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[Haspen]

"Actually, I hoped to have the rest of you tend to... Miss Sophia here while I visit the garrison."

"Miss Priscilla, Mister Johannes. I would like you two to come along, if you do not mind. I'm a soldier, but not exactly a nobleman. I would definitely need someone to represent Miss Sophia with me."

[TricMagic]

This is a bit much, what has happened. I'm here to pay for the King's Hospitality. Suppose helping her through this is on the list, if her best friend and Knight won't be here...

"Right then. May as well grab us some rooms."

[SirAston]

"You ask for noblemen, yet skip over me? Harsh."
"But if I recall correctly, House van den Borre and House van den Berg have much closer ties to the royal family than House Bouwman... It makes sense to let these two accompany you."
"We can keep an eye on... Miss Sophia in your absence. My personal business is neither an important nor an immediate one."

[GiglameshDespair]

Priscilla glanced down at the comatose princess.
"...Very well. The van den Borre name should carry weight, even here."

"We can keep an eye on... Miss Sophia in your absence. My personal business is neither an important nor an immediate one."

"What was it, anyway, if you're not feeling secretive? I'm curious what business you'd have here, unless you were intending on gathering charcoal."

[SirAston]

"Well, if you need to be curious about that... A haircut."

[IamanElfCollaborator]

"....a haircut. In these conditions?"

[GiglameshDespair]

"Hmm. I see."
"A strange sense of priorities, to think of that now."

[SirAston]

"Be my guest in mocking me for that... You see, there's a set of fine clothing in my backpack. I had plans to shape up nicely, with said clothing and less messy hair, during the marriage ceremony. Because you have to look good at such an occasion."
"That and I will admit that looking at my finest on such a day could have served well to make my name known in the upper echelons in a more positive way."

Rowan looks down to the road before lifting his head up, just slightly.

"The... recent events... made me think a lot about all of that in such a short time. How I was looking forward towards the marriage for the Kingdom's sake, but even more so for bolstering my name's worth. And... made me question if this stance might have led to me being neglective on my duties on the road to the Lichteisen summer residence ever so slightly. This nagging feeling where I'm constantly thinking: If I would have been just a bit more serious about it, just a bit faster in executing my duties, just less focused on giving a glorious display on the battlefield... Could we have reached Lord Joachim just in time to save him?"

His voice begins to crack a little, as if he is holding back something that tries to force its way out of himself.

"I want... that haircut... so I will always remember..."

[IamanElfCollaborator]

Erica gives him a calm, but stern, stare.
"Tell me. Will cutting your hair bring him back? Will it have made you do things differently? Your gesture might appeal to your sense of honor, and I won't tell you not to do it, but it won't change the fact of what happened."
"What happened, happened. You can't change it. There's no point in dwelling on what you did wrong, because you can neither divine the future nor change the past. If you focus on your failure, you'll falter and fail and regret it more. So don't beat yourself up because you think your own personal flaws caused his death. His death isn't on you, and if you let every death that happens on your watch weigh on you, you'll never get out from below it. Focus yourself on the Princess. She's still here."
"Call me harsh or hate me for that if you will, but we have prayers and requiems for the dead. It's our job to protect the living."

[SirAston]

"Of course cutting my hair won't bring him back... Maybe it would have happened no matter what I did... No one could have seen it coming, otherwise we would have taken a different route..."
"But even then, I cannot forgive myself. Not yet."
"Not as long as Her Highness suffers."

[Happerry]

Jill shrugs "Everyone responds to tragedy in their own way. If a haircut is what your soul needs in response to this... horrible incident, then let you have the haircut."

Turning to Priscilla and the others who've been asked to go visit the garrison. "If you're off to talk with someone official, please remember to find out what happened to this settlement? I suppose it's theoretically possible the 'accident' here had nothing to do with what we ran into, but I highly doubt it. It'd be nice to know if there are foes hidden in this city, or if everyone involved in the fire got caught, or if no one got caught, or even if it was just an accident after all."

[IamanElfCollaborator]

Erica conceals her irritation with Jill. That was not at all what she meant.

Still, she keeps her displeasure hidden; she had to work with these people, not alienate them by picking a fight with them. She keeps her focus on Rowan.
"Then do what you must to soothe your own mind, as long as you keep your eyes on the people you can still protect."

[Haspen]

With the Princess safely at the inn, Priscilla, Johannes and Albrecht visited the garrison.

Quickly realizing the gravity of the situation, the commanding officer promised a dispatch to the capital to be sent on the fastest horse, and an escort of fifty most loyal and skilled soldiers in his employ.

Now, all that was left was to report to the Princess...

The innkeeper opened the door where Princess laid on the bed.

"Very strange, that girl of yours." The bald man spoke. "To reject even our call for free dinner? Hmph." He left, as Sophia turned to lie on her back.

The Princess was awake, clutching her staffs and staring at the wooden ceiling. However, she did not say anything. Albrecht turned to look at Priscilla and Johannes, and stepped away from the door.

[GM_3826]

As Johannes approached Sophia, he briefly sighed. He hadn't been nearly as attentive as he was hoping to be. I need to be there... for all of us.

"Sophia?" Johannes said. "We went to the local garrison, and It seems that there are some people we'll have to escort back to the capital. We'll be leaving again soon." Smiling as best he could to cheer both himself and Sophia up, he reached out for Sophia's hand. "I understand this has been hard on you... it's been hard on all of us. But we're there for you. I can never say this enough-I feel like I need to do more. Perhaps I'll always feel that way. But all of these other people are here for you. Priscilla, Rowan, Venza... Admittedly, Venza has his own problems, but enough about that for now." He winked. "If you fall down, we'll help you right back up again. We'd do anything for you. So get up." That said, Johannes continued to smile. It wasn't a false smile-actually somewhat comforting, although there was a bit of sadness in his eyes that he couldn't quite conceal.

[GiglameshDespair]

Priscilla shut the door behind them quietly.
"As he says, Sophia. If you wish to talk to either of us... we are here."