Free Rise (War Witch Book 1) by Cain S. Latrani Page B

Remember a couple months ago, when you came back from Adel and my eye was all busted up."
    Chara thought about it for a moment. "Yeah. You said you fell off a horse. Why?"
    "Tommy said he was going to follow you when you headed for Adel and get you to have sex with him," Daniel shrugged. "He said you were easy. So, I busted his jaw."
    Chara smiled slightly. "No you didn't."
    "Sure did," he grinned. "And I'd do it again."
    Feeling ashamed of herself, she shrunk down, asking, "What if it was true? What if it turned out I was easy?"
    "Then I'd bust him twice as hard," Daniel said, resting a hand on her head. "Just for thinking you were easy enough for his ugly, stupid ass."
    Smiling and crying, she leaned into him and let him hold her. Somehow, he’d found a way to make things seem less gloomy, less bleak and hopeless. She was grateful, and for the first time in a long time, felt like she maybe did deserve better.

    "So, let me ask," Diem said as he eased down on the steps of the porch, offering the warrior a stiff drink. "What do you think of all this?"
    She shrugged slightly, staring up at the stars. After a moment, she patted her chest, over her heart and then grew annoyed when she couldn't figure out how to communicate the rest of her thought.
    "Love is love," he grunted. "I happen to agree with that. The customs of Fival, though, they’re rooted so far back in antiquity, they were probably around before Cynthanis was born."
    The warrior waved that off morosely.
    "No arguing that," Diem agreed, taking a long drink of whiskey. "What about you? Have you ever... you know... with another woman?"
    She nodded absently, drawing a surprised look from him.
    "So, you prefer them to men, then?"
    She shook her head, only half listening.
    "Oh," he nodded slowly. "One's as good as the other. I see."
    Sitting her drink down, the warrior rested her elbows on her knees and rubbed her temples. This wasn't what she’d returned to the Middle World for, and while it wasn't really her concern, she felt an obligation to return the kindness Diem and most of his family had shown her. She knew she couldn't leave until this was settled. She just couldn't think of where to start.
    "Don't worry yourself over it, friend," Diem told her. "Chara, she's always been like this. If you tell her to go right, she'll go left or die, even if it means taking a tumble down a hill. She's willful, headstrong, and while in a lot of ways I'm glad she knows her own mind and isn't afraid to follow her own heart, sometimes it causes her more pain than simply doing what others ask of her."
    The warrior looked up, weary, and patted him on the shoulder. She could recall Father saying similar about her not so long ago. Perhaps that was what she liked so much about the young woman. She reminded her of herself, four years younger.
    "We'll muddle through this, so don't let it hold you here, okay?" he offered after a bit. "And don't fret none about Kate. You can stay here as long as you need. She'll buck me on it, but she'll accept it."
    With a nod, the warrior picked up her glass and downed the entire contents in a single go before standing and thumping the old man on the shoulder. He smiled up at her, looking even older than he had that morning.
    Her Avatar, feeling her bleak emotions in sympathy, sang her a song of love, and while it made her feel better, she knew she had to do something to make all of this right.
    Passing through the common room, she found it largely empty, the entire town having heard of the blow-up between Chara and Kate, opting to take their dinner at home rather than risk being caught up in the maelstrom of those two again. The warrior rather understood. Her own dinner had been some bread and hard cheese she'd snuck from the pantry, doing her best to avoid the still livid Kate.
    No sense keeping open wounds bleeding free, as her Father always said.
    It’d never occurred to her until she mounted the steps, but he said a lot of things that were probably