I was not having it. "Lady Swiftheart! That is beyond the line of appropriate!" She looked at me indignantly. "And how you can tell me that!" she snapped. I pointed over at her son. Fabien, who was quickly wiping his face, turned away from both of us. "My lady, you just asked your own second born son to take your life. Regardless of the context, do you not think that this is a burden too great to bear for Sir Fabien!?" Fabien could not answer as he was still too upset to respond. We had long since stopped walking. Lady Swiftheart could see what her hasty words had done to him. Her face filled with her regret. She put a gentle hand on his arm. "My son. I... spoke too much without thinking about your ability to hear me. I apologize for unsettling you. Seeing the plight of Lady Killroy has made me a bit more sensitive to the fears of aging." We gave Fabien time to regain his composure. It was clearly the end of the conversation. Making our way home, a chill in the air made all of us a bit less optimistic about the coming future. I held the door open for them when we got home. It was a big success... for us.
We had a somber retelling of the story during supper. Lord Swiftheart was concerned for his wife. Watching mortality in such clear definition would be hard on anyone. If I were in Sir Killroy's place, I would also be in despair. As the meal ended, we went our separate ways. I went outside to talk to Petras and Jeran. They were finishing their own meal. I looked at them. "You know, if this goes through, they all will be moving someplace far away. Even farther than this place is from your home." They just looked at me. "Are you sure that you don't want to go back to your tribe? Even for just a visit or to get a wife?" I asked them. Petras and Jeran shared a brief look. "You really don't understand tribal life. It's not as simple as you think it is." Jeran said. "I do understand language, you could try to explain it." I told them. "You joined in my battle and saved my life from that shorttail centauress. I pledged myself to you. That means I no longer have any rights to return to the clan." Petras explained. It looked like he was trying to put it in s more diplomatic way. "Will they cut your tails if you return?" I asked directly.
Petras had a conflicted look on his face. All he could do was nod his head. There was no way that he was going to go back if it meant having to be officially and publicly disowned and disgraced. "It was nothing as grand for me, but I also made the same pledge to you. My tail would also be cut off." Jeran said before snorting. "When they hear that a human like you was able to satisfy me during my heat, they would probably attack us or try to mount us for a punishment." he added with a very humorless laugh. I looked at them and said "You both followed me when you did not even know who I was yet. And you didn't abandon me when you did learn my identity. I honestly respect and cherish your friendship. There is no way I would stand by and let that happen to either of you." They smiled at me condescendingly. "I appreciate the sentiment. However, by your own words, you are not a warrior. It would be foolish for you to get into combat with our more skilled warriors in a duel." That was true. I did not do much damage to that centauress. I just provided the distraction for Petras to recover.
Jeran must have saw the look on my face. "Even if you are a thief and not a warrior, I've seen you fight enough to know that you're no coward. There's still a limit to what a 2-legs can do." he said. I snorted. "I'm still just a 2-legs to you, huh?" I joked. He just rolled his eyes. "When you grow more, I'm more than willing to recognize them." he said. That lightened the mood. "Good. I was just worried that you might get loney without your family nearby." I said. Petras said "Tribal centaurs do have strong ties. I understand what you mean to say. That's true, but we are not going to simply crumble. We have each other and it is not like that our tribal head would have not given us to other centuaresses outside the tribe anyway. If we ever wanted to settle down with some children, we can just find a virile centauress to handle our heats and then move on." "We will find mates that are up to our standards. We have high standards after all of our trials in coming down here." Jeran agreed. I was happy that they were happy with the situation. If that was the case, it was time to move forward. We all had big goals.
