Reflections on the Dįvonësë War: The Dįvįnë Will Bear Witness to Fate

Chapter 25 - It Was a Day Like Any Other

Digression 10
38th day of Ope in the third month of Snow's Fall
4633 A.G.G. (Present Day)

Castle Įcħor-Nåbįlå, North of the Yavan Mountains
The Continent of Kazakoto
5:59 P.S.R. (Pre Suns' Rising)

----------

Aoleon

"It was just that simple?" Aoleon asked.

"Nothing's ever 'just that simple'. Consequences are always something you have to contend with one way or another, in one form or another. But eventually, things mostly leveled out. And once we were all sure that it was safe enough, I began to ply my trade openly. I took on my own hunting jobs; meeting face-to-face with clients. In time, I was able to leave the frozen north and move south to Hisra; completely free of the past."

"Nearly free."

"True. 'Nearly' free. At what point would anyone stop hunting for someone guilty of murder by twenty and five score? No matter how inadvertent.

"Regardless, once I moved south to the business they used to share together in Hisra, I spent three further years with Waimund. And picked up quite a few tricks from him for rifle-play along the way."

"Really? Hard to imagine an ordained Knight getting pointers on gunplay from a lowly huntsman."

"No doubt." He responded with a smile. "And useful lessons at that. But long guns have never really been of a heavy focus for the Order. We Knights are by-and-large pistoleers, not riflemen."

"Strange times for you, I suppose."

"'Strange times' indeed. But all said and done, I rather enjoyed the years I shared between the two of them."

"Seems funny to me that you three transitioned so heavily into hunting bounties from beasts. Unnecessarily risky. A lot of exposure."

"Well, we never really fully transitioned. Hunting people wasn't our true purpose, you know? And like you said, the risk of overexposure was a real threat when it came to working so closely with people outside of our circle.

"Even besides that, there was always quite a bit of self imposed danger that came along with it as well. I was always tempted to give into the urge to bloody our bounties once we caught them. In those days, once my blood was up, it was hard to bring it back down. Fortunately, most of the time, bounties would rarely stand their ground and they'd give up all aggression when cornered, so I didn't have to deal with those feelings for too long.

"The boys, on the flip side of that coin, seemed to prefer it despite the risks. We didn't use nearly as much coin on materials and equipment to hunt bounties as opposed to fiends. And the risk of death wasn't as high. So they considered it quick, easy money."

"And when bounties did stand their ground?" she asked.

"When they did? Then I had to work hard not to kill the fools. It became my job to...curb myself on their behalf."

"Never went too far with them?"

Samahdemn shook his head. "No. Not really. Fortunately, I can say that I rarely fought any thinking man or woman during those years who could offer me anything in the way of a real challenge. After all, how many street felons can earnestly say that they're a match for a classically trained and anointed Knight of the Order, with a history of violence, a gift for heka, an Amalgamate and several years' experience hunting literal monsters?"