After the sun had set and the redeemers saw their last patient Azalea returned to her room. She slipped out of her robes and into her sleeping gown, and knelt before the statue of the Mother in her bedroom. “Mater, gratias tibi hodie. Quaeso animam meam ut usque mane.” With her nightly prayer said, Azalea lay in her bed and drifted off to sleep.

Hours later, in the dark, stillness of the night, Azalea suddenly felt as if she could not breathe. She took a deep breath in through her mouth but there was no air. Azalea jerked awake and tried to sit up, only to discover that there was a hand over her mouth and another on her shoulder, holding her down.

“Don't move and don't make a sound,” whispered a voice in the darkness as the hand slipped from her mouth. “I'm not here to hurt you, little bean.”

“Little bean? What do you want?” A terrified Azalea whispered back.

“I want to talk. May I light a candle?”

“A candle? Well, I guess...”

A flash of light, a snap, and the scent of smoke. With a sulfur match in hand the stranger lit the candle by Azalea's bedside table and took a seat in her chair. “Little bean...you have no idea how hard it was to find you. These past twelve years must have been so hard.”

“Twelve years?” Only then did it dawn on her. This stranger's fascination with her, the way his every movement was so silent and graceful, even his eyes as he looked at her now was so familiar. And only one person ever called her “Little Bean,” someone who had disappeared twelve years prior. “Papa?”

The stranger reached up to the bandages on top of his head and started to unravel them. His face bore a loving smile and adoring look in his eyes. “Yes, it's me,” he said as the bandages peeled away from his face. His face was covered in scars, likely from some sort of blade, and he was much older now. But all of this couldn't hide Azalea's father, Tassos, from her.

“Papa! It really is you!” Azalea jumped from the bed and threw her arms around her father. His face was sandpaper as he planted kisses all over her cheek. Just like she remembered.

“I've finally found you!” Tassos said, holding her so tight one would think someone was trying to take her away again.

Azalea tried to pull away from the hug, just to look her father in the eye, but he wouldn't loosen his embrace even for a second. She shrugged and continued the embrace with him. “Where have you been for the past twelve years? Last I heard you were going on a business trip, then you never came back.”

At that Tassos finally did let go of her. “You'll want to sit down for this,” he said. The two of them resumed their seats, her on the bed and him in her chair. “Did your mother ever tell you that I was an Acolyte of the Father?”

“She did. About four years after you were gone she told me.”

“I had a...an unusual covenant with the Father,” said Tassos. “I was an assassin for the cult, as well as for myself. According to the vows I made and the pact the Father made with me for every wicked person I killed he would bring me back from the dead one time. Over the years, even those years before you were born, I killed hundreds of evil men who wasted their lives. The more I killed, the more invincible I became.”

“I've heard of such covenants, but I didn't think they were real,” said Azalea, somewhere between amazed and confused.

“Well, I can assure you it is real. The rest of my body is even more covered in scars than my face, and many of those scars are from fatal wounds.” Tassos touched his chest. “Right here there is a scar from a spear that some fool ran right through me. I've tasted death, found myself in the Father's hands over and over, and he restored me to life again and again.”

“That still doesn't answer my question,” Azalea said. “Where have you been?”

“On that day when I left twelve years ago it was to assassinate Prince Paolo of Uvino, who was about to marry Aryn, the Queen of Arx.”

Azalea gasped at the sound of that. She'd heard about that assassination. Prince Paolo was only a boy, and the assassination itself sparked a civil war. The idea that her father was the one responsible for that was just an awful thought.

Tassos went on, “Cyril, the king of Diga, hired me to start a war between Uvino and Arx. It didn't go exactly according to plan. I was captured and killed shortly after killing my target. Nonetheless, the Father brought me back. I fled from the Arxian capital, trying to get back to the West, but the Inquisition caught me.”

Tassos stood from the chair and paced, his whole body shaking as he recounted the tale to Azalea. “You know their reputation. They figured out quickly that if they killed me I'd come back, and thought that such a power could be useful in their service. So they tortured me for months, 're-educating' me until I was their loyal servant. To this day any time I hunger I feel the rats clawing and chewing their way through my stomach. Every time I sit in one place for too long I feel the red-hot irons against my back. I hate what they did to me, but I can't even bring myself to be too angry at them for it, for when I feel anger I also feel the screws slowly twisting into the palms of my hands and soles of my feet again.”

Azalea covered his mouth. “Papa...Mother's mercy! That's awful! Oh, Papa...No more!”

Tassos gently pulled her hand away. “After several months of that I was willing to tell them I believed whatever they wanted, willing to do whatever they wished. They'd backed Queen Mahla by then, helped her take the throne of Arx. When Mahla asked for their help securing her reign they sent me with a team to assassinate Queen Aryn. Obviously, I failed. There was a traitor in our group. He killed the other two members of the team. I tried to stop him, but he killed me too. Twice. Ran me through with his sword and stuck a tree branch through my chest.”

“Papa...” Azalea pleaded.

“I know, little bean. I know it's horrible, but you wanted to know what happened.”

Azalea found herself, just for a moment, regretting that she'd asked.

“The tree branch he stuck through my chest prevented my heart from healing again. I don't know for sure how long I was there, just lying there dead, but I awoke on the shores of a river in southern Arx. My best guess is that flood-waters carried me downstream and the branch came loose. When I awoke so much had changed. Aryn was on the throne again, married to the traitor who killed me, and the Inquisition had been destroyed. I returned home, but new people were there. Strangers. I couldn't find you or your mother. It's taken me years to finally figure out where you are.”

“Papa...you're safe now,” Azalea said, pulling him into a new embrace.

“I'm just so glad I finally found you,” he said. “My little bean...”

“Stay here in the abbey, Papa. You'll be safe.”

“Where is your mother?” Tassos asked.

Azalea released him from her arms. “Mama? Are you sure you want to hear this?”

“I do. Please, you and your mother are all that I have left.”

“Oh, Papa...I'm so sorry,” Azalea said with a furrowed brow. “Mama...she's...”

Tassos raised a hand to silence her. He knew in an instant why Azalea hesitated. “I should have guessed. The Father took her from us.”

“The Arxians took her,” Azalea said. “They came to the West to abolish the slave trade, then found all of the slaves on our farm. They tried to arrest her...and she fought...”

“And they set the slaves free in some misguided sense of righteousness, I'm sure,” said Tassos.

“Slavery is wrong, Papa,” Azalea said. She'd spent her whole time as a redeemer learning all about that. Frankly, it was the only way she could justify the fact that the Father took her mother from her so early; punishment for misdeeds. “The justicars here have been working to put an end to the slave trade, just as the Arxians have.”

Tassos scoffed. “The slave trade will never meet its end. For as long as some people wish to subjugate others there will be slavery. It may just take other forms.”

“It's still wrong,” Azalea insisted.

“I don't care anymore.”

Odd. Azalea tilted her head to one side. “Don't care about what, Papa?”

“Right or wrong. Good or evil. The Father, the True Way, the Inquisition, any of it,” Tassos took Azalea's hands in his own. “Right here, this is all I ever really needed. The moment you were born I should have quit. I never should have killed for money or faith ever again. The only things in my life that ever made me truly happy were you and your mother. I lost your mother because I was foolish. I could have been there to protect her if I hadn't left.”

“Then stay here, Papa,” said Azalea. “You're an Acolyte of the Father. I'm sure Felix will let you stay.”

“I don't believe in the Father anymore,” said Tassos. “Oh, sure, I'm certain he exists, but he's a god of death through and through. Serving him only leads to destruction.”

“The destruction he causes allows the Mother to create anew,” said Azalea. “'For behold, every death leads also to birth. Life made anew.' And even if we do not serve him we will all die some day.”

Tassos chuckled. “You think I'm upset that I'm going to die some day? Quite the contrary. My time with the Inquisition taught me what foolishness my covenant is. For the Father to bring me back from the dead over and over? For him to let them torture me like that after all I've done for him? If he had any righteousness of his own he would have let me stay dead rather than raising me again and again into that endless torment.”

“Had he let you stay dead we would never have been reunited,” said Azalea.

Tassos sighed and hung his head. “I can't argue with that.”

“Don't be so quick to give up faith, Papa. Even when terrible things happen the Father is watching over us.”

“I want to believe that's true, Azalea,” said Tassos with a broken sigh. “I truly do.”

“It will take some time for your faith to be restored,” Azalea said. “Let me redeem you, then! Stay here tonight. In the morning we will tell Felix who you are and why you're here.”

“If you think that's wise.” Tassos looked down at the floor, just past Azalea.

Azalea gestured for Tassos to take his place in the bed, but he waved his hand to dismiss her offer, and then curled up on the floor. Really, she realized it made sense he'd rather sleep on the floor. He probably wasn't used to soft, comforting beds. Nonetheless, he deserved some creature comforts, so Azalea took a blanket off of her bed and wrapped him up in it. She smiled at the idea of tucking her father in.

“I love you, little bean,” he said.

“I love you too, Papa.”

Azalea climbed into her bed once more and blew out the candle on the bedside table.

. . .

The sound of bells woke Tassos from his terrible dreams. Yes, even after the comforting reunion with his daughter his dreams were full of horror. Some wounds were impossible to forget.

Azalea was already out of bed, “Papa, could you turn away for a moment? I need to dress.”

“Certainly.” Tassos averted his eyes as Azalea changed from her sleeping gown to her redeemer robes. “What's going on?” he asked.

“We're all being called to a meeting. From the sound of the bells...it's a war meeting.”

“War?” Tassos repeated, incredulously. “The Mother and Father forbid that women should fight in war.”

“Redeemers do not fight, but we are always near the battlefield to heal the wounded and comfort the weary. You can look now.”

Tassos stood and turned towards her. Such an immodest robe! Years ago he would have fully understood it as just part of the practice of the faith. Now he felt disgusted, and wished to tell his daughter to wear something that covered more skin.

But he held his tongue as to that issue. “Is it alright if I go with you?”

“Yes, come with me. We need to tell Felix about you anyway.”

“Felix is the Revered Son?”

Azalea nodded. “And a wise leader. Come along, now.”

The two of them soon joined every justicar, redeemer, and acolyte in the center of St. Archor's Abbey. The dawn's red light just peeked over the eastern hills. The dew on the grass glistened like beads of glass. The morning air was cold, with that hint of frost in the breeze. Felix's face was solemn as he looked over all of those gathered in the abbey square.

“Brothers and sisters, we have been called to action,” Felix said, holding up a rolled piece of parchment. “A letter from Lord Kenaz. He says that the Inquisition has risen again and taken the city of Nox. He's calling us to arms in dealing with this threat, as per the terms of our alliance.”

Whispers snaked through the ranks of justicars and redeemers. Amidst the whispers Tassos could swear he heard Azalea whisper, “Dario...”

Felix continued. “We knew this day might come, the day when we were called to war. The Inquisition is a religion based on cruelty, it cannot be allowed to rise again. All of you, pack your things and be ready to go within the next hour. Justicars will fight on the front lines, but redeemers need to be ready to heal their wounds.”

As the crowd dispersed to follow Felix's orders, Tassos whispered to Azalea, “Another war? So nothing's really changed in ten years.”

“There will always be war,” said Azalea, starting on her way back to her room. “It's one of the ways the Father prunes old life so that the Mother can make new life.”

“I know what the cult teaches,” said Tassos, “But don't let anyone fool you. No good comes of war.”

“Did you not start a war twelve years ago, Papa? Isn't that what you told me last night?”

“I did,” said Tassos, giving her a sad look. “And because of my actions I thought I would never see you again.”

“No, because of the Inquisition you thought you would never see me again,” Azalea corrected. “They're the ones who took you prisoner and made you suffer. And for that I want justice! They cannot be allowed to do such terrible things and get away with it!”

“Is it justice, then, or vengeance?” Tassos asked. “We have to be careful of that line that the Father commands we not cross.”

“It's more than either, Papa,” Azalea stopped, struggled with the words for a moment, and then said, “Last I heard from the man I love he was going to Nox, Papa. Dario...my beloved...he might be a prisoner of the Inquisition even now.” Azalea bit her lip hard.

“And after everything I told you last night...”

“The thought of any of that happening to Dario...I can't handle it! I have to do something!”

Tassos placed a hand on her shoulder. “Little Bean, I'm not going to let anything bad happen to this man you love. If he is their prisoner I will get him out.”

“Are...are you coming along then?”

“Looks like it. I've got one more war to fight.”