Hynes Family/Alois/The Journey/RP22

Setting on the steps in the inner courtyard of the Light of Fontan temple, He moved the whetstone slowly back and forth across the edge of the blade, carefully, with a method his father had shown him, practiced a thousand times.

"The trick to sharpening a blade," he told the Squire, "Is to keep the edge keen, but not too sharp. Too sharp, and it may slip from armour and possibly even bone, and the blade will crack and chip easier. They're not daggers."

He stopped and examined the blade with his naked eye, carefully checking for the slightest imperfection in his work.

"Every time you make a cut," he continued, absentmindedly, "You want to run the whetstone over the edge. After a battle, you care for your horse first, and then your blade, and only then yourself."

Content with his work, he slid the sword back into the leater-wrapped wooden sheath and handed it to Pate.

Pate took the sword, examining it himself. Impressed with his master's work, he attached it to his baldric and adjusted it until it fell over his hip.

They had been staying at the Temple since arriving in Fontan, a city cut off from the rest of the realm and suffering from the war, doing odd jobs and helping the Priests in return for a bed and food. Almost a thousand peasants died every day, from starvation and plague, and every day Alois watched the grim work of the City Watch as they collected the bodies for burial.

Only in the Temple did things seem even remotely serene and quiet, setting right on the shore facing the sea, the cool salty breeze rushing through the halls and keeping the entire temple cool and comfortable.

Everyday followers flocked there to receive a flaggon of grog and a slice or two of bread for substinence, all that the Priests could spare.

"I've lost weight," Pate said as he tightened his sword belt around his hips.

"Five more days, and then we can return home. Count yourself lucky, there's not much these other folk can do. They don't have a realm of plenty to go run to. They will starve and die until the war ends, and I'm not sure that will be quickly."