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After the initial shock wore off, Damian became irritated. Nothing had happened to Garrick during the night, that much became clear soon. Not only was his equipment gone, but so was Brenadier. He had abandoned her, and over a petty grudge against Domino.

The fact that he left brought to light something that had been bothering her recently. He had been acting differently since they left Dresdin. Damian didn't think it had to do with their discovery of a dark goddess hiding within her, though she felt she was partially to blame for pushing him away as she had since then. But the fact that he would leave so quickly and unceremoniously proved that he was a different person than she thought he was. And it angered her that she had become so intimate with him, had trusted him so much, when it was now clear that all he had wanted was to lie with her. To think that he had accused Domino of being untrustworthy.

The travel the next day passed as quietly as it had the last, but now the anger stewed within Damian instead of Garrick. At least, it had until Domino calmed her.

"He made his choice," he stated, no hint of animosity as he spoke of the knight. "It's not up to us to change it. I know it hurts, and I'm sorry for my part in it."

"It wasn't your fault," Damian replied. "I just can't believe he was so... so immature." Domino only shrugged, saying nothing either to excuse or condemn Garrick's actions.

"We can still go to Alegro," he remarked. "At this point, it seems like our wisest course of action." Damian nodded. Their quest wasn't something she wanted to think about either, but at least it hurt less than the thought of being betrayed by someone she had trusted. Now she wasn't so certain that she had been wrong not to trust people growing up.

"He was lying last night," Domino stated abruptly. She sent him a questioning glance. "I do feel remorse for what I've done." His gaze remained steady, but she could see turmoil hiding deep in his topaz eyes.

"I know," she answered. "You told me that in Trent. I believed you then and I still do." Domino turned to face her. He sent her a sad smile. She could tell he wanted it to be as genuine as the smile she gave him.

Thank the Light for him, she thought.

They followed a main road northwest that day, not as large as the roads Damian had traveled with her father in her youth, but a far clearer path than she had traveled recently. Though they passed a number of people tending the fields, they didn't reach any towns until that afternoon. The small hamlets where the farmers gathered lay hidden among the paths cut through the fields, and the road was too straight to bother finding the tiny villages.

The travel was again uncomfortable, though for different reasons than the previous day. Farmlands surrounded them in every direction for much of the day with few trees to see. Damian didn't like the openness and wished she could hide away from everything that bothered her. Her discomfort only grew with each peasant they passed by, most of whom shot them vicious looks or darted out of sight. Some of them seemed to run off as if to pass on a message to others. With each unsettling gaze she met, she wondered, was it Domino they feared or her?

They saw the town half an hour before they arrived. It was a far cry from a city like Trent or Dresdin, nor even as large as Aether, though as they approached, she could see that there was a central market and craftsmen, and more than one temple. This, unlike the hamlets scattered throughout the farmlands, was a place where people both lived and worked.

"The road should split at the town," Domino told. "We can go directly west from there." Damian nodded. It was still going to be a few weeks of travel before they would arrive in Alegro and she wished she was a lot closer to it than she was now.

A small boy peered out from the wheat field where he likely worked beside the rest of his family. Damian caught only a fleeting glimpse of the child before he darted back into the field and ran. She watched uncertainly as the tall plants shuffled under his movement, marking his trail towards the town quicker than they rode. She shifted in her saddle.

Another person became visible as they came within shouting distance of the village, a middle-aged woman feeding chickens in a coop next to the nearest house. The woman looked up upon hearing their horses' steps. Once she caught a glimpse of Damian and Domino atop their horses, her gaze became a dark glare. Dropping the bucket of seed, she turned and ran around the house, yelling something down the main road into town.

Damian sent a worried look to Domino. He returned the gaze with a wary expression.

Townspeople emerged from around various corners and inside some buildings, running toward the entrance of the town with the woman who had been tending the chickens. They all stared at Damian and Domino, talking amongst themselves.

Damian didn't like the looks of it at all. She heard snippets of conversation as they rode up to the edge of the town.

"... the dark mage, alright..."

"... heard that black blade steals souls..."

"... bet they stole the horses..."

"... demons inside..."

A heavy weight settled in the pit of Damian's stomach with the accusations. It felt just like when they had entered Trent, yet now, the hostility was directed as much at her as at Domino. And this time, it seemed as if the whole town had turned out to incriminate them.

They reined their horses in. The villagers had the whole road blocked off. One man wearing slightly less beaten leathers than the others stepped forward.

"Go back the way you came, dark mage!" he yelled. "You'll not be coming in our town."

"Ye'll be facing the lot of us if you do," another piped in, holding up a hammer. Other voices echoed their sentiments as they brandished various crude implements from pitchforks to smithing tongs to wooden mugs.

"And what exactly do you know about her that makes you so hate her?" Domino asked them flatly.

"We're not letting you through, either, hawk-killer," the leader answered. "We've already sent word to Alden soldiers that you're coming. They'll be coming after you now." Damian's eyes widened fearfully. "We're not letting you into town. Turn back now." At that moment, the boy they had seen in the field threw a stone at her. Hope whickered and tossed her head anxiously as it bounced off her leg. Damian gasped and pulled the mare back.

Domino casually turned Singer around and began walking back the way they'd come at an easy pace. Damian quickly followed him, but gazed back at the town as they left it behind. The villagers cheered their retreat, fingers pointing and voices laughing maliciously. A few more stones flew, but they sailed wide or short of their horses.

Damian's hands trembled as the voices faded away into silence, the town shrinking behind them. Scorn she had faced before, but never had she been condemned by so many people.

"They were afraid of you," Domino stated. She turned to him. His eyes were guarded as he gazed ahead. "They would have just attacked if they weren't. They wanted to bluff us into thinking that they were being lenient, but it was obvious they knew that they didn't stand a chance against us."

"What about those soldiers they were talking about?" she asked, her voice shaky.

"Even if he was telling the truth, Alden is a very large duchy," he explained. "They'd have less a chance of finding us than they would a unicorn." Damian wasn't certain about his assurances, but his confidence calmed her.

"But what do we do now?" she wondered. "We can't just go back the way we came."

"We'll cut through the fields," Domino replied. "They were afraid of us in their numbers and they won't even have that out there. It should keep us better hidden from our adversaries, as well." Damian sighed. Nothing seemed to be going right that day.

Domino turned his gaze to her. She glanced at him.

"Don't be afraid of them," he stated. "They're cowards. They like to feel big by looking down on others, but it only makes them smaller than they really are. They've only heard stories and judged you purely on that, not the truth. People like that are not worth worrying over. Let them live their petty lives. You're better than they are." Sighing again, she looked away. She knew it was the truth, but she still couldn't help feeling hurt by their words. Far from the first time in her life, she wished she was normal.

Once out of sight of the town, they turned their horses and began cutting through the wheat fields. As Domino predicted, the peasants working in the tall grasses fled rather than confront them. For the following hour, Domino lead their way through the wheat, Damian following close behind on Singer's black tail. After a while, they turned north to intersect the road again, out of sight to the west of the town.

Afternoon turned to evening and then to dusk as they traveled. When night began to fall, they set up camp in a patch of land that had succumbed to a wildfire in recent years. It was difficult maneuvering through the weeds that littered the field, but there were some small trees and at least a little cover. They built a fire from the bramble they could find and ate a quiet supper. Damian still couldn't get the harsh words of the townspeople out of her mind.

"Doesn't it bother you what they said?" she asked, gazing distractedly into the flames.

"I've long since stopped caring what people think of me," he answered, though the softness in the way he spoke suggested that wasn't entirely true. She caught a movement of his hand from the corner of her eye and turned. He fiddled with the bloodstone amulet hanging around his neck. Damian paused, watching his gloved fingers twist the pendant back and forth, rubbing over the stone and tracing the blood red veins shaped like an eye.

"Where did you get that?" she inquired. His gaze dropped to the stone, cradling the pendant in his fingers.

"A magic school in Medina," he answered. "I got it while I was in the Red Hawks." His eyes looked unfocused, distant, as he spoke. "The archmage of the school hired us to retrieve a magic book that was stolen. The thief was using magic to protect himself, however, so numbers wouldn't help in getting it back. I was chosen to go alone." Damian listened intently, her interest piqued at this rare glimpse of the past he had never disclosed to her.

"The archmage lent me this pendant to get the book back. It was the only way I could get close." He paused, running his thumb over the stone again. "The thief turned out to be a student from the school. A little overambitious, but good-intentioned. He was hanged for his actions. When I returned the book, the archmage said I could either have the payment we had agreed upon, which was handsome indeed, or I could keep the pendant." Damian's eyes widened as she gazed at the stone hanging around Domino's neck. "It's worth a lot more than he offered." Damian's gaze passed over his body. He made such a good loner that it was hard to believe he had ever traveled with a large group before. Her curiosity was raging.

"What happened with them?" she asked softly. "The Red Hawks." Domino sighed. His gaze still lingered on his pendant, where it had remained for several minutes. Silence settled over the scorched landscape.

"I've never told anyone what truly happened," he stated quietly.

"You don't have to tell me," she replied, shaking her head. Still Domino stared at the bloodstone pendant, his expression distant. The howl of a coyote rang from a distance. Damian began to regret the question and only hoped she hadn't brought up painful memories that would push him away from her. Why did I have to ask him that?

"Domino..."

"What have you heard about them?" he stated abruptly. Damian blinked, surprised at his question.

"I... heard various stories growing up," she answered. "That they fought for justice and honor, traveling the land to set right what was wrong."

"Those were lies." Damian shot him a confused look, but still his eyes remained fixed on the pendant. "They fought very hard to keep that good reputation to people, but all they ever cared about was themselves. Every noble deed you heard them do was highly exaggerated, if not an outright fable." Damian thought back on the stories she had been told of the Red Hawks, the noble band of selfless warriors, or so she had grown up to believe.

"I heard they rescued the kidnapped Princess," she remarked. Domino finally faced her, his expression unreadable.

"It was the third daughter of the Duke of Canson," he told. Damian hadn't even heard of Canson. "And she came back dead." Her eyes widened. The mercenary shook his head. "Every storyteller wants to outdo the last with no regard for what really happened. Nobody knows where the truth lies." His gaze dropped to the flickering flames. Damian pondered the emphasis he had given on 'truth.' And the Red Hawks had claimed to fight for Justice. Little wonder Domino put more faith in Truth. She wondered about the stories she had been told over the years, and the stories now circulating about her. She shivered. The burned land fell quiet around them.

"I disliked them for years," Domino eventually remarked. "I joined the Red Hawks because I thought they did the right thing. I wanted to help people, but more and more, I learned that all they cared about was money. They never did anything for the good of anyone but themselves." Damian's eyes widened when she heard the subtle telling tone of his voice. Domino was no longer simply commenting on his former comrades. He was revealing to her the real truth.

"They went to great lengths to uphold their good reputation to the general public," he continued, "including and especially killing anyone who might ruin it. I wanted to leave, but if I did, they would have hunted me down like an animal, and no one who had heard of the Red Hawks would believe me if I told them the truth. So I stayed, trying to plot their downfall." He still fingered the enchanted pendant, though his gaze fixed on the flames burning at his feet. A pause sounded.

"An earl's son went missing," he stated after a moment. "We were hired to find him and bring him back. Turns out the lad ran away, wanting to escape the spoiled and hedonistic life of a noble. We found him with some peasant boys he had befriended." A shadow passed over his eyes. "The Red Hawks killed them. Claimed they kidnapped the little lord. They never gave those boys a chance to explain themselves. Just left them where they lied." Disgust tickled his features with his words.

"On the way back to his home, a rival earl of the boy's father offered us double the ransom to bring the child to him... and even more to kill him ourselves." Damian's eyes widened, horrified. "I didn't say anything because they already distrusted me for my beliefs, but I couldn't contain my rage any longer.

"A few nights later, we had set up camp on a plain. No one else was around for miles. I got up telling the watchman I needed to relieve myself, and instead I turned around and slit his throat." His fist clenched tightly around the bloodstone. Damian could see faint hints of pain and anger hiding in those clear blue eyes. "I was so angry at all they had done, all the 'goodness' they had lied about doing, and I couldn't stop. All I could see was that boy's eyes, pleading to each of them in turn, and them saying 'sorry' even as they laughed and ran a sword through him." His whole body tensed up before sagging with a tired sigh.

"I'm sorry," he stated, his voice slightly choked. "I haven't thought about any of this in a while."

"It's alright," Damian offered gently, stunned at what he had told her. She could hardly believe that such vile people had deceived all of Faneria so successfully and for so long.

"I don't know how many of them survived," he added. "I stole a horse and ran away and never looked back." He swallowed hard. "A brief war broke out between the two earls. The boy's father lost quickly and was stripped of everything he had. He was ruined, taken down, and eventually hanged, simply because he made the mistake of hiring us to find his lost son." He screwed his eyes shut, the pain apparent on his face. The night seemed enormous around them.

"Why doesn't anyone know any of this?" Damian wondered. Sobering, Domino shrugged.

"I suppose none of the remaining Red Hawks told anyone," he suggested. "Probably didn't want to be exposed as the source of that war, especially since the former earl's land became poorly tended afterward. I didn't bother telling anyone because I didn't think it would make a difference." He glanced away with a tired sigh. "That, and I didn't feel I deserved redemption for my actions." Damian blinked, taken aback.

"But they did something horrible," she argued. "They deserved everything you gave them."

"No," he answered forcefully, facing her. His gaze was fierce, but she could see he wasn't angry at her. "What I did was wrong. I betrayed them. Stabbed them in the back, just as your knight said." The conviction in his eyes faded. "It's unforgivable."

"Just because your anger clouded your judgment doesn't make you a bad person," Damian replied strongly.

"How can you honestly say I'm a good person after what I've done?" he asked.

"How can you expect me to believe otherwise after what you've done for me?" she responded, rising to her knees. "Don't you understand? I don't care what you did before we met, you've done nothing but good in the time I've known you. You're all I have left from my old life." Wearily, she collapsed to a sitting position. She felt tears gather beneath her eyes with the recollection of the life she'd left behind. It seemed so far away, as if it had only been a dream.

"But," he replied, bewildered, "I didn't know you back in Aether." Raising her head, she smiled softly at Domino. His was such a familiar and friendly face.

"You were there at the end of an old life and the beginning of a new one," she explained. "You're the only thing I've had to hold on to. I never would have made it this far if it wasn't for you, both for the way you protected me and for just staying beside me when I lost everything else." Scooting closer, she took his hand in hers. "I don't care what you think, nothing will make me believe you're a bad person, ever." He swallowed.

"I'm just afraid that I'll betray you, too," he stated. He cleared his throat awkwardly at the waver in his voice. Damian smiled at him.

"You won't," she remarked. "I know you won't, because you have a good heart." He shook his head.

"No..." Damian laid a finger over his lips, silencing him.

"You do," she stated. "Even when you did what you did to the Red Hawks, you only wanted to right a wrong." She gazed deep into his eyes. "You are a good person." His face twitched as his composure broke.

"Oh, Damian," he uttered, leaning forward and wrapping her in his arms. Her heart swelled with the sound of her name in his voice, the first time he had spoken it. She could feel the pain in his embrace, holding her a little too tight, as if he was afraid that she would disappear once he let go, her and all the assurances he wanted to believe. She held him close, feeling as comforted by him as he was by her. Never before had she felt so close to someone aside from her father. Never before had she felt so secure and comfortable with someone. Never before had she had someone to call a friend as much as Domino.

The night hung large and silent above, stars glittering down over the ruined land.