Alexia rubbed her eyes, trying to remember the last peaceful sleep she had. Definitely not in the past few days.

Peace of mind was as elusive any other form of peace. Alexia spent her days moving too slowly toward Sapphirica so she could get a kingdom of warmongers to move toward peace, trying to live up to the impossible expectations of the thirteen former bandits who treated her like she was Leverith born again. Her nights she spent with both eyes open waiting for one of them to betray her. After all, if Leverith could be killed by her favorite brother what was to keep these men from becoming Zamael-touched again? When Alexia did close her eyes, she saw their former master, Dax, looming over her, undoing his belt while she couldn't move, or Allison fading into shadows, or Maleon trapping her beneath tons of rubble, or Halius throwing her into his bed, or Gideon doing nothing besides sending her back out to battle.

Alexia couldn't logic her way free of a single worry. All she could do was tell herself to take them all one step at a time, doing her best. It didn't stop her from wishing things were different, that somebody else could be the Second Great Wizard. She remembered Leverith, using her as a model for understanding why she did this. It would be easier to leave the Redeemed Men behind, to never return to Sapphirica, to find Zander and leave Mirrevar's fate to be determined by everyone else. But that wasn't the path of love. That wasn't what Leverith would do.

Though, on the second evening of her travel with Erlos and his men, she reckoned Leverith wouldn't mind a night inside of a roadside inn, hopefully with good locks and a comfortable bed.

Erlos pulled up beside her. The bandits only had three horses and rotated turns, at least those willing to ride. They'd denied Alexia's offer to share Moonstrider, her Lunarron. She hadn't insisted too hard. Knowing that she could ride away were things to become treacherous offered her comfort.

"They could use a reminder of civilization," Erlos said, eyes on the tavern up the road where Maypine Forest ended and the Grymear Lowlands began. "It would go a long way to easing their worries about Sapphirica."

Alexia nodded, wishing she were the type of person who could have a clever quip at the ready. She looked forward to renting rooms and shutting herself in one. Nobody would expect her to make small talk and inspire them all at once.

The Redeemed Men still celebrated, several coming beside Moonstrider to thank Alexia or promise they wouldn't let her down. Jem even offered to pay his way with whatever work the tavern keeper would offer. Alexia had to talk him down before he would accept that as a member of her guard, she could pay for things. Thirteen Divines! She was tired.

Little Bridge Tavern was built where a rivulet cut the Forest Road. Though the namesake was only ten feet long, it allowed caravans to cross, travelers keeping their socks dry—in the non-summer months when they weren't already drenched in sweat. A settlement sprouted around the tavern, an odd mixture of lumberyards and farmsteads, making use of the fertile Grymear and the forest.

Alexia's breath caught, spying three wagons laden with lumber. Jonah had chosen to move on without her, leaving Moonstrider tied to a tree near the ambush site. With how slow they'd moved, she couldn't believe they caught up.

Erlos caught on. "We will behave. Besides," he tapped her shoulder, "we've got the world's best peacemaker with us."

I just want to sleep, Alexia thought. But Erlos was right. Making peace was at the core of Leverith's purpose. She loved both Calden's Caravan and the Redeemed Men and both groups loved her. If she couldn't get them to make peace, what hope did she have with the Ruby and the Sapphire?

So, instead of pouting, she nodded.

"Listen up," Erlos said, addressing the other twelve former bandits. "You are the guardians of Alexia Bluerose. Act with dignity, with honor, with respect. Clean up, eat up, rest up, and get used to this. Anything to add?"

Alexia couldn't peel her gaze away from the caravan wagons. "Redemption isn't about running from who you've been, but running toward who you will become. Do not deny who you were or what you did."

"Master Alexia," Sein said, shuffling his feet nervously, "what if they wanna hurt us?"

"I will protect you," she said, meeting the bard's gaze. "As long as you keep trying, I will defend your chance to become who you were meant to be."

A murmur of assent answered her promise. Alexia, hiding her nervous tremors, left Moonstrider in the stable and made for the door. The nervous excitement of her companions as she tried to pave their path back to society didn't help her tremors. Her hair shifting from gold to chestnut as she stood in the shadow of the doorway, Alexia stepped into a dimly lit tavern.

Just inside, a young tavern maid's eyes bulged. "Your hair changed colors!" She took in Alexia's robes, marking sigils of both masculine and feminine magic. The ensuing shriek made Alexia flinch. "Alexiaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"

Suppressing the urge to cover her ears, duck outside, and run for the trees, Alexia took a step toward the maid. "H-h-hello."

All the eyes on the two-floor establishment on her—a faceless blur to her anxious eyes—she stuttered out a request for an evening's room and board for herself and her thirteen guardsmen. Her hands were so sweaty, so shaky, she was certain everybody noticed how bad she was at this. She needed to get into her room, do some breathing, and hide away until she could sneak out after everyone else had passed out.

"Leverith's love!" the tavern maid squeaked. "Dad! It's really her!"

"Yadeen's yodel," a grizzled man said, coming out from behind the bar to greet her. "You stay here for free, Great Wizard. As long as you need. What can I get ye?"

"Erlos?" she managed, twisting to her head guardsman.

The broad-chested warrior motioned his fellows into the tavern. Alexia tuned out while he spoke with the man. She could still feel their eyes on her, could sense the girl who discovered her bouncing up and down a few feet away. A bard strummed a few notes on their lute, Alexia recognizing the tune as one about her and Tenacity. Somewhere in here, Calden's Caravan was watching the survivors of the group that killed Calden come back into their life.

You have to make peace, she thought. She took a few deep breaths, then faced the crowd. Only to discover there wasn't a crowd. The innkeeper, his daughter, an older maid, a bard that looked like he very well could be the innkeeper's son, a trio of older townsfolk pausing their meal to gawk at her, and sitting at a table on the far side of the room, Calden's Caravan.

The Jonah's, Esrak, Bam, and Temos sat in front of empty plates, full mugs, cards on the table, their collective eyes upon her. She imagined their accusations, their disgust. Having a few days to process, they'd hate her for using them as bait, letting Calden die, and not only sparing Erlos, but recruiting his men.

Alas, hard as it was to believe, life didn't always give one its worst imaginable future.

Temos jumped out of his seat, crashing toward her. "Exia!"

Before she could react, he wrapped her in a bullish embrace, his tongueless mouth mispronouncing her name again and again. Jonah, Bam, and Esrak followed him, encircling her.

"Lady Alexia," Bam said, "I stood in front of the caravan, telling them not to go. It took all four of 'em to pull me outta the way, and not because they were strong enough. Quite the opposite! I coulda dragged 'em into the woods and chased ye. But I knew you could protect yeself, but if I let these boys go on without me, who'd protect them?" He shook a fist toward Esrak. "Bam!"

"Bamma," Temos said, shaking his head.

"Bam, was that the time Temos lifted you over his head and you begged him to put you down?" Esrak asked.

"Um, yeah," Bam said. "I had ta make him feel strong. Ye gotta believe in yeselves, boys."

"Bam!" Alexia said, grinning at them.

"Exactly!" Bam said, slapping the younger Jonah's back.

"I'm sorry we left you," Jonah said. "My dad said we needed to move in case other bandits came looking for their missing people."

"Your dad was right to do so," Alexia said, feeling herself relax, words flowing now like warm honey instead of frozen molasses.

Back at their table, the older Jonah kept his arms crossed, eyes on Erlos and his men. The Redeemed Men helped push together some tables in the center of the room, Simon chatting up the tavern master as Sein started singing alongside the lutist. Nico had pulled the attention of the tavern maid off Alexia, though it was clear he was trying to escape her too. Erlos spoke with his men, but his eyes never wandered far from Jonah.

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Taking a deep breath, Alexia walked over to the caravan leader. "Hello, Jonah."

"Hello, Alexia," he said, not taking his glare off the former bandits.

"I'm giving them a second chance," she explained.

He met her eyes. "If it helps you sleep at night."

"It will," she whispered, feeling the confidence sap out of her body as if Jonah had just turned on a spigot.

"If it helps you sleep at night," he repeated, "you're welcome to travel with us to Sapphirica."

"I can't leave them."

Alexia startled, Erlos appearing at her side. "We have pledged our lives to Alexia. We want no trouble."

Jonah pushed himself out of his chair. He wasn't quite as formidable as Erlos but he still struck an imposing figure with the big beavery beard and thick arms. He crossed those tree trunk arms, staring down the man that had cut through them with an axe only a few days ago.

"I call them the Redeemed Men," Alexia said, her voice shaking, "though like you and I, they have a long road to redemption. We can walk it together, Jonah." She opened her arms. "I welcome you and your boys."

"We should join them," Jonah the Younger said, Esrak, Temos, and Bam nodding beside him. "Remember what she told us, dad. She needs us as much as we need her. We can't let her do this alone."

"Calden would want us to," Esrak said, his grin slipping into something somber, before making a triumphant return. "Besides, with Bam at her side, she can't be stopped."

"Bam!" Bam shouted.

"Ayeadoet," Temos said.

"We will deliver our last shipment." The lumberjack bit his lip. Fighting something within him, he said, "But if you'll have us, we're yours."

"I'd love to have you," she said, feeling her self-belief restored. "Thank you, Jonah."

"Then we're all yours," Jonah said. The other boys celebrated, high-fives, hollering, and bumping chests—Temos nearly flooring Bam.

"Gotta love their spirit," Erlos said. "Welcome to the Redeemed Men. We're honored to have you."

"That's right," Bam said. "I'm a Redeemed Man! Guardian to the greatest wizard the world has ever seen." He blew out of his mouth as he lifted his hands, a poor simulation of the wind storms Alexia had unleashed on the bandits, then shot his arm forward, making a crackling noise. "Bam!"

"Hold your horses, boy," Jonah the Older said. "You four ain't men and you don't need no redeeming, thank Leverith."

"We're the Innocent Boys," Esrak quipped.

"Yeah, sure," Bam said. "But I'm the leader." He swung an imaginary sword. "Bam!" He climbed up on the table. "I might even save some redeeming acts for the rest of ye!" He leapt off the table, swinging a fork like it was a dragon-slaying spear. Bam slipped on a mead spill—likely his own—barely stopping himself from cracking his skull on a table as he crashed through a stool.

"Save some stools for the rest of us," Esrak said.

Covering a giggle, Alexia turned to Erlos. "Try to keep the little ones safe," she whispered.

"Will do, ma'am."

Alexia was horrified that the boys would pay the price of her plans. But she wasn't going to tell them that they couldn't make a difference. She needed every willing soul in Leveria to work together toward peace. She'd rather be the little bridge that spanned the distance between former bandits and a caravan attacked by their brethren than the one who did it all alone, telling others to stay out of it so they didn't pay the price. Besides, building this bridge gave her hope that she could find a way to span the chasm that separated Ruby and Sapphire. This wouldn't be Alexia's Great Peace, forged by one peacemaker, but a grand bridge built on the dreams of all those who helped her cross the chasm.

Jonah the Elder pushed their table together with the Redeemed Men as food was being served and cards dealt out. The bard played, poorly, "The Nagging Dragon." Simon stood on the table singing along to the ode of an errant lover trying to ward off his demanding woman. As much as Alexia loathed the song and its message, it was one of the most popular tunes in Leveria. The Volqori ballad composed by the legendary bard Matyxal had crossed the ocean with the other great bard of the early third era, Vara Spearman, and had been played nightly in every tavern with a performer for the past hundred years. Alexia tried to let everyone have fun, even if she felt the privacy of her room calling to her.

Temos rushed to join in the singing, his speech impediment slurring his words together, but not dampening his enthusiasm. The tavern filled with the voices of villagers coming in to catch a glimpse of her. Alexia smiled not for the music or the eyes upon her, but for seeing former enemies melding into friends. She would have been glad to stay off to the side and let others have the spotlight as the bard directed different people to sing alternating verses like a grand orchestral conductor.

When the bard called her name for the final verse, both Erlos and Jonah the Elder "helped" her to the stage. Laughing nervously, Alexia tried to evade fate, dodging them, circling the table to get away. Nico released his grip on the waist of one of the village lasses and recruited Jem to help carry Alexia. They were joined by Esrak who's lanky arms proved quite valuable in keeping Alexia's feet off the ground. After several repetitions of the refrain, and many discordant notes, where the whole tavern shouted out the chorus, "The nagging, the nagging, the nagging dragon! Will her tongue never stop wagging!" Alexia was deposited beside the bard upon the tiny stage.

Redeemed Men, Calden's Caravan, the tavern staff, the locals, all chanted her name, calling for her to sing. Alexia possessed her father's musical voice, if none of his charisma or charm. She knew the words, knew she could make the sounds, but that didn't mean her heart didn't quake as if facing a perpetual thunderstorm. Glimpsing the faces, hearing their merriment, feeling their adoration, this could've have been both one of the worst or best moments of her life. Like in Mirrevar when she spoke to the soldiers she healed, or in Maypine when she rallied folks from the walls of the ancient palisade. Or it could be like the thousands of times she hid away or went silent in the face of questions.

She eyed the door, knowing she could escape, flee into the woods until they moved on. She saw a little girl clapping and calling out her name. What message would she send if she ran, if she let fear stop her from doing something as simple as singing? All these people believed in her, thought she could be the hero that brought an end to their woes or who gave them a chance to be the best they could be. It felt impossible, but she could prove wrong the scared part of her that thought she'd never be able to lead people if they knew just how scared and shy she was.

Alexia brushed disheveled hair out of her face and sang. "Beware she will bite you and eat you. Run, run, run away my dear boy. Here comes her fiery dragon's spew." Alexia channeled Seraxa, blowing fire from her maw. The tavern erupted into applause as the bard did his best to build the final crescendo. Alexia bellowed the last line, her silvery mezzo-soprano soaring on dragon's wings. "To burn away all your world's joy!"

Nico whistled. Willem pounded on the table with Bam. Sein threw his arm around Jonah the Younger's shoulder and the whole tavern finished together with Alexia singing loudest of all, "The nagging, the nagging, the nagging dragon! Her tongue will never stop wagging!"

Even though the rest of the night blurred past her, it would forever be clearly imprinted in Alexia's heart. Sein and Bam competed on who could tell the most outrageous stories. Simon and Temos crooned beside the strums of the bard's lute, and Alexia felt less anxiety each time she sang. Word had traveled throughout the surrounding cabins, the entire tavern swelling with people coming to witness the Second Great Wizard and wish her well.

Alexia shook hands and offered embraces, her mask shattered by the intoxication of both drink and merriment. For a few angles, she was high on confidence. She felt what it was like to not be crippled in conversation, to feel one with the moment like a wind blowing or Leverith loving. Erlos taught her how to play a card game called Kings and Queens. Consequently, Jonah the Elder found his coin purse swell with her silver. Everyone there heard the tale of Alexia being saved by the Redeemed Men from Dax. Deep in his cups, Jonah shared war stories and times he contemplated desertion with his brother while several of the former bandits shared how they'd been pushed down darker paths.

The caravan and the former bandits discovered that they had more similarities than differences and that both groups were united in their purpose to support Alexia. Alexia watched fresh wounds heal through shared purpose and empathic understanding, confirming to her a long-held belief that she recently feared was innocent. Now, she decided, she just needed to figure out how to give that to every Ruby and Sapphire, but most of all, the two kings.

When she said as much, suave Nico was quick with, "Then all you must do is get them drunk together and steal their hearts as thoroughly as you've stolen ours." Thus, did Sein hatch an elaborate plan culminating in locking the two kings in a room with nothing but a bottle of whiskey and a threat that in order to escape they must finish the bottle and be able to say thirteen things they like about each other. The rest of the Redeemed Men, and Alexia, laughed as they offered increasingly ridiculous ideas. The whole table cackled like a bunch of evil geniuses.

Alexia thought the night couldn't improve when a sweet little girl—the same she saw when she thought of bolting the stage—approached her with a special request. She explained that her big brother had died of an illness last year and her papa had died in the war. She dreamt of becoming a cognitive-affectomancer, of saving lives like her hero and ending the fighting.

For her, Alexia read her letter to the Leverian people of both kingdoms, "On Cognitive-Affectomancy," to the Little Bridge Tavern.

Alexia added visual displays of magic to match the explanations in the letter and answered many questions, especially from the endearing girl who reminded her so much of Allison with her thoughtfulness and kind heart. Alexia's social energies were depleting, her liquid courage gone. She felt as though she had taken an examination for three straight days in burning heat when she approached the finish. Yet, she looked around the room at the rapt attention of everyone who had come and knew that she would never regret her exertion.

She put down the scroll, holding out her hands to the girl, when she arrived at her letter's final paragraph. Holding her hand, Alexia gave her the dearest words of her soul. "Peace is created when love overpowers hate, when empathic understanding remedies vengeful anger. That is my dream, to live in a world where all Leverians live by the ideals of our patron, Divine Leverith. When this day comes, the Gemstone War will be no more. It is my hope that this letter brings greater understanding of Cognitive-Affectomancy and fosters this world that I dream for us."

When Alexia released the girl's hands, she wrapped her small body around Alexia's waist. Alexia put an arm around her, and remembered that this girl, the thousands like her, and the millions that would be born after her, were the reason she risked her body, and why she couldn't hide her vulnerable soul. As much as she wished somebody else could be on this stage, she was determined to keep singing.

Alexia turned her head, trying to show every person in the tavern the dreamer behind the mask, tears falling freely down her cheeks. Her eyes didn't dart to the door but tried to let in everybody in the room. And she sang.

"I hope that you all will dream with me. Sincerely yours with love, Alexia Bluerose."

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