Erin walked through the hall of the nones, watching furies pick up the bodies that were still lying there: frozen and plentiful. The caped women had already worked on cleaning up the hall where James's room was located, but the stench of blood and the puddles that came along with it still occupied the floor. Erin stepped in a small pool and looked down in disgust. The blood had nearly dried, causing a sticking sensation as her shoe hit the floor. She knocked hard against James's door.

            "I'm comin!" Twill yelled from inside the room. Erin listened to the floor creak against his slow hard steps, waiting patiently for him to finally make it to the door.

            "Twill," Erin said with a smile, "you're alright," she leaned in for a hug and squeezed his old bones until they nearly cracked beneath her arms. She looked in to the room, noticing that James sat on his cot looking at her with a grin on his face. She smiled and waved. Twill held on tightly to Erin, grateful that she was alive, but released her suddenly when he remembered the others. He placed his hands on her shoulders.

            "Tara and Gwen alright?"

            "They're fine. They're in Dia's room sorting out what to do now."

            Twill looked behind Erin and side to side, confused, "Where's Damien?"

            Erin lowered her head and shook it softly. Once again she became wrapped around the wrinkled skin of Twill, and this time he was the one squeezing hard enough to break her, "I'm sorry," he mumbled into her shoulder. Erin felt the freshly fallen tears roll along the same route as the ones that had just dried minutes prior.

            "That poor kid," James said, still sitting on his cot.

            They acknowledged a moment of silence, thinking back to the boy who had only just entered their lives: always clumsy, always too proper, and head over heels for Erin. Twill remained standing, hugging Erin and attempting to comfort her, and she needed it. Erin closed her eyes, inhaling the smell of ale and hay that wafted from Twill's shirt. She listened to the muttering and groans of furies that walked with deafening steps throughout the corridors. Twill grunted and wobbled slightly against Erin.

            "Oh, Twill! I'm sorry. Go sit down before you hurt yourself," Erin stated while pulling away from him gently. She guided him back to the chair inside the room and watched him plop down hard against the chair with a sigh of relief.

            "These old bones," Twill said.

            "I agree," James replied, laying down and stretching his legs straight out. A popping noise echoed through the room.

            "So we won?" Twill asked. Erin nodded and gave him a small grin.

            Twill tried to flatten his monstrous hair by running a hand through it but failed, "So what's the plan now?"

            "I came to see if you two were up for it, but don't worry. I'm sure the others will be able to handle it," Erin said sweetly while trying to realize their age might wind up causing overexertion.

            James sat up quickly and straightened his shirt, "What do you need? We'll help."

            Erin looked to James and Twill's accessible glances, "We need people to help us dig a hole next to the bone yard. We're clearing out the casualties now."

            The two men looked to each other sadly but nodded together at the request.

            "Whatcha say, James? Ready for one more job?" Twill asked.

            James smiled brightly, "You got it."

            ~*~

            Tara and Gwen stood on the balcony in Dia's room and watched as the morning sun began to illuminate the tree line that surrounded Lethra. Below them, handfuls of furies and nones carried stiffening bodies shrouded in rigid capes. Everyone that was capable had chipped in to dig the mass grave beside the building, right next to the bone yard. Others who were too tired or caught up in their emotions sat outside of the blood bath, picking up the dirt they sat on, and watching it fall between their fingers. Tara looked to the crowd that sat lined up on the edge of the mountain sharing the same scenery that both her and Gwen did. They leaned in to each other, overwhelmed by the drastic change that had just taken place.

            "They look so sad," Gwen said, leaning over the rail and looking to the furies and nones that sat comforting each other.

            "I took the life that they had always known away from them," Tara sighed, "and their sisters too."

            "Those furies weren't sisters...they were beasts just like Dia."

            Tara walked back into Dia's room and played with the sheer material separating the balcony from the living quarters; the rough fabric caught against her calloused hand.

            "They need a better life, now that we've taken theirs away," Tara rubbed at her tired eyes, "and now I'm starting to second guess myself."

            Gwen walked over and grabbed Tara's arms, "This is good, Tara. What you were all living was no life," she released her grip on Tara and looked down sadly, "and neither was the one I was living."

            Dia's marble floor remained coated in firmly dried wax. Her favorite armchair laid overturned and releasing small bits of stuffing from the slash Tara's sword made earlier. Even thought Dia was gone her presence lingered in the air. The combination of extravagant decor and the scent of sandalwood gnawed at Tara, until she realized that Dia was the key to helping all those furies and nones get the fresh start that they needed in the real world.

            "Uh, Gwen?"

            Gwen shook her head, trying to get rid of the daze she was stuck in momentarily, "Hmm?"

            "Those other rooms down the hall.."

            "What about them?" Gwen looked confused and raised an eyebrow at Tara.

            "What exactly was stored in all those rooms?"

            Gwen shrugged, "Just a bunch of her precious items that she kept hoarding."

            Tara clapped her hands together once and laughed to herself. Gwen initially jumped at the loud sound but then watched Tara, who had began rubbing her rough hands back and forth against one another.

            "What's your idea?"

"Dia may not know it, but she just helped jump start every person's new life in this fortress."