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[Swordstar]

Sharne glanced over at Kaldach, talking intently with Martyn, probably planning some stupid, high death plan. Then over at Esther, still recovering from the blow that could have killed her. A blow Sharne was once again too slow to intercept. And it felt like the last strand holding her together snapped. She couldn't keep on like this. She wasn't strong enough. At this rate... Better to be without honor than continue down this path. If she did, she was still going to fail at her duty, but would end up with those she was trying to protect hating her. She couldn't do this.

A deep breath. Another. Finally, she pulled out her sword and walked over to Esther. Quickly kneeling at her feet, she held out the sword to her, laying flat across both palms, a position Esther would recognize from when she and Kaldach first rescued Sharne so long ago.

"I... I need to ask, no, I need to beg something of you. I... I have failed. I cannot keep you and Kaldach safe. My oath is a farce. It is meaningless, my honor is meaningless. I can speak of protecting you all I want, but at the end of the day, I rely on others to save you while I... While I fail in so many ways. And so, I beg you... Tell me how I may satisfy my oath so that I might be released from it."

She stared down at the ground, refusing to look Esther in the eye, refusing to let the other woman see the tears slowly sliding down her face as the full weight of her failure hit her once again.

[Twinwolf]

"W-Wait, what?"

Esther had been healed a bit ago, and had been stretching some, working out some of the soreness left where the injury had been. She wasn't really paying attention to what was around her, so Sharne coming to her was a surprise. Before she could speak, Sharne had knelt in a position Esther recognized. And then she spoke.

"Sharne..."

Esther... well, in a way, she had recognized what was going on. Had seen Sharne's pain. She hadn't really been able to do anything about it though, without giving up her fight for Izzara, without giving up what mattered to her. She wished that she could, but she had never asked for Sharne's oath, never asked to have someone she cared about destroy themselves because they thought they couldn't protect her. It occurred to her that she could try and tell her that she didn't fail. That she had her honor. But to Sharne those words would probably be empty. If she thought this was a way to move past this, to get out, then it would almost certainly just make things worse to deny her.

"I... I'm not sure..." She took a deep breath, distinctly aware of the importance of her words and hoping that this was the right move. ”Sharne… you don’t need to do anything. I... I'm not sure of the procedure for this, but I release you from your oath. Just... stop killing yourself over it, please. I've seen too many friends go down that path before."

[Swordstar]

Sharne nodded, roughly wiping her face for a second before drawing the blade of the sword lightly across her palm and spilling a few drops of the blood that appeared at Esther's feet.

"And so it is done and so it is witnessed. I-if you'll excuse me, I must go talk to Kaldach."

She pushed herself up off the ground, turning away from Esther.

[Twinwolf]

Esther blinked as Sharne got up and turned away - she didn't try to stop her. She... she needed this. But she did say something first.

"Sharne, just... just don't be afraid to talk to me ok? We can talk, later. If you need it." What else could she say without making her feel worse? She had caught Sharne wiping her face, she suspected what she was trying to avoid... but she did need to talk to Kaldach about it too, right?

[Swordstar]

"..."

A slight pause, nothing more. Sharne pushed on, heading for Kaldach. She couldn't let herself be distracted. Finding the swordsman with Martyn, she waited for a lull in their discussions and then interjected,

"Kaldach. Might we talk privately? There is an important matter I need to discuss with you."

[CrimsonEon]

Kaldach remained quietly near Martyn, the two of them standing in silence as they considered what the coming weeks would mean. For Martyn, his revolution no doubt, but for Kaldach... it could very well be make or break. He sighed in frustration at the off-key playing of a nearby bandit at a lute, ready to step away from the camp for some time. Just when he just took his first step away, Sharne found him instead.
: "...Hm?"
The mercenary gave her a pensive look. His expression didn't seem particularly enthused, but the focus of his eyes didn't seem to appear dismissive, either.
: "...Alright. Lead the way."

[Swordstar]

Leading the way away from the group, Sharne turned and knelt down in the familiar position she had held earlier with Esther. This one was both easier and harder in a way, but she was able to keep eye contact with him as she spoke.

"It is clear to me that I will never have a chance to fulfill my vow to you. That I am destined to fail. Not only am I not strong enough, but you are clearly unwilling to let me protect you. Thus, my vow and my honor that rests on that vow have become meaningless. I ask to be released from my vow. I will lose my honor because of this, but at this point I have already lost it. I cannot continue to stand by and try to protect you only to see you tear yourself apart. I wanted to save you. But clearly nothing I do will change your mind. So all I can do is ask to be free so that I might have a chance to gain my honor back some other way. And so that I can maybe stop watching you try to kill yourself every chance you get."

[CrimsonEon]

The swordsman, very briefly, looked bewildered as Sharne took her kneeling position.
: "..."
Despite it, he remained silent as Sharne made her case. Though he grit his teeth briefly on a couple occasions, as if he wanted to interject, he remained silent, save for a steady breath outward by the time she had finished.
: "....."
: "...I don't know what I can say, or how this vow or your honor works at day's end. If some words out of my mouth'll help you out of this bind, so be it. I'll consider the vow satisfied after you answer one question, in whatever way you want to answer it."

[Swordstar]

Sharne blinked, a bit surprised, then nodded.

"Anything you wish. I owe you that much at least."

[CrimsonEon]

: "..."
The swordsman sighed. It must have been near a hundred of times he dismissed or refused the swordswoman in his typical, blunt fashion, or the many times he wondered aloud in frustration. This time, however, his voice barely rose above the din of the camp further off, and the question it formed was wrapped in genuine confusion.
: "Why is this so important to you?"

[Swordstar]

She stared up at him confused, taking a few long seconds to formulate her answer.

"W-what? Why is this... Why is my honor, why is my vow important to me? Why is one of the most sacred things in my culture important to me? I vowed to repay my debt to you. To protect you. Every time that you end up on the ground, dying if not for Berthold, I have failed. I swore, on my blood, that I would keep you from harm. And every day I fail. This matters to me because it's a vital part of my culture. Because it is my honor. Because no matter what I do, no matter how I try, a person I care about ends up almost killing himself and leaving me useless on the sidelines!"

[CrimsonEon]

: "...Alright."
The single word tried to return to his blunt demeanor, but retained some the same perplexed tone of his question. Kaldach grit his teeth, a long exhale passing through them as he looks to the side, before turning back to Sharne.
: "I've heard enough. Enough people have died for my sake. If it's in my power to prevent another, I'm not sitting idle." The mercenary's gaze tightened, "I won't let this vow keep you any longer, consider it fulfilled."

[Swordstar]

She shook her head slightly at his still not understanding. Nothing was fulfilled. Just abandoned. But it was enough. She let a few drops of blood fall on the ground in front of him as well.

"And so it is done and so it is witnessed."

Pushing herself up, she started to turn away, then turned back.

"I wish... No. It's pointless. You'll never hear me. The only thing you care about is your damn sword and your damn revenge. At least I realized when it was time to give up."

Her words bitter on her tongue, she turned away from him, heading back towards the center of camp, aiming to find something to drink, some way to forget. At least for a few moments.

[CrimsonEon]

Kaldach waited some time after Sharne had left, his thoughts continuing to simmer behind his scarred face. Glaring at the clouds above, he took a few steps forward, further out of the camp. Now was a better time than any for a walk.
: "..."

[Twinwolf]

Esther took a deep breath - she'd taken a small break after what happened with Sharne, not sure how to really... process, that. She still wasn't, but sitting around and thinking wasn't going to do much. She'd... probably been too focused on Sharne, in all honesty, perhaps to the point her focus on the rebellion had faltered; she had to change that. So, the bandits - they had to do something with them, and walking into Mordo probably wouldn't lead to them living. Roux was in charge of them, so...

Esther approached Berthold.

"Hey, Berthold. I've been thinking about how we can use these guys, now that Roux is in charge. I think she'd like it coming from you, rather than the magic girl she's barely talked to." she started, "They're bandits, right? So we let them keep doing the bandit thing - but in Izzara, hitting Mordo's caravans. They can hardly benefit from the occupation if they're not getting any of their caravans, right? Either they have to deal with that, or they have to increase the number of caravan guards and take troops away from their own defense. I know they're not exactly spies, but if they could get any information from the caravans then they could send that our way too - would help to understand how what we're doing is effecting them."

There was something a bit different when Esther talked about this - the normally a bit unfocused or lax tone was nowhere to be found when she talked seriously about the rebellion. They were making progress, she was sure - at least more than they had just robbing the odd caravan for food and money.