Guiscard slowly strode out into the courtyard. He had heard the news of Dalfador's death and had come to see the interment of the body. Though he was relatively new to the Guard his father had known him quite well. Guiscard remembered the stories Oda had told him when he was just a boy, stories of campaigns long past, stories of men wearing white and gold, fighting for God and honor. Oda was known under a different name, but the man was the same. Prominent among these stories were the tales of cooperation, comradeship, and crisis between himself and a man who fought with fire and vigor, wielding his spear as an extension of his soul. The two had had their times of discord, their difficulties, and the times of troubles when each helped each other. These two men had not always been the best of friends, but they were always brothers-in-arms. Until this moment, seeing Dalfador with his honorary Holy Guard array and a memorial of white and gold beside him in his coffin, that these two men, his friend and mentor and his father's comrade from early days, were one and the same. Stricken with this realization Guiscard dropped to his knees, awed at the connection that until this moment he had missed. Realizing what could have been, and realizing that it now could never be, he began to weep. Looking up through his tears he glimpsed the look of peace on the old soldier's face. Suddenly a single piece of his father's stories clicks in, this man had always been searching for, and never finding, peace. As his tears slowly dried, Guiscard smiled sadly. A great man had passed this day, but he had found what he was looking for.
Rising slowly, Guiscard felt inspiration. This man's age was only 5 years past that of his father. With a sudden jolt, the man stretched before him shifted from Dalfador into an image of his father. Suddenly terrified for his father's life, Guiscard turned and fled into his rooms, emerging a few moments later with his armor strapped on and his traveling equipment in tow. He strode determinedly toward the stairs to the Archon's office. It was time.
