The day's work finally done with the hanging of the dish towel, Nathan Errald re-settled at the kitchen table.  He still tried to digest what Garrick and Marissa told him of their trip and the subsequent Council meeting.  After dinner, Garrick beat a hasty retreat to the barn, not only to get out of doing dishes but to give the two of them time to talk.  The reason for the barn was also two-fold.  Even though there was an extra bedroom in the house, thin walls did nothing to promote privacy and his and Marissa's talk before they left town still played in both their minds. Distance would be a good thing, tonight.

"So what's on your mind to do, Missy?" Nathan asked his daughter.

"I'm gonna go with the others, Dad," she replied quietly.  Fidgeting a little, she finally came over to sit near her father.  "We all figure that we sort of started this, so we should see it through, you know?  Yeah, I know the kobolds already had the book and likely were being hunted anyway, but we brought it here to Lanburg, so we gotta take the trail away."

"I don't know what good it'll really do.  If they're gonna come to Lanburg, they're gonna come."

"We might backtrack a little, Dad.  Go back up the Ridge a bit, then skirt the town.  We'll decide in the morning.  You might take Annie on to Ghal or something, though," she added, swallowing hard.  "I don't know if they'll do something like raze the farm or anything, but at least you guys'd be safe."

Nathan's gaze, so like the one staring back at him, rested on this fiery, stubborn and fiercely loyal young woman.  It was still difficult to see her as anything but the little girl she'd been, even after the wolf attack.  Looking into her eyes, though he saw the woman she might become forming right before him, almost.  He saw the guilt wracking her mind and heart, too.  He frowned and gripped her forearm.

"Don't you be feelin' guilty about leavin', Missy," he said gruffly.  "You're doin' what's right and I won't have you or anyone else sayin' any different.  I'll get Annie over to Ghal and if we lose the farm... well it'll get rebuilt, or maybe I'll take it as a sign to move on to somethin' else."

"But our family has been here forever!" she protested, shocked that he'd think of moving at all.

"And so, it might be time to change," he shrugged philosophically.  "That sword I gave you didn't come from around here, remember.  Your Grandpa spent time traveling before coming back to be a farmer.  Me, I ain't never been good with the sword, but I'm good with my hands in other ways and I can find work if the farm is ruined.  If nothin' happens to it, then I'll still be a farmer and I'll have money to hire on some help when I need it."

He grinned at Marissa, or tried to, in a teasing fashion.  "'Sides, without you here eatin' as much as you do, I'll have extra money."

"Dad!" she exclaimed and laughed a little.  "Okay.  I'll try not to feel too guilty, but I'm a little scared, Dad."

"'Course you are!" he nodded.  "I bet all of you are.  This whole thing is scary and ya'll are planning on leaving the area, to boot.  And not a one of ya has been any further than Okarop... most not that far, even.  Jordan will steer you right, though with directions and all.  It just... doesn't seem that you're old enough is all, Little Miss."

Marissa snorted softly at the nickname.  She hadn't heard that one in years.  "Hardly little anymore, Dad."

"Pshaw," Nathan answered, shaking his head.  "Daughters are always six years old with skinned knees and pigtails in their father's minds, girl." (1) He gave her arm a rough, hard pat before scraping his chair back and standing up.  "Go on, now and get some sleep," he said, his voice rough.  "You got to be up before dawn.  Make sure you grab extra food out of the pantry. I'll have a couple of things for you in the mornin', too."

"Okay, Papa," Marissa whispered, not trusting her voice as tears pricked her eyes.  She stood and quickly tip-toed up to kiss Nathan's cheek. Then she left the room quickly before either of them could embarrass themselves.

"Marissa?" came Annie's soft voice in the dark when she got to their bedroom.

"Yeah, sis?"

"I heard you and Daddy talking.  You really gonna leave?"

"Yeah, I am.  I got to, to try and keep everyone safe.  Don't know if it'll work or make things worse, but we gotta try."

Silence reigned while Marissa got undressed and slid into her bed.  "What was it like... fightin' like that?"

Another long moment passed before Marissa answered.  "Noisy.  Messy.  Exciting.  Sickening.  Kind of fun.  Kind of sad, too.  Just... a whole lot of things and I don't have words for it all."

"So it's not like in the stories, huh?"

"It's a little like the stories but the stories don't really mention cold rain and mud all that much, or the smell or  the way you hit someone with a sword and feel it all the way up your arm and then getting scared that it'll be stuck.  I don't recommend you try it, Annie."

"Don't worry about me," Annie snerked softly in the darkness.  "I think Aedan and me'll get married in a couple of years.  Once he finishes his 'prenticeship with the leatherworker in Ghal."

"I hope it works out, Annie," her sister answered softly.  Annie murmured something that sounded like 'Me, too' around a yawn, then only the sound of her regular breathing broke the silence.  Sleep though was a long time coming for Marissa.

Before dawn the next morning, Marissa and Garrick said their good-byes.  Nathan made sure they had a few provisions from the pantry, including carefully wrapped jars of apple butter and apple jelly that Marissa had put up in the fall after the Festival.  They weren't strictly necessary, but they would all appreciate the little luxury occasionally.

Nathan also handed his daughter a pouch that jingled quite a bit and was heavier than she expected it to be.  "Your Ma and I started putting a bit aside for you girls when you were born," he explained.  "You'll need it on the road to wherever you end up."  As Marissa spontaneously hugged him, hiding the tears in her eyes, Nathan looked at Garrick the same way Jordan had looked at Marissa in the inn, the night previous.  He was charged with helping his girl take care of herself.

Marissa turned to hug her sister, then the two of them headed off to town, then on to soar who knew how far, how high or how fast.

OOC: (1) If any of you have played DragonAge: Origins, you'll recognize the paraphrased line.  It was too good not to use in this instance, so I did, with all due respect and credit to Bioware writers.