“Ghand, she’s been back there for two days.”

“Listen, Boy. It’s a natural part of grieving, you might not remember but you used to cry a lot after I found ye. Give it time.”

Ghand’s Burly Barrel was close to empty, it was morning and no real time for a tavern to be bustling anyways, even if it was the only tavern in the little town of Taria. Aside from The Boy, who paced at the side of the bar, and Ghand, who was cleaning the counter, the only residents of the dimly lit, smoky room were two drunks from the night before. Ghand was a kind barkeep and would let intoxicated merry-makers take up residence where they fell, if they tipped well.

Ghand tried to ignore the skinny boy as he paced manically up and down the length of the bar, tapping each stool as he passed it. The Boy was a chronic worrier sometimes, but at this early hour Ghand was in no shape to talk him out of it.

“Boy if you want to help her out it might be best to go and listen to her problems. No point in worrying if you aint gonna do anything about it.”

“But what if—”

“Boy you worry too much. You’re a good boy and you always want to do what’s right, muster up some courage and go be a friend to her.”

The Boy looked at Ghand and nodded. He turned around and headed for the door into the house.

“Hey, grab an apple or two. She ought to eat something.”

“Yeah,” The boy reached into a barrel and brought out two yellow apples.

Ghand watched The Boy leave through the door. “Good luck, James!”

“Name’s not James!” The door closed and Ghand went back to cleaning the counter, a small grin growing on his face.

Inside the house The Boy stood nervously outside the guest room, going over what to say in his head. After consciously realizing that he had been standing there for a long time he went over the scene one last time in his head. He took a deep breath and stepped into the dark room.

And he promptly forgot everything he was going to say. The girl was sitting on the bed peering at him with swollen eyes furrowed between the eyebrows. The Boy opened his mouth and closed it again. She wasn’t the cheerful girl from the woods, her pretty eyes looked far away and her skin was pale. She hadn’t slept, at least not in either of the beds, they were still made perfectly.

The Boy couldn’t stand to see her like this; it gave him a weird feeling in his throat like ice crackling. He wanted to say or do anything to make her feel better. They were silent for a second.

“Apple?” The Boy could think of nothing better to say, he felt so awkward, he had never really had to console anyone before. Something about this girl in this state made him forget all the conversation skills he’d learned working with Ghand. He held out the apples and she shook her head no.

The Boy turned to go but found that he couldn’t. He sighed and sat down next to the girl, hoping that his presence might be enough to help her. He stared at his knees, thinking so hard that he couldn’t think of anything. He cleared his mind like he did training with Ghand. Ghand once said that training to be a warrior improved body and mind and that a true warrior excelled in all areas, not only fighting. The Boy tried to let his instinct tell him the perfect thing to say.

“I’m sorry,” The Boy said. “It must be hard, I don’t have parents either but I can’t remember them very well. You must miss them a lot but Ghand and I, we’re here if you need anything. And…well. I’m sorry.” There was a long and anxious pause.

“Thank you,” her voice was shaky; The Boy turned and looked at her. For some reason looking at her didn’t give him that bad feeling anymore.

The Boy mustered up a bit more courage and asked the girl’s name (he hadn’t before, it didn’t really occur to him).

“My name is Katelynn,” she said, she gave a small smile. “What is your name?”

“Oh, me?” The Boy was almost taken aback. “I don’t have one that I can remember. Ghand keeps trying to give me one but I already had one before we met. I can’t remember it but it wouldn’t feel right to just replace it.” The Boy felt awkward again. The girl gave a small giggle, it was quiet but it somehow changed the atmosphere in the room completely.

“So what do people call you then?”

“Ghand calls me ‘Boy’, some people call me ‘Ghandling’, people call me what they want, it’s not really important to me.”

“I want to call you Blue.”

“Blue?”

“Blue like your eyes. Also, when we first met you fell into the stream, it was a very blue stream before you fell into it. So I’ll call you Blue.”

“Alright, you can call me that. Anyways if you want you can come out to the tavern and sit with Ghand and I, we can have breakfast.”

The girl, Katelynn, looked hesitant and peered at the door nervously.

“Come on,” The Boy said. “Ghand’s worried about you, and he has good food.”

“Tavern?” Katelynn looked at the boy with wide eyes. “Don’t bandits go to taverns?”

“Not this tavern,” The Boy smiled. “Don’t worry, I’ll keep you safe.”

“Okay, Blue.” Katelynn took an apple with a smile and followed The Boy out of the dark room and to a new life.

Seven years later Ghand was the same, it was everything around him that had changed, time does that to the world. The town of Taria had grown up; it had expanded from a small village to a bustling city. Ghand’s little tavern was now a pub with an attached inn. It was a popular destination; it had a good environment, good food and drink and lay far from the darkness of the inner city.

The deterioration of the government that Ghand foresaw before he quit the Order of Royal Knights had finally happened and it came hard. Even in those times of near order he saws the signs of corruption. The old King was the only thing tying together the governors and barons of the many city states, many of them disagreed with even the fairest of laws that the king demanded they enforce but the King kept them under control with his wisdom and control of the Royal Knights and army. But the King was old and as soon as he made a mistake he was usurped by his less kindly son, Zanth.

Zanth did not even try to keep the heads of the territories under his command. He welcomed the new chaotic, feudal age proclaiming himself Lord Zanth, Judicator of the lands. He abolished the concept of royalty in favor of a different approach to ruling. He left the governing of the states entirely up to the leaders of these provinces. All he demanded from these leaders were taxes which he used exclusively for himself and his army.

Before even a year passed Zanth was responsible for obliterating seven towns which refused to pay him and executing a stubborn Baron and replacing him with one of his sons.

The former Royal Knights, or those who had not disbanded, were promptly rechristened The Enforcers. The Judicator would be quoted as saying that their purpose was unchanged, they would protect his castle, train new soldiers and be used as a last resort in battle. Of course Zanth was lying, as corrupt leaders do. The Enforcers were like toy soldiers to him, he reveled in sending only one into a town and having them completely destroy it in only a few hours. He marveled at their combat ability when he would pit an Enforcer against a knight in the arena he had built on his castle.

So Zanth sat in his lush castle, protected by The Enforcers and the army while the land grew dark around him. Nearly all of the state leaders were corrupt themselves, they controlled the laws of their lands and often demanded taxes for their own pockets while giving nothing back to their people. Laws in some territories were relaxed, laws in others were nonexistent.

Ghand’s Burly Barrel and Taria lay on the edge of a province run by a man who was neither ambitious nor a natural leader. He had inherited the position from his father and proceeded to lie around getting fat on his family’s fortune. His sloth meant that laws were rarely enforced but his family’s preexisting wealth meant that he didn’t collect extra taxes from the towns. It was a dangerous province to live in but only if you do not know where to be.

In Ghand’s neighborhood, Ghand was the law and the law was obeyed for an important reason. Ghand was a kind man but crossing him was never a good idea, Ghand was a huge man and still on top of his fighting, nearly enough to run this part of the city by himself, but he was lucky to have help from land lords and merchants, not to mention his personal assistant.

The world outside was falling into darkness but in the busy, smoky pub known as Ghand’s Burly Barrel law was upheld and people felt safe within reason.

Ghand looked up from the glass he was polishing and gazed around intently.

“Katelynn,” he barked. “Did you get a plate of eggs for old man Yelsa at the far table?”

The door to the inn opened and a girl stumbled out awkwardly balancing a plate of steaming eggs on a mug of ale. She looked around with large eyes and smiled at Ghand. “Coming right up, old man.”

‘Old man,’ Ghand thought, sighing. ‘Where did I pick up that name anyways?’

Katelynn had grown up too, but not quite in the same way as the world outside had. She was a young lady now, working as the tavern girl for Ghand’s establishment. She was very unlike most tavern girls, however. While she caught the attention of many men who came to the inn and pub, she was treated with utmost respect by the customers. People knew that she worked for Ghand, and no one wants on Ghand’s bad side, but there echoes a myth in quiet whispers about a troublemaker who once gave Katelynn trouble and was found the next day beat to the point of unconsciousness and dangling by his ankles from a balcony. Legend goes that he was out cold for three days and had nightmares about fairies laughing as blonde haired demons beat him senseless. No one in their right mind would make the usual lewd comments at this tavern girl, not if they wanted to live without pain.

Meanwhile, across the tavern, a fight had broken out. A gargantuan drunk was pushing around a smaller drunk and shouting nonsense. The crowd of the bar watched with apprehension and fell silent as the front door swung open with a slam.

A boy of nineteen with straw blonde hair, sinewy arms and fierce blue eyes walked pointedly up to the giant man. The huge drunk had only a moment to laugh at the boy’s glare before he was thrown down onto the hard floor where he lay in stunned shock.

The drunk’s associate stood up, shakily, from the table and nodded at the boy as he dragged the behemoth towards the door. “Sorry Bouncer,” he said nervously. “He’s new around here, he didn’t know.”

“S’alright,” The Bouncer said, heaving the drunken man out the door. The crowd started talking again and the Bouncer moved to leave when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

“You’re such a tough guy, Blue,” The Bouncer turned around and saw Katelynn grinning mischievously at him. “I remember when you were just a skinny little boy.”

“Keep talking like that and I won’t let you come with me on the delivery tomorrow,” Blue grinned back at her.

“Would you two lazy kids get back to work!” Ghand shouted from the bar.

“Yeah, alright old man,” The Bouncer shouted. Katelynn and a few other customers chuckled as Ghand pretended to be upset.

So things went peacefully in Ghand’s pub and in the neighborhood around it. Ghand and his Bouncer kept the people safe while Katelynn held their trust and was renowned for her kindness and flawlessly clean inn rooms. Everything in the outside world was plunging into darkness but in Ghand’s neighborhood you wouldn’t even know it.