Home Stretch.

Despite the castle being almost completely leveled the guards all busted out the booze and celebrated that the land was still under our control, and aside from that they all praised Lu for slaying the Kraken. I was happy for her… And she did kill it… But it was hard to be around that for too long. The strangers, the party over a narrow victory… The people we had to kill to achieve that win… Don't get me wrong, the fact my sister got all the credit bothered me too, but that wasn't her fault… I still felt a bit of jealousy, but that only made me more annoyed, knowing full well I would have hated the attention anyway.

I headed back to the bunks early… I guess a bright side of suffering over half the garrison in casualties was that I got my own room… But that being the reason made it feel lonely… If not a little haunted and not just by the soldiers either, but by the bandits too. 'My actions tonight saved hundreds of soldiers' lives… But also took dozens of strangers' lives… both in numbers and in quality of those lives I came out significantly ahead of the alternative of me doing nothing, so why is it so hard to reconcile the two…' I sat on my bed, slowly lying down and staring up at the ceiling. 'Maybe it's selfish of me to think anyone dying is my fault… I mean, I didn't even get credit for killing the Kraken…' I sighed, rolling onto my side and closing my eyes, letting my body sink into the mattress and finally rest. My stomach still felt twisted, but it was surprisingly easy to fall asleep.

I didn't have any nightmares. I didn't even have any dreams, I just closed my eyes and opened them again, ready to hit the road. We got everything loaded up in the carriage and just before we headed out the commander paid us a visit one last time… Looking for me…

Hearing that made me nervous, especially since my brother was busy at the time. For all I knew he was going to challenge me to a duel or something to regain his honor.

When I saw him though hostility was the last thing that I sensed in him, although he did still carry himself with pride. "150 men… They had to retreat, which is a shame worse than death… But… None of them died." He folded his arms and stared at me silently.

"And we even kept the castle." I looked past him to the single still-standing tower that I shot from, the only intact part of the outer wall, and couldn't help but smile.

"Well… More or less…" 'No casualties after I got here huh…'

He took a deep breath, rising in his chest and coming out as a puff of thick fog in the cold morning air as the sun rose over the bay. "I hope you understand why I can't solute or applaud what you did here little tactician… But…" He let out a low growl. "You have my thanks…"

He said he couldn't salute me, but he and the rest of the men there, some drunk or hungover, all awake at the crack of dawn, each one bowed in perfect unison.

'That's somehow worse than a solute…' I slowly forced myself to swallow, unsure of how I was supposed to react, suddenly struggling just to look at them. "I-it wasn't anything special. It wasn't really a complicated plan even though it was just a simple-"

I suddenly felt his hand on my shoulder making my whole body stiffen too much to continue speaking, letting out an embarrassing squeak that shattered my words and made him slowly step back.

"It is because it was simple that it was great." He cleared his throat. "Now off with you then. You don't want to be late for school."

'Somehow that sentence feels really out of place here…' Everyone raised their heads and we set off. 'We're in the home stretch now…'

As the carriage started to move I grabbed on and entered through the door to find only my brother sitting inside by himself. "Where's Lu?"

"She isn't allowed inside the carriage the rest of the way as punishment for being too reckless."

"That seems a little unfair… And… Honestly, since it was her, I don't think it was that reckless…"

He lay down across the seat and folded his hands behind his head. "You're saying that it wasn't dangerous for her to jump from a height of well over 30 feet down towards an undead kraken? Oh, the Kraken was on fire too. But all that is just ok because it was her so there was no chance she would get hurt?"

'Well… If you say it like that…' "Yes?" I said hesitantly.

He sighed. "Maybe I just used it as an excuse to get some peace and quiet in the carriage for once."

"Yeah, that sounds more like you."

"Doesn't it? Really a genius strategy if I do say so myself. I get her to think about her recklessness, and in doing so make you feel bad she's getting punished. You will then also leave the carriage to be with her and I'll have it all to myself. If nothing else I get a good nap out of it."

'Where was this big brain of yours when we were trying to kill the Kraken…' "You're either going to be the best dad ever… Or you're going to raise a bunch of little devils…"

He yawned. "If my future kids end up being little devils I'll just trick them into being good people."

"Right…" I shook my head, grabbed a couple of thick blankets, and opened the carriage door, hopping out. Everyone was still tired, so the pace was slow enough to comfortably walk, making it easy for me to run over and give Lu a hug.

"What are you doing…" She groaned, trying to stay serious, but softening up pretty quickly. "You're making it hard to walk…"

"Come on, let's go lay down on the roof, walking is stupid."

She groaned again. "I'm not allowed to use the carriage. I'm trying to think of a better way to have killed the Kraken without putting myself in as much danger…"

'Seriously… Like the perfect child…' I let go, tugging on her wrist. "Oh come on, what were his exact words?"

"He said I'm not allowed to ride inside the carriage until–"

"See!" I jumped a bit with my next step, turning and tugging on her wrist more, guiding her towards the carriage. "You're not allowed INSIDE the carriage, so riding on top of it is totally fine."

"I'm starting to see why mom got so frustrated with you…"

My mischievous grin instantly fell flat. "That's totally unrelated…"

She rolled her eyes, letting out another sigh. "Fine." She said, finally caving. I ran over and climbed up first, laying the blankets down over the hardwood roof and taking off my tight boots to let my legs breathe, stretching out like a starfish

"Ahh… It feels good to relax again."