While a young man with a troubled mind set off from an orc farm towards the capital of the empire, in another part of the world, a girl of the therian race finally awoke from a long sleep.

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"Huh? Where am I?" I awake in a soft, fluffy bed of white sheets, looking up at a dark wooden ceiling I don't recognize.

"Deirdre, my child!" exclaims a voice laden with excitement beside me, and I see that Miss Charity is at my bedside, and she hurries to hold my hand. "You've finally woken up!"

"What do you mean? Where am I, and how long have I been unconscious?" I say, flustered by Miss Charity's excited reaction and sitting in a hurry in bed, whereupon my head begins to spin and my vision becomes blurry.

The room I'm in is small, with light wood paneled walls and a polished dark stone floor.

There are no windows and only two dark wooden doors. One probably leads to the exit, and the other to a bathroom.

In the room, there is only my bed, a nightstand, and a chair.

My friend is sitting in the chair, and she appears to be on the verge of tears at the sight of me awake.

"It's okay. You have nothing to worry about. You're at Lilian's house. You were unconscious for 12 days because of the gunshot wounds, but you're fine now." she says, moving closer and holding me by the shoulders.

"12 days! What happened?" I say, still a little dizzy and dazed by the amount of time it seems I was unconscious.

'Shit! I'm sure during this time master has already gone to the labyrinth a bunch of times without me. I have to hurry up and go with him so I don't get left behind. I don't want him to see me as a burden or someone he always has to be helping.'

"Yes. Me and your parents were very worried that you wouldn't wake up despite the potions, but we didn't know what we could do. However, when young Lilian came back from the unconscious state she was in, she immediately knew what to do. Unfortunately, she was only able to wake up yesterday morning, having been unconscious for almost as many days as you. She had used her magic excessively to regenerate almost entirely the side of her bodyguard's body, which she told me had been shattered by the explosion that started the attack of those traitors. She's a miracle girl… Lilian, I mean. With her magic, she can heal wounds that should be impossible to heal, but she also knows a lot about how people's bodies work. She spent hours analyzing your situation, using instruments that we don't have on this continent, and finally came to the conclusion that many of your wounds had healed badly due to the potions, and that those badly healed wounds were preventing you from waking up. After which she said she needed to 'operate you'...." she says, stopping talking for a moment, and her face contracts for a moment into a grimace of disgust that is quickly replaced by a smile as she releases me and sits down next to me on the bed. "But the important thing is that you're okay now!"

I listen in a daze to all the information Charity is spilling to me about what happened during this time I was unconscious, as slowly my head stops spinning and I can focus my vision better.

"Hmm... I thought the first one I would see after being unconscious for so many days would be master. I have to scold him for not watching over me while I was vulnerable," I say, making a pretense to get up, but Charity puts her hands on my shoulders again and forces me to stay on the bed.

"Deirdre, about Xelean. There's actually something you should know..." my friend says, looking at me, undecided on how to continue.

"What? He couldn't have been hurt, could he? We were caught by surprise, but I'm sure master got rid of those guys right away." I say, confused by the dramatic tone Charity seems to want to give to all this, and tired, despite having just woken up a few moments ago.

"No, I mean… yes. But that's not what I wanted to say. You see... It was all a misunderstanding. When it all happened, Xelean somehow found out about your situation before anyone else did, and he immediately went looking for you..."

"Yes, I know; I was the one who asked him for help," I say, interrupting her, irritated because she's not really telling me anything new, and because she keeps her hands on my shoulders, preventing me from getting out of bed.

"Ahh. How did you... No, it doesn't matter. The point is, my husband was with him at the time.... And he freaked out when he saw the spell Xelean used to combine his body with the body of the dragon that is always with him. The thing is… Xelean flew out of Garnuk's house without explaining anything to anyone. And Gell had to stay behind to sort out the mess your friend had made by very spectacularly smashing one of the walls of the government house, as Garnuk's guards were quite upset. Anyway… hum… don't be angry, but when Gell finally found Xelean, he saw him leaning over your bloodied body, while all around him were charred remains and horribly murdered corpses, and... and he thought that your friend was responsible for you being hurt." she says this, looking at me with a pleading look.

"What kind of nonsense is that?" I say, starting to get really angry now that I'm beginning to understand why I was unconscious for so long.

It's obvious that master wouldn't have left me lying in bed for 12 days; if he were here, he would have known what to do.

"There was a lot of blood everywhere," says Charity in a conciliatory tone, advocating for the wolf, "it was easy to make a mistake. Remember, Gell had only known Xelean for a few days."

"What-was-it-that-the-wolf-did-to-Xelean?!" I ask, stressing every word with a fury that prevents me from speaking properly, and angry for the first time with the one who was my hero almost since I have memory.

"Nothing! Gell just asked Xelean what he had done!" says Charity, releasing my shoulders and looking at me with a surprised expression "But his suspicions were probably too obvious because, as soon as Gell said those words, Xelean flew out of town. Gell tried to chase him because he thought the boy was fleeing the scene of the crime, but it was futile. Your friend can be extremely fast when he wants to."

"Well. We have to go look for him," I say, straining to get up even though, from the aches I feel as I imprint strength into my muscles, my body seems to have been ground down and re-formed. But Charity again holds me firmly by the shoulders and pushes me back onto the bed, forcing me to remain seated. Noticing this, I scowl at her, but she looks at me blankly, so I say, "Charity, let me go."

"We can't go anywhere. We don't know where he is, and it wouldn't be safe to travel through the empire without securing our position either. We need to wait for more allied troops to come from the other continent, though that may take mont..." Charity starts to say something, but I interrupt her.

"I don't give a shit about all that! You're fucking cowards. But it's okay. If you can't mobilize anyone for the person to whom YOU OWE OWED to have gotten this city, then I'll go alone. With my ability, no one will see me." I say resentfully, getting angrier and angrier at the female orc in front of me, who seems determined not to let me out of bed, "I'm telling you this just one more time, and I hope I don't have to repeat it a third time, because then I could never consider you my friend again. Charity, let-me-go."

"How can you say that?" says Charity, bursting into tears but not letting go of my shoulders "You're not going anywhere. You've done more than enough. A few days ago, I thought I'd lost you. I spent days worrying to death about you, and now you tell me you want to go chasing after a person who voluntarily left here… Do you not realize how much it made me suffer to see you in that state? or is it that you don't care about me in the slightest? *hip* But... Let's suppose you go, how will you know where to go? Besides, your ability doesn't give you food, drink, or a place to sleep. Don't be silly, child," she finishes, and it seems she can't speak anymore due to the emotion and the sea of tears that are spilling down her cheeks.

"Yes, I care about you." I say, surprised by Charity's reaction, who doesn't let go of me and instead pulls me to herself to hug me. "But I care about him too, and right now he's the one who needs my help. Besides, I owe it to him. I am not like you. If it weren't for him, I'd be dead now. He's saved my life more than once. Considering that… Are you really asking me to stay here knowing he's alone, in a place he doesn't know, just because he thinks he's going to be framed for crimes he's not responsible for? No. I'm going. Even if I don't know where he is and I don't have food or water, I'm going to go and try to look for him because he's my.... He's my... Because I owe him my life! Besides, I told you not to call me 'child'! I've been an adult for a long time!"

"Yes, you are. It's just that for me, you'll always be my little sister.... That's the thing about knowing you since you were born..." she says, caressing my head and ears. Whereupon, much to my regret, my body begins to relax in front of her knowing hand "And that's why I won't let you go. I'm very grateful to Xelean for what he did for us; I really am, but my gratitude doesn't go as far as running to kill myself for him. And that's what walking away from this city represents now. Surely the emperor already knows what happened here, but, if we stay here, he can't do much to us because we got the city honorably. At least until he finds out that the new government is not aligned with his wishes.''

"I don't give a shit about the emperor..." I say as my voice cracks and tears start to slip down my face too due to frustration, because deep down I understand Charity's attitude, but it tears me up to know that Xelean is far away, in a place I can't get to. "Charity, please..."

"Besides, he must be confused about what happened. Which doesn't mean he doesn't have spies waiting to capture and torture anyone who strays from the city for the sake of getting information about us." says Charity quietly, ignoring my plea and hugging me tighter as I notice how her tears begin to moisten my back "I can't let that happen to you.... Sis. Now that there's no danger in calling you that in this city, it feels good to say it for the first time."