Logain left the room, and Glenn heard him shout once he’d left. “All right, you layabouts, back to work. Can’t have the mayor thinking we’ve gotten into the mead on duty!”

A chorus of hurrahs and assents followed, and then the sound of the door opening. Glenn could imagine his new Party tromping out one by one, heads once again hidden in the helmets. They would once again be the stern, powerful, intimidating guards everyone in Wolfpine respected.

Glenn breathed as he ran over everything he’d just learned. He still felt dizzy—so much was happening at once—yet he knew what he had to do next, and he focused on that. Wait ten minutes. Use the door. Travel to the park without being seen. Find Becka.

What if she was having second thoughts? What if she’d decided to turn down Jenny’s invitation and remain here with him? Becka wouldn’t do that, yet still ... Glenn had to be sure. He had wanted nothing more than to adventure with her until they both grew old, but that wasn’t possible now.

So now, all he wanted was to make sure Becka still had the opportunity to chase their dream.

Glenn waited ten minutes, then tested the door handle. It opened easily, and Glenn slipped out to find himself cloaked in shadow. He realized now this door let out beneath an awning that he’d somehow never noticed didn’t actually end at the building. Clever architecture.

He peeked out, but the street remained empty. Celebration still sounded from the town square, yet everyone was in the town square. Not on this side of the barracks. Glenn set off at a rapid pace, [Hiking Boots] quiet as ever, and made his way to Wolfpine’s small park.

The park wasn’t large, just a clearing with a few trees and benches and a statue of Vox, Goddess of the Bold. Vox stood in her nice dress with hands upraised, beseeching the heavens to protect the people of Wolfpine. Above her, one of the towers built into Wolfpine’s protective walls loomed.

With everyone occupied in the town square, enjoying tonight’s festivities, this park would be quiet and private enough. Would Becka be there already? How long had it been since they parted? Glenn had lost all track as the crowd congratulated him.

He half expected to be discovered and congratulated anew, but he made it to the park without incident. Instead of opening the gate, which always creaked, Glenn gripped the waist-high stone fence and vaulted over. That made far less noise, and he kept to the shadows as he searched.

It didn’t take him long to learn the park was empty. Becka must not have arrived yet. She must have assumed Glenn would remain occupied much longer with the festivities and the celebration. Or maybe she just needed some time to put her head together. This had to be hard for her, too.

Glenn wouldn’t shed any more tears. He wasn’t cursed. He’d simply wanted to take one path before the Gods chose him for another. He had known this could happen for as long as he was alive, though ... he hadn’t expected it to happen in this manner.

And though he and Becka might be apart for a few years, she could still come back and visit once she finished her training as a Blazer. Knowing her, Glenn had no doubt she’d reach Rank Eight and then climb ever higher. She was going to make a terrific Blazer.

Glenn sat quietly. He let his mind drift to possibilities of adventure ... eventually. The sounds of the town square had faded and the moon was high in the sky when the gate creaked. Glenn rose in the shadow of a large tree, yet didn’t move. It might be someone else. He wanted to see who it was first.

When Becka walked through the moonlight to the center of the park, carrying another [Traveler’s Pack], he realized she was once again wearing that absolutely incredible dress. She was so thoughtful. He really liked how she looked in that dress.

He stepped from the shadow of the woods. “Here,” he whispered.

Becka visibly jumped. Yet after a moment to verify he was who she expected and not someone else, she ran over, dropped her pack, and leapt into his arms. Glenn caught her as she planted kisses on his face, his lips, his neck.

Finally, they retreated into the shadow of a tree. They settled, Glenn with his back to the tree with Becka in his lap, arms wrapped around him. He wrapped his arms around her tightly, savoring her warmth. He knew their time together would end when the sun came up, but they had the now.

He was determined not to waste what precious time they had left.

“Are you all right?” Becka asked quietly, once they’d settled and she’d set aside her pack. “I mean, I know you aren’t. This is the worst. But will you be all right, eventually?”

Glenn forced a chuckle. “Of course I’m all right. I just gained the power of the Gods.”

Becka leaned her head against his chest. “Thank you for lying to me. You’re so generous, even now. Always thinking of me instead of yourself.”

Glenn gave her a squeeze. “To be fair, my thoughts about you are lecherous in nature.”

Becka kissed his bicep before she looked up at him. “I’m not all right with it. Just so we’re clear. I know we can’t change what the Gods have done to us, but this is still a kick from a mule. This was ours. This journey. And now by the time I finally turn sixteen, I’ll be a zone away.”

“So you’re still joining the Blazers,” Glenn said, just to be sure.

“Of course I’m joining the Blazers. What kind of a hypocrite would I be if I backed out after giving you so much grief? Jenny and I will be leaving tomorrow morning just past first light, just as we’d both expected. I’ll have Blazer support while Leveling, but I won’t be back for years.”

Glenn seared her into his memories. “I hate that you have to leave. But if we must part, this is the way I want to do it. You’ll be a Blazer like in the stories, living out both our dreams.”

Becka pursed her lips. “You read too many sappy books.”

“I like sappy,” Glenn said defensively. “I prefer to think of it as earnest.”

Becka gave him another squeeze. “Yet I didn’t come here simply to lament our fate. I came here to obtain a promise, and to make you one as well.”

Glenn raised one eyebrow. “What promise?”

“After I leave tomorrow, I need your promise you won’t wait for me.”

Glenn felt almost as confused as he’d been in the square. “What’s happening right now?”

“I’m not breaking up with you,” Becka said patiently. “I’m not going to pretend I no longer care for you in some foolhardy attempt to manipulate you into forgetting about me. I want to be with you as much as I’ve always wanted, but it’s simply not possible for us to be together right now. The Gods saw to that tonight. So I’m telling you it’s okay if you find someone else while I’m gone.”

Becka sounded completely serious. Glenn couldn’t imagine being with anyone but her, though it would be years before they saw each other again. How could she be so ... practical, about this?

“It wouldn’t be a betrayal because I’m giving you permission,” Becka said. “Understand?”

Glenn immediately understood. Of course, in all this, Becka would think about him first. She was trying to make their separation easier for him, yet it wasn’t fair to put all the emotional effort of dealing with the Gods’ choice on her. This had hurt her, too, so how could he make this easier for her?

As he thought back on the comfort his parents and Karl had offered on the stage, and the kind words his new party of Town Guards had offered as they welcomed him to their ranks, he knew one promise he could make Becka. A promise he fully intended to keep.

“I’m going to be just fine,” he assured her. “I have my family and the whole town and even Zack to support me, and I’ll protect them while you’re gone. I’ll miss you terribly, but it’s only three years.”

“So you’re not moving on, then.”

Glenn gave her arm a squeeze. “What I’m saying is you don’t need to worry about me. I can handle this. I can’t know what’ll happen while you’re gone any more than you can know what will happen as you train with the Blazers, but I do know I’ll be all right. I promise you that.”

She snuggled against him. “Fine. For now. Also, I have a promise for you.”

“Does it involve that trick with the sheet last night?”

Becka pushed back enough to look at him. “If only. My promise, to you, is that I’m coming back.”

“Of course you are. Your father’s here.”

“You’re here,” Becka corrected. “I’ve talked with Jenny since I accepted her invitation, and the Blazers work pretty much like we’ve always read. Whether or not I am chosen as an Adventurer in three months, I’ll become a Junior Blazer and have three years to reach Rank Eight. Until I do, I’ll be bound to the Blazer training me, which means I’ll be stuck in the zone to which I’m assigned. No breaks.”

Glenn nodded. He’d known that, of course, but it was always good to get more confirmation. He was tempted to ask Becka even more about what she’d learned from Jenny, but now was not the time.

“Yet once I reach Rank Eight and become a full Blazer, I’ll be free to take time off and choose my own assignments,” Becka said calmly. “I’ll be coming back to Wolfpine, and when I do, if you have a woman, we’ll all grab drinks and reminisce about old times. I fully expect she and I will become friends.”

Glenn forced himself to nod. He still couldn’t see himself being with anyone else, but he suspected Becka would worry less if she didn’t know that. So he simply nodded.

Becka leaned close. “And if you’re not currently with someone when I return, I’ll rent a room in the tavern with all the coin I’ve made, and we’ll have each other every which way for a week or so.”

Glenn laughed again. “Just a week?”

“For a start.” Becka smiled. “We’ll have a lot of catching up to do.”

Glenn kissed her again. The Gods were impossible to understand, as were their choices. Yet Glenn wouldn’t allow their whimsy to break him. He was stronger than that. They both were.

He wasn’t losing Becka forever. She was leaving Wolfpine from three years, and she would one day be back, just like she’d promised, at which point they would be together again ... or remain wonderful friends. As painful as this separation was, it was kind of her to help him remember that.

“We have an accord,” Glenn said softly. “I’ll be all right. Just like you.”

“So kiss me again,” she whispered.

Glenn did so. They laid down in the shadow of the trees. Knowing this would be their last night together for years made it both wonderful and bittersweet, but Glenn was glad they had it.

Finally, Becka pushed him off long enough to reach for her pack. As Glenn watched in bemusement, she pulled out an impossibly soft looking blanket and more blankets to go over that. She laid the blanket out, settled on it, and patted the space beside her.

Glenn scooted onto the blanket. He laid back as Becka wrapped her arms around and he wrapped his arms around her. She rested her head on his chest and sighed. “This is nice.”

“It is nice,” he agreed, as he grabbed a blanket and pulled it halfway over them. “All we need is a Moss Beast to watch over us, and it’ll be just like that night in the woods.”

Becka rose and adjusted the blanket so it fit. “We’re sleeping together, obviously,” she informed him. “We get one last night together. The Gods can’t take our night.”

Glenn leaned back and stared up at the moonlight seeping through the canopy of leaves overhead. “So long as it doesn’t rain.”

Becka slapped his chest and laughed. “Don’t tempt them.”

“Too late,” Glenn said, and reached for her. “Now tempt me, woman.”

Becka yelped and giggled as he pulled her over on top of him.