Part VIII
"What do you want to show me?" Buffy asked.
"You'll find out when we get there," she said.
Her grip on Buffy's arm tightened as they walked away. Buffy didn't fight to break free or even loosen the grip. She trusted this young woman. She trusted that Grace knew what she was doing.
Grace led Buffy on through the dirt streets of the town. They passed houses and other buildings as the walked. Eventually Grace let go of Buffy's arm. Buffy still followed her. She was very curious now. She wanted to know what was so important.
Finally Grace stopped walked when she came to the edge of town. The two were now standing at the wall of the cavern that the town was in. Buffy looked around, trying to figure out why they were here.
"Do you see it?" Grace asked.
"See what?"
"The hole."
Buffy looked around again. This time she noticed a small hole in the side of the cavern, level with the ground.
"What is it?" Buffy asked.
"It's the holding place for the urn," she informed.
"What urn?" Buffy questioned.
"The urn of the champion," Grace told her.
"Champion?"
"When the champion was slain, their ashes were gathered up and placed within the urn."
Grace walked over to the hole and dropped to her knees. She reached in and pulled out a fairly large urn.
"How did you get this?"
"It was passed down from generation to generation until it was eventually given to me. I decided to keep it here in this hole in order to keep it safe," she told Buffy.
"Why did you want to show it to me?" Buffy asked.
"It is a part of the prophecy," she responded, "The prophecy states that when the Champion arrives, they will turn to someone for help. The ashes in that urn belong to that person."
"Who is this someone?" Buffy asked.
"That is something I am not sure of," Grace replied.
"Is it someone I knew in the past?" Buffy asked.
"It could be," Grace answered, "But again I don't know."
"Do I want help from this person?"
"That is not up for me to decide. That is a decision that the Champion must make."
Buffy was starting to get annoyed. Grace didn't have an answer to any of her questions. She decided that she was just going to go through with it. If she didn't like whoever it was, then she'd just kill them.
"All right," Buffy said, "Let's do this."