I found Sprout crying in the back of the stable.

The girl had joined up with the guild a while back, but it didn't take long before she felt like a part of the place. There's always something that needs doing around the Reach, and she seemed to enjoy playing delivery girl. She'd pick a job from the board and finish in hours what would take most folk days.

When she was finished, Sprout would come back to my post here at the guild, hand in the completion chit, and smile that sad smile of hers. But in the evenings, she'd climb to her little perch on the big arch, and she'd just stare at the reflecting pool.

You don't pry, especially of adventurers. In a place like this, everyone's got a past, and not all of them are pleasant to think about. Big or small, we've all done things we wish we could take back. Out here, on the edge of civilization, we like to say that the future is more important.

But there was something hiding in that sad smile that made me ask.

"Sprout? That you, lass?"

There was a rustling of fabric and straw as the figure in the corner rose. "Ranulf? What are you doing here?"

"Passing through, heard a noise. I am still a guard after all. If everything's all right, I'll be going, then."

"And what would you have done if it wasn't me?" she asked. "A voidwalker, or a mocking-beast?" Her tone was sharp with more than simple curiosity, and the venom in her tone forced me back a step. The moment I flinched, she was contrite.

"I... I'm sorry, Ranulf." She sighed heavily. "I'd had something on my mind lately, I shouldn't be taking it out on you."

As I started to wave off her apology, Sprout brushed herself off and stepped into the light. "Walk a lady back to her inn?"

Midnight had long since passed; and as capable a warrior as she was, a tipsy maiden walking alone would be an attractive target for whoever was behind the kidnappings in the region.

And with that excuse firmly in mind, I agreed to accompany her.

"Ranulf, if I asked you to leave this place, could you?"

I thought hard for a moment, and shook my head. "The Reach is my home, Sprout. Come what may, I can't abandon it."

She smiled that sad smile again.

"Yeah, I didn't think so," she whispered, going silent once more. A few minutes later, she spoke again, her voice low.

"I've been having... dreams lately. Nightmares, really. There are things that I need to do; that I was put in this world to do. But I've been putting them off."

I held my tongue. When someone was telling you about themselves, you didn't interrupt.

"I know these days can't go on forever. There are only so many notices on the board, only so many times Roxanne will need help getting Mr. Whiskers out of the tree, only so many crates that need moved from here to Oriens."

I nodded, it was something we dealt with at the guild every day.

"I love this place. But once I start down that road, once I take up my bow start my hunt again... my dreams tell me the thing I'm chasing will double back."

"It's just a dream, lass. This isn't a story where the villain knows exactly what the hero is doing."

"Everything ends in flames," she muttered under her breath. "I join the General, we push on the bridge. And the beast strikes back. No matter what I do, it will end in flames."

"Promise me, Ranulf." Sprout turned and in a single motion lifted me by my collar. There were tears in her eyes and her voice was shaking. "The Coalition wants me over at Oriens tomorrow. When... if the Empire attacks while I'm gone, stay alive. They'll likely hit with a good-sized strike team, so it will be quick; I need you to have signal flares ready to go beside the campfires."

I swallow, hard. In the weeks she has been here, I've haven't seen Sprout this animated, or this upset. It was a small enough ask.

"Alright, I promise."