Since Toto Village had been burned to the ground, the woman had spent most of her time in the futile hope of looking for survivors. For the most part, she had only found more bodies that needed to have respects given to. It had been her intention to bury all of the villagers, and then (for who knows how long?) keep the village safe from looters.

Of course, she had found some survivors. Not only Yila and Vilrance's dog, but about three people who had either managed to make it to the forest through some miracle, or were either fortunate enough (or unlucky enough) to get buried when their homes were set ablaze. Obviously, the Highland soldiers had had no thoughts of them being dug out. To these souls, the woman had managed to scrounge some money together for and send them to Muse City, where there would hopefully be some help for them.

She wiped some sweat off of her brow and brought the shovel in her hand back into the ground. Her arm muscles tensed as she lifted it back up, removing charred soil and depositing it on a ever-growing pile behind her feet. That hope was probably becoming more and more a reality, thanks to the visit to Toto by the clerk, Fitcher, and Bram. Now that the official was back in Muse, and it was learned that Highland was to blame for the incident, there was no doubt that the survivors would be taken care of.

Somewhat of an ease on her conscious. Hannah grunted as her shovel hit into a rock that she had to pry loose. A few more shovels of dirt later, and she stepped back a bit to view the hole.

"It's ready." she said simply to Bram, who was covering the body of a young man in a traveling cloak he'd found in one of the houses.

The redheaded guard nodded, and he lifted the wrapped up form into the air. As if it was a newborn baby's body, he laid it gently into the hole.

"The last soul is put to rest." he mumbled under his breath, loud enough for the woman from the Grasslands to pick up and nod an agreement to. He picked up a shovel from nearby and helped her refill the hole.

When the ground was packed down tightly, and make shift grave markers were put up (Hannah filling in the names of those she remembered from her time in the village), the two stood and looked at their work.

They had chosen a spot near the edge of the forest, where the damage to Toto Village itself was somewhat minimal. The graves themselves were rather small, but were dug fairly deep into the ground so that animals or looters (if any were so low) would not be able to uncover what was inside for the carrion eaters to find. It reminded Hannah of the graves of soldiers dug after battles.

'…But these weren't soldiers, were they?' she thought, her expression hard as she looked down at what lay before them, 'They should have lived and died at their own time…'

Once again, a pang of guilt swept over her body. She winced somewhat. If she could have protected them…

In the corner of her mind, she remembered something. A girl…very young, in her teens probably, who she had found in the cellar of one of Toto's burnt homes. Tomo had been her name. Even though she had survived the attack itself, in the end, Hannah had been unable to do anything to protect her from something else. She could see the corpse in the river again, and then the bloody footprints…

'May no one be digging your grave yet, child.' She silently prayed.

After a few minutes of complete, respectful silence, Bram sighed, "I hope this won't happen again." he said quietly.

She nodded her head in agreement, saying nothing.

"Fitcher's probably back at Muse already, which means that there is probably knowledge about Highland's attack going around."

They turned and started walking back towards the main part of the village. There was where Bram's horse had been tied up. As they walked, she said, "There's going to be a war. You said so yourself."

"Yeah, I guess I've got my work cut out for me."

Vilrance's dog approached from the burnt shell of his former home. Wagging his tail, the creature sniffed at Hannah's legs, then at Bram's. He followed them back to Bram's horse. She noted that the dog's walking had improved greatly since she'd found him limping near Yila's body.

The guard from Muse noticed the poor animal and turned his head around to examine him, "Is it yours?" he asked her.

Hannah shook her head, "A villager's I used to know."

Slowly reaching out, Bram rubbed the dog behind one of his brown, flopping ears, "It's amazing that he survived this. I wonder what'll happen to him now…?"

"You can take him, if you want." she took in a breath of dry, stifling air, "I don't really have time for a pet."

He looked at her questioningly, "Are you sure you don't want to go back to Muse with me, Hannah? I'm pretty sure your…skills could come handy."

"I'm going to stay here for a little while." her hand went back to the sheath that had all but been forgotten during the hours they had spent grave digging. Until some more people from Muse came to investigate things, there was still a chance that looters could come and ravage through the belongings of the dead. She intended to stop any who tried with her own blade.

"And then what?" he asked.

Bram was a very large man, and so mounting the horse proved no difficulty. He simply swung his leg over in a graceful motion that showed off his expertise with riding. Hannah, who was very much used to traveling by foot, would never have been able to do such a thing.

She shrugged in response to his question, not really sure of the answer herself. She would most likely continue trying to improve her sword skills. Perhaps she would visit Ryube and see if the Highlanders were up to something there…

"Well, goodbye then, Hannah." Bram said, "It won't be long until Muse sends some more people here."

"Goodbye, Bram."