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Eyes welling up in tears, Maryl sniffled a bit. "It's just... I don't really have a home to go back to. and I..." She set her bowl on the table and covered her face with her hands. She stood there crying into her hands.

((Oh FFS! Delete that!))

Maryl cleared her eyes and sighed. "Ok Th-Thank you. I won't be a freeloader. I promise!" As she cheered up, she collected her bowl from the table and smiled. She hurried to eat her oatmeal and took a seat at the table.

"Okay." Maryl stood up and hurried over to the kitchen doorway, waving to Kel as he left the house. She could barely contain her joy. Jumping up and down a few times, she made her way back to her seat this time with happy jitters. A home, an actual home, a place to come back to and with any luck a real family.

Maryl opened the front door and looked out around the small grove of trees around the house. She shut the door, locking it with her key and stepping out onto the porch. "Gosh, he travels fast..." A small raven fluttered down, landing on the top of Maryl's staff as she started walking down the porch steps. "I have to earn my keep, Pi. It's nice to actually have a home to go to instead of hoping I get to the inn before check in time ends." Her raven didn't speak any words in return but was content to listen to her chatter on.

Seth looked up at the house as she and Maryl approached. It was quiet and dark. That alone wasn't out of the ordinary, but there was silence coming from the smithy. It was apparent that her father hadn't returned home yet. It was getting pretty dark out so she could only wonder where her father went or what he was up to. "I guess dad is still at the castle..."

Reaching the front door, Seth took her key from her pocket and unlocked the front door.

"He should be overseeing construction or something. That monster, Hrothgar was responsible for destroying the castle and we got a note that he was requested to rebuild it." Seth sat back on the couch, tossing her shoes onto the floor. She ran one hand down her face. "I hope he didn't just skip out on it to go frolicking in the woods or something."

"Conditions?" Seth sat up raising a hand to try to get her father to stop. "Wait! Dad, what did you find out at the castle?"

Kel stopped, leaning on the wall by the stairwell. he took a deep breath and sighed. "Something bigger than that guy had to do it. There were giant burn prints on the ground and one of the walls had evidence of being melted through. None of that matters though, some guy came around and rained out the place. All of that evidence got washed away. Well that and a good portion of the construction equipment and supplies."

"Wait... Who flooded out the Castle area?"

"I dunno, some guy in armor. I think he was a wind elementalist, not an average one either. So what happened to our boy?"

Seth looked down at her hands shaking, she felt a few tears welling up. "I... killed him..."

"Nice", Kel smiled.

"Dad!", Seth began sobbing into her hands.

"Hey, don't be so hard on yourself. It was you or him at that point right? And Maryl's life was on the line too." He gestured to Maryl with his bandaged hand.

Seth lowered her hands and looked up at Kel again. "Well yeah, but... but... I can't help but feel..."

"Some of the toughest decisions are made on the battlefield. You can't just dwell on them in times of regret. It just makes you start questioning your own existence, and second guessing your motivations. You'll just have to accept that despite your intentions, there are some lives you just can't save." Kel turned and started on his way upstairs. He spoke amid the rhythmic thump of his steps. "I'll start dinner in half an hour."