The next morning Dhiren doesn't want to wake Jessa up. He gets Moonglow saddled and explains to her that he needs to hold Jessa because of her being so ill. For the first time ever she allows someone other than her owner to ride her. Dhiren carefully mounts Moonglow before he is handed Jessa by Kallen.

Wind trots next to them and is allowing Kallen to ride him for a short time. Normally Kallen would have walked and taught Jasper as they went towards the city, but time is of the essence right now and they are all riding.

Kristoff had already left for Silva when Dhiren had decided that so he sent Mel with a message for his father to have horses waiting to return with Kristoff.

None of the guards are complaining about the chance to ride the horses. Elven horses are rarely sold to humans. Even though they aren't riding the royal horses, the ones they are given to ride are better than can be found outside of the elven realm.

Dhiren wakes Jessa as they near the gates. They have already been opened for the day and the traffic had been let through so there is no wait for them. Master Culeb is practically frothing at the mouth to get through the gates and to his home with his goods.

Dhiren directs his men to go with the untrustworthy caravan master. Tells them to take the horses back to where Frosnak has stabling for when something comes up for her customers. Many of the guards are aware of the location and nod as they move out with the shifty master.

"Master Culeb, you will give Jessa her full wages. If it weren't for her none of the guards would have survived, you wouldn't have survived and your merchandise would be taken by the bandits. You will also give your wounded guards their full wages, including for the time they were recovering in Silva. Mistress Frosnak will ensure that you pay them accordingly. If you don't, then I'll be coming after you for salvaging rights to your caravan. Since you wouldn't have been able to return to Castlerock without the assistance of the elves.

"Am I understood, Master Culeb?" Dhiren tells the angry human before him.

Culeb grits his teeth in anger to keep back his retort. He'd hoped to be able to swindle the pay out of the guards and especially Jessa. But the elven prince would have the law on his side. He stomps his way through the gates and to where his holdings are to unload his merchandise.

He looks longingly at the elven horses as they are being taken away. Those are fine horses and what he wouldn't give to get his hands on them. He sighs, he knows that they are too easily identified to be able to steal. That's usually how he gets the horse flesh he needs. Now, with needing a whole new group of horses he won't be able to steal, he'll have to actually do an out lay of cash and buy the stock.

He grinds his teeth at the thought of all the money he's going to have to pay.

If he knew the price for his caravan's to go through the pass will be more than others he would be grinding his teeth even more. But, happily for him, he didn't know that yet.

It is the beginning of the end for him as a merchant.

Dhiren goes more slowly then Culeb and stops to talk to the guard. "Could you give me directions on where I can take Master Silvermoon's caravan merchandise?"

The guard perks up, "You have news of Master Silvermoon? He is a week over due and Mistress Silvermoon is quite worried."

"I'm afraid he didn't make it, but we brought his merchandise in and would like to know where we might take it and we also need directions to see his widow." Dhiren tells the guards.

"Please, I'm sure that she would like to know what happened to him." Jessa adds in when the guard hesitates.

Slowly he nods and gives directions to the warehouse for Master Silvermoon and then the directions to his widow's house. "Thank you," Jessa says and gives the guard a smile.

"Aren't you Jessa Brightblade?" The guard says as Dhiren prepares to ride through.

"Yes, I am."

"Any word on Nathan..." the guard trails off as Jessa is unable to stop the tears from falling.

"Nathan, he fought alongside of me. The bandits are no more at the pass, the elves will make sure that it stays that way, but Nathan didn't survive the battle.

"The elves gave him a send off, as well as all the other guards that didn't survive. They also gave the sendoff to those of Master Silvermoon's caravan as well."

The guards look sad at that. "He was a good man and will be missed as will Master Silvermoon. Please give our condolences to mistress Silvermoon?"

"Of course," Dhiren says and hands the guards some coins, "why don't you and your friends toast Master Silvermoon and Nathan when you get off duty?"

"Thank you, sir," the guard says gratefully. The coins were more than enough for get the whole guard good and drunk.

Dhiren seeing how pale Jessa is, guides them to Mistress Silvermoon's house. Kallen is at their side immediately to take Jessa from Dhiren's arms. Kristoff and Sorsha remain by the doors as the others take the horses to the stable for Alaric. They are all aware of where that is by now.

Dhiren nods to Kristoff to knock on the door and before long an older female opens the door. "Yes? How may I help you?"

"We have news of Master Silvermoon and would talk to Lady Silvermoon," Dhiren tells the female. Although she has the demeanor of a lady he doesn't think that she is the lady of the house.

"Please, come in and I'll let my mistress know." The servant shows them to a lovely room with plants placed about the walls and a water fountain sending up a spray of water before falling into a basin. They are given seats around a table. The female leaves to get her mistress and order refreshments.

"How are you holding up, Jessa?" Dhiren asks in concern. Jessa has been very lethargic and wan looking.

"I'll be okay. I won't be able to rest until I get this over with though, so the sooner this is done the better."

Shortly they hear the sound of footsteps nearing. "I hear that you have news of my husband?" A far younger female than they had been expecting enters the room. She is in fact about Jessa's age and very innocent looking.

This confuses Dhiren, because the one they took as the merchant was far older than this female. "Mistress Silvermoon?" Dhiren questions. Jasper is tongue tied at the beautiful female just a couple of years older than him.

"Yes, that is me." She says and smiles "Please, don't stand on my account. Is she alright?" Mistress Silvermoon asks once she spies Jessa next to Dhiren.

"She was wounded but refuses to rest until you are told what happened."

Now it is the females turn to be confused. "My husband didn't hire a female guard. He's rather old fashioned and doesn't believe that females can or should fight or guard."

Dhiren and Jasper both snort at her words. "Those were my husbands thoughts, not mine, you can be assured."

"Forgive me, but I thought the master of the caravan was older?" Dhiren says confused.

Mistress Silvermoon makes a face, "Yeah, my father didn't have any males and wasn't confident enough in my abilities to take over my family holdings so they arranged my marriage to my husband. His family was damn near desperate for him to marry and have an heir. They somehow forced him to agree. We've been married for nearly three years now."

Jessa looks at the female, "You don't believe yourself to be married, why is that?"

"We are married, my husband just never shared my bed. I'm as pure now as I was before my marriage." Mistress Silvermoon isn't sure just why she's telling these strangers such intimate things, but she can't seem  to stop herself from doing so.

"I see. Are you competent to run the family businesses?" Jessa asks gently.

"Yes, but it might take some time to establish that fact. And it will take some time to recover from the loss of that last caravan."

Jessa smiles and nudges Dhiren. "No, actually that last part you won't. Jessa, here dealt with the bandits." Dhiren stops when Mistress Silvermoon gives him a blank look.

"Forgive me, I am Prince Dhiren of Silva. This is Jessa Brightblade, she was hired on as a guard for Master Culeb," at the mention of that name Mistress Silvermoon makes a face. Dhiren smiles in understanding. "This young man's brother was hired on by your husband and survived the ambush that killed all others in the caravan."

"Master Silvermoon had already entered the pass before I could stop him. Had I been able to go first he still might be alive. I am sorry I wasn't able to get there sooner." Jessa says and is deeply guilt ridden.

"Not your fault, Jessa. My husband wouldn't likely have waited for you even if you had asked him to do so. Now why don't you tell me what exactly happened?"

"Your husband's caravan entered the pass with my brother being one of the guards. I wasn't supposed to be there because he'd heard how dangerous it had gotten, but I snuck along behind. Kyron isn't my home and I wanted to come home.

"Once the caravan was fully committed to the pass there came a barrage of arrows. The light from the sky was blocked by how many there were. It didn't matter that they were killing the animals, all it mattered was they killed every one. I ran, I don't know how I survived without getting hit, but I managed to get through the rain of death and ran away. I left my brother to rot in the sun because I was too scared and a coward to stay."

"Enough, Jasper," Jessa demands. Her voice weak but her will is strong and it was enough to stop Jasper from speaking.

"There were over two hundred bandits. It would have served you nothing to remain."

"Jessa is correct. I had one of my people place the battle on this talisman, not the one that destroyed your husband and his caravan, but the one where Jessa took down the bandits almost immediately afterwards. If you would like to see what she does-" Dhiren doesn't even finish his sentence before she replies.

"Please, I would very much like to see those bastards get taken down." All three of them blink at the vehemence Lady Silvermoon displays. "Forgive me, they have killed many good people. Not just my husband. Many merchants have been reported missing and the guards they hired as well."

With that Dhiren looks to Jessa who nods. "Very well, it isn't a pretty sight and you might need to be sick once it is over." Dhiren gives her warning before activating the pendant.

They all watch even though they'd all seen it before except Mistress Silvermoon. Once it finished, Mistress Silvermoon turns to Jessa. "I am amazed that you survived. That you not only killed those parasites but you managed to save some of the guards. I am sorry for your loss. I could tell that one of the guards was a friend of yours."

Jessa gives her a small smile, "Thank you. He was, a very good friend and I'll miss him greatly.

"I've had the caravan merchandise from your husband's caravan taken to your warehouse, or rather Dhiren did. You will be able to deal with it in your own time. Mistress Frosnak was alerted to what happened and she'll work with you to make sure that you get the best prices for your merchandise until you feel up to taking over completely alone."

Mistress Silvermoon sits back and looks at Jess in confusion, "What merchandise. It is yours by rights of salvage."

Jessa looks to Dhiren who takes over speaking. "Jessa refuses the caravan. She says it belongs to you now that your husband is dead. She just asks that the families of the guards, if they have any, get the wages they were owed before their deaths."

Mistress Silvermoon waves that away. "Of course they will be paid, and they will be paid a death wage as well. Those that don't have family the wages will be given to whoever they have designated to receive them. That is the common practice. Although, not all merchants will honor the death wage."

Dhiren looks at Jessa and knows what she's thinking when he sees the light of fire in her eyes. "I'll make sure that he pays it, all of it. Rather, Frosnak will." Jessa relaxes with those words.

"But you must take something for payment, Jessa." Mistress Silvermoon says distressed that Jessa won't take anything.

Jessa hesitates then removes the glass rose from her belt. "I took this as payment and won't accept anything else."

"It is exquisite, of course, but it is very little to what is owed you."

Jessa shakes her head, "It is nothing. I am owed nothing. I cleared out the bandits because they were threatening my friends and the elves. If I hadn't of done it, then the elves would have."

"There would have been far more elven deaths had we done it."

"You truly did all that death on your own?"

"She truly did that with only the help that you witnessed in the illusion."

"Then the debt is still owed, Jessa Brightblade."

"Young man, you lost your brother, what will you do now? You have a family to go home to?"

"No, he was the last of my family to still be living. Jessa has offered to have the elves teach me how to be a ranger, Frosnak to teach me finance and Alaric to teach me how to be a merchant and give me a home."

Mistress Silvermoon looks at the younger man sharply, "I too, can teach you how to be a merchant. Work for me, I'll give you a home. The elves can teach you from here and Mistress Frosnak can either come here or you can go to wherever she needs you to go."

Dhiren and Jessa look at the human girl consideringly. "Why?"

"I'll need guards that are well taught. There will be many that won't believe that I'll be able to handle my estate. My father passed on his estate to my husband last year. My husband's family will try to take away my inheritance and I'll need guards that I can trust. You gained the trust of the elves enough to get them to give you lessons. An elven trained ranger can't be beat for protection.

"I'm willing to hire you on before you are trained on the condition that you remain in my employ for five years after you complete your training. At that time you should be fully trained in being a merchant and have a great deal of financial training as well. You will be able to leave and open your own shop if you wish or remain with me and continue helping me. The choice is yours."

"Jessa?" Jasper queries, unsure if it will be permitted.

"Sounds good to me. I'm pretty sure Alaric will prefer it. He was less than pleased about having some stranger come in and live with him full time. He doesn't even like me there full time." Jessa tells the young human with a smile.

"Very well, thank you Mistress Silvermoon, I accept your offer."

"I'll be checking on you periodically, Jasper. I expect to hear good things." Jessa tells the astounded youth. She intends on keeping informed of his progress with the elven training and through Frosnak as well.

With that Jessa strength gives out and she passes out. Dhiren manages to catch her but no one notices that the glass rose that she had been holding falls to the ground. Dhiren even steps on it but in his concern for Jessa just kicks it out of his way.

It isn't until later that Mistress Silvermoon finds it and is amazed that it is unbroken. She hands it to Jasper and asks him to take it to Jessa at Alaric's place.