[center][h2]Anne Mayer[/h2][h3]Aventon — Hunter's Lodge[/h3][/center]
"I'm not sure... It could be their version of a peace offering. After all, they wouldn't have wanted us to keep harrying their forces after they retreated from the village." Anne hadn't witnessed the battle herself, but she'd seen a number of Herald bodies littered about the village, with injuries that couldn't have been dealt by a bunch of under-equipped guards. If there was one factor that all the summoned strangers seemed to have in common, it was their combat strength, great enough to put any one of them on par with an entire platoon of soldiers.

Even as she said it, though, she felt that this couldn't be the right answer. Closing her eyes, the Knight tried to think back to the events in the cave, and what the Herald commander had said before leaving. [i]Make use of them. Place your life on the line to keep her safe.[/i] And then there was the note...

"The alternative is that they wanted us to use these. If the necklace has a function of its own, then it makes sense that it could be used in concert with the other two items." Whatever their reasons, the Heralds wanted Millie alive, and the note read like a warning of a potential danger. Maybe the box had been meant as a way to [i]help[/i]—to keep Millie's soul from being 'snuffed out' by the Goddess, which was the one outcome neither Anne nor the Heralds could abide.

Of course, the girl herself chose that exact moment to finally show some sign of life. Anne lifted her head at the sound of the groan, briefly met Kendrick's eyes, and then made her way across the room to where Millie was resting. "Millie? Can you hear me?" The callused fingers of her right hand—the biological one—gently touched the girl's wrist, checking on her pulse.

[@PKMNB0Y]