Steven
_Almann waggled his finger. She clearly doesn't get it yet. He dreads the day she will be forced to kill someone, perhaps someone who she wouldn't never expect to have to kill. Almann had almost been shanked by children in rags more times than he had counted when he ventured in the lower districts of cities._

"Watching someone else do the dirty deed is not like doing it yourself. Why didn't you kill the boy? Did your uncle just find some random person to make an example of them?"
Patricia
"Because he knew my Uncle was a bandit, and he was staying in our home. The boy, his name was Finnegan, and I knew him from childhood... But he changed as he grew up too. So we were going to confront him and make him stay quiet. This was back when I was under my Uncle's influence, so I wanted to impress the man. I didn't expect him to put a knife in my hand."

**She went quiet, real quiet.** "I liked Finnegan too. But he wouldn't agree to keep his mouth shut. I sort of regret it, you know. It could have been me instead... Killing him. Since then, I've seen a lot of travesties, in my time wandering. I've seen poverty, violence, I've seen famine... I've been hurt, robbed and threatened on various occasions. I try to defend myself, but I'm... I'm too small. I'm just a damn girl! You wouldn't know how hard it is, because you were born with all of that strength." (
Steven
_Almann laughed. Harder than he had in a long time. He was almost driven to tears in fact, and almost spit out his pipe in the process. Did this girl think all of this came easy to people? I wonder how much despair she has really seen._

_He wipes his tears away from his face._

"You are a funny one! I like that. I wasn't born like this girl, I trained and got experience. I was abandoned as a child, forced to be a servant, then apprentice, to a steppe elf khanate in the Moluinwur Steppes. I earned my prowess by killing my rivals in combat to climb the latter to success. I had to broker deals when I was younger than you or get no food for the next day. I had quotas for artisans works that were required or I was disciplined with a rod. But, when I did good, exceeded expectations, contributed more than the others, I was rewarded greatly. I was born a weak macen, away from my homeland, out of my element.

It was only until recently that I understood the deep depravity of the world. You've seen all that stuff? I've caused all of it. I've been the cause of poverty, violence, and famine. I've hurt people, robbed and threatened others. I've been on the receiving end of it all too. Tell me, do you know what happens to slave communities and hordes when they do not fulfill their tithe (taxes) to the Silnarian Empire? They kill them, enslave them, and torture every coin out that they failed to give their overlords out of them."

_Almann stands, grabs his fishing pole, and points a finger at her._

"The weak, they try to defend themselves, like you, but can never seem to strike the final blow. They never end up defending themselves, not because they are weak in physical ability, but because they are weak in their minds. That is the real reason the weak never last long. It isn't because they cannot lift a stick or sword due to their poor strength, or can't kill someone larger and stronger than them, it is because they lack the determination to live and not just survive."
Patricia
"H-Hey... Shut up. That's just what I believe. You know it's true, about you being stronger because you're a man." **Mercy said, as she filled with indignation from being laughed at. Thinking about what she said, Mercy did see how faulty her statement was, she didn't give it much thought before blurting it out, after all. It's how she was, an explosive, impulsive angry girl with regrets.**

"Tch, I get it! No need to go off on a rant. You're talking just like my Uncle did, except you're just... More decent, I suppose. You think I don't know these things already? And for your information, you donkey?...I'm not weak. Don't call me that again, or else."

**She warned him with unwavering sass and angst in her voice, and she was sending quite an icy stare at the man.** "I could beat you... Maybe. No, I could. At something perhaps..." (
Steven
_Almann chuckles again. She thinks of herself too highly._

"Are you going to stab me with that flimsy rapier? Awaken latent powers and turn me to dust? No you're not, girl. Girls are weak, women are strong. You are still a little girl mentally. I've met plenty of women who I am less than enthusiastic in fighting and competing against because I'd get soundly beaten into the ground. You see that a lot in the underworld and in guilds."

_He sighs one last time before walking about through the woods._

"If you strengthen your resolve you will cease to be weak."
Patricia
"You're full of it, go away already. Go catch your stupid fish by your STUPID sea, okay?" **Mercy shouted at Almann as he was disappearing into the trees. She briefly checked the campsite for her mother's book, then went back to sitting against the tree contemplating life. Could she admit that she was just a weak girl? Of course, but hearing it from someone else simply filled her with ire.**

"Lucky he didn't get me *Too* Angry. Tch." (
Steven
_Did she thing he couldn't hear her? Almann shoots a bronze lance at the trunk of the tree she was leaning on. Just to scare her a little bit. The lance itself would burying itself on the opposite side of the tree._

"Take care girl! Watch what you say too! You never know who may be listening!" _Almann shouts._

_Almann continues to make his way through the woods and back to the village. He contemplated helping her out a bit. She was weak yes, but she needed food to become strong. Perhaps she would do so after having a full stomach?_

_It wouldn't be hard to convince some of the village goers to give her a couple of fish from that day's catch. He could offer them some referrals in the nearest city market, or promise to take their goods to said market and give them a hearty share of the profits. Almann eventually struck a deal with a couple of the fisherman, he would refer their names to the local sea port as potential long-term sailors for some of the more serious merchant corporations in the empire. In the coming couple of the days Mercy should be visited by a few villagers gifting her a little bit of food in the form of a few fresh fish, a couple of potatoes, carrots, and a basic loaf of bread._
Patricia
**Something hard impacted on the part of the tree trunk behind Mercy, disturbing her peace and startling her quite a bit. She gasped quickly, jumping just a little, before she got up and checked. Son of a... Why would he do that? There's no way he could have heard her murmuring. She came to the fact that he may have had some sort of unmentioned hearing magic, bringing her throat to a little growl.**

"Not. Funny. Hmpf." **She scoffed, going back to her own business; which was lazing against the tree, snacking on some hardtack rations. A small part of her better self hoped she'd see Almann again, for the sole purpose of having company... Who knows.**

```Scene Concluded.```