for business and pleasure

All four of them walked home in silence, even Nellara and Marium were silent all the way back to the guild hall. Vickary was pensive, her brow remained furrowed in thought. And Alex...he'd have paid the silver prince to hear her thoughts, so rarely did she retreat that deeply into contemplation.

His curiosity was answered when they dropped their packs in the guild lobby, "I was thinking," Vickary said as she faced Alex, "That he reminds me a lot of you when you were young."

"The young lord?" Alex asked.

"No, the other one."

"Oh, you mean Edward." Alex leaned his head to the side in thought, "I suppose there are similarities there. He does spend a lot of time watching the people around him."

Vickary nodded, "It's what made you such an effective party leader. You paid attention to your companions and all of their surroundings without loosing sight of the objective."

"Not always," Alex winced, "Everyone died remember. And I didn't notice until the fight was over. If Diana had survived we might have been able to revive someone else, but I never had that knowledge or skill."

Vickary placed a sympathetic hand on his cheek, "That's in the past now, I know Mistress Yumi would want you to move forward. I cannot imagine Diana would want you to carry the weight of their deaths for the rest of your life."

Alex sighed, "You know you're the only family I have left. I might not be able to save you next time."

Vickary looked up at him with a sad sort of longing, "Do you remember what I promised you that day you pulled me out of the cages?"

Alex shook his head softly, "I was still blinded by rage. As soon as I gave you Spike I went hunting the rest of that thieves guild."

"My white knight doesn't need to save me anymore," Vickary smiled kindly, "I am only sorry that I cannot save you."

Alex turned his head and kissed her hand, "We're family, that's good enough for me."

A light laugh from the mistress of rats, "Same. Now if you'll excuse us ladies we have work to do." And she left to return to her duties.

Nellara gave Alex another hug, "We're all here for you Uncle Alex. Wherever you go be sure to visit home from time to time." And then she too scampered off.

That left Marium and Alex more or less alone now. She was hesitant, but she asked the question that was troubling her anyways, "You are actually Alexander Lionheart then?"

Alex removed his helmet so she could read his face as they spoke. "I'm what's left of him, yes."

She just stared.

"Not what you were expecting from a hero?"

"No, you seem very heroic...just more normal than the stories they tell."

Alex laughed softly, "The truth is normally too boring. So storytellers embellish until the 'news' about a heroes latest deeds are wildly inaccurate. I was famous, so the tales about me are mostly fictitious."

"You don't mind?"

"On the contrary, I like the fact that I can walk around in used armor and no one suspects who I am. Fame is a cage made out of attention, I couldn't do anything for myself without people interrupting me. But now that I'm just Alex again I have a lot more freedom to do what I like."

"What is something that you can do that you couldn't before?"

Alex leaned forward close enough for his breath to tickle her ear, "How about you? Can I do you?"

A feminine hand clutched the side of his breastplate, "Right now?"

"I suppose I can wait," Alex grinned mischievously, "Can you?"

Marium pulled back forcefully, though unwillingly. She fixed Alex with an attempted stern glare, she failed to be stern, but at least she didn't look completely hungry, "You sir, are a terrible human. You should go to your room and think about what you just said." Then suppressing a laugh she whispered, "I'll be up as soon as I can make space in my chores."

Alex smirked, "I'll be upstairs then. Alone...with just my imagination."

Marium made a soft moan and closed her eyes, "Nope. You can't be a hero, you're too bad." And off she scampered before Alex could mess with her any further.