[[Day 3 in Palaugrim :: One day after Brynhildr's death]]<br/><br/>The sun was shining.  The sky was blue and cloudless.  Eight figures raced down the road, their long strides eating up the distance between their origin and their destination.  It was a beautiful day to be alive.<br/><br/>Lethe studiously ignored the aching of her legs, mind focused on the destination rather than the journey.  Her body, especially her hips and thighs, still carried the lacerations she’d received during Lilith’s summoning.  Valiar had been able to heal some of the damage, but most of them still contained traces of Sin which resisted the holy magic.  The reminder of Lilith had the woman frowning.  Lilith was… troubling.  The demon, for ‘Sinner’ and ‘Pure Sinner’ appeared inadequate titles, was still on the loose somewhere.  She frowned at the reminder and the accompanying phantom pains that ghosted over her injuries.  They couldn’t afford to waste time waiting for her injuries.  Time was moving and with it, the countdown until she had to be back in Gless.  Even with the extra week or two Deimos had secured for them, there was too much to be done.  There was no time to waste.  Despite her personal wishes, she had ended up removing a stop in Lizeth and was racing straight for Fleur Terres.  The little town was about an hour’s run from one of Palaugrim’s major trading cities, given its location near the center of the island.  Last she’d heard, QianHua, Seien, and Ensei had settled in the small town and were running an orphanage, the reason they’d ignored the reinstatement the Pristine Knights program.  She hoped they’d have space for her and her squad.<br/><br/>The sight of smoke in the periphery of her vision drew her from her thoughts.  Whatever was causing that much smoke from here had to be a large fire.  It was also, unfortunately, fairly off the road they were following.  The white-haired Knight wavered between continuing their dash for Fleur Terres and investigating the fire.  Time was of the essence, but if perhaps a village was in trouble...  She unconsciously started gnawing on the corner of her lip.  Should she go with impulse and investigate or keep with the logical path and stay on the road?  The last time she’d deviated from the cautious route…<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">Three boxes emblazoned with the eye of Sin.<br/>Agony as something ripped metaphorical claws through her, as if pulling out the very fibers of her being.<br/>The still body of a dead Knight, lips smiling in content for having died for one she loved.<br/><span style="color: #0080FF">“ I’m afraid that I will lead those who follow me to their deaths.”</span></span><br/><br/>It had been both fortuitous and a tragedy.  If Lilith had been smuggled into Lindela and had access to the two Sin Crystals her team had subdued… but then Brynhildr wouldn’t have died.. but how many countless innocents would have died instead?  Some of the best Knights in the Immaculate had been at the battle with a weakened Lilith and one had still fallen.  What massacre would have occurred if they hadn’t discovered the demon now?<br/><br/>She lifted a hand and signaled their change in destination, altering her path to run towards the column of smoke.  She couldn’t live her life fearing she’d make the wrong decision.  Death would come no matter what happened; all she could do was give those who followed her her best efforts at helping them evade it.