"Isaac?!" Jennie exclaimed as soon as she saw Isaac and Lenna enter her inn. "Oh, thank the gods, when Aria and Claus hadn't returned I'd gotten worried but if you're here…" Her voice trailed off when she saw Isaac's shoulders slump slightly and the proverbial shadows that hung heavily on her face as soon as she had mentioned the pair's names. "No…" Jennie froze in place as another piece of her world broke off and fell into the abyss. She had been working her way around the bar in order to meet them halfway but, upon realizing why two of her dearest friends hadn't returned, she stopped right at its end and had to use it to brace herself. "What happened?" She squeaked out.

Isaac and Lenna approached Jennie before Isaac answered her: "It was an ambush between Ben's End and Safeharbor. The entire caravan was wiped out." Isaac informed her and then furrowed his brows in confusion. "How did you not know? It was over a month ago."

"Who would have told her?" Lenna asked him quietly.

Jennie whirled on Lenna with a fire in her eyes but as soon as their eyes locked, Jennie froze. The anger towards the drow empire was justified, but towards a woman who hadn't been the one to kill them, a woman who had specifically chosen to throw her old life away and pit herself and her future against the drow empire despite being a noble of that very nation, everyone, including Jennie, know that any anger towards her would be misplaced. As the fire left Jennie's eyes, so did her strength leave the rest of her. She started to fall but both Isaac and Lenna were close and fast enough to catch her before her knees even hit the ground.

Isaac and Lenna sat Jennie down in a chair and then went behind the woman's bar to search for water and something harder. "We need to get her to take Gregory and join Chris in Safeharbor." Isaac whispered as they found and grabbed what they were after.

"I agree." Lenna replied. "But how?"

Isaac and Lenna sat four cups down onto the table between them and Jennie. They pushed one filled with hard liquor and one with water towards the inn owner and each had a cup filled with water for themselves. "Jennie, one of the reasons that we are here is so we can get the rest of Aria and Claus's things." Isaac told her and nudged the cup of hard liquor towards her slightly. "We have the rest of them in Safeharbor and are waiting to hear back from the guild about their next of kin."

Jennie grabbed the half full cup and chugged it down in three large gulps. She slammed the wooden cup back down onto the table and turned eyes filled with renewed flames on Isaac. "You found who did it, right?" She demanded.

"I'm working on it." Isaac told her.

"Work faster." She said with so much venom that Isaac feared some of it would get on him. "Those bastards can't keep gettin' away with this."

"We wiped out an ambush on our way here." Isaac informed her. "I only got to question two of them, but they both chose to die rather than to rat out which group was responsible."

"So just kill 'em all, that's what you're good at right?" Jennie's words and tone were sharper than a butcher's knife.

"Jennie." Isaac's word came out as a command that was expected to be obeyed. He hadn't meant for it to come out as harsh as it had but it had gotten his point across. He knew that it had when he saw Jennie shrink back into her chair slightly and her eyes widen. "Jennie," Isaac's voice softened back down to where it had been. "We are trying, that is another reason why we are guarding caravans. We will keep guarding them until either the ambushes and raids stop, or until we find the ones responsible for Aria and Claus's deaths."

Jennie nodded in understanding. "Okay." She replied and then was silent for a long moment. "I'm sorry, Isaac, for lashin' out at you. I know it wasn't neither of your faults." She wiped some tears away from her face with her worn out sleeves.

Isaac nodded in acceptance of her apology. "I understand." He told her. After giving her a moment to breathe, he pressed onwards. "We want to abandon Outpost Charles. That means packing up non-military, non-adventurer personnel first. It won't be now, but our next trip will hopefully be the start of it. If things change in the future, the outpost can always be reclaimed."

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"I-I can't." Jennie replied.

"I can easily get Gregory transferred into the Safeharbor guard." Isaac assured her. "Listen, Jennie, I will drag you out of this place kicking and screaming if I have to, but I am not going to let Chris and Gregory's mother die here out of stubbornness."

Jennie's eyes turned sharp as locked with Isaac's. "That is not your call to make." She dug her proverbial heels in.

"Forced relocation of non-combat assets from a combat zone to a non-combat zone. Assets in this case being the family of one of those in my employ as well as one in the employ of the ducal house and by extension the crown." Isaac stated coldly. It was exactly how he was going to get away with kidnapping her and forcefully relocating her to Safeharbor.

"Isaac, I'll hate you, for forever." Jennie told her and got to her feet.

"You have until our next trip back to sort yourself out." Isaac informed her. "Now, which room was Aria and Claus's?"

"Who said you could be the ones to hold onto it?" Jennie protested.

Isaac sighed. "Jennie, I am running out of patience." He took another deep breath. It was then that the first of the caravan crew entered looking for something to drink and a place to sleep.

Jennie wiped her face off again. "I have work to do." She spat and left to man the bar and cooking pot.

Isaac sighed and looked over at Lenna. "That could have gone better."

"It also could have gone a lot worse." Lenna replied.

Isaac got to his feet. "Let's just find their room and I'll pick the lock."

Lenna nodded in agreement and got to her feet as well. Soon enough, one of the room keys had been stolen and a singular platinum coin had been left in its place. Isaac and Lenna had just claimed a room for themselves and there were plenty more for the rest of the caravanners. Isaac spent the following ten minutes checking every single locked door until he found the one that guarded Aria and Claus's room. It was time for the second half of cleaning up after deceased friends.

—

Phantom stood over the two bandits that Shamesh had brought him. Both of them were tied to chairs and looking up at him with a mixture of rage and fear. The room that they were in was deep underground in the Sapphirestone undercity. There was a table between them covered in torture instruments that had been outlawed since before the last dragon surge. In the dead center of the table was a solid gold set of scales with a gavel on one and a set of shackles on the other.

"Goddess of Justice, I beseech thee, cast forth your net of truth so that it may catch all lies." Phantom spoke. The scales started to glow a brilliant golden light, which made it the only light source in the room, and then it washed every living thing within thirty feet of it in what looked almost like golden dust.

"What are you doing?!" One of the bandits, Tarel, questioned frantically as he eyed all of the now illuminated torture instruments.

"Just asking questions, for now." Phantom replied. "Now have either of you ever committed any of these crimes…" Phantom went on to interrogate both of them for the next half an hour. By the time he was done, he was the only living soul in the room.

"Fuck." Phantom swore under his breath. "I get it, boss, those kinds of people are the scum of Primatia, but so many people have an 'in for a copper in for a gold' mentality when it comes to crime." Isaac couldn't hear him but Phantom still often talked to himself as if Isaac was there. "Trying to find good help is proving to be more and more difficult."

—

"I can't believe I slept through the first of the year." Cainen, the man known as The Fatebreaker, said as his old friend helped him up into a sitting position. "How are those kids doing?"

"Fine." Xlen replied. "They had something that they had to take care of and I don't foresee them coming back soon."

"I know." The Fatebreaker replied. "Help me get to the window, I want to see the wonders of spring at least one more time before I die."

"You make it sound like you are going to die tonight." Xlen replied with a frown but nonetheless did exactly as he was told. It was an effort but Walter was there to help carry the other side of the ancient wish granter.

"I just might." Cainen sighed as they moved him into his chair which sat by the window. He looked out over the city as the first flowers started to bloom.

"Are you gonna leave me anything in your will?" Walter joked which got a positively seething look from Xlen and a laugh from Cainen.

"Nope." Cainen replied. "It is all going to my descendants and that orphanage your friends are obligated to take care of."

Walter couldn't help but smile. That was very on brand for the old man. "What about Xlen?" Walter questioned.

"All of his gear will be his own and not just the gear passed down from Guardian of Fate to Guardian of Fate." Cainen informed them both. It made sense as there was no longer a Fateweaver left to guard. He sat there, looking out over the city as the sun set and the moon rose. Overnight, he felt better but could also feel his soul reaching even harder towards the other side. Walter and Xlen watched over him for the rest of the day and the entire night. In the morning, just as the first ray of sunlight stabbed in through the window to plow into the ancient mage, Cainen's eyes closed for the last time. He sighed a sigh that was far too soft and long as his eyes drifted closed, and then, he just never opened them or sucked in a fresh breath, his heart had stopped and his strand of fate had finally just worn out. The last fateweaver had fallen and with him an entire school of magic capable of altering the very underlying principles of existence. Tears were shed, bells were rang, and a funeral so grand it lasted for all of spring were the sendoffs of a man who had seen more than any mortal alive could truly understand. Half of the world mourned as a piece of living history finally lost its binding and fell apart.

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