HELGA'S TEARS

Quinn opened his eyes slowly and looked around groggily. He saw that he was in a room of some sort with a few other people all laying in beds around him. There was a short female orc standing beside him and applying bandages to one of his palms.

"W-Where am I?"

"Kyaaa!!" The female orc jumped a bit in fright, before looking down and seeing that he was the one who had spoken.

"Oh...Y-You're back in the city, my Lord. The leader of the hunting group brought you to me." She paused here trying to get her thoughts in order "Your hands were in a really bad state when you were brought here, almost like you carved them out with a blade. But they wouldn't tell me what it was that you did"

Quinn brought his arms up to look at them, he saw a large gash running straight across his left palm. It had some salve applied to it and was in the process of being bandages before he woke up. His right palm had already been bandaged.

"Hmm, thank you for this," he said while trying to get up from the bed.

"Wait, you're not fit to go out yet!" the healer said frantically.

Quinn ignored her and sat up in the bed. "Do you know where I can find a female ogre with red hair?" he asked

The healer sighed, then nodded " Yes, the leader told me you'd probably ask me about her" she said. She began moving towards the door, "come with me, I'll take you to her"

Quinn followed her as they left the room he was in. They walked down a hallway before coming to another room with "Recuperation" written on it.

"This is where she is. She used up a lot of her magical powers so she needs to rest. But other than that there isn't much that needs to be done for her"

Quinn thanked the nurse before opening the door. He entered the room and saw that Helga was sitting on her bed, looking out the window at the street below. She was the only one conscious in the room.

"What can I do for you my 'Lord'?" she asked while turning to face him. Quinn frowned at this and dragged a chair in front of her bed to sit down on.

"Don't call me that. Especially if you don't mean it"

"Fine. What do you want Quinn?"

"I want to know why you were willing to risk your life to kill that boar." He leaned forward in the chair and stared her right in the eye "Why didn't you ask for help, Helga?"

For some time, nothing was said. Helga matched Quinn's gaze for a while, before looking away guiltily "I'm leaving to the army soon"

Quinn rose an eyebrow at her statement "What does that have to do with anything?"

"Everything, Quinn" she whispered, "It has everything to do with this"

Helga took a stray strand of her red hair and tucked it behind her ear again, "sigh~ I didn't mean to go off like that, nor did I intend to shout at you unnecessarily. You see, I'm an orphan. I've been one for the past 10 years of my life. My father was an adventurer; he wasn't the strongest of them but to me, he was the best of them all. He would always tell me tales of how his hunts went; the places he went to, the people he met, the monsters he brought down. They were all so amazing to me" Helga turned her gaze back to the window and the street below. A slight breeze blew from the window, scattering her hair again, but she paid it no mind.

"We were so happy; so, so happy. But then that... beast happened. We were simply traveling through the forest, trying to get back home from a trip outside the city. I don't know why the beast decided to attack us then, but it did, and I was so terrified. It wasn't until then that I found out my father had a magic skill, he used it on the beast while trying to protect myself and my mother. And although he truly fought hard; the beast was just too strong. It killed my father and afterward my mother hid me in some bushes and ran in another direction to draw the boar away. I'm sure it killed her too."

Quinn noticed Helga gripping the bedsheets tightly, even though she probably didn't.

"I was lucky enough to make it out of that forest without being eaten as well. I walked to the city in a daze and was placed in intensive care for a year. It was only after that year that I could gather the courage to go back home again. I found my father's magic books in his room and trained myself since then, all in the hopes of taking down that beast!"

Helga punched the bed furiously "But I was still so useless!! After everything I did, after all the practice and all the sweat and blood! I was so useless!!" She turned back to Quinn "What kind of daughter am I? I couldn't even avenge my own parents' death, I'm useless. Useless!!" she shouted

"No you're not!", Quinn got to his feet, towering over her, "You're not useless Helga. You're not useless because you fought. When everyone else ran the other way, you stood your ground! And maybe there could have been a better way to go about it, but that doesn't mean you didn't try Helga. And that...." He approached her and hesitantly brought her into a hug "that is something any parent would be proud of" he whispered

Helga's shoulders shook.

And in the silence of the room, she allowed herself to be held as she cried.

.....

Sal walked through the streets of the city. The Sun was low in the sky and the number of people in the streets had begun reducing. He headed towards a bar in the less-developed part of the city called 'The Portal', and made his way inside, greeting the occasional acquaintance as he passed by the tables.

"Give me a glass of 'Thunder', Wally," he said while taking a seat at the bar

"Coming right up Sal" the bartender - a red-skinned ogre with two small horns on his head - responded.

"I didn't know you came to this part of town"

Sal turned his head and saw that it was Drew who had spoken. He sat on a stool to his left with his head bowed. Nursing a glass of a fire-red liquid in his hands.

"I don't make it a habit." Sal responded, " But I do come here occasionally"

The bartender brought a glass of the same fire-red liquid and placed it in front of Him. He rose the glass in thanks to him and downed about half the glass...

"How's Helga? Did you get her to the hospital? Drew asked

"Yeah, I did. Though there wasn't much that needed to be done for her, she was just exhausted," Sal took another sip of his drink. "The city Lord, on the other hand...."

Drew turned to face his drinking partner, "Do you know what that was Sal? What he did at the end there before passing out. When he....he...."

Drew couldn't finish his sentence. He scrunched up his face and turned back to the glass in his hands.

"I don't know what exactly it was Drew, all I know is that it wasn't normal..."

"Was it magic?"

"Hmm... No, I don't think it was" He took another large gulp of his drink, finishing it all in one go, "At the end there, that was all pure brute force. Not an ounce of magic to be felt"

Drew shuddered.

Sal got up from the stool after slapping some Quisi on the bar table. He suddenly didn't feel like drinking anymore.

"But before that" Drew said to his retreating back, "The feeling before that. The feeling of death, and hatred, and complete bloodlust

"W-Was that magic, Sal?"

"Truly, I do not know"

Sal left the bar and walked out into the deserted streets of the city. The sun had set already and the moon cast a slight glow on the streets.

He sighed

"I'm getting way too old for this shit," he said, before turning and starting his walk back towards his home.

...