Beautiful Waterfall

Asa kept doing his push ups "I'm not actually glad there's no alcohol around, something funny always happens around a group of friends that are drinking." He holds himself as low as he can without touching the ground and stays there for a moment but Jun's words made him chuckle which made him fall.

"I'm pretty sure that's never happening Jun, something tells me Düen could drink more alcohol that you can drink water."

For just a few seconds, Jun's expression fell completely. Tight-lipped, she looked down from Duen and stared into the fire again.

Vivid flashbacks. An entire nation under attack, twice. The first, an evil fae god versus her own people. The second time, terrorists and her adoptive home. Both times she wasn't good enough to stop them on the first pass. Eventually, with the help of some dear friends, she persevered. She got her accolades and parades. And only she knew that if she had just been a little stronger, hit a little harder, practiced a little more, there might have been one less casket to bury.

She gave a single chuckle. "It's because I'm short," an obvious lie considering who she was talking to, though technically she was the second shortest person there.

"I think I'll take that nap now." She leaned away from the fire and rolled back towards her gear against the wall. Her backpack would serve as an impromptu pillow.

"Thanks for the food," she said as she tried to settle herself with her head resting on her gear.

It did not take the most observant sort to figure out just what was going through Jun's head. The girl wore the signs of her trauma and her hubris on her sleeves, both displayed in equal measure and painting a clear picture. A woman who thought of herself as a hero and who, in taking that role, decided to shoulder every life that she failed to save.

"Oh aye, cause yer short? Naw because ya think the hole world is yers ta save?"

While he may have been insightful enough to notice her ills that didn't mean that he was going to handle them gently. Düen wasn't the sort to let someone going around pretending they didn't have a problem when they obviously did. How the person chose to address it was their choice, he just called a spade a spade. And a person with a hero complex combined with survivor's guilt, well Jun.

"Aye, and I'd send Basco out ta fetch ye and he'd sit on ye fer the rest of the night as I ain't got the patience for that kind malarky sober."

Düen said with a snort at Asa's comment. His patience for the foolishness of the younger races was not particularly high.

It seems like Asadrack's stamina had no end, he had been dragged along by the bear and now was doing sit ups, the truth was, he was becoming exhausted but thought he could push himself a bit further, so, instead of slowing down Asa sped up for a few seconds, than, he stopped only when his muscles were practically shouting for him to take a rest.

"I think..."he wiped the sweat off his face "having no money is great." The young man breathed heavily after every couple words or so "Money can change people, or as my father used to say 'show their real face'."

Slightly annoyed, Jun tosses and turns on her non-existent bed. She sighed. "It's not that easy letting go when a whole kingdom and adjacent tribe spend years treating you like a super weapon."

She blinked and stopped tossing. Huh, where did that come from?

The old Isra was gone. The Land-Tillers were either dead or fighting for their lives somewhere out there in the jungles. And so of course, Jun's first instinct was to reprise her role as an engine of destruction, a living weapon of justice. It was almost as if she had completely forgotten how to be a human being.

"I guess... that's not my job anymore, is it?"

Thinking again about the topic of greed and money, Jun said, "Hey Asadrack, are there any spear tactics specifically for home defense, like against robbers? Maybe we can set up some self-defenses classes for the Usqueans. I'll bet if everyone trained for an hour a day we'd have a lot less to fear from venomous claw monsters, greed, and giant horny grass cows."

While Düen probably could have kept making his point something told him that Jun had figured something out just then. The sudden change in focus made him think that perhaps she'd realized the same thing the old dwarf had. Sometimes, you had to let people learn to fend for themselves. Sometimes the best way to save the world was to spend your time teaching those people younger than you how to do it themselves.

"It's a nice thought lad. But it takes a bit more force ta steal a man's livestock than it does to cut his purse."

It wasn't a great sentiment but it was tragically one that was true. When there was less, people would fight harder to keep what they had and harder to take what they didn't. When those things were land, livestock, and goods rather than coin it could get even messier. Still, the people of the Usque typically had their heads on straight and Düen hoped they'd be more focused on defending their territory than taking from others.

"yeah, people will have to be more violent to steal goods for sure, I also know that a lot of humans are more monsters than anything else, but I have hope, still, training everyone to protect what's they have is at the top of my list along side with marrying Tana." Asadrack was now sitting down, it seemed like he was done for a while with the exercises, he listened to Jun and spoke again, "Jun, if you push yourself too hard and end up hurting yourself or something like that I won't hesitate to punch you as hard as I can after you get better, so please, remember you're human, as for me, I'll try to focus more in the present and the things I will do, not the ones I did and Düen, if you ever need a friend I'll be there."