5 Reached Esperia (Aurora)

"I wanted to ask about it earlier," said Yoten-sama, "but what was that sphere? The one you used to cast spells before."

"One of my soul-weapons," I said. "Its surface instantly reflects the runes I have in mind. It allows me to cast spells at the speed of my thoughts, without having to chant the runes. My spells come out slightly underpowered compared to my chanted ones, but my enemies can't tell which spell is coming, and more often than not, can't cast shields faster than I can cast spells."

"Useful, indeed. So you have two soul-weapons, then?"

"Three, actually," I replied, "but Luxina, my tiara, is damaged."

Enkha-sama halted, and turned toward me. "Damaged?" he asked. "As in the whole time you were soul-injured?" he insisted on that last word. I nodded.

"Gods assembled!" Enkha-sama muttered as he shook his head and ran his hand across his brow and then through his hair. "How did you convince Master Kayuki to send you? I need everyone in my unit to be combat-ready."

"I, uh…" I fumbled for a response.

"She fought well, despite the injury, Kenten," Miwa-sama said. "It was reckless, but admirable." He gave me a supportive smile, which I returned to express my gratitude.

"I need everyone to be able to carry their weight," Enkha-sama said.

"I can, and I will," I replied. Enkha-sama narrowed his eyes at me, as if sizing up my physical ability or searching for any physical signs of the soul-injury.

"Kenten, if Kayuki sent her, do we have any say anyway?" said Miwa-sama.

"You're not wrong. Still, I don't see why she's needed. Anyways. Do not disappoint me," Enkha-sama said.

I wasn't sure what I could say to help my case, so I looked down at my feet. Enkha-sama's glare could be quite intimidating. A lengthy silence ensued as we resumed our march. Finally, Miwa-sama broke the silence.

"So what happened to your tiara?" Miwa-sama asked.

"I can't talk about it, unfortunately," I said. Since no one seemed very satisfied with that response, I quickly added, "But I was on a divine mission."

Several members of the Saint Guard nodded their heads. Enkha-sama seemed more at ease after hearing I had been on a mission given directly by my God. Normally, only a Saint would receive such a mission, so that bit of information told him a lot about me: namely, how capable and trustworthy I was.

The bridge signaled our arrival in the small village. It was called Esperia. From the details that the Town Hall had given the Saint Guard for this mission, the people here were guilty of Heresy and High Treason concerning Kiyosa. We were supposed to investigate that.

"Had you not arrived early, Aurora, this was where we were told you would join us," Miwa-sama said. "Thankfully, though, you joined before that ambush. Without you, we would have been much more injured, if not killed."

Esperia was the typical Kiyosan village. It featured one-story wooden houses with hay roofs supported by high columns bordering the house and a second row closer to the walls.

Some houses, closer to the inside of the village had ocher or jade-colored tiles, and for some, even stone-framed doors and windows. For such a small village, Esperia's inn was almost disproportionately large. Despite that, Enkha-sama insisted that we rent rooms for pairs of two so we could watch each other's backs.

As we entered the inn, a tension ran taut through the air. The innkeeper, who had been engaged in a casual conversation with an older woman, stood there staring at us, his mouth slightly open. Enkha-sama looked around the lobby, noting the locations of hallways, adjoining rooms, stairways, restrooms, and closets. He announced that we were members of the Saint Guard and that we were in need of rooms.

No one bothered questioning our business in town, which was odd for me. I don't think I had ever been on a mission where the innkeeper and townspeople hadn't hit me with twenty questions. I couldn't even request a medium-sized bucket for a bath without the average innkeeper practically requesting an audit of all my funds. Showing them my guild badge usually calmed them down, though.

The old woman scurried away to some far corner of the lobby, where she took a seat. Enkha-sama propped a forearm on the front desk and asked the innkeeper what he and the woman had been discussing.

"Nothing important," the innkeeper said. When Enkha-sama didn't seem satisfied with his answer, the innkeeper continued, "She was complaining about the odor-neutralizing magical stone not working in the public restroom a few streets over."

"That's not part of the inn. How is that your concern?"

"I'm also the town mayor."

"I see. So if anyone in town gives us trouble, we should be sure to notify you?"

"Oh, no, sir. No one will give a Saint Guard any trouble."

Enkha-sama thanked the mayor/innkeeper as he smiled and nodded at the old woman across the room. She kept staring at me as if something were bothering her, but she didn't say anything. The guys paired up according to their usual order. As Chiki-sama approached Miwa-sama, Miwa-sama took the opportunity to interject and insist that he be paired with me, instead.

"She's the most vulnerable of the group, and she shouldn't be left unguarded."

"Oh, and it just has to be you who rooms with her, huh?" Ijil-sama joked. Miwa-sama ignored him and asked if Enkha-sama had any objections.

"None whatsoever. You're correct, of course. She needs protecting."

The innkeeper must have seen my surprised look because he was looking from Miwa-sama to Enkha-sama to me, frowning. "Is that alright with you, Miss?" the innkeeper asked.

"Y-yes, of course," I said. Like the townspeople, I certainly wasn't going to publicly argue with the Saint Guard. Still, though, I must admit to feeling a little anger at being treated like a mere ward. Miwa-sama, however, seemed quite pleased with the outcome.

A group of adventurers, looking rather battered, came in behind us. They quickly went to the innkeeper, who inspected their injuries. Asked what happened, their leader explained that they would have to stay a few days in town as they had been attacked in the forest and needed to rest now. Our fight with the heretics surely decreased their strength by enough that those adventurers could progress despite the enchantment.

"Those heretics again?" the innkeeper asked furiously. "When will His Majesty do something about them?"

"Heretics?" I asked, nodding as if it was the first time I'd heard of this. "We must have encountered that same group. So that's why they seemed so different. We were so tired and fought them with our full-strength, so we didn't have the time to notice..."

"Since you're barely injured, you probably only fell on the humans," the leader of the newest adventurers said, puffing out his chest. "But there are several of them who are exalted and the like. They are very dangerous."

"Exalted, you say?" Chiki-sama responded. "It's a good thing they weren't Saints, or else we might have run late for dinner. Missing a meal, a shame on the Saint Guard's name!"

"Saint Guard?" the new adventurer said.

"Yeah, you know," Tenshi-sama answered, "just me and my friends here."

"I see," the new adventurer said. "My mistake then. Apologies. What of the girl?"

"Me? I'm just a bystander," I said. "But I'm sure my protector here will be more than willing to scour the town for any straggling heretics. Right, Miwa-sama?"

"Of course, but we must inform Master first," Miwa-sama said matter-of-factly. He just ignored my sarcasm, and it took everything in me to not roll my eyes.

"If there are any heretics in town, you've got to do something," the innkeeper said, sweat forming on his brow. He seemed genuinely worried now. I looked to Enkha-sama for guidance.

"We cannot tolerate heresy," answered Enkha-sama.

"Oh, it seems that it's going to be okay." I said, smiling at the innkeeper.

"Then the rooms are on the house," the innkeeper said.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, old timer!" the adventurer said. "We just fought off the same group, and these guys get a free room, but we don't?"

"Son, you are familiar with the Saint Guard, right?"

"Well, yeah, but…"

"Just because I feel sorry for you and because you did clean up at least a little in the forest, I'll give you a ten percent discount. Take it or leave it."

The adventurers' leader smiled in self-satisfaction as he paid his discounted rate. Several of his men shambled upstairs and to their rooms. Even if they had been useful in the forest, they wouldn't be any help to anyone for days in their condition.

Once or twice, I had resorted to my charms to get free lodging, but it was at the expense of spending the night with the man offering it. Playing a cute kid act was another of my tactics to get free or discounted rooms.

But today, assuring the innkeeper the Saint Guard would murder every heretic in town was just as effective, and actually a lot less messy. Well, besides the actual beating we had to take in the forest.

"Are you really going to get rid of the heretics?" a woman holding a potted plant asked. I hadn't noticed her before, but Enkha-sama didn't seem surprised by her sudden appearance at all.

"We are," I said, crossing my arms and offering a smile.

"Will you really be okay?" she wondered, looking at me with a nod. "The heretics first appeared three months ago. Now, everyone is afraid to go on the streets because the heretics roam around the town too. A few people have even disappeared," the woman confessed. The innkeeper shuffled behind his desk, and Enkha-sama had more questions for him after the woman's revelation.

Meanwhile, I nodded along as I listened to the woman and led her over to a nearby bench. We took a seat, and I kept a hand on her arm. While her story began with the dangers of heretics, it soon turned into her recounting non-heretical mishaps of random townspeople — mostly of her nephew and some bad influence friend of his.

As we lingered in the lobby, it seemed my friendly act had worked wonders. Townspeople came and told me lots of things. And while my questions were made to look genuine, I untied more than one tongue. Maybe, given all the troubles they'd had with heretics, the townspeople felt relieved to speak with a teenage girl who they imagined was totally defenseless.

Eventually, the old woman who had been complaining about the toilets earlier gathered the courage to talk to me. Or, rather, she walked straight up to me, and made a fuss about how much danger she thought I was putting myself in. I kept trying to explain that we had been ambushed, but the woman would not let me string more than five words together before continuing to chastise me about not caring for myself enough. To calm her, I pulled her away to a different bench and helped the old woman sit, before offering her a warm smile and a small nod.

I tried the same routine on her as I had on the other woman. First, I let her vent her frustrations. Once she felt she had been heard, I steered the conversation toward heretics in town. She couldn't give me any specific examples about heretics, but instead, she did have a lot to say about one promiscuous boy who had been seducing his fair share of otherwise wholesome girls in town. I got the sense from the innkeeper's rolling eyes that no one else much cared how much this boy was sleeping around with anyone.

The old woman left the place and the first woman who spoke with us approached me. She told me that although I may be a fighter, I was also a girl, so I should treat any injuries from that ambush before the pain made me behave disgracefully. I appreciated the concern, but feared for a moment that maybe my act had strayed too far into making me look too girly and weak.

"Here, you should apply this anywhere you were hurt. It will lessen the pain."

"I promise I'm not in any pain," I assured her.

She interjected, "Maybe not now, but the pain can set in suddenly." She seemed very confident in her assessment, so I thanked her for her generosity and told her I would return the pot immediately.

"I know it's not much, but can you accept it as a reward for helping us?" she asked.

"Uh... Miwa-sama," I called out across the room. "Would the guild's guidelines allow me to accept it?"

"As a reward, it would be impossible," Miwa-sama replied. "But this is a gift of gratitude, and nothing forbids us from getting gifts of gratitude, as long as we don't ask it from the people."

"I see... then thank you, Milady?" I said.

"I'm Sakura. And I'm not a lady. I'm... well..."

"I see," I said, interrupting the woman. "You are the woman who relieves the pain and loneliness of the travelers and lifts up their hearts through a night of company. Aren't you?"

"That's a kinder description than what the women usually say to me," she chuckled.

"Humph," I said. "It's because they're jealous. They're so unskilled that no men would pay to have them in a bed. If they bother you tell them that your patron deity is the God of Love while the divinity of jealousy is an abyssal. That will show them all better!"

"Your friend is one interesting person," laughed the woman, speaking to Miwa-sama.

"I cannot agree with that statement more," Miwa-sama answered.

Quite suddenly, my stomach growled loud enough for the woman next to me to hear. I complained that if we didn't dine, I would eat the tables, which made everyone laugh. We all quickly went to our rooms to drop off our packs before dinner. Miwa-sama didn't miss the opportunity to remark that the beds were separated. I gave him my best coy smile and shrugged, but my growling stomach kind of ruined chance at playing cute.

Back downstairs, the ambiance had become slightly more relaxed as townspeople gathered at the inn to greet and dine with us. Most people were still hesitant to approach my guildmates, but they were more than willing to talk with me.

When the food arrived, a few of my guildmates looked at it suspiciously. They were concerned that perhaps a heretic had poisoned it. "I'll purify the food before we eat," said Ino-sama.

"I always check the food for any tampering," I assured him. "It's fine."

He scowled and purified the food anyway. Ijil-sama seemed to find that funny, but I decided it was best to not say anything else on the matter and turned to conversations with some of our new dinner guests instead.

At one point during one of my conversations with a local gossiper, Enkha-sama gave me a curt nod, which I took as a signal to keep the people talking. Any information could be valuable, although most of it was just about local animals behaving strangely or some strange noise someone had heard in the middle of the night. Most of it was perfectly explainable without resorting to blaming heresy. Still, I listened and indulged the townsfolk as they acted like deputized investigators.

After Enkha-sama hinted at the danger of heretics, most of our visitors were perfectly fine with our plan to roam the town searching for any signs of heresy. Before we had even gotten up from the dinner table, some of them specifically requested that we inspect their homes that evening.

I politely declined a few of those requests before Enkha-sama had to interrupt and let them know that while we appreciated the offer, we wouldn't need to invade their homes on our first sweep. The people seemed nervous as he declined, which told me that those townspeople at least weren't knowingly harboring any heretics.

After we finished dinner, my guildmates gathered in the lobby to prepare for our inspection. I was busy wrapping up conversations when Miwa-sama made a little show of appearing at my side and requesting a bigger bath bucket be brought to our bedchamber.

He tossed a gold coin at the innkeeper, who bowed and rushed to find the inn's maid. Before I could say a word, it was already paid, and Miwa-sama was standing there with a smug grin and an air of nonchalance.

Well, this is turning into quite the game! I thought. I didn't really get a chance to respond to him as I had to explain to several confused townspeople that, yes, I would in fact be accompanying the Saint Guard around town.

To my surprise, only one of them looked at me suspiciously after that admission. She seemed to be reassessing who she thought I was all of a sudden. The rest of the people just started warning me to be careful and offering me all kinds of random helpful pieces of unsolicited advice.

Once I could finally extricate myself, I met my guildmates outside. Enkha-sama was finishing up dividing us into units. He put me with Miwa-sama, who feigned obliviousness, although I was fairly certain it had been his idea.

Just before we began our patrol, Enkha-sama leaned close to me and said that I was quite the smooth crowd manipulator. "Hardly one evening here, and we already have enough information to make the first report to Master."

"I'm the guild's investigation specialist," I replied. "Well, mostly because no senior has specialized in investigations, I guess. Anyways, I've marked the aura of a few people who are suspect."

Our patrol groups fanned out across the town along roughly predetermined paths. Our groups often crisscrossed because Enkha-sama felt it was important for us to frequently check on one another's status. He was in a group of three with Fuin-sama and Chiki-sama.

As we circled around town, Miwa-sama commented at how surprised he was to see people speak so openly with me at the inn. He was used to average people being very guarded around him and his guildmates.

"They really looked at you like you were just some friendly girl who somehow ended up traveling with the Saint Guard. If they had seen you back in the forest, I think they may have kept their distance."

"I think one woman may have figured out something was wrong right at the end."

"I'm surprised they all didn't figure it out. No offense, but you're not that good of an actor. I can't believe they were fooled."

"Hey!" I said. "You can't just start with 'no offense' and expect me to not take offense." I shoved him playfully, and he pretended it knocked him off balance.

"You're right, though," I said. "I think people see what they want. They would rather believe a nice fiction about a friendly girl than the messy truth that I'm a killer like the rest of you."

Miwa-sama nodded, but he didn't say anything. His face turned pensive, and I couldn't tell if he understood or if he was just contemplating what I'd said. We passed another patrol group and waved. Nothing to report. On our second pass, there was still nothing out of the ordinary.

"Normal people doing normal things," Miwa-sama muttered on our third pass through the back side of the town. He waved at one of our passing patrol groups. "People talking on porches, feeding pets, watching children play in the streets… All perfectly normal. Still, something seems…"

Before he could complete his thought, I felt a tug at my wrist. I turned to face a teenage boy as he pulled me away from Miwa-sama. I tried to call out to my guildmate, but he was still looking around the streets and didn't seem to notice I had even disappeared. The other patrol group had disappeared around a building, too.

The boy forced my back against a nearby barn and planted his hand on the wall near my head. His other hand stroked my face. His eyes seemed to pierce into me. Try as I might, I couldn't move away.

Finally, Miwa-sama turned and noticed me. At first, I wondered if he was bound by some magic like me. He simply stood there, watching us.

If the boy hadn't pinned me with some magic, I could have sent him flying to the other side of the street. He grabbed my arm, and I let out a surprised shriek. That seemed to get Miwa-sama's attention.

"Aurora, what are you doing?" he demanded.

"Miwa-sama, could you please take this guy to the inn?" I asked. "He's the one that old woman was complaining about sleeping with so many girls in town."

"Or I could take care of that right here," Miwa-sama said, scowling.

"No, no! We must take him to the inn," I said.

Miwa-sama looked puzzled, but he didn't dispute me in public. He grabbed the boy by the scruff of his neck and snatched him away from me. A sense of relief washed over me as I regained some control over my body. My entire frame felt heavy, though, and I had to make an effort to walk confidently back across town.

The boy resisted in spurts, but he was no match for Miwa-sama, who dragged him along back to the inn. A few townsfolk stared and whispered as we passed, but Miwa-sama smiled affably even as he tightened his grip around the boy's collar. I maintained as stoic a look as I could muster, as I worried about what had so sapped my energy. It could only be miasma.

Along the way, we encountered Enkha-sama's group, and they accompanied us back to the inn. Ijil-sama and Tenshi-sama were waiting at the empty front desk, but the innkeeper was nowhere to be found. Once they saw Miwa-sama drag the boy upstairs, they gave up waiting for the innkeeper and followed us to our room, where we gave our report. Enkha-sama's face as he heard about the whole affair was murderous.

"Miwa-sama, can you cast a benediction on him?" I asked. "When he grabbed me, my aura reacted to him."

"Say what?" Miwa-sama asked, genuinely stupefied.

"My physical strength was sapped," I admitted. "I think he has near-pure miasma on his hands. Perhaps even in his body. So as a god-touched, that made my body go numb." The words were getting stuck in my throat. Even if it was heresy, I hated admitting that some delinquent boy had overpowered me. It was a reminder of how much Tenshi-sama's sanctuary had really protected me in the forest fight.

As an adept, I wasn't half as resistant as Saints were to miasma. During the ambush earlier, I had somewhat managed to ward off the miasma of the heretic, but I went weak the moment his blood touched me. If I were attacked by surprise, even this puny human could have abused me. I shuddered at the thought.

His face contorted in anger, Miwa-sama cast a benediction on the boy. From the reaction, I could tell the boy wasn't a heretic himself, or else he'd have fallen on the ground and cried out for his life, but he was in frequent contact with one.

"Where's the heretic?" Miwa-sama demanded.

"What are you talking about?" he asked.

"Don't play dumb with me. I'm certainly not in the mood. I am asking you where the heretic is."

"If you don't answer on your own, we're going to tell the villagers that you had miasma on you, and are acquainted with a heretic," I threatened. "That won't end well for you."

"I don't know what you are talking about."

"Are you really aware of your situation?" Miwa-sama asked.

"That's it!" I said, as I began to unravel the mystery of the boy's relationship to heresy. "He's not aware of it. He meets the heretic, but he's not aware the person is a heretic..."

"So the heretic could be living in the village?" Miwa-sama asked.

"He is left-handed," I said. "He likes purple.... he has a cat..."

"What the hell are you talking about?" the boy shouted.

"He knows he is in a bad situation..."

"Shut it!"

"He is very nervous..."

My aura activated, which meant my hair began to turn darker and I knew my eyes were turning copper. I couldn't see that part, of course, but the boy clearly could. He began to shiver, as he asked what I was doing. I paid no attention to him, and quietly continued to observe and recite facts I was uncovering about him. Then I began to ask him questions. At times, Miwa-sama had to frighten the boy a little for him to answer, but he eventually responded to each inquiry.

"I think I know who the heretic is," the boy said suddenly. "But he didn't tell me it was miasma. He told me it was a spell of the god of love, I swear!"

"He is telling the truth..." I announced.

The boy had received a small gemstone with a white-colored liquid on it from a man who sold spells to the town. As far as the boy knew, the gemstone allowed him to cast a spell on girls so they would fall in love and want to make love with him.

Before any of us could react, Ijil-sama had grabbed him by the throat. If not for the shocked innkeeper entering the room and distracting everyone, I'm not sure Miwa-sama would have been able to free the boy from Ijil-sama's grip before he choked him to death.

Not that I couldn't understand his reaction. The boy had just admitted to using Ijil-sama's god's blessings to rape girls. Or at least admitted that he thought it was with the God of Love's help that he raped girls. Insulting a saint's god in front of him was plain stupid, at the very least.

It took Enkha-sama great energy to calm everyone. He asked the innkeeper if he was familiar with this heretic who had been posing as a peddler.

"Yes," the innkeeper admitted, "but he's long gone."

"That's unfortunate," Enkha-sama said. "Still, we must see anything the heretic's spells may have been used on."

The innkeeper departed and soon had enlisted the help of several townspeople. The rest of the Saint Guard hastened back to the inn, as well. Soon after, a woman came with a baby. He had been sick and she had used the spell of health, supposedly from the God of Life, to heal the child.

"The baby is contaminated," said Ino-sama.

"My child..." sobbed the mother. "No, no. It was supposed to heal him. He was supposed to get better." She clutched the infant to her chest and stroked the wispy hair on his head. The baby began to cry, and as Ino-sama reached for her child, she recoiled and continued whispering into the baby's ear. She kissed his forehead.

"It's alright," I said, smiling. "I am a follower of the God of Mysteries. Put your child on this table, please."

It took some more coaxing, but the woman eventually obliged reluctantly.

"He's badly contaminated," Ino-sama said. "What do you intend, milady?"

"Be ready, Sir Ino-sama, we'll have only one chance at this."

Ino-sama was right: the baby was badly contaminated, so I had to act quickly. I began an expulsion spell on him. It took Ino-sama a moment to catch up, but he was soon focused.

For a short second, the baby shone and the miasma escaped from his body. Ino-sama understood and purified it instantly, but carefully, so that his magic would absolutely not touch the baby. My magic disappeared, and Ino-sama confirmed that all the miasma was gone from the baby.

My eyes suddenly unfocused, my body felt cold, and my hand flew instinctively to my forehead, as if I could check myself for a fever. Ino-sama approached me, his hands splayed out in front of him, but Miwa-sama seized him and prevented him from touching me.

"That's quite the power you have there." Enkha-sama said. He approached me. "I want to understand how these powers of yours work. In our short time together, I've seen you cast the spells of numerous gods, and you've used some very unorthodox techniques."

"Kenten," Miwa-sama interrupted. "Between the battle with the heretics, and the expulsion of the boy's miasma, she's been through enough for one day, don't you think? Just look at her. Her skin is pale, she's in pain. She needs rest."

"I'd also like to know more about these strange abilities," Fuin-sama said.

"We all have our secrets, Fuin," Miwa-sama said as he looked my way. I mustered a weak smile. "I'm sure we'll learn more in time, but you can't expect her to just just tell us everything right now."

Miwa-sama looked alternately from Fuin-sama to Enkha-sama and back again. Eventually, Enkha-sama nodded and backed away. "Fine," he said. "Let her get some rest."

"Is she going to die?" asked the baby's mother. I didn't think I looked that bad.

"No, but she must rest," Miwa-sama said. "Unlike other gods, the God of Mysteries gives different powers to each of his followers. Hers are extremely powerful, and using them tires her body significantly."

"I've heard something like that, too," said Chiki-sama. "Followers of the God of Mysteries are few and scarce, and even fewer are touched by their god but his blessings are extremely powerful."

I wanted to brush them all off, to tell them all I would be fine. I certainly didn't like the audience I was gathering. My guildmates and the woman with the baby were all closest. The innkeeper was hovering back against the wall. A few other townspeople were scattered throughout the room, too.

"If you'll excuse us, I'll take her back to her room," Miwa-sama said.

Voices began to swirl around the room. It was definitely turning into a scene, and I wondered how many of the people still bought the friendly bystander act anymore.

"Make sure to search everywhere now," Enkha-sama said as Miwa-sama and I departed. "We must purify everything you all have been sold. The aim of the heretics was to turn the whole town into heretics too."

"I have herbs in my shop," a local woman told Miwa-sama as we reached the base of the stairs. "If they are non-contaminated, I can make her a remedy to ease the mana circulation in her body. We often have god-touched travelers, so I have a recipe for that."

"That would be helpful." Miwa-sama said. "Chiki, can you--?"

"I'll see to the herbs," Enkha-sama said before Chiki-sama could respond.

At the top of the stairs, I tugged free of Miwa-sama's grip. "I'm fine," I told him. I immediately stumbled, and he caught me. "Mostly fine," I said. He helped me into the room.

The concerned look in his eyes seemed to soften his features some. The way the dusklight was streaming through the window made his skin glow. I don't know if it was just how cute he looked in the moment or maybe because I wanted to prove to him how perfectly fine I was, but I planted a kiss right on his lips.

He didn't kiss me back. I'd caught him off guard. Belatedly, he tried to press his lips against mine as I withdrew, a little embarrassed. It had seemed like a great idea in the moment.

"You know, maybe I am kind of tired," I said as I sat down on the bed. "Maybe just a quick five-minute nap, and then I'll…"

I don't think I even finished the sentence. That bed was the most comfortable one I'd been in for weeks. I passed out in seconds and didn't even have a single dream.