I could have sworn that I hadn’t made a sound when my feet had landed on the ground, but that didn’t stop it from waking all three of my guards up. Raising my hands quickly to show them that it had just been me, it frightened me a little how quickly they had all surrounded with their swords at my chest. I smiled when they woke up enough to recognize me. Sheathing their weapons immediately they apologized quietly for pointing them at me in the first place. Waving away their apologies I assured them that I understood why they had done it. Honestly if they hadn’t reacted the way they had I would have been a little worried about my protection under them. Now I just had to worry about being stabbed by one of them if they thought I was an enemy. A soft knock at the door startled all of us and made me jump. In the bed Hazel and Sophia tossed a little and someone mumbled something but neither of them woke up. Sighing in relief, I wanted them to get as much sleep as they could right now because tonight was going to be rough and we wouldn’t get any sleep. I was about to open the door when I was pulled back by Casey. Throwing him a confused look over my shoulder I waited for him to tell me why he had done that.

“Alex or Tyler will open the door. It could be someone who has bad intentions and we don’t want you to be the one to open the door if that is the case.” I now knew for sure that my guards were going to be more protective of me now that Liam was dead. I allowed myself to be pulled farther back from the door as Alex went over to the door and peered out to see who had knocked. The instant that he saw who was behind the door he let them into the room.

“Aeson.” I was both relieved and sad to see him here because I knew exactly why he was here. “Liam is ready for burial?” When he nodded I turned to the bed. Striding over I gently shook both Hazel and Sophia awake. They both woke up with a jolt and looked around confused for a second. As soon as they saw Aeson though they knew why they had been awakened.

“It’s time?” Sophia said, sounding both sad and determined. It seemed that she had decided upon something last night which was good. If she had decided on something then she would be better off in life. She wouldn’t be as indecisive when it came to making decisions.

“Yes. He is prepared and we are ready for the ceremony as soon as you are ready. We weren’t exactly sure if your ceremony was the same as ours however so we want you to all come see if we set everything up correctly.” Aeson sounded exhausted and I knew that we weren’t the only ones that hadn’t really slept. My mind had to process Aeson’s words for a moment before they fully sunk in. This wasn’t Liam’s kingdom and they had different customs here. Liam would be buried here far away from where his ancestors had been buried. That all snapped in my mind for the first time and I wasn’t sure how to feel about it. Would Liam be okay being buried all the way out here? Would he be able to find his ancestors in the afterlife if they were so far away? My wide eyes met Alex’s, Casey’s, Tyler’s, Hazel’s, and Sophia’s. It seemed that they had just figured out what I had as well. Their eyes were slightly glazed over like they were thinking something over and I wondered if they would know whether he would be able to find his ancestors if he was buried out here because I definitely didn’t know.

After a while I stepped forward and gestured for everyone to follow me. Honestly there wasn’t a point in wondering if he would be able to find his ancestors. He was being buried out here no matter what. If we went back to our own land to bury him we would never be able to come back. And I wanted to know more about this land and its people. I was learning so much and I wasn’t ready to leave. The determination and resignation on everyone’s faces said that their thoughts were agreeing with me. Except Sophia’s, but I knew that she was not in the frame of mind to think of anything other than Liam. I was a little surprised by what she said when she grabbed my arm to stop me from moving forward anymore. “You aren’t thinking of going back to our land just to bury Liam are you? If you are then I am here to tell you that is not what he would want. He would rather be separated from his ancestors for a while then to have us go back to our land. He knew how important us staying here was. We have to give these people the rights and lives they deserve.” Her voice was soft but steady.

I grinned at her. “I know that is what he would want. That is why I only considered doing that for the span of a couple of seconds.” When her body relaxed I realized how tense she had been for the first time. “Don’t worry. We know what Liam would have wanted and we all have confidence that he will find his ancestors in the afterlife even though he is quite far from them.”

“He is pretty strong willed so I believe that you are correct in saying that.” Sophia managed a small smile and I knew that she was going to be alright. Grabbing her hand in mine, I pulled her up to where the others were waiting. They glanced quickly at our faces to make sure that we were alright and then they looked away satisfied. We must have looked calm and happy enough for them. I gestured that we were ready to go again and Aeson went back to leading the way. Eventually, after so many twists and turns that I lost track of where we were, we ended up in a preparation room. Gazing around it I left where Liam was lying until last. I knew once I saw him that I wouldn’t be able to see anything else. The room was very spacious and empty other than the bed where Liam lay and a couple of candles spread evenly along the walls. This was the complete opposite of what Sophia did. She didn’t even look at the room before she had walked to his side. Laying her hand gently on his I felt tears prick my eyes when I let my eyes settle on them. Gathering around them in a small semicircle we nodded to Aeson that it was perfect. Our death ceremony was basic and didn’t require much other than the person who had passed on, their friends, a royal or priest, and relatives.

“Should we begin the ceremony immediately?” I kept my tone professional. While I had never actually been to one of these ceremonies before I knew what to do because of what my parents had told me about them. If I needed guidance then I would look to Tyler or Alex.

Aeson hesitated a moment. “Do you want me to leave?” A quick glance at Alex and Tyler told me what to say.

“Yes. In our ceremony no healers are required and you are not part of any of the groups that are allowed to stay.” He nodded quickly and then was gone. I hesitated a moment longer to collect myself and make sure that I was ready for this. Then I began the ceremony. “Everyone please gather around the deceased and place your right hand on them.” Moving with a purpose soon we were all in our places and our right hands were resting gently on Liam. “Now going around the circle we will each say our final goodbyes to them. We will start with Hazel.” I had purposely started with the person to the left of Sophia so that she would be able to go last. She nodded and peered down at Liam.

“Liam I just want you to know that I am going to miss you so much. While I did not know you as well as I should have, I do know this. You always had a smile on your face, and you were fiercely dedicated to what you believed in and who you loved. This world will be a dimmer place without you in it. I wish that more people were like you and now wish you a safe journey to your ancestors.” As soon as we heard the customary ending we all raised our right hands off of him and lifted them towards the sky. Before the next person went we put our hands back down onto Liam. Tyler and Casey went next and then it was me. Now that the moment had come I felt like I didn’t know what to say. Then I opened my mouth and words just flowed out.

“Liam, you were one of my closest friends and part of my guards. I knew that you would do anything to protect me and in the end you proved me right. I am sorry that you had to give the ultimate sacrifice, but know that we will honor your memory and tell stories about you to our children. I wish you a safe journey to your ancestors.” Alex then said his goodbye and then it was Sophia’s turn.

“Liam.” She had to pause here to force the tears back. It seemed she wanted to be strong as she said goodbye. “You were my first and only love. I wish so hard that you did not have to leave me, but know that I will never forget you and I will never love another as much as I loved you. I will be strong and keep going with my life. However, know that I will tell stories about you to the people I meet in this life. When I move on from this life, as you have, I will find you in the afterlife and we will never be separated again. I wish you a safe journey to your ancestors.” Raising our hands for the final time, I now finished the ceremony.

“Go now to your ancestors Liam and we will see you in the afterlife.” Everyone then touched their foreheads in a sign of respect and then their hearts as a sign of love. Moving in step with each other we walked from the room and closed the door. We would remain outside this door until midnight now to guard his body as his spirit made its way to its ancestors. Aeson looked up from where he was leaning against the wall and opened his mouth to say something to us. However I stopped him with a shake of my head and gestured that he should leave. Inclining his head slightly to me he obeyed my wishes and left our sight. We weren’t allowed to speak to anyone during this time because it would be seen as disrespect to the dead. It was best if no one spoke to us as well during this time. No one came into our view during the rest of our vigil and I knew that Aeson had spread the word not to come down this hallway for which I was grateful. When midnight finally came we left our posts at the door and went to see Valeria and Jonas. Nodding hello to their guards outside of their door, Alex knocked and we waited to be admitted. It took a moment and quite a bit of rustling behind the door before it was finally opened.

Jonas was scowling and we could tell that he was ready to tell us off for waking him up in the middle of the night. As soon as he saw us though his face cleared and he stepped aside to let us in. Valeria looked up from where she was laying in the bed and then sat up quickly. “Is your ceremony over? We can send people over immediately to bury the body.” Her voice faltered a little on the last word and we could tell that she felt immense sorrow for us. We were too numb though to acknowledge that and just nodded our heads. She looked to one of her guards and he bowed and fled the room at a run. “Is there anything else that we can do to ease your suffering?” I almost laughed out loud at that. Nothing could help us other than time and I was sure that she was aware of that.

“No, there is nothing that can help us get past our suffering faster. However there is something that we need your help with.” I looked at Tyler in confusion when he said this. My tired and numb brain couldn’t figure out what he was getting to. “We need to recruit a new guard for Ari and would appreciate it if you were to gather all those who would be willing to accept this position together in the courtyard around noon today. By that point we should be rested enough to perform the tests.” All of my guards nodded and I finally grasped what he was talking about. Glancing quickly at Sophia to see if she was alright with this, I was relieved when I saw her nodding her head in agreement. She knew that I needed a new guard and seemed to be fine with the fact that it was occuring so quickly after burying Liam. Hazel was the only one that seemed concerned with this idea and I resolved to speak with her alone as we headed back to our rooms for some much needed rest.

Jonas and Valeria looked at each other and seemed to speak without words for several seconds. Eventually they looked back at us with thoughtful expressions. “We can do that. There are several people that we think will fit well into that position.”

I managed a small smile in response to that, but they could both tell that it was very forced. “If you will now excuse us, we will be going back to our room to sleep. Would you mind putting some guards that you trust outside of our door so that my guards aren’t hesitant to go to sleep? Also if you could tell them to wake us up around eleven if we are not already up and about?” Nodding quickly they summoned a couple of guards and told them what they were to do. Saying good-night to them, we started back towards our room. Grabbing Hazel by the upper arm, I held her back a little and gestured for everyone else to keep going. After there was enough distance between us and everyone else, I started walking again but slower than them so there was no way we could catch up with them. “I noticed that when we said that we were going to find a new guard for me you seemed concerned. What is on your mind?”

Hazel let out a little laugh. “Even when you are mourning and are completely exhausted you still manage to notice when someone near you is struggling with something.” Knowing that she was gathering her thoughts I grinned.

“What can I say? I am just that skilled.”

She shook her head, but then got serious. “Is it really wise to get a new guard so soon after your last one died? Shouldn’t we wait a little while until everyone is used to this idea? Think about how Sophia must feel right now. I feel like this will just make her feel so much worse.” I rested my hand on her shoulder and pulled us to a stop.

Meeting her eyes with my own I said, “I did think about Sophia, which is why I watched her very closely when Tyler started talking to Jonas and Valeria about them gathering people candidates together. She was nodding along and looking very accepting of the idea of me getting a new guard. Sophia knows that I need a new guard and seems to have found peace about Liam’s death. This wasn’t all that was bothering you, was it?”

Hazel shook her head while deep in thought. “No, there was one other thing.” As she deliberated on how to say her next concern, she started walking slowly again. Keeping pace with her I waited patiently for her to say whatever she was thinking. “How can you trust them?” Her sudden outburst startled me for a moment and it took me a moment to realize what she said.

“Trust who?” The sudden turn in the conversation took me completely by surprise and I was now totally lost.

“These people. They are the reason that Liam is dead, threats have been left by them, and some of them look at us with hatred or suspicion in their eyes. How can you think that one of them would actually protect you? What if they are lying about wanting to protect you and are only waiting for a good opportunity to kill or injure you?” She was very worked up about this and I knew that I had to say the right thing or she was going to lose it.

Measuring each of my words I finally answered her. “I don’t know if you will want to hear this, but I am a pretty trusting person. Even if I have reasons not to trust someone, I will still trust them until they prove that I should not. If we become so distrusting that we can’t even give someone a chance because of something that someone else did, then I feel like this life isn’t even worth living. Life is full of people making mistakes, if we expect everyone to be perfect then we are going to be disappointed every time.”

Hazel interrupted me. “These people don’t deserve our trust though. What have they done that would give them that benefit? I get what you are saying, but we should only exercise those words to the people in other lands.”

I smiled gently at her. “Milo helped to rescue me from Malick, Aeson helped me healed after I had been injured while we were in that village in the trees, Valeria treats me like her daughter to try and help me adjust to this place, Jonas treats us like esteemed guests and gives us everything we need, Brendon let us stay in his village, Holly may have started as my enemy but turned into my friend, and the Old Man was very kind to us. Do I need to continue? There have been very few in this land that have treated us badly compared to all of those who have shown us great kindness. In our own land we have people who don’t deserve our trust like Malick, Hunter, and those who attacked that village in the trees. Every land has its good people and its bad people, just like every person has a good side and a bad side. You just have to be kind to everyone, and then let everything work itself out.” Tears glimmered in Hazel’s eyes and I knew that I had gotten through to her. Holding my arms out to her I grabbed her in a hug and let her cry into my shoulder. “It will be alright Hazel. As long as we stay together and be true to ourselves, everything will be just fine.”

Pulling back she nodded and wiped the tears that were flowing down her cheek. “Ready to get back to our room and get to sleep finally?” She let out a little hiccup laugh and nodded.

“Yes please. I am so tired.” Grinning at her I grabbed her hand and we walked up to where everyone was waiting right outside of our door. Opening up the door I walked inside first because I knew that everyone was waiting for me. Barely pausing behind the screen in the room where I changed into sleeping clothes, I was soon collapsing into my bed. I was fast asleep before everyone else had even started changing for bed. When we were woken up several hours later by a soft knocking on the door everyone except for Sophia and Hazel jolted up to their feet. My guards all had their weapons out and at the ready while my hands were searching for my sword. It took me a moment to realize why I couldn’t find it. Rubbing the sleep out of my eyes and helping to drag Sophia and Hazel out of bed I said, “Our first item of business is to get me a new sword. My hip feels so bare without one.”

Nodding their heads in understanding we all laughed a little. I mean even Hazel had a weapon. She had already slung her bow and quiver around her. Leading the way to where Jove’s armory was, I walked a little fast because of how eager I was to have a weapon again. Knocking on the closed door of the armory I prayed that Jove was in. My prayers were answered an instant later when I heard rustling on the other side of the door. “Jove it’s Ari. I lost my sword and need a new one.” After a moment of thinking I spoke up again. “Actually I didn’t lose my sword, it was stolen from me and I wasn’t able to steal it back.”

The door burst open and Jove peered down at me with a confused look on his face. “Who stole your sword?”

“I got beat in a fight while we were going around the countryside and the person who beat me took my sword and ran. We won the battle in the end, but I never found my sword.” Jove still looked confused, so I elaborated a bit more. “It is a long story, and I am not ready to tell it yet. The ending was both a victory and a loss.” Spotting all of our sad faces, he looked a little closer at all of us and realized that someone was missing. Sadness filled his face and he stepped aside to let us in without saying anything else. It was like he could sense that we weren’t completely ready to talk about the person who was missing. Immediately going over to the sword racks I picked up several swords looking for the one that suited me the best. “Are there any here that are very similar to the one that I used to have?”

Jove thought for a moment before he went over to one of the racks and grabbed one of the swords. Gently laying it in my hands he stepped back a step and gestured for me to take a couple of swings to get a feel for the sword. Starting out slowly I liked what I felt in the few slow swings I did. Moving a little faster now to see once and for all whether this sword would work for me, I began doing a mock fight against an invisible opponent. After several minutes of mock fighting, I had reached the conclusion that this was the sword for me. Lowering the sword I sheathed it into the sheath around my waist. Though I had lost my sword, the boy had not taken my sheath. Now that I thought about it, there wasn’t really any way that he could have taken my sheath unless he had cut it off of my body. Shaking those thoughts from my mind, there was really no reason to dwell on them, I asked Jovee what I would owe him for this sword. He grinned. “I guess that you now owe me two favors.” Laughing a little I nodded my head in thanks and turned to leave. We had an appointment to keep. As we jogged to where we were supposed to meet our choices for Liam’s replacement we snatched some food from the kitchen to eat on the go.

Reaching the courtyard we nodded in greeting at all the people who were gathered there. Spotting Darius and Milo with their guards I smiled gratefully at them. I knew that they were here to help us pick the best replacement. Plus it would be nice to hear what Milo knew about each prospect to see what kind of person they were. Gesturing for them to join us at the front of the crowd, I turned to face Alex. This was more his thing than mine. Inclining his head slightly towards me in acknowledgement, he stepped forward to address everyone. As he began to outline how this process would go, I continued watching Milo and Darius’s groups. The closer they got, the more worried I got. Honestly I hadn’t paid much attention to either them or their guards since the battle. Now I could see that two of Milo’s guards had bandages wrapped around different parts of their body, and one of Darius’s guards was walking slightly gingerly. Now that I thought about it, I was pretty sure that some of my other guards had gotten injured in the fight as well. I even had a few injuries, but none were serious so I had given them no thought. I was just hoping now that if some of my other guards were injured, that it wasn’t too bad and that was why they hadn’t said anything about them.

Closing the distance to their groups, I wasn’t really needed to help decide who my guard would be after all, I asked anxiously how badly all of them were injured. Waving away my concern they all said that they would be good as new in a few days or so. Breathing a deep sigh of relief, I had been nervous for a second there that I had missed that someone else had a serious injury while I had been doing the death ceremony for Liam, I wrapped my hand in Darius’s. He squeezed my hand gently and asked how I was doing. I shrugged. “I am not going to say that I am doing great because you would know that would be a lie, but everyone in my group is dealing with Liam’s death. They all seem to be doing much better now that the death ceremony has been completed. Thankfully that includes Sophia.” Turning now to Joshua I said, “Hazel could probably really use you right now though. If Darius could spare you to be with her for the next little while, that would be great. She has been struggling quite a bit with Liam’s death.” Joshua sent a pleading look to Darius who was already gesturing for him to go.

“Of course you can go. There won’t be anything for any of my guards to do for a while, and Hazel should be your number one concern right now anyways. She has been going through a hard time, not me.” Sending him a quick grateful smile, Joshua then walked quickly to where Hazel was. Immediately putting his arm around her, I saw her shoot me a relieved look. I had known that she would need his support right now. Glancing at Sophia for an instant to see if this much love and couples around her was bothering her in any way, I was happy to see that she looked fine with us being with our loves. Tears sprang into my eyes as I thought about how strong she must be in order to be able to deal with all of this. Especially so soon after it happened. Darius saw the tears in my eyes and wrapped both of his arms around me tightly. “What is wrong?” I knew that when he said that he was wondering what had changed in a couple of seconds where I had been thinking of Hazel to me now being so close to crying.

“I will be alright. I was just thinking about Sophia. She is so strong and I don’t understand how she is doing it. If you had died then I would be a mess. I probably wouldn’t be anywhere close to my old self for at least a month. While she seems to be dealing with everything and staying strong. It has only been a couple of days.” Darius laughed a little in my ear and I lifted my face off his shoulder to stare at him in shock.

“I am sorry. I shouldn’t be laughing, but I think that you are underestimating yourself. If I died I have a feeling that you would only fall apart when you were alone and when you were others you would be acting the same that you always act. You would feel that you would have to because they are under your command, and therefore, your responsibility.” I pondered that for a couple of moments before I sighed in defeat. I hated it when he was right. However it happened so often that you would think I would be getting more and more used to it.

“How do you know me so well after such a short time? You even know me better than I know myself.”

When he shook his head I could see that he was holding back more laughter. “No I don’t. If you had thought about it for a little while longer you would have reached the same conclusion.” Narrowing my eyes at him I admitted to myself that he was right yet again. Since I had already inflated his ego enough for one day though, I didn’t say it. He kissed me gently on the forehead and then turned us to face Alex. For an instant I panicked because I thought that Alex had said something to me seeing as everyone was looking at me. Darius sensed this and calmed me down with a couple of words. “He just pointed you out to everyone to show who the chosen one would serve under.” Understanding why everyone was looking at me now, I stood up a little straighter and smirked at everyone. Looking at Alex I could tell that he wanted me to say something.

Stepping forward a little so I wasn’t as close to Darius, I cleared my throat. “Hello everyone. My name is Princess Ariana Esma, but you can all just call me Ari. It is true. If you are chosen then you would technically serve under me.” I couldn’t stop myself from laughing here. “However, Alex is in charge of my safety so he would be your real leader. Also I treat my guards as both equals and friends. Ask any of them. In fact, ask anyone who knows me. That is why even though you may be the best fighter of this group, that doesn’t automatically mean that you get the position. You have to have the right disposition as well. I will leave you in Alex’s hands now.” Stepping back to show that I was done, Alex stepped forward with a smile and began dividing them up into groups.