Where did Vivienne want to go? She had not put much thought into it since they had left Fort Erich. What she truly wanted, was to go back in time to be with her full family back at The Dancery. But, of course, that was impossible. Everyone around Vivienne was also thinking about what they wanted to do. Did they want to stay with Adam and Vivienne, wherever they were going? Or did they want to go somewhere else.

As Vivienne was thinking, she was stuck with a thought. There was a place she knew in Hessler city. This city was one of the three major cities found in Heider kingdom. It was where Vivienne grew up before she moved to Fort Erich with Alaric. The city has a large military presence. Almost all the roads in the north were in some way connected to this city. It was the best place to quickly deploy troops to the border in case Luxom invaded somewhere.

Vivienne spoke her decision: “I want to go to Hessler. There is a place where I used to work that was full of people I knew. They will most certainly help at least me and Adam. Hessler will have more opportunities to restart, and to help Adam recover, than a smaller town would.”

“To Hessler then.” Hansen nodded as he started to plot how they would get to the city.

Dallen also chimed in: “I really have no where else to go right now, I will follow along and help protect you and Adam. Don't know that I will stay in Hessler when we get there, though.”

Jeffery, Timothy, and Barnaby were talking with their wives to come to their own decision. Eventually they spoke up: “We will also go to Hessler with you. At the very least we can get to anywhere else in Heider from there. Though we do think that we should join up with some sort of caravan to make the journey easier and safer.”

Vivienne simply said to everyone present: “Thank you.” She was relieved that she would not have to travel with Hansen alone. She had severely mixed feelings about the man and did not fully trust him right now. She did not know that her decision would decide the future of the whole group. Now she had a vague plan for the future, which was much more than she previously had.

Hansen spoke up: “If we wait for too long, refugees will start to clog the road to Hessler before we know it. I think tomorrow morning, we should just have Dallen go into Edelburg to try and get us bows, and some traveling supplies. We can refill our water pouches at the river and hunt game on the way. ”

This made sense to everyone. Edelburg was already overflowing and it would be hard to maneuver the cart there. The earlier they headed out, the farther ahead they could get from being stuck behind slower refugees. While they did want to try and join a caravan, there would not be many to pick from in a town like Edelburg. Others would certainly also share the same idea to get into a caravan, so even if they could find one, they might not be able to join if it got too full.

They set off early the next morning. When Adam woke up, Vivienne told him the plan of where they were going to go. It took them little more than an hour to reach the outskirts of Edelburg. They were actually still around a kilometer away from the city proper, but there were too many tents splayed out in front of them. These belonged to the army. Some were for soldiers, others as relief aid to the refugees. The area was packed full of people.

Dallen started to thread his way through the refugees to hopefully reach a shop in Edelburg. At the same time, Hansen pulled the cart of the road and circled around all the tents heading towards the river. Here they would refill their water and wait for Dallen.

While they were waiting, Adam was getting bored. He didn't like that, as when there was nothing else to think about, his mind would wander to his father and sister. In an effort to distract himself some more, he asked: “Mom can I get out and walk around the cart a bit? I want to stretch.”

After his mother consented, Adam was helped out of the cart. With his feet shaking on the ground, he leaned against the cart with one of his hands. It was a little scary not being able to see at all. That wasn't just because of the darkness before him. Many of the sounds he heard were sharper then before, they seemed to come out of nowhere too! Also everything he touched was a surprise. He had no idea what was really around him. He could be standing on the edge of a hundred foot high cliff, and would never know it!

Timothy offered to help Adam walk around, but Adam politely declined. Adam wanted to get a little used to the nothingness he saw, it would be accompanying him until he healed. After stumbling around for a small while, he had enough and got back in the cart with some help from his mother. In his mother's embrace, he tried to calm down a little from the scariness of just walking around.

It was noon before Dallen finally came back, it took longer than everyone had anticipated. Dallen had a single bow and a quiver of arrows with him. With a dissatisfied look, he spat out: “Its full of cutthroats over there! I had to trade my sword and all my provisions just to get one bow, and a hand full of arrows! At least I managed to keep my spare dagger.”

An ugly look passed through everyone's face. They had been hoping for more than what they got from the trade. Hansen spoke: “Well, at least we can hunt now when we get over the river. We need to hurry up before the bridge gets too full.”

Now that Dallen was back, they needed to head out as soon as possible. Instead of going through Edelburg, that was clogged full of refugees everywhere, Hansen followed the bank of the river to reach the bridge that was inside the town. It was actually far faster going this way, as there were less people to thread their way through.

When they finally got to the bridge, it was not quite as busy as they thought it would be. The refugees trying to leave got more or less stuck in town while trying to buy provisions that were not nearly plentiful enough for them. Quickly making their way across the river, they were on a road that would lead them through a forest. In a few weeks time they would be able to get to Hessler.

During the journey through the forest, Adam found himself concentrating on all the noises around him. From birds, to crickets, to frogs, he was trying to find and identify the sources of these noises. It started out with a cacophony of sounds around, that started to scare him a little. He did not know what was around him in this sound filled forest. It eased his mind when he started picking out sounds and telling what they where, and the general direction they came from. Nights were the scariest for him, as there would be occasional wolf hounds calling out. There were also times where there was hardly any sounds around them. Adam liked those times the best, as there were no sudden sounds coming out of nowhere. Only the creak of the cart, and the stamp of feet.

The aunties, who were the wives of Jeffery, Timothy, and Barnaby, were all quite helpful and friendly as well. Vivienne and the aunties easily formed a clique. They would talk, of course, but together they would also take turns helping Adam, as well as Timothy and Sarah's one year old, Christopher. They even let Adam try to carefully hold Chris. Adam could only really feel a squirming package in his arms, and quickly gave it back. They also quickly discovered that Alaric was right on the dot: Mary was newly pregnant.

Two days after entering the forest, they came out the other side. The town of Irving lay before them. The group had managed to get far enough ahead of the many other refugees, that this town had yet to be overrun with other people. They managed to find a merchant caravan that was heading in the general direction of Hessler. The caravan would be making a large detour away from the direct route, but if they managed to get Adam and Vivienne on a wagon in the small caravan, they could actually travel much faster. In this way there would not be much difference in the time to get to Hessler.

Hansen and the others sold themselves cheaply to protect the caravan in exchange for some extra supplies. Vivienne also found a simple flute the merchants had in their supplies. She managed to convince the merchants to allow Adam to have the flute. When Adam received the flute, he was excited. He always liked the flute, and now he had something to help distract him, besides all the sounds around him.

At first when Adam started to play his new flute, it sounded quite bad. Before, he had his eye sight to guide his fingers across the flute. Now that he was blind, it was much harder to do so. It didn't take long for his sour musical notes to become sweet again, though, as he was able to quickly figure out where all the holes in the flute were. Even if he was a novice player, he projected nice music that the rest of the members of the caravan liked, so they didn't mind him constantly playing the flute. He managed to keep a fresh and lively feeling throughout the caravan while he played.

Playing the flute easily distracted Adam from thinking more about his father and sister. But as he played more, it got easier to do and he had more time to think while playing. Again his mind would drift back to that night they died. Though it had started to get less disheartening as time went by, his still felt deep pangs when he thought of them. To concentrate his mind more, Adam started to listen to the sounds around him as he played and tried to match his tune to the area around him. Every now and then, as he played, there would be a few seconds where an enchanting harmonic sound existed between him and nature.

The rest of their journey was mostly uneventful. With Hessler being a major military center, there were few bandits who dared to operate in the vicinity. Though there was one incident where a handful of two-bit bandit, that had ragged equipment, tried to attack the caravan. The guards, including Hansen and the others, quickly fought them off. There were a few injured, no casualties. Francine, Sarah, and Mary decided they wanted to pull their own weight around and helped the injured dress their wounds.

On the 20th of Zvielen, they finally made it to Hessler. It had been a little over a month and over the course of the journey, Adam and Vivienne had begun to exccept the fact that they lost their previous lives, as well as Emilia and Alaric. They were still incredibly saddened whenever they thought of them, but they no longer felt the unimaginable grief that they first had. They had others around them that tried to support and cheer them up, so they were able to move on, if just a little.

Hessler city could be seen before them. It was a well protected city, with it's heavy military presence and robust stone walls. Unlike Fort Erich, more than just military personnel lived behind these walls. There were plenty of rich folk, merchants, and common men for menial tasks like farming the area around the city. It also had a slum district as most any city it's size would have.

After they got inside the city, Adam, Vivienne, and the others departed from the merchant caravan in a market place. Vivienne leaned heavily onto a crutch and started to lead them to where her friends were supposed to reside. Even though she was not supposed to be walking on her leg, Vivienne would do so when it was require as she did not want to be carried everywhere. It was her way of staying independent during the journey.

Adam was guided by Francine's hand as they followed Vivienne. He worried for his mother, as he heard her occasionally grunt with effort and minor pangs from her leg. He could also hear the thunk, thunk, of her crutch hitting the cobblestone road.

Adam found the city quite overwhelming, while they were following his mother. It was very noisy, especially when compared to the road they had traveled and the towns they visited. Before he could pick out sounds of what was going on around him. But now, all he could clearly hear was his mother's crutch. Everything else was the sounds of the hustle and bustle of a city.

Eventually they stopped as Vivienne proclaimed: “We are here. Let me see if I can find someone I know.”

Before Vivienne could leave Dallen started to ask in a slightly surprised voice: “Hey, isn't this a brot-”

“Shut it” Vivienne cut Dallen off before Adam could tell what he was asking. “Yes this is one of... those places. But before your imagination gets the better of you, they offer more than just.... those kinds of services here. I never partook in that part of the business. I was simply a dancer and a bar maid, nothing else!”

Vivienne had brought the group before a large lavish building. It was three stories tall, and had a huge garden courtyard and an adjoining dormitory for the employees. There was a sign hanging nearby that unabashedly said: Madame's Dance, Bar, and Brothel. Vivienne was purposefully avoiding the word “brothel” so that Adam would not hear of it and get any weird ideas in his head.

Vivienne had once worked at Madame's. She started from a young age since she had been taken in as an orphan. Madame's took in many girl orphans, and just a few boy orphans. Some minds may start to wander at the implication of taking in so many girls for a place like this, however participation in the brothel was not compulsory. The girls were also not allowed to give such services until they were considered adults that could make their own decision. Madame's tried to help their girls grow up to be smart and to give them new lives. After they become adults, they can leave or stay and continue working at Madame's. It was a rather clean establishment for what it was.

The first story of Madame's was for the common man. It was a lively restaurant style bar, much like the Dancery, accept they sold alcohol here. It held many beautiful dancing girls of all ages. There were also many attractive looking bar maids running around to fill orders. There were bouncers wearing black that would patrol around to make sure nobody went above their station and tried to assault the girls. This area anyone could come and enjoy, as long as they paid.

From the second story up, it was for high paying patrons only. These areas were where no girl under age was allowed. If any girl caught a patron's eye from their dancing in the first floor, they might be asked to attend to the patron on a higher floor. The girls could, of course, refuse.

The second story held “private booths” for more erotic type dancing. The third story held VIP rooms for full services. Only rich folk could afford the charges Madame's gave for the use of their girls. Many were truly willing to shell out the cash for the beautiful and well cultured girls that Madame's raised. No low class ruffians were allowed on these floors so the girls had a very low chance of being abused.

If any of the girls did decide to attend to VIP's they would only do so once or twice. A generous amount of the fees charged to the patron would actually end up in the girl's own pocket so she could jump start a new life for herself.

Vivienne flagged down an employee who was heading from the dormitory to Madame's. She asked the young girl: “Do you know if Madame Irene is available?”

Surprise washed over the girl's face as she politely answered: “Sorry, Miss, but Madame Irene passed away two years ago. Madame Janette is our new proprietor. If you wish, I can see if she is available.”

While the young girl went to see if Madame Janette would come to see Vivienne, they decided to sit Vivienne, Adam, and Mary down on a bench in the courtyard, while the others stood around. Dallen started to ask a question aloud: “So what IS our plan from now on? We have never really talked about what we would do after we got here.”

Vivienne was the first to speak up: “Well Madame's always looks after its girls. We are sisters to each other, and if any of us ever get in a spot of trouble we are always welcomed back home. I'm sure they will be able to put me and Adam up in the dormitory. I can start working, in the kitchen at least, when I have fully healed. If Hansen truly wishes to stay and protect us... I might be able to get him a bouncer position. As for everyone else, they may allow you to stay for a few days and figure out what you want to do. But I doubt they will want to hire all of you.”

Everyone started putting on thinking faces as they thought about what they wanted. Hansen did not need to think too much. If he was allowed to be hired as a bouncer, he could continue his job of protecting Adam and Vivienne. They still had yet to know if Adam's eyes would heal, though they already knew it wasn't very likely at this point. If Adam's eyes did get better, Hansen would be ready to teach Adam anything he wanted to know.

Dallen was the first to speak his thoughts: “I think I am going to join the army. I still feel like I want to bash some Luxom skulls in.”

They all felt a sense of satisfaction from Dallen's response. They all held some anger in their hearts for what Luxom had done to Fort Erich. Even Adam felt this anger and was a little happy that someone he knew would meek out a measure of justice on Luxom.

Jeffery, Timothy, and Barnaby came to their own conclusion, with their wives' approval. They did not have too many opportunities to make a living in Hessler. The three brothers only knew how to use the sword, however the city guard here was formed by the military, so there was no way to just join the city guard. They did not want to be ordered to march to the war front, when all they wanted was to stay by their wives and protect their family. So they were going to hire themselves out to some merchant caravans until they made enough money to buy a single house they would all live in for a time. They would settle down in a well off city or town, somewhere, and join the watch.

It only took a few minutes for them to come to their own decision about the future before a middle aged woman, around forty year of age, wearing fine garments walked over to them. She spoke with an ephemeral voice that was touched with emotion: “Vivi, is that you?”

Happiness spread through Vivienne's face as she tried to stand up. “Janette, so it was you who became the new Madame after all.”

Janette quickly sped up her steps to quickly get to Vivienne, and embraced her in a gentle hug. Worry was in her voice as she asked: “Vivi, what are you doing here? Did something bad happen?”

Vivienne sat down and told Janette her story. It saddened Janette that her little sister had to go through such hard ship. When Vivienne was growing up, Janette was her “elder sister” that taught her everything she needed to know about working in the Madame's. Janette also knew Alaric, a little, and it was a small blow that he was gone and could no longer support Vivienne. Janette easily agreed to allow Vivienne and Adam to stay. Though she was a little apprehensive about all the people Vivienne brought, she hopped that she would not be required to give them all rooms and jobs. Even if they had many rooms and a large business, Madame's had a bottom line it had to reach. Luckily, Vivienne only asked for a job for Hansen, and just a few days stay for the others. Janette readily agreed to this, Hansen's gruff look would make him a good bouncer that could ward off even the gnarliest of customers, and what was a few days of room and board?

Janette personally led Vivienne's group to the dormitory. She seemed quite interested in Adam as she talked to him on the way. Adam found Janette to be a nice lady. After they figured out the rooming with the dorm manager, Janette turned to Vivienne and spoke: “I will get the best healer I can find to come look at you and Adam sometime in the next few days.”

Vivienne was a little surprised at Janette's words. “Isn't that going to be expensive? Please don't go out of your way for us like this.”

“Nonsense, I Imagine you were thinking of working here for a while until you find out if you want to go somewhere else to start anew. So I am merely looking out for one of my employees. Also Adam is still young, and if a good healer can help him with his eyes now, it would be far better than waiting untill later.” Janette had a well reasoned argument and there was no way Vivienne was going to keep her from calling on the best healer in the city to wait on them.

“Come now, go settle in. We can figure everything else out later.” Janette said.

Vivienne's group went to their assigned rooms to rest from their travels. Adam and Vivienne were put in a room together. Hansen was placed in an area that housed some of the bouncers that lived here at Madame's. Jeffery, Timothy, and Barnaby were all paired up with their wives as well. When lunch time came, Janette had set it so that Vivienne and Adam's meals would be delivered to their dorm.

They all met up again in the evening, crowding into Adam and Vivienne's room. Dallen announced that he was going to leave to join the military tomorrow, he felt there was no sense in just waiting around. The three brothers and their wives decided to go hunting for caravans to join tomorrow as well. It seemed that they would be heading in their separate ways faster than they thought. Adam felt a little sad that they were all going to leave. He had grown very accustomed to them during their journey. He was in an unfamiliar place, and was only going to have Vivienne and Hansen as people he knew. Still, he also knew that they had to leave at some point anyway.

The next day, Adam woke up in a comfy bed, refreshed in a way he had not felt since he had left Fort Erich. He cried a little as they said good bye to Dallen later in the morning. Dallen had always been rather kind to him. After Dallen left, Jeffery, Timothy, and Barnaby went out to find a caravan that they could join. Hansen was also led off to be shown his duties as a bouncer.

Adam had started to feel lonely and confined in the room they were given. He was waiting with his mother for the healer to come. They had been told that the healer would arrive sometime in the afternoon.

After lunch, Adam started to get a little restless. He wanted to get his eye sight back. In this unfamiliar place, it would be the only thing that could get him to be used to the area. He did not want to have someone guide him around by the hand, or use a stick to feel out the area around him. He was sincerely hoping that this healer could help him.

Eventually, Adam finally heard a knock at the door before someone quickly opened it. It was Janette who was followed by an older looking man. She announced: “This is Healer Edward. He is the best healer you can find in Hessler. Edward, this is Adam and Vivienne.”

Adam got excited when he heard this. “Surely the best in the city can help me.” he thought to himself.

Seeing Adam so giddy, Vivienne told Edward to see to Adam first. She was also hoping that Edward could do something that Varcian could not. Adam tried his best to sit still while Edward examined him. He felt Edward unwind the bandage on his head and start to peer at his eyes, occasionally lifting one of his eye lids. Edward was only giving off some “hmm”-s as he worked. Eventually he just gave off a sigh. Then he spoke: “I am sorry, there is nothing I can do. I am afraid that Adam will be blind for the rest of his life.”

Edward's words sounded like thunder to Adam's ears as his mind went blank.