: … ?
Mark: I thought I would love them. You'd think I would, right? I mean, why else would I keep the old woman around?
Rath: …
Mark: But I hate them. The future is as formless as water, taking shape after shape, freezing, melting, boiling, and then rising through the air in a cloud. Before repeating the same process over again ad infinitum.
Rath: …
Mark: To attempt to impose control or insight into it can be a painful experience. And to suppose that the future is set the moment you think you know it… what if you see a terrible omen? Is that it? Must we be doomed because of it?
Rath: We don't really know what actions will bring about the future we saw.
Mark: hmm, regardless; we are not puppets who go about our stage by the unseen hand of fate.
Rath: …For the longest time, I always thought that all that I've been through, all of the pain, was meant for something. That my father simply did what he had to do for the good of all, including me.
Mark: …
Rath: I value you, my friend. More so than any other. And to know that you disagree with my father. It makes me doubt. Why am I here if not to stop the burning? Was my father wrong?
Mark: Rath, you are here for a reason. I am not saying that there is no value in the prophesy that put you on this path and brought you to us. I just disagree with how your father went about it. I mean, did you have to be cast out on your own, with nothing to help or guide you? Did you have to suffer as you did?
Rath: I don't know…
Mark: …
Rath: …But I think I will speak with my father; I want to speak my mind.
Mark: That, at least, I can understand.
Rath: I don't like any of this, but whatever else may have transpired… I am here now.
Ending
Of the words exchanged between father and son when Rath and Mark returned to the Kutolah tribe, none could say for certain. But Rath was henceforth known as a man of true conviction, finally knowing peace and happiness.