After her name got out, Cheryn’s royalty was quick to send out letters and warnings. As such, there were precious few places where Jasper could go to take a break from it all—no parties or balls in this part of the nation, and barely even a person in any of the towns. It made the traveling more dull than usual, with very little chances to do anything fun. It was her own fault, ultimately, but she wanted to enjoy the beauty of a celebration again. Perhaps she could back in Relan, if they don’t hear of this.

Elionor always walked next to her, relatively silent unless spoken to. On Jasper’s other side was the guide, who barely spoke as well. Behind them was about half of the force Jasper had originally gone into Cheryn with—some had decided to leave after the first two or three towns, apparently considering it more unlawful to kill with little to no resistance than to kill at all, and she had split off another section to speed up the process a bit.

Jasper heard that the other group she sent out came across the two people Iztris was traveling with—the princess and prince of Cheryn, apparently. It made her wonder if Cheryn was underestimating her or taking her seriously; she would find out soon enough, she supposed, since she decided to continue on this course.

As the people behind them chatted on and the guide fell back a few paces to join, discussing some matter of fame or how they’ll search the next town for supplies, Jasper opted to speak with Elionor.

“…I need to be sure of a few things,” Jasper said. Elionor noticed she was the only one close and glanced at her. “I am convinced that we’ll soon come across someone from my past—an old friend that, with their own small group, can very well kill me. I want you to confirm something for me.”

“A personal request, I take it?” Elionor asked.

Jasper nodded. “If I die, there’s little point to continue this path—there would be no one that’s willing or able to lead such a force. In the time after that, this group will disperse or be killed as well.”

“You can just avoid whoever might be able to kill you,” Elionor pointed out. “You’ve done it in every battle so far.”

“It’s a bit different than that,” Jasper said. “Unless we go in a different direction entirely, they’ll keep on telling all of the townspeople to leave until we pass by the area—we’d be wasting our time for weeks, and we would still have to come back if the townspeople aren’t there. Even if we did change direction, they would just follow us and the process would repeat. I might as well try to get rid of them while we’re both here.”

“All right then,” Elionor replied. “But what’s your request?”

Jasper continued a bit quieter, if only because it was a matter of pasts and histories that not everyone needed to hear. “You’ve wanted to die since the day I found you.” Elionor only nodded as her response. “I stopped you from dying then, and we have agreed that you would try to live until this is over.”

“I only ever did this so others can hurt like I did then,” Elionor murmured. “If there’s no group to fight with…well, I’m not doing this on my own. I’d rather when I chose than against someone else.”

“That’s what I thought,” Jasper said. She looked at Elionor for a moment. “I’ll be going against the person on my own—there’s no need for any of you to see me fall. If I die…wait a few days before ending your life, just to be sure I’m gone.”

“I can’t just go with you?” Elionor asked.

“No,” Jasper replied firmly. “With a long, sharp sword and some kind of shield, I can make due on my own—it may take me a while, but I could fight without anyone else helping me. I would rather do this alone and be more likely to die. I just want to be sure that you won’t die while I’m still there to guide you.”

It took a moment before Elionor chuckled, hollow and humorless. “Ah, sentimentality. I thought we weren’t supposed to think about that too much?”

Jasper didn’t want to agree, nor did she want to add that Elionor was actually one of the best fighters the group had—it wasn’t a purely emotional nor practical decision, and she didn’t want to portray it as one or the other. After a few moments of waiting for a response, Elionor spoke up again. “So, do you want me to bury you, or leave you there to rot?”

“There won’t be anything to bury,” Jasper replied firmly. “I don’t believe there would be, at least.”

Elionor glanced at her curiously for a few moments. She genuinely laughed this time and looked back ahead of her. “You’ll never tell me all your secrets, will you?”

“Never,” Jasper said, able to smile for a moment.