"Mae, come quick," I said out into the trees. She flew out from the darkness and fluttered beside me. Jen shot me a quizzical look which I decided to ignore for the time being.

"Good job not dying again, Teddy," Mae said with a genuine smile. Even her praise sounded sassy.

"I need your help with Gwen. I tried to heal her but I don't think my magic is strong enough. Can you help her?" I asked Mae pointing at the currently lame horse.

"Animals here are slightly different than humanoid creatures. Their bones and such are a little more complicated to fix up," Mae said looking at the horse's passenger side rear leg. Or is it starboard rear leg? I was quickly realizing I knew very little about horse culture.

While Mae started pouring some of her healing magic into Gwen I tried to explain my invisible friend. I needed to find a standardized way to explain Mae without sounding like a crazy person, but I wasn't sure there was such a solution.

"Mae is currently healing Gwen. She is a fairy creature that is acting as my guide. No one besides myself can see or hear her. She doesn't fight but has some strong healing magic," I said to Jen trying to sound as normal as possible. One of her eyebrows seemed to rise a bit higher with every sentence out of my mouth.

"Did you hit your head during that fight?" Jen asked as she came over and checked my head as if it was a piece of fruit in a grocery store.

"No, I'm telling the truth," I said pointing over at Gwen. "Look."

She turned to her horse and saw her struggling to all fours. A feat that seemed impossible just moments ago since she couldn't put any weight on that back leg. Qwen's shakiness faded and she trotted in a small circle triumphantly. A horse with a bum leg usually doesn't end well so I could understand her happiness.

Jen went over to her animal friend and wrapped her arms around the horse's neck in a loving hug. She turned to me with a tear running down her cheek.

"Thank you," Jen said as she wiped away her tears of joy. I don't think she cared that she had thought I was crazy a few moments ago and she didn't broach the subject again instead opting to go back to check on Gwen.

"Time to loot," I said to myself as I rubbed my palms together excited to see what I would find.

There was a handful of common weaponry, a couple of fireball scrolls, and three potions of healing between all of the grunts. The shaman had only the staff that I had already looted and a common robe that I took for scrap fabric. The real prize was what the leader was carrying. He had twin throwing daggers that were ultra-rare and made me feel better about not wanting to ever use that death staff again.

Dagger of Obdormition (Ultra-Rare) x2

This dagger is weighted for throwing. Wherever this dagger penetrates the skin, a powerful poison permeates the surrounding tissue causing numbness for 15 seconds along with lowering HP by 2 each second. The effect can stack.

I didn't care much about the numbness, but the stacking poison made these some of my most powerful weapons.

I continued picking up everything that I could lift in the camp which ended up being just about everything. I'd already learned that scraps of wood and fabric could be used to craft some interesting solutions to problems. Once the camp was cleared out, we found our way back to the main road and continued with the plan to finish the last leg of the trip to Jen's hometown. I couldn't even imagine what a relief it was going to be to finish up this particular part of my journey. She was a nice lady, but the consistent thoughts of Paige that she kept triggering were killing me.

I felt like a sea stack that was just being hit by wave after wave. In my case, I was probably just looking sadder and sadder from the erosion instead of becoming more beautiful over time. Either way, it wasn't her fault and I wanted more than anything to get her back to her parents even if it was partially for selfish reasons.

The cart was destroyed, so we had to pack the majority of Jen's possessions up onto Gwen's back and I carried the rest. I mainly carried the items that I could easily tell were Jen's so I could return them to her without missing anything. I'm not about to accidentally steal from a widow.

Pips was sitting up on my shoulder by the time we were ready to move out just being his adorable self. I've already seen him do some amazingly violent things to my enemies, but I still just saw him as a cute little fuzzy guy. It was a strange dichotomy of cuteness and scariness.

"You good to go?" I asked Gwen just before we started moving.

She tapped in the affirmative and I extended my arm forward in a 'move out' motion. For whatever reason Jen was extra talkative during this last leg. I scanned for enemies as we walked and talked.

"Theodore, I just wanted to say thank you again for bringing me back home," Jen said. I had the feeling that she was looking at me, but I kept my eyes focused out ahead of us.

"You're welcome," I said without glancing over for fear of another wave of guilt.

"Why are you helping me?" she asked.

"Shamus asked me to help and I helped. He is a good man and you have been through enough," I responded.

"I understand that reasoning, but you have already risked your life against that huge monster and again to save us. It just seems like maybe there is more to it than what you say," she said with a tone that was more curious than accusatory. I couldn't blame her for thinking there was more to it, she was right.

"You remind me of someone I care about very much. I know you aren't that person, but I couldn't help my desire to assist you," I said after a brief pause to think about my phrasing. I couldn't say, "I died and you remind me of the wife I left behind and now I am dealing with a ton of guilt that I can't really even understand yet."

"Oh," she said deep in thought. I think my answer threw her off guard. "Can I ask who I remind you of?"

"I'd rather not talk about her. There is still a lot of unresolved hurt in that area," I said trying to meter my words so that I didn't sound like I was about to cry.

"I understand. We don't have to talk about that," she said sensing how deep the sadness was. "What are your plans after we get to Bettyford?"

"I need to talk to whoever is in charge to give them the town seal ring back. I'd also like to find a trader, crafter, or blacksmith," I said. As I finished speaking I realized that my footsteps were the only ones I was hearing. I turned to see that Jen and Gwen had stopped walking.

"How did you get the mayor's ring?" she said with a look of absolute shock.

"I took it off of the dragon that had attacked Roseglen after I defeated him," I said walking back to figure out why Jen seemed so surprised at such a little thing. "I was planning on giving it back to the town leaders. I haven't sealed any documents with it yet." I added trying to lighten her up a bit.

"That ring goes back to the founding of the village hundreds of years ago. It has always been worn by the mayor. There is even a bylaw that states that whoever wears that ring is the mayor of the town. The rumor is that once the ring is on a person's finger it is magically sealed to that person until their death. Either that rumor is false or the mayor is dead," she said still a little shocked at the lack of impact her words were having on me as they seemed to bounce off of my skull.

"So this is an important item," I said making the ring appear in my outstretched hand before her like a magician.

Her eyes went wide again at the sight of it and she quickly responded, "Yes. I'm saying you could have a claim to be the next mayor if you put that ring on."

I popped it back into my inventory for safekeeping. I had no intention of going into politics but I did just get an opportunity for a huge reward for finding this thing. "I'll keep it safe," I said.

We continued walking and like seeing an oasis in the desert, we saw the town of Bettyford and quickened our pace towards rest.

"I can't wait to see my parents again," she said unable to contain her joy.

I was almost as excited as she was until I saw a few of the town's resident's faces as we entered the town gates. They looked miserable. I got a feeling deep in my gut that the oasis was actually a mirage.