The Ward's Guard

Ros nodded. "Then if you'll excuse me la-, Crescendo. Again, thank you for . . . allowing me to talk with you."

"I believe that I have something in my quarters that I should get too eventually. Although if you want me to stay, it can definitely wait."

Ros looked more at peace than before. "Thank you Crescendo. I'm looking forward to working with you. Is there anything that I can do for you right now?"

Ros nodded, then he offered Crescendo a smile. "A friend, that means I'm doing better than terrible here, right? I'd be honored to call you my friend Crescendo."

"I have no idea what would give you that belief, but I know enough for a dull eyes like myself. I can't let you just kill him, then this town will simply explode and everything will be damaged if not destroyed. I want him dead, but I want him dead in a specific way. Do you know what sort of animal he has bonded with? Information is key, and I want to be sure that both of us have a firm understanding of what we're dealing with before we go off and start making a mess of things."

Ros's uneasiness started slowly to disappear. "I ... thank you Crescendo."

"I was told that when you're in an unfamiliar situation, that you do what you know, and what I know just doesn't apply. Perhaps for now, if it's fine with you, I could just do what I know?"

The Komodo snarled, looking for other options before heading down into the building.

"Well, my official title was a, well, bodyguard. So I was wondering if I could, well, I ... it's ridiculous."

The Komodo stopped at the edge of the roof, obviously hesitant to jump down.

Ros started to wring his hands, looking uncomfortable. "It's . . . you see, back home I had a unique position."

The Komodo waited until they were closer, and then he charged, breaking into a fast sprint while adopting a strange gait.

Ros sighs. "Nothing is right, and nothing is the same. Crescendo, will you please humor me and . . ." Ros looks away.

The Komodo made his way onto the roof, swing his head around and flipping his tongue in and out of his mouth, tasting the air. He could smell them, and they were close. Just as he was about to give up, the wind changed and blew their scent straight towards him. He looked towards the scent and saw the crystal munching humans running in his direction, being followed by a group of Amal. The Komodo smiled, and then he moved to place himself in the crystal cruncher's path.

"I don't know. I don't think that I can do this spotlight hero thing, my job in the past had me be more on the sidelines."

"Better? Maybe it was better to stay where I was."

Ros shook his head. "I can't imagine what she saw in me, I'm no one, I'm not even noteworthy from where I come."

Kuno smiled. "General knowledge I suppose."

Ros looks up at Crescendo. "But what if my Spren chose wrong? I know of several people who would be better than I; besides, I've never heard of a hero who was homesick enough to give up. I've also never heard of any brave Radiant hero from my own background." Ros shook his head. "I might be the worst choice."

Kuno raised an eyebrow before responding. "Let me ask you, how much do you know about Amal's? Specifically about how their transformation works."

"It's just that I ... I don't know if I am the best one to be here." Ros looks very uneasy and unsure. "I remember being told that the best way to deal with your feelings is to talk with someone about them, but I just don't know who to talk to. You were the first who came to mind. If you don't want me to be here, then I can leave."

Ros didn't look up. "Well he . . . it was complicated."

Kuno laughed for only a second. "I'm sorry for that outburst, although it's always good to receive new information. I think that I might have an interesting compromise. Since our mutual acquaintance happens to be one of the Amal, which also by chance happen to be a group who are being disliked rather specifically and intensely right now. That little nudge that I mentioned could have something to do with this intriguing information coming out. Although I can only suspect how you learned of it."

"I bring this up due to this being an incredibly delicate situation from my understanding, and my understanding is quite firm in this town. The stress in this town is very much like that of a bow string being drawn back. If it is stressed to hard, then it will snap and hurt everyone close to it. However, if it is properly used and cared for, one can use it to launch an arrow towards an intended and specific target. If you want then mayor dead and chaos to consume the town, then I think that the best option is to wait. All this town needs is another nudge, another little bit, before it will crack forward, and I believe that if another small scale Amal attack happens and is successful, then the anger will be released at it's current target, the mayor. Killing the mayor now would only make things far worst than they could possibly get if the mayor lives." Kuno looks behind Krait to be sure that there's no one there out of habit. "I honestly can't say what would happen if the mayor was suddenly killed. It could be blamed on the Amal, and using this grounds, another person could take his place with relatively no infighting, or there could be death and carnage everywhere. I don't know about you, but I'm not fond of not knowing which it'll be out of the many options. Right now, I know what the most likely outcome is, and that's the mayor being overthrown and a brief time of chaos to follow before someone can amass enough support to take charge. In short, if you decide to take on the mayor, I won't stop you, but I also won't support you. The Amal are bound to attack again soon, even with their current preoccupation, when that happens, everything will go down, and then the opportunity will appear."

Ros looked away from Crescendo. "Well, I . . . I think so, I'm not sure."