"Are you sure you'll be okay?"

          "I'm sorry, who's the one who versed you in single combat and won?"

          Herobrine gave a rueful grin, his gaze dropping for a moment before flicking back up to the steady eyes of Anne. "To be fair, I wasn't trying my hardest."

          "Uh huh, and that's why that fight ended the way it did," Anne said sarcastically, a grin on her face. "You were terrified to duel me again for years."

          "Okay, that aside," Herobrine said quickly, bringing the conversation back on topic, "war isn't like a duel, Anne. It's chaos and if you go out there, I can't protect you. You're certain to get hurt but-"

          "Hero, I'm not going to die," Anne said gently, understanding what had made this normally unfazeable man fret. "I won't be on the front lines anyway, and you know how Captain Andreas is."

          Herobrine glanced over to the first platoon of Snow Strikers who were saddled up and ready to head out to the first of Entity's outposts to the north. He knew that Captain Andreas was loyal to Anne and would go to any length to ensure her safety, just as a good second in command should.

          "And either way, I should be the one worrying about you," Anne continued. "I know you and no matter how much you try to deny it, I know that you're going to be fighting on the front lines and if Entity or Dreadlord or Acid show up, you're going to be the one who fights them. And I'm scared for you but we both knew that when we decided to protect this world, we would be risking the other's death. That's just our lot now."

          "Yeah I know," Herobrine said quietly. "Doesn't mean that I can't hate it though."

          Anne gave a small, knowing smile. "Yeah I know." She gently kissed the top of his head. "I'll see you soon. Be careful."

          "I will if you are," Herobrine said instantly. The two hugged, tight and brief, before Anne mounted on her horse and the Snow Strikers rode away, Herobrine running beside them all the way up to the gate and then standing there watching until they were past the horizon and were gone.

          But there was no time to contemplate because over the next few days, the base was a flurry of activity and movement. Everyone was training harder than ever, with a section of the training grounds becoming completely devoted to Seto and Aramis' sorcerer apprentices and Herobrine and Adam's spars. Adam was becoming quite good at controlling and using his magic now, nearly becoming as good as Seto under Herobrine's tutelage.

          Due to the sheer mass and size of the war parties, nearly a week passed before Quentin and Jason watched the last portion of the gathered armies leave and turn to face the west, riding towards the setting sun.

          "How long until you reckon we'll see them again?" Quentin asked, shading his eyes to watch.

          "I don't know but I hope it's under happy circumstances," Jason muttered. Quentin hummed in agreement and the two stood there for a few more minutes before silently turning away and heading back to their quarters. Neither spoke, but neither needed to. There was a sort of strange comfort in walking silently with a friend, and it was a comfort that was deeply needed in this time of war.

          But their silence wasn't to last for long as the doors of the castle opened ahead of them and Notch came walking out, Herobrine hot on his heels, the two in the middle of some discussion that, if their body language was anything to go off, had been happening for quite some time.

          "Notch you don't get it!" Herobrine said, an angry tone in his voice as he quickly followed his brother. "People aren't thinking rationally right now, your proposal would only make everything worse-"

          "I'm not saying that Hero-" Notch started to say, turning around but Herobrine cut him off.

          "You don't know what you're saying, you don't ever associate with people so how can you know? So stop trying to act like you've got all the answers because you don't!"

          By this time, Quentin and Jason had both quickly stepped out of the way and to the side of the road as the brothers passed, still arguing, Notch facing forward again.

          "Hero just stop following me, I'm going to say something that I'll regret," Notch warned but Herobrine wouldn't have it.

          "No, because this is what you always do! It's what you've always done! You never face a problem head on, as soon as it gets tough you run from it or pretend that it doesn't exist, and that's not going to work this time, Notch! You've got to face this one-"

          "Well I tried and you shut down my idea-"

          "You didn't know what you were saying-"

          "Oh, and you do?!" Notch spun around, facing Herobrine and no longer walking. "You're always jumping into action without thinking of what it could cost, and I know that I over-analyse everything but at least I consider the options!"

          "I jump into action because I know what I'm doing-"

          "You never consider the cost!" Notch yelled. "That is why you were disowned! That is why you'll never get the Star Blessing!"

          Herobrine froze like he had been slapped, all the blood draining from his face as he stared at Notch with an open, horrified mouth, seeming to stop breathing. Then the colour returned and he shut his mouth and with a glare but not a single word, spun on his heel and marched off down a side street, his strides long and smooth and furious. Notch gave a deep sigh, all the tension melting out of his body and his hand went to the back of his neck.

          "Dammit Notch, you idiot," he muttered quietly to himself, the words barely audible to Quentin and Jason, and the inventor walked down the main road.

          The two Generals looked at each other. Quentin silently jerked his head towards the castle and when Jason gave a nod, the two entered the building as quickly as they could without appearing to run and found a few of their fellow Generals.

          "So uhhh do any of you guys know what Herobrine and Notch were just arguing about?" Jason asked as they entered the room and shut the door behind them.

          "They were arguing?" Mitch asked, momentarily looking up from his sketches of battle plans.

          "Well obviously otherwise Jason wouldn't have said anything," Ty said dryly. Then, turning to the diplomat, he said "Nope, haven't seen either of them for a while."

          "I don't know what they were arguing about, but it was heated," Quentin said seriously.

          "What's heated? Better not be my burrito, I hate spices." As usual, Steve's words announced his arrival before he entered the room, an all too familiar smile on his face.

          "What even is a burrito?" Ty asked, turning to face him as he moved to the sort of kitchen that was in the room.

          "It's a dish from the south, it's great but that's not the point, what's up?" Steve said in his usual rapid-fire way, scooping up his burrito and taking a bite. "You guys look shook," he mumbled, gesturing to Quentin and Jason and probably intending to use improper English.

          "Yeah, Herobrine and Notch were just arguing and it uhhh didn't end well," Quentin told him.

          Steve shrugged and took another bite. "Not surprising. They're both under a lot of stress, what with the war and all, and neither of them have ever been great at dealing with stress. That's why I'm super chill, I got my chill and all of theirs."

          "Yeah that makes sense," Jason said, glancing at Quentin. "It's was really weird though, Notch said something about a star blessing and Herobrine just froze and then stormed off."

          "Woah woah," Steve said, his tone of voice suddenly changing to something much more serious as he slowly put down his half-eaten burrito. "Notch said what? Exactly?"

          "Uhhhhh..." Jason looked to Quentin for help.

          "He said something about Herobrine being disowned and that he would never receive the star blessing," Quentin said helpfully.

          "Ah," was all that Steve said.

          "Why? What's a star blessing, why is it a big deal?" Ian asked, lowering his book a little.

          Steve shook his head and picked up his burrito again. "It's nothing much, don't you guys worry. Just... It's a family thing, happened when we were kids, don't stress." He took a bite of his either late afternoon tea or early dinner. "Either way, they'll both be fine after a few hours, don't worry."

          But Steve didn't meet any of their eyes, and he wouldn't say anything else on the matter. Whatever the star blessing was, what Notch had said had shaken Steve too.