"You said that when they are one, Xena and I will finally be together, Peter." Gabrielle said, walking a step behind the gatekeeper.
"Unity does not occur only in the physical sense, child," Peter said quietly, "It is also a mental and spiritual state. You will know when they are truly one in every aspect."
"Xena's growing impatient."
"Heavens! You are angels! You have all the time in the world!"
"You know her restless spirit."
"I do. But you also must remember you defied God in a way. I would be content with what I have."
"I speak out of care for a loved one, not disobedience." Gabrielle countered, "Xena and I might have found each other, but what kept us together through everything was far larger than us."
"That is true." Peter acknowledged, "but you must understand that God's fortune comes with a price. So many people on the earth, so many different religions that speak of the same God. Yet no matter what prophets you believe in, one remains the same throughout- God giveth and God taketh away."
"So when will God give me Xena back?"
"Do you not see?" Peter said, stopping and turning around to face the angel, "God has already given Xena to you by not sending her to purgatory. You did not want to spend a single minute apart. I clearly remember your imposing defense of all the good she had done to repent for her sins. God gave you the fact that you were heard and answered. Now it is your turn to give."
"Giving, giving, giving, it's all we seem to do sometimes. And despite all we give, it doesn't ever seem to be enough."
"Are you saying that this price is too much to bear?" Peter asked with surprise, "Are you trying to convince me that the Lord has asked too much of you?"
"You don't look into her eyes, Peter. She watches Eden and Arielle every day with worry and fear that they won't make it. And she looks at me with a yearning that I've never seen before. You don't see the depth of pain that still resides there even though she's in Heaven. It's almost like she bears the entire pain of the world."
"She does not."
"Does she know that?" Gabrielle asked, "What difference does it make that you see happiness where she sees despair. God gave her her eyes and now laments that she looks through them."
"And now it sounds to me that you have been given a gift from God and lament over its price. Gifts from God should be celebrated. Otherwise you incur his anger."
"I've loved Xena with all my heart and soul no matter what life threw at us. We've been through more than others even if they had several lifetimes. If that's not celebrating a gift, I don't know what is."
Peter watched the bard cross her arms and he sighed. He remembered the scene Gabrielle had made at the gates, it was something he hadn't ever seen before. He still wondered how it could happen that a soul brought to the gates of Heaven could remain so unbelievably defiant. St. Michael himself had come to check on the disturbance. He listened patiently to Gabrielle's impassioned speech and when she was finished, everyone was silent. When Peter had taken a breath to speak, Michael's eyes ignited and Peter bowed his head. Michael then turned to Gabrielle and said that God had granted her request, but under one condition. Gabrielle was so overcome with joy that tears streamed down her face and she feel to her knees and said a hundred 'thank you's. For the second time that day, Peter was shocked. He had always wondered why God had granted a request he thought was inherently selfish but he never had the courage to ask.
"She is terrified of losing me, Peter. I don't know what else we can do. Eden and Arielle seem to be on the right path, but at the same time the truth still remains out of reach."
"Be patient. They still know not what they face. In the end, they are the ones whose time is running out."
Elizabeth tried not to show any emotion when she learned of the guardians' plans to make for Avignon. She had tried to reason, to persuade, and even to argue using winter snows, avalanches, and plague all as reasons to stay. But in the end, Anton outweighed them all. He hovered around like an annoying, uninvited guest who had no intention of leaving and though he sometimes even found it in his heart to be quiet, he made very sure his presence was known. He was something none of the them had either wanted or expected. Eden stomped about the house as she packed and readied her gear while Arielle grew very quiet. The bard observed this new found annoyance when she caught him reading at times, something he seemed to take great pleasure in. When he was quiet, she almost found him dashing; a thin, well groomed mustache, dark hair combed back neatly, fine clothes that she couldn't find a wrinkle in. He would play with the corners of his mustache as he read, delicately turning the pages and letting out a soft grunt or sigh when he encountered something interesting.
If Eden ever thought that Arielle talked a lot, she was nothing compared to Anton. The man seemed to never shut his mouth. He had an opinion on every topic, a witty rebuttal for every reply. And on the off chance he noticed that he didn't know something, he drilled and meddled until he found out all he wanted to know. There even came a point one evening where Arielle flopped down next to Eden while Anton was gently snoring already and complained that he was insufferable and a know-it-all and that even she wanted to ring his neck already. He had found his match in Eden though. Every time he asked her about anything, she told him to keep his mouth shut before she cut out his tongue; Arielle's father had wished his daughter back, but never mentioned Anton would have to survive it.
They carefully made their way up the coast and quietly around Genoa. Outside the port city they met with a trading caravan on the longer route to Lyon and decided to join. The guardians had hoped that the fresh minds waiting to be broken by the nobleman would steer him away from them and give them a bit of space. Thankfully, for a time, it worked. Arielle almost felt sorry for the traders; they were a decent lot, quiet and hardworking enough that even Eden didn't complain about the pace or mishaps. But today Anton stayed close to the bard, complaining that he had no one to talk to.
"Travelling can be so morbidly monotonous, wouldn't you agree?" he asked Arielle, "Ground, ground, ground and no one to engage in conversation with. I dare say I don't know how you can do it all the time."
"I see you've gotten all the conversation you could out of our companions."
"Ah, they're a simple lot; wasn't much conversation to begin with." Anton replied with a small wave of his hand, "What I would do to have a proper library following us. Even that one back in Florence. Although I wouldn't call it much of a library, it did kill the time."
"Why do you like books so much?"
"What makes you think I'm so fond of them and not just ridiculously bored?"
"I saw you reading back in Florence. You seemed so captivated in what you were reading that even St. Michael flying straight into your lap wouldn't have torn you away."
"Ah, so you've been spying on me I see. How brilliant!" Anton exclaimed, "Not that I'm surprised, I usually draw attention and admiration everywhere I go."
"I wouldn't be so sure of that."
"I know it's hard for you to understand so you can continue to pretend you don't agree with me. You see, this is why books are so wonderful; there's only truth in them."
"Truth? That would depend on who's writing them."
"Everyone has their own version of the truth so it's truth just the same. Books don't pretend to be something else or play games. They want to share a story with you and that's what they do. It's for you to believe it or not. Imagine a whole group of people in one room and a whole pile of books in another. Only the room with the books would truly have a little something to offend everyone."
"You take pleasure in offending others?" Arielle asked, turning to him, "You see, now I'm not surprised at all."
"I dare say, I'm beginning to enjoy your tongue the more that you sharpen it." Anton replied, "It's not that I go completely out of my way to offend others, but I do enjoy watching the mostly ridiculous arguments people have with each other. Can you imagine how much time people waste on complete drivel? Someone forgot to feed the goats, grain fetched too small a price at market, someone looked too beautiful or too ugly at the latest party, Socrates doesn't seem to be as right as we thought. Why do we spend so much time arguing over how others spent their time or what really happened? Or my favorite argument- what someone really thought. Sounds a bit counterproductive, doesn't it?... You see, that does happen to be one thing that intrigues me between you and Eden. You don't seem to argue all that much."
"Don't tell me that you're going to praise us now."
"I'd like to know why. What makes you different from the other riffraff that you don't look all too different from?"
"Eden is up in front, we hardly see each other during the day. There's not much time to even talk, much less argue."
"No, that's not it. People will go out of their way to argue and prove their truth. It must be something else."
Arielle sighed and looped the reins around her hand again. She wished for Eden to come riding up with news or a question. She hoped for one of the travelers to ask her for some help. But only the sound of trotting hooves and creaking wheels filled the air.
"If you're not special on the outside, then the secret must lie within."
"Anton..." Arielle sighed.
"I'm right, aren't I? It's something that you must have been through together. Or perhaps it's something in the friendship you two share... If it's only friendship that you share."
"What?" Arielle asked, pulling on the reins a little too tightly and causing the horse to snort loudly.
"You're not the only pretty little spy here. I've seen your interactions. There is a strange closeness between you and Eden. If I were pious I would say something that seems to be blessed by the heavens themselves. So is there more than friendship there?"
"You've crossed the line Anton. I've put up with you being an annoyance, but you've gone too far. You know nothing of me or Eden. Make any vulgar suggestions about my friendship with Eden again and my sharp tongue will be replaced with a sharp sword."
"Oh stop with your threats, my dear, you won't kill me."
"I wasn't talking about me."
"You're quiet tonight." Eden said as she passed Arielle a torn piece of bread.
"Anton sucked the life out of me."
"Where is that leech?"
"Thankfully one of the women argued with her husband and is now actually listening to Anton going on and on about relationships. So God has blessed us tonight."
Eden chuckled and pulled her cloak around herself more tightly. The tent canvas flapped lazily in the evening breeze while the small fire popped and snapped as the once snow laden branches were now devoured by flame. Bits of conversations floated over the breeze along with the scrapping of pots or whetstones. The scratching of snow against cast iron let them know supper was over and it was time to turn in. It would have been a nice evening if it had been drier. Eden had trudged through the snow all day and her fourth pair of socks and second pair of shoes were now just as wet and soggy as the others. She hung them all up to dry as much as they could through the night and wrapped her feet in wide strips of fur. She took a sip of tea and looked at the bard. There were slight bags under her eyes and her brows were slightly knotted. For a moment the warrior wondered if the carefree girl she knew would ever come back. She missed her.
"Did he cause any trouble or was he just annoying?" Eden finally asked.
"He suggested there's more to us than just friendship."
Even in the weak light of the fire Arielle could see Eden's body go rigid and her eyes grow dark.
"I don't know what he really meant by that. He said something about how we don't argue and maybe have a special bond. He thought it might be heavenly or something beyond friendship."
"What did you say?"
"I told him that he went too far and the next time he says something similar will be painful."
"I can make it painful for him now."
"Eden, no." the bard said, putting her hand on the warrior's shoulder, "He caught me by surprise then, but there's no sense in fighting with him. Listen, I don't know how much he really thinks he knows and how much he's just being irritating, but the best would be to ignore it, laugh at it even. Smashing his face in would only draw more suspicion and that's the last thing we need."
Eden sighed heavily and absently threw a piece of bread into the fire.
"I'm sorry." she whispered.
"For Anton? I'm learning to ignore him."
"No... For all this... I never meant to bring this all on you."
"What do you mean?"
"The battles... the hardship... me... And I know you'll tell me that this was a path that you chose for yourself, but sometimes I just can't understand why it couldn't be any easier. Would it be wrong for us to have some peace, some comfort? Do our lives have to be trial after trial?"
Arielle looked at Eden for a long while. The dancing firelight played hide and seek among the tired lines on Eden's face.
"Focus on the destination when the road becomes hard."
"That destination is your home and I doubt that holds any good for us."
"Our destination is my home, but neither one of us knows what it holds for us. Have faith that we haven't come this far for no reason."
"There doesn't need to be a reason to things just because we want there to be one."
"We are chosen, Eden, we have to be the last ones standing when everyone else has given up hope. How can we do that if we don't even believe in ourselves, in our shared fate?" Arielle said, taking Eden's hands into her own, "We didn't come all this way, done and seen all the things we have and have it all come to nothing. This can't just simply end."
"You don't know how many times I see you and wish I had your strength." Eden whispered, tucking away a stray strand of hair from the bard's face.
"You are my strength, my knight in shining armor." Arielle said and pulled Eden into a fierce embrace, "And if I could, I would kiss you right now to prove that point without any doubt."
"I will try to find a way out of this, I promise."
"I know you will."
Eden was filled with an almost drowning love for the bard and a limitless hate for the rest of the world. No matter what they did, no matter what they suffered, the world continued to spin around unapologetically, refusing to change. She was damned as a killer and damned as a lover; it didn't seem to matter what she felt, she had already been judged. She didn't understand the bard's love for the very world that denied her so many things. How can I both love and hate so fiercely? If my hate makes me tainted then does my love admonish me or make me even more vile? Can life become any more twisted that this? Faith.
"Let's go to sleep, my bard, we have a difficult journey tomorrow." Eden finally said.
"You're right."
The bard slowly pulled herself away and cast Eden a smile she hadn't seen for a while. It made Eden think of dandelions and the setting summer sun and she wondered why she now thought that winter would never end. Arielle bundled up the rest of their food while the warrior adjusted the drying clothes and opened the tent flap for the bard.
"And where are you off to, hm? The night is still young." Anton said, twisting the corner of his mustache and raising an eyebrow.
Arielle opened her mouth to say something, but Eden spoke first.
"You're not invited."
"I'm not?! Why not, pray tell!"
"Because," Eden replied, her voice a low growl, "first I'm going to seduce Arielle with candlelight, poetry, and honey covered sweets and then I'm going to screw her until she screams. That's why."
Anton's eyes became round like saucers as his arms fell to his sides and he lost his smirk.
"But- but- how- that's-you-"
"I'm busy." Eden said, folding her arms across her chest, "And you're still here."
"Right. Right." Anton said absently and without another word tottered off to his own tent with a completely shocked expression on his face.
"That's not exactly what I had in mind," Arielle said as she climbed into her bedroll, "but thank you nonetheless."
"Don't tell me you didn't like the idea."
A slap in the shoulder was Arielle's response.
Eden would have been pleased with their pace if she was actually going somewhere she wanted to. Her heart grew heavier with each step along the coast and towards Avignon. Arielle didn't speak of it, but she could see the sadness in the bard's eyes nonetheless. And Eden didn't speak of it either; she didn't know what to say. She had dreams of Arielle running off into the arms of her awaiting mother and bidding Eden goodbye; she would imagine all kinds of ends to their story and not a single one of them ended with Eden happy. Sometimes she would curse herself for having become so involved in something she knew would never last. Yet most of time Eden ended up asking a God she wasn't convinced was listening to let her keep at least one thing in a world that she lost so much in.
Eden grew more nervous when they finally approached the only pass along the road that could be crossed in the deep snow. The narrow paths and high walls either side always made her nervous as they were the perfect place for a hundred things to go wrong. She only hoped that their band would move through without any slowing of pace and they might be able to make it through before the day was done.
"We need to cross through the pass here. Everyone stay together." Eden shouted.
The men grumbled in return and pushed their horses and carts on without rest as if they knew it was important to continue. While mostly everyone was staring ahead or at their own feet as they trudged across, Eden kept looking up at the tree-lined hills to each side with such focus that Arielle almost thought Eden expected to see someone or something there. Under her breath, the bard said a silent prayer to keep them all safe.
With quiet determination, they continued on their way, but as time passed, even Arielle began to grow unsettled and Eden's heart hammered so hard that Arielle could almost feel it in her chest. There was something eerie that seemed to lurk in the pass, hanging in the air. It was quiet, much too quiet. Eden looked up on the crests of the hills on either side of the pass, scanning them fervently like she knew something was there that her eyes could not see. She turned to find Arielle and looked back up to the ledge to catch a glint on metal.
"Ambush!" Eden yelled at the top of her lungs.
The shout grew into the noise of a startled crowd which then slowly grew into a deafening thunder as rocks began to roll down both sides of the hills. The earth shook as the boulders tumbled down. Panic shot through everyone and despite Eden's commands, no one seemed to hear her and they ran in every direction.
A part of Arielle's mind began to panic. Not again! Not this again! One of the travelers slammed into her as he desperately try to run away with the others and sent Arielle to the ground. Before she had a chance to shake her head clear and gain her bearings, a strong grip caught her by the collar and pulled her up.
"We need to run back!" Eden shouted.
The roar of tumbling rocks now gave way to the singing of arrows whizzing through the air.
"Get behind something!" Eden commanded.
"Where are they coming from?" the bard asked.
An arrow flew by narrowly missing the warrior's cheek.
"From the right! Keep to the right!"
"In their direction?!" Arielle asked, scurrying over to Eden.
"We're harder to hit at that sharp of an angle."
They scampered across the ground, between rocks jutting out from the snow and arrows raining down on them from above. Eden glanced quickly to see if Arielle was alright and then looked ahead. A large, dark wall appeared to grow right out of the ground and made Eden skid to a sudden halt.
"The other way! Run forward! Across the pass!" Eden screamed, waving everyone back wildly.
"What is going on?!" Arielle asked.
"Will you make up your damned mind!" Anton shouted as he raced by, "I'm too handsome to die!"
"Into the trees! The horsemen won't follow us there!" Eden yelled.
Eden reached for the bard's hand and pulled her towards the trees that covered the steep hill line of the mountain pass. They stumbled over the rocky terrain and in between the trees, arrows constantly flying by. Eden finally stopped between two large trees and pulled Arielle in closely.
"Follow right behind me and when I say left or right then move immediately, do you understand?" Eden said quickly and Arielle nodded, "This is going to get worse before it gets better."
They dashed out of the trees, mingling with the other travelers trying to escape. Eden jumped and skirted around the terrain like a fox and Arielle focused all her energy on simply keeping up. Soon the arrows stopped flying, replaced by lightly armed men descending down on them with whoops and blades. Eden pulled out her dagger and silenced anyone who stood in her way. She didn't stop moving, yelling commands that made Arielle constantly jump and roll in different directions. Arielle was mesmerized; the warrior looked like a deadly wind, like a plague that God had brought upon Egypt. She wondered how in the world, in that moment of fear and violence, she could still find beauty and grace. And she wondered if her love for Eden was the very thing that had pushed her away from the path of loving God and mankind.
Arielle finally noticed they were far across the pass and away from any falling rocks or flying arrows when Eden pulled her to a stop.
"Wait here." Eden said and dashed off to gather the stragglers.
When Eden returned, she counted the living and then pushed them all forward with a single word. No one dared to even speak and the men constantly looked over their shoulders as the women cradled their children close. It was only after they had found a safe spot that Eden told them to break camp and set up a guard rotation throughout the night.
Eden took watch when the moon was highest. She imagined all the terrors that the dark could hold and thought that if the rest had also known, they wouldn't probably ever sleep again. She wondered when she had stopped being afraid of nearly anything. Sometimes she almost wished she was afraid of things; life lost a little of its surprise and adrenaline without fear. There was no fear to conquer. She had walked through the valley of the shadow of death and feared nothing though she felt completely alone. It was ironic, she thought, that her only fear was the loss of a small, feisty, young bard.
"All's quiet?"
Eden turned to see Arielle approaching, wrapped up in a thick blanket.
"You can't sleep?" Eden asked, placing a hand on the bard's forehead, "Are you unwell?"
"I'm fine. You know me, I always sleep worse without you." Arielle said, clasping her hand around Eden's, "Do you mind if I keep you company?"
Eden smiled lightly and shook her head. She pulled a dead log over and motioned for the bard to sit. It was quiet again for a while, the only sound being the light breeze dancing through the tree tops, letting the snow fall down in a fine powder.
"Were they demons or just bandits?" Arielle finally asked.
"I don't know," Eden replied slowly, "but there's something out there. It's almost like-"
"We're begin followed?"
"Yes."
Arielle pulled her blanket more tightly around herself.
"Was it Lilith?"
"It could have been." Eden answered with a slight shudder, "Just as well might have been Dorian's men."
"You think he would follow me this far?"
"I think he won't ever give up. You foiled his plans. He'll never stop until he gets his revenge."
"What is this?!" Eden yelled, pushing her way through the crowd that had gathered outside Anton's tent.
She reached Anton and another young man on their knees in front of the tent. Anton's hair was disheveled and his shirt was crumpled and pulled out. The young man shivered while Anton simply glared at the crowd. Some held torches, others axes and knives and they stared back at Anton with the same icy glare. And despite it all, the sight of the two men barely clothed, kneeling in the frozen mud made the scene simply pathetic.
"We found him! We saw him trying to bed a man!" one of the tall men at the front finally said.
"What do you think you can see in the dead of night?! You all are mad!" Anton replied.
"Bed a man?" Eden repeated, "How do you know?"
"Look at 'em. They're guilty! You can see it!"
"Look," Eden said, lowering her voice and taking a step towards the man, "You better have a much better reason for pulling me out of my bedroll in the middle of the night than 'you can see it'."
"Well you can." he grumbled.
"We caught them in the tent." said a younger, skinny man standing next to him, "Together."
"Together?" Eden repeated and he nodded, "And what were they doing?"
"What d'you mean?" he asked and looked around at the others.
"What were they doing? As in actions."
"Actions? What d'you need actions for? They were in there together. Two men."
"And?"
"What d'you mean and?" the skinny man asked and looked at the tall man with wide eyes and the tall man could only shrug.
"All you supposedly saw are two men in a tent. There are two pairs of women who each share a tent and I don't hear you screaming sodomy all over the place."
Eden felt Arielle's hand rest lightly against her back and her fingers slowly curl around her gambeson. She felt the pressure of those fingers. She felt them trembling.
"Well that's different." the tall man replied, "You're women."
"And?"
"Well you can't... well you know." he continued and began to shift from foot to foot looking at others in the crowd as if he wanted to ask for their help.
"No, I don't." Eden said, folding her arms over her chest.
"You ain't men."
"You mentioned that already and I still don't see the point."
"Oh for God's sake, woman." the tall man grumbled, throwing his arms in the air, "You're a woman so you can't bed each other. You can't... you know... penetrate. There! Clearer now!"
"Oh, I see." Eden said, turning to look at the ground and trying hard not to shake her head.
"You know, you ain't as smart as you make yourself out to be if y'don't know that." the tall man added.
"Evidently. But you've made your point."
"So what are we going to do with 'em?" the skinny man asked.
"I say throw 'em over a cliff!" the tall man offered.
Some of the crowd yelled their agreement and thrust their torches in the air, but others watched Eden closely as if they were suddenly unsure of what the truth was.
"Excuse me! Now that you've all engaged in delightful conversation as if I'm not even here, I'd like to have some say in the matter." Anton said.
"Shut up, sodomite." the tall man growled.
"This is utter madness!" Anton yelled, getting up to his feet and walking straight into the tall man's face.
"Get out of m'face. I don't want y'getting your disease on me."
"If I were to lay my hands on you, disease would be the last of your worries."
"Enough!" Eden cried out and turned to the tall man, "I have no reason to think you're lying. You saw what you saw. We'll take him before a priest in Avignon."
"Why wait? We know what we saw! Let's try him now!" a few men yelled, throwing their fists into the air.
"I understand your fervor, but who here isn't a sinner?" Eden asked the crowd and they again grew quiet, "We aren't fit to judge him. But the priests are. They'll know what to do with such a deadly sin."
"And how do we know he'll make it to Avignon? He might as well escape."
"I'll guard him myself." Eden replied, crossing her arms over her chest, "Does anyone dare question that?"
Murmurs rippled through the crowd, but no one said anything. One of them spat on the ground and turned to leave, causing the rest to slowly disperse back to their tents. Eden sighed heavily and looked over at the confused Anton.
"You go and you get dressed." she said to the shivering young man and then to Anton and then turned to the bard, "Bring me some rope."
"Now look here-" Anton began to protest.
"Now." Eden growled.
Minutes later, Eden had Anton move his tent closer to hers and bound his hands and feet.
"Try to escape and I'll find you and feed you to the mob. Don't make this worse on yourself." Eden said as she wrapped him in a blanket and some furs.
"You're no better than the mob if you believe these insinu-"
"And shut up."
Eden left him to sulk as she walked back to her own tent and dropped heavily onto her bedroll.
"Eden, you don't really mean to take him before the Church, do you?" the bard asked quietly.
"First I need to keep him alive long enough."
Arielle quietly slipped into the bedroll beside her and rested her hand on Eden's shoulder.
"Eden-"
"Please, let's not talk about it. Let's just sleep. It's been a long day."
Arielle slowly pulled her hand away and lay staring at the tent canvas until sleep finally took her.
"Oh for the love of everything holy, you can't allow me to enter the city like this!" Anton cried out as the gates of Avignon became visible on the horizon.
"Why not?" Eden asked in a bored voice.
"Look at me! I look like a walking pig sty! What will Arielle's father say?" Anton replied, "You've kept a man wrongfully accused prisoner for a week. I doubt he'll be happy with the news of his envoy being treated so harshly."
"You're no diplomat, Anton, so save the speech about your treatment. What should I care what Arielle's father will say about you?"
"I can imagine that he won't be happy to see you in the slightest, with or without me. I just don't want to make it harder on you."
"That's sweet, you almost sound like you care."
"Yes, you're still the bitch." Anton sighed and shifted uncomfortably in his saddle.
Eden only chuckled and shook her head.
"But let me ask in all seriousness," Anton said, turning to look at Eden, "why couldn't you just let me travel along with you like a civilized human being? Did you really think I'd turn and run?"
"Anton, you're being taken to the Church under the charges of a heavy crime; you don't get to travel comfortably with perfumes and books."
"You don't honestly believe these accusations, do you?"
"Doesn't matter what I think. A whole group of people think it and that's enough to make it real."
One of the travelers who had scouted ahead came back with a short report which he shared with Eden while looking at Anton with a mixture of hate and disgust. Eden nodded and the man spat on the ground before trotting back in line with the others.
"This is vengeance, isn't it?" Anton said, "You're getting back at me because I made vulgar suggestions that you and Arielle were lovers. Do you feel better now?"
"This has nothing to do with your stupid jokes. But I have to admit the irony of it." Eden said with a single, soft chuckle.
"You think this is funny? I'll tell them you're lovers!"
"A sodomite accusing others of sodomy... I'm sure that will be very convincing."
Anton huffed loudly and looked away. They rode on for a while in silence. The walls surrounding Avignon grew taller and clearer with each passing hour. For once Eden had wished something would happen to bring them to a stop. A broken wheel, a band of bandits, or a demon for all she cared. Eden had to admit the double irony of it all; both she and Anton were probably looking forward to arriving in Avignon with the same dread and foreboding. She turned to look at him. His hair was unkempt, his clothes wrinkled, and his face wore the marks of fitful sleep and agonizing travel. Angry, red marks could be seen on his wrists from where the rope bound him. If she hadn't known him, she would almost feel sorry for him.
"You would've ran." she said.
"You're right," he replied quietly after a while, "I would have."
A few hours later they were entering the gates of Avignon. Eden half expected Arielle's father waiting there with an armed guard ready to run her right through. But there was no one waiting, no one who even seemed to care. They slowly made their way to the seat of the papal authorities established in the city while the rest of the travelers said their thanks and moved on their respective ways.
The city reminded Arielle more of Florence than Venice or Constantinople, but either way, she felt out of place. The buildings she passed were the same ones she recognized from her childhood; the streets, sounds, and smells were the same. The only thing, she realized, that had changed so much was her. A part of her wanted to see her parents, to know they were well. The rest of her wanted to scream and run.
They reached the building of the church authorities when Eden silently went around the back of the building and stopped on the muddy path next to the high wall. She turned with dagger in hand and cut Anton loose.
"Get out of here," she said, "but don't make a scene while doing it."
"What? You're actually letting me go?" Anton asked in surprise while he rubbed his wrists, "What about the mob?"
"They're not here, are they?"
"What about judging sin?"
"Do I look holy to you?"
Anton smiled and shook his head. He glanced at the bard who simply smiled at him.
"Take care of yourself." she said.
"And you. You court a large amount of trouble." he replied, cocking his head towards Eden.
"You want to leave before I change my mind?" Eden asked.
"Right. No need to tell me twice." he said, adjusting himself in his saddle and then turning to the warrior, "You know, I really did think you were a royal bitch... I must admit I might have been wrong, as much as it pains me to say it."
Eden said nothing and he turned and began to trot down the dirt path.
"I'll announce your return to your father." he called to Arielle, "We must keep up appearances!"
Arielle waved in response and then let her hand drop lifelessly to her side.
"Why didn't you tell me that you weren't going to turn him over to the Church."
"I wasn't sure how it'd go. Plus I didn't want an angry mob trying to beat information out of you. The less you knew, the better."
"I should have known you'd have a plan."
"I always do."
They smiled at each other, but the smiles faded when Eden looked off into the distance. They had both reached the place they never wanted to see.
Faith.
"I guess this is the part where I ask you once again to escort me warrior." Arielle nearly whispered.
"I guess this is the part where I agree to."
"Eden-"
"I don't regret it." Eden interrupted, "Since that first day in the desert, I don't regret it."
Arielle nodded, trying to hide her tears. They lazily made off in the direction of the manor, neither saying much other than giving directions. It was when they had left the city walls and reached the last plot of trees before arriving at the manor that Arielle came to a stop.
"What is it?"
"The manor lies beyond these trees. A wide road will open up when we turn this corner. Either father or mother will surely see me from the window." Arielle said.
At that moment, Arielle quickly turned, pulled Eden in by her gambeson, and kissed her so passionately that Eden almost lost her balance. When they finally broke apart, they were breathing heavily, their breath escaping into the air in small, hot puffs.
"No matter what happens, promise me you won't forget me." Arielle whispered.
"Impossible."
The bard couldn't hide it this time and tears unabashedly rolled down her cheeks. Eden took off her glove and wiped them away gently.
"No tears, my love. I am yours no matter where you are."