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Edhener listened attentively to Mayonette's tale. He felt pity for her, and he thought that such a tale should be his only reason to join this quest, and that he should forget his selfish desire of melting a frozen heart. But he was young-rekless and young. He knew that such thoughts would only last as long as the tale lasted, that they would vanish before the night was ended, and his own plight-how insignificant he found it now!-would again take hold of him. Such are the young always. Selfish both in sorrow and joy, until time and fate consent to change them.
Edhener was acostumed to tales of grief. He had been in one himself. For him, the Great War was anything but a dim and uncertain memory. He had not been young enough to escape the arms then, not the horror of witnessing his brother's death, nor the pain of having to bring the news to his parents. Edhener's eyes flashed. There, far away beneath the walls of Mundburg, his brother had fought and died so that peace could reign over the plains of his homeland. And now, one had come to break that peace, defiling his brother's memory and the memory of so many others. Could such deed go unpunished? Never!
Edhener looked at those that surrounded him. He sensed suspicion, or maybe it was only his mind playing triks on him. And, after all, did it matter?What cared he what the others thought of him? It was no business of his. He would do his duty anyway.
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