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Message: <blockquote data-quote="vl.arandur" data-source="post: 5624562" data-attributes="member: 100131">As the pragmatic hustle moves about the room, Kayleigh stands where she is, sword in hand, gazing without sight at the place where her sword struck the man's head. She had been merciful. She had been merciful where she might have been an executioner. Moreover, she had been merciful without any bad consequences. No ill had come of her - not cowardice - mercy.Then why did she hear her father's voice in her head? Why did she once again have to suffer through the funeral, the fight, the anger and betrayal and, yes, the disenfranchisement?Nothing bad had happened... this time. There's the rub. Last time, in trying to avoid the necessity of death, she had instead brought death upon her own house. And who knew what the future consequences of this single act of cowardice - no, mercy - would be? Perhaps she had doomed them all.She hadn't noticed that she was shaking until the sword fell from her hand, but the clatter of steel on stone snaps her out of her reverie. She picks it up, resheathing it with care and regret, and turns to her fallen foe to see what she can see.</blockquote>