The Fires of Esus - Ranger's Apprentice

Chapter 14: Not Magic

The following morning, Will and Alyss walked briskly through the town on the way to the castle. Everyone else involved in the previous night's events had already been planning to stay at the castle, and Jenny was gifted emergency lodging by the Baron. He had a debt to pay her from all the food he had enjoyed from her kitchens, so it wasn't difficult for Alyss to coerce him into giving her rooms for a few days until they had everything figured out.

Jenny was understandably distraught from the night's tragedies and everyone thought she shouldn't have to go home alone. Well, she wasn't technically alone. She and Gilan had been seeing each other unofficially for years now. They hadn't announced anything yet, but they were well known by most as a couple. As soon as he heard what had happened, he had sent a letter that he was on his way. They all knew Jenny would feel a lot better when she was with him.

Will and Alyss walked down the main road, the sun rising over their shoulders and the birds singing, much too beautiful of a day after what had just happened. They both paused as they passed by the ruins of the restaurant, squeezing their joined hands. More than half of it had been burned to the ground, and the other half was too damaged to be salvageable. It would have to be rebuilt from scratch. Smoke drifted over the town, and the entire village and castle had woken up to the news. Everyone within a ten-kilometer radius knew about the arson, and had their own rumors about why it had started and what the Rangers had done about it. Will hid his face in his cowl on several occasions to avoid the whispers from early risers in the town as they walked towards the castle.

A few moments later, when Will and Alyss had climbed the steps to the Baron's office and had just passed over the threshold, nodding a tired greeting to Halt, Pauline, and Horace, Jenny once again seemed to appear out of nowhere and flung herself into Will's arms. "Will, oh god, I'm so sorry about last night, I'm so sorry!" She was barely holding back her tears, shaking and obviously exhausted. Her eyes were sunken and her skin pale, still a bit swollen from crying. It was all perfectly understandable - her entire world had been turned upside down in a matter of minutes, all while being threatened with a knife and then an explosive. And even after Will managed to help her escape with her life, her entire livelihood had now burned to the ground. She probably didn't sleep all night, and hadn't eaten, so she was emotionally raw and destroyed. Her feelings, and the way she expressed them, were completely justified, and Will and everyone else in the room felt only sympathy and remorse for her.

But Will felt more than just simple sympathy. To be perfectly frank, he felt absolutely terrible about what had happened. He had sworn to himself that he'd be able to stop the fire before it happened, that he could save the restaurant. And then everything had stated burning, and he knew he had failed. He had spent the rest of the evening feeling like a complete and utter failure, like the worst Ranger to ever exist. Not because of the burned building, not really. Because he had broken a promise he had made to himself, and he had been unable to help his friend. Seeing Jenny and everything she had spent her life building destroyed had the same effect on Will - it was destroying him, too.

He sighed heavily, hugging her back, supporting her and she trembled against him while unsuccessfully holding back sobs. "It's alright, Jenny, you don't have to apologize, you didn't do anything wrong. If there's anyone who should apologize, it's me - "

"No, don't you dare apologize to me! You saved my damn life! You saved my staff's lives too! You saved everyone and I'll never be able to thank you." She stepped back, a flash of anger in her red-rimmed eyes making Will raise his hands in defeat.

"I was just doing my job, no need to thank me. I'd do it all again any day. But Jenny, I really am sorry." He let his head hang a little, pressing his lips together to hold back a stream of self-pity.