He'd barely managed to pull himself through the door. The frame was stained with his blood, trails of it left on the threshold and on the floorboards of their home. Her mother had reached him and helped him to a seat where she was quick to remove his battered armor and discover the true extent of the damage. All the while her mother held her composure well as her father's prayers only brought sporadic flickers of warmth where once they'd have rendered healing light. Whatever it was that had done this, it had nearly killed him.   Zora snuck a glance whenever she could, but most of her work kept her occupied. The streets of Neverwinter were seldom without inquisitive eyes, but thankfully, her father had already reached out to the Zhentarim. Knowing looks and signals revealed their identity to her alone. They went about covering up his passage even better than she did, and by the time she returned home, her mother was stitching him up as he waivered in and out of consciousness. The girl watched the scene for a moment before she made a hesitant approach. Orianna noted her presence and the way she kept observing the work as well as how he reacted to her touch.   "Hold his hand, Z," her mother told her. "He'll know it's you."   Zora paused for a moment before abiding her mother's direction. At first there was nothing. Just the feint pulse of his blood, pumping slower and faded from his wounds. But then, a gentle squeeze, callouses rubbing against the back of her hand as he encircled it with his. She looked to his eyes, discovering he was awake again, flinching from every bite of her mother's needle, but smiling back at her. They stayed like that until Orianna was finished, her mother wiping away the excess blood with warm, wet rags as they all huddled together.   "Are you OK Dad?" she managed to squeak, breaking the silence.   His smile remained along with another reassuring squeeze of her hand. "I'll be all right, Zora. I just need to rest."   "Was it monsters?"   Her father and mother exchanged glances, Orianna's eyes and nod encouraging a response it seemed he didn't want to give. He sighed, then looked back to her.   "Yes it was. Demons from a world beyond ours."   "Why were they here?"   "Demons thrive on chaos, Z. Making it. Inflicting it. I'm not sure how they got here, but I sent them back where they belong."   "Because the Zhentarim told you to?"   Orianna couldn't hide her laugh, though she was quick to silence herself as well. Callum turned to her with a grin, shaking his head, then looked back to his daughter.   "Yes, but also because I chose to take the job. You remember what I told you about our calling?"   She nodded. "We are who we choose to be. And I want to be like you!"   Though he was smiling, she saw it fade somewhat at her declaration, though she couldn't figure out why. Lately he'd been disappearing for longer and longer, always away and taking work in distant lands he wanted them to stay away from. Mother had been arguing with him on the matter. Even uncle was starting to protest when he was around. Her father kept whispering things about "them," and that "they were getting closer." She remembered that just before he'd left for this job, they'd argued again, her mother angrier than she'd ever heard.   "You can't protect her from the evil of this world, Callum," she'd hissed, the pair of them believing Zora had gone to sleep before they'd begun to fight. "But you can prepare her for it."   "Neither you nor she have any concept of true evil, Orianna," he'd snapped back, "and I'll die to make sure it stays that way if I have to."   "And where will that leave us, my love? How does that save any of us?"   She heard him growl, then sigh. "You really want her to end up like me?"   There was a moment of silence. "Would it be so bad if she did?"   Zora recalled that night now after seeing her father flinch away from her excitement. She wasn't sure she'd ever understand why he was so scared for her all the time, but she knew he loved her, in his way. Just as much as mother did. It had to be because of that he kept acting like he was acting. That's what she told herself anyway. She always thought that as she got older, things would start to make more sense, but it seemed like things only got harder to understand as the years passed, especially regarding why her parents were the way they were.   "Come here," he told her, moving her to the seat beside him. "I want you to be happy, Z. Do you understand?"   She nodded. "I understand."   He looked back to her mother, who nodded warmly, smile on her face. Then he turned his focus back to her. "You really want to learn?"   Her eyes widened, smile beaming as her head bobbed up and down in excitement. "Yes I do!"   "Tomorrow then," he told her, placing a hand over his heart. "This I promise you, Morning Light."   Before thinking of anything else, she threw her arms around him, pulling him into an excited embrace that elicited a few grunts as he shifted to catch her weight, pulling stitches and renewing some of the bleeding. But all the while, he kept smiling, holding his daughter in his arms until she let go.   "I need to rest, Z," he told her eventually. "Help your mother clean up. I'll see you in the morning."   The girl set about her tasks immediately, smile only widening as she did so. Meanwhile, Orianna moved beneath her husband's arm, helping him to their bedroom where she continued to dab his wounds with warm washcloths.   "I thought you didn't want her to know war," she posed, resting her chin on his shoulder.   Another grumble as he shook his head, turning to her. "I don't. But I think you're right. I can't hide her from the evil that's out there. Protect her maybe, but preparing her seems like the best course. Especially for when the day comes."   Orianna nodded, kissing him on the cheek and moving to stand before him. "So..."   He looked back. "So?"   "How far does this go?"   "Tomorrow I buy her a sword. Or an axe. Whatever she chooses. After that, we'll see. I'm hoping it never comes to the point she has to use it."   "And if it does?"   "Gods above, Orianna...I'm in enough pain already. Give me a few moments of serenity, please?"   She held her hands up in surrender, letting him have the time he desired. He stared at the floor for a long while before meeting her eyes again, Orianna having never taken them off his. She wouldn't be satisfied until she got what she wanted.   "I'll teach her to fight as best I can, as I know how. But I'm still doing everything I can to make sure my war doesn't become hers, understood?"   She grinned, taking a seat beside him and resting her head back on his shoulder. "Fair enough, my love." Another silence, then she giggled.   "What?" he prompted her.   Her eyes met his one more time. "Do you want to know about the boy she's been talking about? I didn't want to spring it on you the moment you got back."   He fell back onto the bed with an exasperated sigh. "For fuck's sake..."