The burly guard's name was Blake. Alan could tell that he made the man uncomfortable. Stannis, the guard in charge, was a different story.

Alan was in a plain room that he suspected was usually used for interrogations. He was inside the guardhouse sitting across from the two guards who had found him earlier that day. The chair he was sitting in was surprisingly luxurious and seemed to be made from a soft and comfortable leather, which stood out from the plain surroundings. He figured that they must have tried to make it a bit nicer for him after learning about his circumstances.

Which was all well and good, except for the fact that his "circumstances" were a pile of lies.

Alan looked at the transparent blue aura that still encased his body, which he had learned was from a Skill called [Partition]. He held back his frustration. He stifled down his fear.

Reaching the guards should have been a good thing.

Earlier that day, shortly after he had been silenced and quarantined, Blake had been sent back with instructions to bring a number of medical specialists over, leaving Alan alone with the regal-looking guard for a time.

Alan had been scared and wanted to ask what was going on, but he still was unable to make any noise. The remaining guard had taken off his helmet to reveal an equally regal face with a well-trimmed mustache and powerful jaw. The guard's shockingly blue eyes glared down at Alan from above.

Taking his time the man looked around himself. Seeming to find what he was looking for, he picked up a stick from the ground and began writing something in the dirt next to Alan. He started speaking.

"You must be a survivor from Willowbrook. I am lieutenant Stannis, and you will refer to me as sir or lieutenant." His hand moved easily as he continued to scrawl something in the ground. "We had reports that your town had been infected by the disease known as the ash plague. It's a disease that hits fast and hard. People do not survive this plague." He continued writing as he spoke.

"This is why we spent the effort to [Sanction] the area and why I have you quarantined for now with my Skill [Partition]. That's the blue aura you see around yourself. I'm telling you this so you can understand the gravity of the situation. I want to be very clear that our number one priority is the safety of the citizens so until you are deemed safe we will not be letting you near the city. To that purpose we have a medical team coming to inspect you. At no point in time are you to try to resist in any form, are we clear?"

He stopped writing and looked at Alan expectantly. Alan tried to speak once more but was still unable, so he settled for a nod and looked over to see what the lieutenant had written. He felt a sinking in the pit of his stomach as he read the message scratched into the hard dirt.

It read: "You are a plague survivor. If you say or do anything to indicate otherwise, you die."

"Are we clear?" The lieutenant had repeated himself staring hard at Alan.

That had been hours ago.

Once read, Stannis had erased his message with his foot, and a team of people had arrived shortly after to poke and prod him with a variety of tools and utilize a number of strange Skills on him. They had burned his clothes and items, taken his horse, and scrubbed him with water and some horrible burning powder. At the end, Alan's body had felt raw but clean, and he had been given a simple outfit to wear. They had concluded that he was at least not infected by anything they could immediately determine and that he should not be contagious in any way. Stannis insisted on keeping him sequestered inside [Partition] as they lead him to a guardhouse at the edge of the town.

During all of this, the lieutenant had been by his side constantly. It made sense since it was his Skill that was being used to quarantine Alan in some way, but Alan had caught the man's cold gaze on him from time to time. He suspected that the lieutenant would use any excuse not let him out of sight.

"Now boy," Blake said leaning forward in his seat, bringing Alan back to the present. "Are you sure there aren't any more details you can give us?"

Alan looked over but kept quiet. He had already told the guard what he was willing to tell.

Honestly, he was scared to say more. Trying to wrack his brain for everything he could remember about the ash plague, he kept his story very simple. He recalled that the disease had struck several populations over the years, but other than that he knew very little about it. It turned people's bodies to ash was pretty much the only point he was solid on, and that was the focus of his story to the guards.

He settled for being vague, pretending not to have seen much, and trying to come off as too emotionally shocked to be appropriately helpful, which he supposed might even be true.

Having had plenty of time to think it over now, the circumstances under which Willowbrook had been attacked seemed increasingly bizarre. Three things stuck out. The first thing was that Eric had somehow known something was going on. There was also the fact that Orc's had broken into the barrier, something which he had never heard of before. And lastly, the fact that even days after the event no one had entered his town or even traveled along the Road.

The last point was explained by the wide area [Sanction] that had been cast around his town due to the "plague". But of course, there had been no plague. And someone had to have ordered the [Sanction].

He glanced over at Stannis sitting calmly in the chair across from him.

There was someone or a group of people with knowledge of the attack on his town. A group that might be responsible for the death of everyone and everything in his life. Alan could almost physically feel a firm resolve forming deep inside of him. A cold anger. A hardening of emotion and will. A response to the injustice and pain and death he had witnessed.

He would find these people, and just as they had done to him, he would destroy everything and everyone that mattered to them.

He knew the thought was ridiculous. He was powerless, friendless, and entirely in the power of the guards. He was scared and alone and just wanted to have someone take care of him. But the thought gave him something to hold on to. Something to keep him together.

Blake continued on, ignorant of his internal struggle and ignoring the lack of response. "I knew some good people in that town and it hurts me deeply to confirm this news. We were forewarned of course, but it's still a bit of a shock to hear our worst fears realized. Many folk here had family and friends in Willowbrook..." He continued somberly. "We're truly sorry for what you must have been through. For now, we'll set you up in a nice room while we report the situation up the chain of command. No one has ever survived the plague to my knowledge so it may take a day or two for things to get sorted, but until then we will need you to stay with us. We have some decent rooms and good food, trust me when I say there's nowhere safer."

"Thank you sir" Alan responded in his now familiar toneless manner.

"And you sure you can't tell us anything more about what happened?" Blake asked. Stannis threw his eyes over towards Alan waiting for a response. Blake just started scratching at his thick mustache.

"I will try to think of anything else I can." Alan replied carefully, "As I said, I was away from home and by the time I came back there was no one there. I remember searching through town and..." he trailed off, "I'm sorry my memories are still a bit hazy..." He decided to venture for some information, "Is there anything you can tell me? How did you know about the plague?"

Stannis's eyes narrowed at the question.

Unaware, Blake responded. "Orders came from the deputy commander himself to have the town Sanctioned off and the Road closed at various points just a few days back. The lieutenant here was sent along with a host of other experts due to their specialized Skills when it comes to disease control. And let me tell you those capable of Sanctioning off such a large area don't come cheap, so we knew it was serious..." a grunt from Stannis seemed to bring Blake back to himself.

"That was why we came at you so suddenly boy," Blake continued. "Not many would or could break a Sanctioning, and we didn't even consider that there could be survivors... well, either way, it should be lifted soon and then we'll see what we see." The guard finished.

Alan mentally noted the information, determined to investigate the deputy commander further. For now, he kept his curiosity to himself.

Blake made as if to spit to the side, but stopped himself last second as if just noticing he was inside.

"Well that about finishes things up here," he said. "Let's get you some hot food and a nice room. We'll take care of everything boy, you're in good hands." He patted his hands against his pants as he got up.

"Out the door and up the stairs you'll find yourself a spare room. There is a latrine at the end of the hall if you need it, and even a bath in the room if you want to wash up. We’ll be locking the door, but you just have to knock if you need anything. I know it might seem to you like we're keeping you locked up pretty tight, but this is for the best until the situation is resolved." Blake paused, looking down.

"Anyway boy, listen to the lieutenant here, he'll be keeping you in [Partition] for the time being which given the limitations of the Skill means he can't get too far away from you. Right sir?"

Stannis smiled at the short guard. "Of course," he replied. "I'll be in the room next to yours and can help get you some food and go over the basics of the place to get you settled. It's getting a bit late, so Blake if you could go send the report to the capital now and we can talk tomorrow once word comes back."

Blake saluted to the lieutenant. "Of course sir." He turned towards Alan before taking his leave. "Again, I'm sorry for your loss lad," he said reaching over and patting Alan on the back. He walked away and out of the room.

Stannis watched the closed door for a moment in the silence of the room. "Well I guess that's it unless you have any questions?" he asked looking back towards Alan.

Alan paused before answering. What should he say? He decided to be safe and play along. There was too much he didn't know.

"No thank you, I'm pretty tired, I just want to eat and go to bed. Maybe take a quick bath," he replied truthfully. It had been a long day. A long several days. An eternity. He didn't know Stannis's agenda but he wasn't about to figure that out tonight. His rough cleansing on the outskirts of town had been effective but hardly relaxing. A proper bath would be nice. His town had a public bathhouse that the villagers shared. He had found it unusable after the attack. A private bathtub was a luxury he had not actually experienced before.

"Alright, help yourself," Stannis replied. "One last thing though before we head to your room." He looked directly at Alan. "I want to be clear here. If you do anything, anything at all, that could jeopardize the citizens or our guards, you will be put down. Sorry to be so harsh, but I want to make sure we were clear on the gravity of the situation. There are some forms we have to fill out, and statements to be taken, but that can all wait for tomorrow."

Making sure Alan had gotten the message, the lieutenant nodded to himself and turned around to leave as he began speaking of the procedures that needed to happen, giving Alan no choice but to get up and follow.

It was night time, but the hallways of the Guardhouse seemed to be filled with all sorts of people coming and going.

As Alan caught up, he couldn't help but notice the wide range of clothes that they wore. Some of the outfits looked wild and revealing to Alan's eyes. He glanced out a few windows and noticed the city of Stonewall below him. Many lamps decorated the streets and walkways that bordered the guardhouse and people were still out going about their business.

Following Stannis, he tried to ignore his unease.

Reaching a normal looking door, Stannis opened it and ushered him inside.

"There's some food laid out and a bath for your personal use. Please treat the room as your own. I'll see you in the morning, Alan. I can't begin to understand what you went through, but you just believe me when I say we'll get to the bottom of this. I'll be next door if you need anything." Patting him on the shoulder, Stannis left and Alan was suddenly alone once more. He felt more than a little confused. Who was Stannis putting on the show for?

Waiting for a moment, he calmed himself down mentally and looked around his new room.

It was decorated simply but tastefully. There was a comfortable looking bed in the corner and several nice paintings hung up on the walls. A bowl of something hot lay on an intricately carved table situated across from the bed. And most impressive of all, there was a bathtub placed in the corner. It was a large bronze thing, with various knobs and tubes coming from the sides. There was a neat trick to how the thing worked that Alan didn't quite understand except that it involved some sort of crafting Skill to create. It was easy enough to use though and after walking over and turning some knobs he was rewarded with warm, scented water pouring into it.

Alan went to the bowl of food while he waited for the tub to fill up. He took a few bites of the hearty stew as the sound of running water calmed his nerves. The warm stew sat comforting in his belly.

Calmly, he finished his quick meal and finally moved over to the now filled bath. He put a hand in, testing the temperature. It felt wonderful.

Not wasting any more time he stripped his clothes and stepped into the inviting tub. Easing himself in, he soon found himself lying back and felt the knots of muscle he hadn't even known were there loosen as the water engulfed him. He looked around and quickly came to the conclusion that the guards were probably trying to be nice by giving him this room. It was too well furnished to be ordinary, not to mention the bathtub, it must be usually reserved for important guests or visiting high ranking officers.

He closed his eyes and let his mind wander.

He was worried about Stannis. He was concerned about getting the truth out. He didn't know what to do or who to trust or why any of this was happening in the first place.

He felt small and weak. He had imagined informing the guards about the attack. They were supposed to know what to do and take care of him from that point on. They were supposed to be on his side. Instead he found only more fear, confusion, and questions.

But he knew that he was exhausted and no answers would come to him tonight.

Saving his worries for later he tried to relax. The soreness from riding all day, the stress of the last few hours, and everything that had happened rolled off of him in the gentle water. He needed to not think for a while. He breathed in deeply as he lay in the tub.

The water eventually turned colder and Alan got out, dried himself off, and went to the large bed. He was still worried. Still scared. But he was warm, clean, and comfortable in a soft bed. Most of all, he was physically and mentally exhausted. He fell asleep instantly.