She ran. What could she do? What could she say? How could she help? She didn’t know, so she ran. Eventually, she ended up at Baron Reginald’s house. Natalya went in, hoping he might know something.

Past the gate, through the yard, and into the house, Natalya hurriedly went. Unlike the past few days, the house was quiet, absent of the noise and raucous caused by a house full of desperate nobles. There was noise coming from the back of the house, from the kitchen, so she went there.

Before she could enter the kitchen, Keira sprung up and blocked her path. “You don’t need to be here, Natalya.”

She stumbled back surprised, “What do you mean?”

“I’m already preparing lunch, and Annabelle is helping me already,” Keira moved out of the way to reveal Annabelle who waved.

“No, that’s fine,” Natalya said, waving back at Annabelle. “I was just looking for Baron Reginald.”

Keira cocked her head to the side and frowned, “That’s it? In that case, he is upstairs in the library, if I recall correctly.” Natalya nodded her head in thanks and went up.

Baron Reginald was reading a book when she came in. He put it down and immediately and got up to greet her. “Were you able to find him?” He asked.

“Yes–”

“Great, I knew you could fine him.” He said with a smile. Reginald looked around, “So, where is he?”

Natalya walked past Reginald and plopped down on a chair, “He’s crying on a cliff.”

“What?”

“I found him alright, but he was crying and vomiting and I had no idea what to do, so I came here to see if you knew what to do…”

“And he’s on a cliff?” Reginald sat back down in his chair. “We have to get him off that ledge before he does something stupid.”

“Yeah, but how?”

Reginald thought for a moment and said, “We could simply bring him down whether he wants us to or not. But, it would be for the best if we get him to leave of his own accord.” He paused, leaning forward, “Now, do you have any idea why he would be accepting like this?” Natalya slowly shook her head. Reginald scratched his head, “Okay… You last saw him at the castle correct? When exactly did he leave and under what conditions?”

“The guy’s head was about to be cut off and we were just talking. I was telling him that since this was over, he was free to do whatever he wanted. I know he planned to register with the Adventurer’s Guild, but after that I don’t know what the plans were. After that, he just left.”

“What about his attitude at the time? Hasn’t he been acting a little off the last few days?”

“Now that you mention it, he was acting a little weird ever since he came to that guy’s house to get him.”

“I’m not the only one then. Since you had been travelling with him, if you noticed some change, then there might be some credibility to it.”

“Well, I thought it was odd, but didn’t think much beyond that. I haven’t been with him that long; I only met him on the first, so I don’t know that much about him.”

“Only two weeks? “Reginald slowly got up from the chair, “Then there is no use in sitting here. We won’t ever be able to know what is wrong without speaking to him.”

“Then would we able to help him and bring him up?” Natalya asked, getting up to follow the Baron.

Reginald shrugged, “We won’t know unless we try. Everyone has their problems, their struggles, their demons, and no matter how well we even know someone, what ails them may never be truly known to us unless they themselves tell us. Beyond that is the question of how we, as outsiders who have no intrinsic stake in the inner conflicts of man, can even attempt to rectify the situation, assuming we even know all that there is to know. No matter the problem, be it minute or significant, our words and actions can only do so much in relieving the burdens and stresses of another. We can say all the right words and take all the right actions, but the ultimate burden of correcting the issues of self will invariably fall upon man and not men.”

There was silence for a moment as Natalya stood there unsure if he was done speaking. “Wow Mr. Baron, you must be really smart to say things like that! I’ve never heard anyone talk or say things like that before.”

The Baron sighed, “When you get to my age, you learn many things, some pleasant and others not so much. Now let us go – we have no time to waste.”

“Oh, one thing!” Natalya interrupted Reginald. “Do you have some rope by any chance?”

“Rope? Why do you need rope?

“So I can go down and get Suran of course!”

Reginald scrunched up his face. He did not understand the request. “If you need rope then go and ask Fletch—” he caught himself and shook his head, “Go ask Keira. She will get some for you.”

“Ooookay!” Natalya quickly made her way past Reginald, but stopped outside the room and turned around to face him, “Oh yeah, I wanted to ask you why are you trying to help Suran? Your deal with him is done, so you don’t have to help him, right?”

“There are two reasons why I’m doing this: during the attack on my house, he agreed to help me in exchange for my loyalty. True, it may not be a ‘binding’ contract, but I honestly have to thank him for that; he didn’t put me in a slave-contract or anything humiliating like that. Secondly, the king put responsibility on me to making sure Suran is rewarded. The king is not a forgiving man; if he suspects I do not complete my duty to any extent, the Black Paladins will do to me as they did to Hendrick von Auer.”

“Wow that sounds like a terrible situation.”

“You learn to deal with the cards you are dealt. Now let’s hurry and go.” Reginald walked off to the front of the home while Natalya went to go grab rope from Keira. Once she had that in hand, she led the way towards where Suran was.

It was sunset when the two arrived. With the rope wrapped around her shoulder, Natalya peered over the fence. Suran was sitting on the same ledge with his head buried into his knees. He was naked with his clothes folded and neatly put to the side on the glossy, red rocks.

“I didn’t expect him to be in this bad of a shape,” Reginald commented as he peered over the fence with Natalya. “I suppose you will be the one to go down?”

“Sure,” she said. Natalya tested the integrity of the fence by pulling on it then tied one end of the rope around it. Once she got a good knot, she flung the other end down towards Suran.

“Remember what I said: it would be good to find out what is troubling him so we can help, but that isn’t the only way. If you need me, give me a shout.”

Natalya hoisted herself over the edge, secured a foot hold on the rocks, and used the rope to slowly descend down. She was able to use the rope for support, dropping down to ledges that would normally have been out of reach.

“Go away,” Suran commanded, apparently noticing she was here.

Natalya stopped and landed on a ledge right above Suran. “Suran, what are you doing down here? Put your clothes on and let’s leave.” He didn’t say anything. “Come on Suran, you can’t just stay here forever! What’s your problem?”

“Nothing good can come from being with me. Do yourself a favor and stay away.”

“How about you do yourself a favor and quit moping around! Just go somewhere or do something. Anything is better than just sitting here.”

Suran’s response was slow and delayed, “There is nothing I can do. There is nowhere I can go.”

“What do you mean can?” Natalya put her hands on her hips, annoyed at the mopey man below her. “What about what you want? What do you want to do? Where do you want to go?”

Suran was breathing heavily though his nose. It was some time before he gave a response in a low murmur, “I want to go home…”

“Finally! Then why don’t go home?” Natalya exclaimed, thrilled by the thought of progress.

“It is impossible to return. The damage has been done. I have no right to go back.”

Natalya scratched her head and frowned. She looked up at the Baron who shook his head. Either he couldn’t hear or he didn’t know what to say, Natalya thought. She stood on the ledge and collected her thoughts. She had an idea of what to say but struggled to find the words in which to say it. With a sigh, she spoke with what she had, “Have you tried to go back home? It may look impossible from where you are, but how do you know there isn’t a solution you just can’t see from where you’re standing? The world is a big place, bigger than the town I grew up in and bigger than this city, so you can’t ever know about everything that’s out there. If someone truly wants something and works for it, they can find a way around the impossible because who knows what’s out there. Wanting to be home and going home is something that’s normal for everyone. No one can stop you from going home but yourself. As much as I hate Alnwick, it’s still my home. Nearly half the city was destroyed, but even if it’s broken and damaged, you can still try and fix it.” She was winded and took a deep breath. “Even if it is impossible, how do you know until you try? It’s better to try and fail than to not try at all. So are you just going to sit here and ignore the world and your problems or are you going to try and do the best you can in the situation you are in?” Her head was hurting after that. She was never one for words, and giving that long speech drained her. To her dismay, down below, Suran neither stirred nor said a word; he sat below in complete silence.

“Natalya, just come on up!” Reginald yelled at her from above. The sun had set and it was dark out now. They had spent some time out here. She didn’t want to leave yet; the job wasn’t done yet, but Reginald was continuously calling on her. She sighed and began climbing back up.

“I caught some of what you said,” Reginald said, greeting her as she came up. “I’m impressed – I didn’t think you could manage to say something like that.”

“Well, it wasn’t good enough,” Natalya dejectedly responded.

“As I said, our words can only do so much.” He checked his timepiece. “It’s getting late out so let us go back for now. Give him some time to think and we’ll leave the rope out for him.”

“Alright…” Natalya followed the Baron through the dark of night.