"Hear me, son of mine, blood of my blood. When the time comes, you will be on your own. I've taught you all I could, may my imparted wisdom guide you in your travels. And may the great Corellan Larenthian watch over you, you will always have a home here, a sanctuary, until fate makes us part ways."
The final words my father gave to me before I decided to embark on an adventure to Arelith. The land of Silverymoon has always been kind to me.
No.
I misguide myself with such a statement, the betrayal of a friend most dear had tainted my heart, a companion that I trusted with the eagerness to serve the forest and it's entities much like myself. He consumed himself with greed, and worked with those most nefarious, leaving nothing but evil and suffering in their wake when they come across someone just trying to live through their life with what peace could be found before it is disturbed. I was in pain, but I did not let it show, I needed to remain stalwart; not just for those around me, or what laid in front of me, but for myself.
I had to take care of this duty myself, to vanquish the evil that had lingered close to me all this time, Beilar. Those who had manipulated him gave him a choice, it was their rite of passage to fully be inducted within their group of pathetic highwaymen. It was to murder someone close to him, and that target, was me. He had no strategy, no proper execution; much like strategy is nothing without execution, the same way execution is nothing without strategy.
The battle did not last long. I knew how he functioned, I knew what he was capable of, I knew how he moved, acted. I studied someone for the sake of wanting to understand them, in a positive note. The same study was useful to me when I needed to vanquish the evil close to me, the same evil that was in a puddle of water with only the night to shadow me and the rain to keep us both company, the perfect atmosphere for one suffering in sorrow. In the end, I could not feel anger; only disappointment. Beilar was given a proper burial, even if it meant that he had committed a grave offense towards me. One that I would learn to forgive, but never forget.
When you have the time to sit and think about a situation that just occurred, involving someone close, you cannot help but to think back to when the memories were full of good. We were both rangers for the forest of Silverymoon, we complimented each other in battle and were effective, coordinated. Beilar had his delinquent moments, leading us back to the time we caught the ire of a local farmer after Beilar decided to anger it and let himself be chased by it only for the ox to tip over into a ravine, just to be brought back and shouted at to never return.
I scolded him with a quick batter upside the head with my hand. We laughed, much later, if only I would not be recalling this memory after such a dire circumstance. The only thing left for me in the moment is to endure the ride by boat to Arelith, for my own sake.