"Hey… are you alright?"

The words broke through my daydream. I teleported back to the real world from the cloud of remembered touches and breathy words.

We were less than a mile from Dodge, the Footfield fading as we closed the final stretch safely.

Olaf walked at my side, staring at me curiously, maybe even with a hint of concern.

I said, "Uh, yeah. Of course I am… what do you mean?"

He said, "You've been distracted since you met that merchant near the salt flat. I don't know if there was something worrying in that conversation, or if you're… if you're affected by coming back to Dodge, but listen, you can tell me about it. You know you have a tendency to brood on things. It mightn't be a bad thing if you got better at sharing your thoughts."

I gaped slightly. Olaf was a truly warm soul, but I had never expected this kind of sensitivity from him. He was a huge brute of a figure, raised to the sword and the saddle. There was innate kindness to him, but I was taken aback by the frank… openness of his invitation.

I said, "Oh… shit, no, it's nothing like that…"

My mind flashed back to where it had been, to what had really been distracting me. The softness of her flesh under my hand. The track of her tongue as it traced my lips. The total, uncharacteristic, vulnerable openness of her eyes as she stared up at me, moving above her. The threatening pit of worry about how this could ever end in anything but tragedy.

I decided to correct myself. I was clearly distracted by something—maybe it would be better to lean into Olaf's narrative.

I said, "Well… it's tough coming back to Dodge. The last time I was here I left with my father's body wrapped up on the back of a cart. It's not as though I've got terrific memories of this place. And…"

As I spoke, I realized there was real truth to my words. He watched me without judgment, just open interest, genuine concern.

"This place is a weight around my neck."

Olaf chortled, "This place makes you rich, Ti! The other families in the city try to support their lives with the lands they hold. Some nobles have sidelines—the Darkwaters have their ships, Father has the mills. But you? You don't even need to worry about the harvests. You've got all of this… if that's a weight around your neck, then sign me up too."

I said, "It's not as simple as that. Dodge was shredded by the Horde. There are families here. People have built lives here. There were schools, a hospital. This place is an entire city in its own right—but one with no Tower, no Order fields. I'm… shit, I'm responsible for the people here now. It's tough to keep your mind on one thing. I have to fill the duties of the Sword, but at the same time I'm ignoring responsibilities I have here…"

Olaf nodded. "Looks like they've been doing okay in your absence."

I looked ahead—and realized he was right.

The walls of the city had been repaired. Gone was the damage wrought by the Horde. My last memories of this place had been of rubble and ash, darkened by the smoke of fires burning in the ruins.

What greeted my eyes now was a vision of what Dodge should have been. Mounted guards rode past the walls. Dozens of caravans massed, coming, going, loading, unloading. People flowed like eager ants. There were still signs of the old devastation. I could see a heaving field of debris in the further distance, wreckage that had been hauled from the city. Beyond the walls there were still structures that lay slumped and broken. But for every skeleton of a warehouse, there was another rising from the dirt, scaffolds surrounding it, the rhythmic sound of hammers ringing out across the distance.

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I felt my jaw slacken. "Wow…"

Olaf said, "You said you handed control over to some Empire trader?"

I nodded slowly. As we moved closer, I saw some of the guards gesturing to us. One rode off into the city, two more started to trot easily toward us.

I said, "Yes… Cassius. I… I knew I needed someone capable who would be motivated to take care of the place. I've been worrying that I made a mistake trusting someone like this… a foreigner…"

Olaf said, "You can say what you want about the Empire, but they keep their word. There's no greater shame than to be named a liar. It's the foundation they've built their success on."

I said, "Still… I put an awful lot in the hands of someone I didn't know."

Olaf pointed to the healed walls, to the settlement humming with life and commerce. "Worked out though, didn't it?"

I couldn't argue with him. I felt the weight of months of guilt lifting from me. I had worried so much about the lives that were lived here—the lives I hadn't been attending to as I roamed the Falling Fields, as I struggled to split my attentions between castle-building, conspiracies, Green Men, deranged old heroes, journals of ancient prophets…

The two horsemen grew closer. Their bearing was clearly unthreatening.

One of the men called out, "Greetings, Lord Bloodsword!"

The other man added, "Hail!"

My eyes caught movement behind them. The guards turned their heads back to the gates to take in the image of the Griidlord racing toward us. She moved fast, her Arrow suit devouring the distance between us easily. I felt an odd twitch in my heart. For a moment I'd seen Racquel in the lithe figure. But this woman was larger, longer of limb.

Olaf tensed beside me, but I put a hand on his shoulder. "It's okay. I know her. She's a friend of Dodge. Her name's Tacita."

Olaf was slow to relax. His stance remained ready as he tracked her approach with care.

Tacita spoke warmly. "Hail, Tiberius! You've come at last to see what Cassius has done for your little city!"

I clasped her hand warmly. I couldn't help but enjoy the ease with which she greeted me.

"What are you doing here, Tacita? You can't be here still, after all these months?"

"No, the Empire has better uses for its suits than to post one here permanently. I do run many of the Griid-trains to the city, and sometimes I take my leave here."

"Here? In the nowhere?"

Tacita said, "Cassius has been busy. There's a little more to Dodge now than just trading. Come, you'll see."

I followed her, curious. She seemed somewhat lighter, brighter, easier than when we had first met. I wondered if it was my growing reputation. She had seemed a martial woman—perhaps her estimation of me had risen with the success I'd had during the Falling.

Inside the gates the vibrancy of the city became all the clearer. I watched, my heart swelling, as a line of children followed a teacher down the main street. Music played from a tavern, bright, cheerful songs that spoke of forgetting the devastation wrought only months before.

For every wagon and cart that passed up and down the street—and there were many—there was another man with a board on his back or a hammer in his hand. We proceeded further down the street. The smell of baking bread soaked my senses as we passed a bakery. The plaintive whine of a rasp whispered through the open door of a workshop.

We stopped outside a large tavern, and I turned to survey it all. Olaf watched me and seemed to smile, seeing the tension and apprehension melting from my body.

I said, "I can't believe it's all turned around so fast. I thought it would take years."

A voice answered behind me, from the door of the tavern.

"You chose well, my lord, when you chose your partner."

I turned my head to find Cassius standing in the doorway. He was the same—pudgy and small, the eyes no less calculating, the expression no less greedy. But again, as with Tacita, there was a difference to the greeting. There was warmth between us. It startled me.

"Cassius!" I said, extending my hand. "I cannot believe what you've done. The town is healed! You have my gratitude!"

He took my hand, his small and soft in my powerful gauntlet.

"No, my lord, you have mine. Our arrangement has benefited me every bit as it has you. It was a good deal we made. We will both be richer for it."

I thought little of the riches. "Well… nonetheless, Cassius, you've honored my wishes. I just don't understand how you achieved so much in so short a time."

He shrugged off the gesture. "It's what we do. It's what I do. I cannot deny you made the task much lighter in sending Lady Earthtithe to assist. She has been beyond capable as an administrator. No task has been beyond her."

I felt my brow arch in confusion. "Lady… I didn't send—"

Then it was that I noticed the figure standing behind Cassius, shadowed in the doorway of the tavern. She'd lagged behind him, her posture low and slouched as if she were trying to hide. Her very being seemed to emanate smallness, shrinking from the moment.

I took in a breath, surprised. I breathed, "Leona…"

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