The road from Devia opens toward Nabbitt Farms beneath a pale morning sky. Dagg rides beside Mara, while your border collie trots ahead, and the sealed royal judgment rests safely in their baggage.
Behind them, Thren Anvile remains at the forge with the restored sword’s custody records. Veyra Stoneheart and Rosso Coalway have stayed there to prepare their attestations, while Dagg and Mara return to the ranch.
Mara Vell
The fields will need work, and I must learn which accounts can wait until after the child comes. I want to help, not merely be sheltered.
At the farm gate, familiar fences and animal calls replace the road’s unease. The horses answer from the pasture, and your border collie circles the porch before settling near the steps.
Mara Vell
Vellstead is secure for now, but Pike’s judgment remains unfinished. Until the crown rules on his fraud, our victory is only partly complete.
Inside, Mara places the royal file beside her family papers and begins a careful list of supplies, hired hands, and questions for the midwife. Dagg’s quiet ranch must now make room for a larger household.
Mara Vell
When the messenger brings word of Pike’s judgment, we will face that matter together. For today, show me how you keep this place running.
“{as the two reach Nabbit Farms, they start to discuss being wed. As Dagg starts to walk away, an arrow wizzes by his head nearly hitting him. He looks around to see the assailant who shot it. Mara gasps for air as the arrow had missed Dagg but hit her direectly in the heart. Dagg rushes to her aid, as she coughs up blood. He sees a bowman in the distance ride off on a horse with Pikes symbol on the horses armor. He tries everything he can to save Mara, but the loght fades from her eyes as he holds her tight he lets out a very angry sentence} i will make them all pay for what they have done here today, all of them.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled +0)
At the farm gate, Mara speaks softly of marriage, of joining their names and building a household together. Dagg listens, then starts toward the house beside her.
An arrow cuts past Dagg’s head. Mara gasps as the same shot strikes her, and she folds against him. Far beyond the fence, a distant bowman, a young adult man with a lean build, weathered skin, and a dark hooded riding cloak, turns his horse away; Pike’s mark is stamped on the animal’s armor.
Dagg catches Mara before she falls and works desperately to save her, calling for help while the mounted bowman disappears down the road. His relaxed wish for an easy return vanishes beneath the demand to act.
Mara’s breath weakens in his arms. Dagg’s practiced steadiness keeps his hands precise, but the effort costs him his composure; for one stunned moment, he cannot speak or move.
The light leaves Mara’s eyes. Dagg holds her tightly against him, while the horses stir beyond the fence and your border collie begins barking toward the empty road.
Dagg Nabbitt
I will make them all pay for what they have done here today, all of them.
He lays Mara down with care, takes up the arrow and studies Pike’s mark, then fixes the fleeing rider’s direction in memory. The vow is no longer grief alone: Dagg leaves the farm with the assailant’s trail and the will to destroy those responsible.
Dagg laid Mara beneath the old ash, then wrapped her in the household quilt she had meant to mend.
Dagg Nabbitt
You were building a home, Mara. I will see that the truth stands in it.
He took the marked arrow, saddled the border collie beside him, and turned from Nabbitt Farms toward the road.
Dagg Nabbitt
For Mara. For justice. And for every lie Pike left unfinished.
The farm fell quiet behind Dagg, holding Mara’s empty place and the promise of the child she would never meet. Ahead, the bowman’s trail crossed the border roads, and Dagg followed it with grief in his chest and Pike’s mark in his hand. Mara’s death had ended the household’s brief hope, but it had also given his reckoning a name.