Perspectives

"Do what you wish with me. All I ask is to see her once more, and afterward, that you let her go and never harm her again."

She walked out of the enemy camp alone.

Samuel Gray stopped in front of the large house. It stood in the middle of enemy territory, and apparently run by some lady who lived there all alone. He couldn't quite fathom how or why. He raised the knocker anyway, and was surprised when the door was opened by a beautiful woman.

She wasn't old yet, though not quite young either. Somewhere in her middling to late thirties, he supposed, but still gorgeous. Elegant figure, striking red hair, and a very warm smile. "You must be Samuel," she said. "Please, come in. Supper's on the table waiting for you."

He followed her to the dining room curiously and sat down where she indicated. There was a bowl of hot soup in front of him and a strong cup of tea. Additionally, there was a plate of warm bread, salt, pepper, and everything else he could think of needing for a good dinner. He took a spoonful of the soup--quite good soup--and eyed the woman seated on the other side of the table. She wasn't eating, only watching.

"Oh, I hope my sitting here with you doesn't bother you at all," she said with another of her smiles. Though, he couldn't help but think there was something a bit dead about her eyes. "I don't get many guests, you see, and I do enjoy seeing people now and then, when they get sent my way."

He nodded and tried to remember what he'd been told about her. A friend of the Resistance, was all they'd really said. That and something to do with the great warrior, Rafe, who died a few ten years ago.

She smiled winningly.

"So you, uh, live here all alone?" he asked after a moment, taking a bit of the bread.

"Oh, yes," she replied. "I have for a good while now. It might not seem like the ideal place, out in the middle of nowhere, but...it's peaceful here."

"Peaceful? With all those monsters hounding at your doorstep?"

She gave him a look, the sort of look you gave a child when they said something particularly naive. "Oh, they don't bother me. They haven't laid a finger on me since...oh, but I'm sure you know."

He shook his head, dabbing his mouth with a napkin. "No, actually. They didn't tell me much before sending me out here. I know you have some connection with Rafe, but other than that...I'd like to hear about it."

"Rafe, yes," she said, and he saw there was a certain light in her eyes, though it seemed more a reflection, of a light long ago. "Well, it's not quite the type of story you tell. Nor is it much of a story in general."

"I'd still like to hear it," he replied, more curious now than ever.

"Well," she began, "Rafe and I...we were fighting the Bjords, as usual. We were both captured, at Iluvn, not far from here. He was the leader of the Resistance at the time. He knew everything there was to know about it. He had information they wanted. They wanted him in general; they thought to crush the Resistance by crushing him first. He could have gotten away, but...I couldn't have. They had me with a knife pressed to my throat. They...used me against him, I suppose. So, he gave himself up for me. Made them promise to let me go free and never bother me again. And he asked to speak to me, just once more. Then they let me go, and...that was the end of it, for him." She paused, looking down at the table, then looked back at him and smiled. "So you see, it's not much of a story. Just a past."

"What did he tell you?" Samuel asked, "that last time?"

She smiled again and the light played upon her features. "That he loved me," she said. "That was all."

He took another bite of his bread and added some pepper to his soup. "So, that's why you work for the Resistance, then? In honor of him?"

She gave a slight laugh. "Oh, no. I would hardly say I work for the Resistance. I help them, from time to time, though I can't see much of a reason for it all."

"No reason?" he asked, leaping out of his chair and slamming his fists on the table. "No reason? They killed your love, and you say there's no reason for fighting those monsters?!"

She looked at her fingers on the table. "They let me go," she said after a moment, softly. "And I've never seen any of them since. They kept their promise." She paused and looked at him again. "Sit back down," she said. "Eat your soup."

He looked at her, frustrated, but finally sat back down. He saw what she meant, but he didn't want to. The Resistance was the only good thing, the only righteous thing left in the world. That's what he'd believed for so long.

"In any case," she said, "it's so much the same. People fight, they get killed, and others take their place, fighting some more. I've seen it happen so many times. But please, don't let me dissuade you from fighting with the Resistance. I suppose I've just lived here alone a long time. Living alone gives you strange ideas, Samuel. Don't listen, if you want not to."

He said nothing and looked down at his soup and realized he wasn't hungry. He took a spoonful anyway.