Ray sat back and just observed the company as they went about the rest of their day. Most intriguing to him was when Walter rang the meal bell and began instructing Ralph, covering his school work that afternoon. Ralph had been a little grumpy about it. He'd hoped that he had the day off. But Walter reminded him they were going to be fishing the next morning so they needed to cover today's lessons that afternoon. And then they'd have to cover tomorrow's lessons in the afternoon as well to stay on track. Ralph reluctantly agreed and finally buckled down.

Ray moved up and sat there watching closer. As they finished Ralph's reading and Ralph closed his book Ray looked up. "That's impressive, and you actually make reading seem fun."

Ralph looked at him and made a face. "You don't like to read?"

Ray shook his head. "I never learned much of it. When you grow up in a street gang schooling never happened much. We focused on obtaining food and clothes or money to buy those things."

Ralph frowned. "You had jobs as kids?"

Ray laughed and started to shake his head no when he saw the disapproving look on Walter's face. "Ah, yes, something along those lines. I better let you get back to your learning."

Ralph smiled. "You should get Dad to teach you then, he's a very good teacher."

Ray nodded. "From the looks of it I think you are right, but I'm a bit too old to be sitting in a schoolhouse with you young ones. But thank you for the thought."

Ralph and Walter continued on and despite Ray's words he tried to pay close attention to what Walter was teaching Ralph. After they'd covered Ralph's subjects Walter set him to task of doing his homework. Ray walked off to do some thinking. But he made sure to stay in sight of the company. He didn't feel like getting Allie's foot upside his head again.

Both Allie and Sir Sylvester made it a point to keep him in sight and occasionally they walked up to him to make sure he knew they were watching him.

That evening Walter sat beside the campfire holding Lady Paige across his lap as he played his lute and sang for the company. As he finished the last song he wanted to play he reached over and sat his lute on the table.

Ray smiled. "You still got it Wally."

Walter, Paige and the company looked at him. And Walter shook his head. "I've asked you stop calling me that."

Ray grinned and nodded. "Fine Walt, you still got it. Let me guess you brought your telescope right?"

"While I have no need for it, I did bring it only because I forgot to unpack it." Walter looked at Ralph. "If we're going to fish in the morning you should get to bed soon."

Ralph grinned and jumped up and kissed his Mom and ran for his tent.

Toby looked over. "You're going fishing tomorrow? Maybe Alicia and I can come."

Walter let out his breath quietly. "I only have two poles. But if you and Alicia want to use the other one that is fine."

Walter and Paige sat kissing and whispering as the company began breaking up and going to their tents for the night.

Allie stopped and thanked the couple for putting up a tent for her to use after they had gotten back from their walk.

Ray looked up after everyone else was gone and smiled at the couple. "I've really got to hand it to you Walt. You've really made a new life for yourself here. Husband, Father, teacher I'm in awe of you man."

Walter looked over and shook his head. "Pretty sure it was all the work of the wise Lady. But thank you Ray."

Ray grinned. "Well to be honest I figured when I caught up with you I would find you bored and wishing you hadn't have agreed to work for your Lady here. I figured you'd be ready to hit the road and go back to playing in Inns. If I had really known how serious you really were about this I wouldn't have bothered."

Paige looked at him closely. "You mean if you had thought he wasn't just looking for a piece of tail?"

Ray swallowed hard. "I guess you really do have Walt's memories."

Walter smiled seeing the nervousness on his face and beads of sweat along his hairline. "Well if you were serious about it, you could make a new life for yourself here as well you know."

Ray shook his head after looking away from Lady Paige. "My skills are not conducive to such a life style. Besides I've always loved the vagabond lifestyle Walt, how many times did we argue about that? Always seeing what is over the next horizon. Of course now I got to find myself a new partner."

Walter shook his head. "We've had a rocky friendship but if that is really what you want."

"Anyway I just wanted to say as soon as you release me Lady Paige I plan on setting out for new adventures. Hopefully it will be someplace where that Allie chick isn't." Ray rubbed at his forehead where he still had a bruise.

Paige looked over at Ray. "If that is honestly how you feel Ray then in the morning after breakfast if you want to leave to seek out an adventure somewhere else then I'll release you from my judgment and you will be welcomed to leave my lands."

Ray looked up in surprise. "I don't know what to say, really?"

Paige nodded. "If we were at the Keep I wouldn't do it but it isn't worth the headache of trying to keep you under control on the road for what you did. But I would be willing to release you for my husband's feelings of friendship for you."

"Wow, I-I thank you. That is very kind of you, all things considered. You've got a good one here Walt. Have a good night and I'll see you in the morning." Ray told them before standing up and walking to the tent where the men slept.

Just before he entered Walter cleared his throat. "Remember, hands off anything that isn't yours Ray."

Ray looked back and waved as he smiled. "Okay Walt, hands off."

Walter smiled at Paige and they kissed again. She grinned at him. "Wally."

Walter laughed. "While we are alone like this I think I like that. But please not around others. Wally was who I was when I began my life as a Bard. He was troublesome and quite often he wasn't terribly good."

Paige looked up surprised. "Really, like what?"

Walter coughed. "Well I would prefer not to relive those details, but since you have access to my memories it wouldn't be hard for you to see."

Paige leaned out from him. "You'd rather me sift through the memories than just telling me?"

Walter coughed nervously. "Well you have to understand, my family moved over here from Ireland when I was eight years old. We ended up settling down in San Deggo when I was nine, my Father bought land from the Duke near where my Uncle Tobin had settled about twenty years earlier. He resumed farming and raising sheep. I absolutely hated it. When I was about fifteen we'd gone to the local harvest fair like always."

"But that year there was this most amazing woman there. She could sing like an angel, she could tell a story in multiple voices. She could make you swear you were listening to the crackling fire as she mimicked the sound perfectly. She could caw like the crow, scream like an eagle and most intriguingly sound just like the snow falling outside."

"I snuck away from my family and I approached her tent. It was like she already knew. Before I even got that close she called out to me to enter. Elizabeth of Caranth, she is an amazing person. She offered to train me, even though I had no money, had no blood right I could give her. My Father would never have agreed to it. His will was for me to toil along side of him. Assuming his responsibilities to the family as his body would begin to suffer with age and fatigue from the strain farming would visit upon him."

"But I was young, arrogant and prideful. My life was my life, not his. His responsibilities weren't mine. He chose to follow his Father's footsteps, but I rebelled. Elizabeth was willing to accept me no matter the condition of my mind and heart. But she demanded that I at least inform my family of my decision. I almost chickened out. Walking into the home my parents, sister and I built. Remembering the six years we had spent there building up the farm and livestock."

"I don't know who was more disappointed in me that night, my Father or me. We got into a big fight. While my Father was a seasoned man, with experience in fighting I was just this teenager with attitude, vigor and hormones. His punches hurt and drove me deep into anger before I finally retaliated. I had no hope of standing toe to toe like boxers with him. So I did what would even us in my mind. I plowed into him with all the force my youthful legs could mustard."

"We fell to the ground after crashing through the dining room table. His words, his hateful words burned through my mind. And I drove my fists as hard as my muscles could into his face. How dare he try to make me feel guilt and that it was my responsibility to take care of them? I'd been breaking my back over the two farms my whole life. Never once was I paid or even thanked. As if I was nothing more than the oxen he'd hitch to the plow to open the earth for seeds."

"I screamed all these things and more as I struck him again and again. I condemned his designs for my life. I don't know what would have happen if the door of our home hadn't of busted open right then. Elizabeth appeared as if by magic. She grabbed me by the belt and collar and threw me completely out of our home. As I came to a stop tumbling across the ground I'd jumped up and was about to charge back in when this tiny owl flew down and forced me back. Elizabeth bent down over my Father and quickly examined him before she pulled her lute about and began playing and singing."

"Both my wounds and my Father's were healed during that miraculous melody she played as she sang. When my Father recovered shortly after he was healed he rose up from the floor, livid as he screamed at me. Calling me ungrateful was probably the nicest thing he said at that point. He told Elizabeth if she wanted me I was hers, I was dead to him from that night. My Mother and sister begged him to reconsider but he stormed off to his bedroom to sulk in his humiliation."

"Elizabeth gave my Mother and sister time to visit their feelings upon me. Mother had never wanted me to follow in Father's footsteps. She'd argued with him more than one time about it. My sister cried and begged me to apologize and stay with them. We were very close as siblings. But I knew I couldn't stay. Maybe Father loved me, but it seemed more he just loved me for what I could do for him. I promised to write and send money to them when I could and so I left with Elizabeth."

"It was an amazing year and a half I trained under her. And then one afternoon as I awoke in the room I was staying in at the Inn we'd been performing in and I found she was gone. She'd left a note letting me know She'd been called by the wise Lady to travel elsewhere and that I had surpassed all her expectations. I was ready and trained to continue on with my life as a Bard. At first I was upset that I wasn't worth more than a written goodbye but I slowly realized it might have been all she could do. A vocal goodbye could have resulted in too much time and the wise Lady might not have given her enough."

"Still I was angry, I felt betrayed and used. She'd done a great job training me, don't misunderstand, but I didn't want to be on my own yet. I was enjoying that new dynamic with her. She'd showed me more care and attention in that short span of time than my Father showed me in fifteen years. I allowed those feelings to control me and I got into a lot of trouble. I was physically stronger than most, even seasoned adventurers paled compared to me. I became a bully, a braggart. I took jobs more as a dare type thing. And the worst part was, I always succeeded. It just reinforced those feelings of pride and arrogance."

"I'd relished in my so called conquests of women. Thinking I was using them, not the other way around. When I would get laughed at by others because of it I would get in more fights. I'd spent a lot of time between seventeen and nineteen in one jail or another. The last time I was released thirty days early provided I served the local temple of Athena. The temple Mistress had arranged it with the Duke of San Deggo. She'd hoped to turn me around. I was pretty resistant to her efforts but she didn't give in."

"She kept hammering on me, challenging me. Before I knew it I had spent three months with her. I could have left long before then but for some reason it never occurred to me. The final lesson she taught me came shortly after that. Yes, I stayed even after I knew I could have walked away. It was harvest season and she took me to help a farmer and his family. And yes to what you are thinking, it was my Father's farm. My Father and I never made up. My Mother and sister of course were overjoyed to see me again. But I did as the Mistress told me and I stayed and helped until the harvest was done and the farm was made ready for use the next year."

"My Mother had told me how much the money I sent back to them had meant. It had allowed them to hire part time help but they had suffered a particularly difficult year that year and they hadn't been able to hire anyone. So the Mistress had taken me back so that those muscles that had been developed on the farm could render aid unto them once again. But once she said I was free I left. I made sure to send a bit more after that just to be sure they had enough. Farming was a necessary thing for the survival of people but I wanted nothing to do with it."

Welcome back to Lady Knight! I hope you are all doing well! I'm currently in the process of setting up an account on AO3 because they don't limit stories. I'll probably only post over there when a story is too mature. I'll try to drop a link on my profile sometime to make it easier to find me there.

To the Adventure! -Tim