15 <Different POV> Teacher Claire AND Aldrich "Dir"

Claire's POV

Claire looked at the Bu Hai village- it was more destitute than it had ever been.

"So you've come to visit, Claire?" Village Chief Owansu said. He looked at the young lady before him. Claire did the same. Deep lines creased Owansu's face. He looked older than she remembered.

"Yes, I have." Claire nodded politely. She looked around at the huts. "Where's the grave?"

Chief Owansu sighed before he led Claire into the forest. It took a few minutes for them to arrive. The grave was still upturned.

Claire walked to the upturned earth and fell to her knees. Tears moistened the earth. She grabbed a fist full of dirt in her anger. "You should have just listened to Aldrich, May!" Claire growled. She sobbed, "We had the perfect plan. If you only listened-!"

Sighing, Chief Owansu patted the back of Claire. Claire turned her head and shot him a glare of full hatred. "Don't touch me!" She spat out, moving out of Owanu's reach. "You've sacrificed her. Are you happy? Is the village happier? More prosperous?" Claire began to laugh, hysteria in her eyes.

Chief Owansu shook his head, regret in his eyes. Ever since the sacrifice had gone through with the ceremony, nothing was going right. All of the crops have been eaten by bugs, the animals have had a plague, and the villagers were getting injured left and right. "No," Chief Owansu said, "We aren't happy. In fact, we were happier when the sacrifice was alive."

Looking up at Chief Owansu, Claire said, "Me too." She looked back down at the grave. "I think we all were happier." She stood and turned to Owansu. "Where's Aldrich?"

"My grandson?" Pain flashed through Chief Owansu's eyes, "He left."

"What do you mean?"

"When he heard that we went through with the sacrifice, he left."

"Where to?" Claire asked, outraged.

Chief Owansu's face visibly aged a few years. "We don't know."

....................... Back at the Village

Claire was inside God's house. She stared at the grassroots ceiling, the bed made out of straw, and the sacrificial robes that hung on the wall. "This was the last place that she saw," whispered Claire. She walked to Mai's robes. She felt the fabric.

Feeling a surge of anger, Claire ripped the robe off of the wall.

"What are you doing?!" one of the ladies that used to attend Mai shrieked.

Claire turned her head. "I'm getting rid of something that shouldn't exist anymore. If May isn't here, then these shouldn't be here either." Continuing, Claire ripped all of Mai's robes. Not satisfied, Claire left God's house with a sliver of Mai's robes. She smiled as she lit the sliver on fire, before lighting God's house on fire.

It seems as if even the weather was cooperating. The sun beamed down and the air was dry. The fire caught quickly and spread.

The attendants looked on with horror. They had never seen a fire this large before. Claire laughed and stretched her arms out. "May!" Claire called out, tears streaming down her face, "Do you see this!? I've destroyed it! You're free!" Her next words were a whisper as she sank to the floor, "You're free."

..........................

Aldrich "Dir" POV

Aldrich stared at the beer before him. Mai used to get angry at him for drinking. Smiling ruefully, Aldrich knocked the beer back, gulping down it's contents.

"Slow down there, handsome," a girl giggled, sliding up to Dir.

Dir barely glanced at her, continuing to drink.

"I heard that you're new here," she leaned in closer, practically on Dir's lap, "Yet you've done so much." Her breath smelled like alcohol.

Growing irritated, Dir banged the table with his mug. "Get out of here," he growled, not even glancing at the girl.

"Why?" She giggled, "Don't you want to have a good time."

"I'm twelve," he said, straight-faced.

"What?!" The girl looked shocked, staring at the rugged face before her. She stuttered, "Y-you look like you're sixteen!"

Dir sighed and stood up. He left money on the counter.

"Where are you going?"

He glanced at her. "Anywhere but here," he hefted his spear over his shoulder and raised an arm in goodbye to the bartender.

He needed to do another mercenary job.