Petra sat at a small round table with her arm over the shoulder of Milli who was sobbing into her own hands. “It’s a hard world, Milli. That’s the truth of it. I’m not going to tell you everything is going to be all right.”
“When I left Craggen Steep I left a prison behind,” said Milli raising her tear-stained face up towards Petra. “But it was a safe prison.”
“That’s true. A lot of people live in prisons their entire lives. They live in fear of the world and what can happen to those who go out into it.”
Milli sniffled, “It’s a real fear though, isn’t it? People get killed. Your friends die, people change, and you get hurt.”
“That’s all true,” said Petra again, gently patting Milli on the hand. “All very true.”
“Brogus is dead,” said Milli and sniffled again and blew into a rag with a heavy snort. “He’s not coming back and neither is Dol.”
Petra continued to pat the girl on the hand and rub her back gently, “Maybe it’s better that Dol went off on his own. He’s on a suicide mission.”
Milli looked up at Petra and frowned, “He needs me and I’ve abandoned him,” she said with her mouth turned down in a frown and she sniffled again. “If he just waited a day while we buried Brogus and Uldex then I would have gone with him.”
“You can still catch him if you want,” said Petra. “Your horse is in the stables and he only has a day head start on you.”
“Do you think I should?” asked Milli.
“That’s not my decision,” said Petra. “Your life is your own to lead.”
“We started this together,” said Milli and sniffled again. “I’d like to see it through, one way or the other.”
Petra patted her on the back and smiled, “It’s a good idea, I think, to see things through and to finish what you start. Would you be better off if you were still back in Craggen Steep, still a prisoner, still safe?”
Milli paused for a long time and thought about it, “Brogus would be alive but he’d be stuck in one of those cubbies they have for the apprentices, working twelve hours a day down in the mines, his teeth rotting out, he’d probably only live to be thirty-five or so, most of the dwarves in the lower tunnels die so young. There are always collapses they don’t tell people about.”
“It doesn’t sound like much of a life,” said Petra.
“He would have never seen Das’von, traveled through the portal, the desert, that was so beautiful, and never ridden a horse,” said Milli.
“He’d be alive,” said Petra.
“Which side are you arguing?” said Milli with a suddenly playful smile and a light in her eyes.
“I’m an old woman,” said Petra. “I’ve seen a lot of the world traveling around as a witchy woman. I’ve met a lot of people. I’ve been in love or lust more than my share as well. It’s the only life I’ve known; traveling from here to there and selling potions to town-dwellers. I’ve seen a lot of them over the years also. People who grow up in one place, marry their neighbor, have kids, farm the land, and then die. It’s not all bad. Maybe a little dull but there is happiness as well. I’m not sure what the answers are.”
“Why aren’t there easy answer?” asked Milli.
“There are easy answers… to easy question,” replied Petra with a smile, and suddenly she had a far-off look in her eyes. “When you’re a young girl in love sometimes the answers are easy even if usually wrong.”
“I won’t go back to Craggen Steep,” said Milli. “No matter what. I don’t want a gilded prison. I’ve seen the world. I’ve met so many people, done so many things; I can’t go back, not now. I’d be miserable.”
“You don’t have to go back to Craggen Steep,” said Petra. “You don’t have to follow after Dol. You can stay here or travel back to the desert. They are a handsome people and that Black Horseman had some worthwhile ideas I think. You could go north to Das’von and join up with Corancil and his armies or stay here and wait to see if he conquers the world. You have many options in this life although you may think there are only a few choices. I think too many people settle on the obvious choices that life gives us. Look around and see all the possibilities.”
“I don’t want to leave Dol. He’s not a bad person. It’s the influence of the hammer. He’s changed. I want to be there when this finishes one way or the other.”
“Then you have to get on your horse and go,” said Petra, “instead of sitting around here talking with an old lady.”
“You won’t come with me?” asked Milli and took hold of Petra’s wrinkled hands with her own smooth, soft ones. “At least as far as the Five Sisters. You don’t have to come in with me and Dol to face Gazadum but you could at least travel with us. They say the Southern Sea is beautiful and you can have all of Brogus’ gold. That would buy you a house and keep you safe for the rest of your life.”
“Hmm,” said Petra. “All of Brogus’ gold you say?”
Milli laughed out loud, “That was your plan all along wasn’t it. To play on my sympathy to get you to come along?”
“Of course not,” said Petra and began to laugh as well, although tears came from her eyes to intermingle with the joy. “I would never do such a thing!”