A small boat approached the barren, rocky island.  The blackened and soggy remnants of other vessels stretched across the jagged stones like ladies on fainting couches, but spoke of peril as much as exhaustion.  The waves grew choppy near the shore and the boat tossed, but one of the occupants expertly angled the tiller, guiding the single-sail craft safely to a tiny beach.  Other boats were here as well, dragged up onto the sand but long since claimed by time and storm, no longer hoping their masters might return to sail once more.

"Are you certain?" asked the pilot, hand still on the tiller.  "There is no shame in turning about, I would speak of it to no one."

"I must," said the warrior calmly.  "I took a vow, never to cast aside a worthy quest."  The sailor bowed his head sadly.

"Then I will return, once only, in three days as we agreed.  I hope to find you waiting here victorious, but I fear we shall not speak again.  I cannot see how you, with your curse, can triumph here where so many others have fallen."

The warrior lifted the sack of supplies and climbed out of the boat, walking up the beach to where the sand gave over to rock, and depositing it there where it would remain unmolested by the tide.

"I am not certain myself, but I persevere nonetheless," said the warrior, with quiet stoicism.  "I thank you for your service."  The pilot shook his head wonderingly at the warrior's grateful smile.  He used a long pole to push the boat off the beach and adjusted the sail and rudder to take him back home.

The warrior's armor shined in the sun as the figure took a moment to enjoy the sea breeze, now free of the worries of capsizing or of the pilot losing his nerve and steering the boat astray.  Eventually, a cloud passed overhead, and the sun's warmth on the warrior's face lessened, a reminder of the quest unfinished.

Step by measured step, cautious but unafraid, the warrior climbed ever upwards, for it was said the entrance of the beast's cave lie at the highest point.  Terrible and feared, only the most brave souls dared to challenge the beast, and none had ever returned.  But the warrior's curse and its weighty concerns had long since been forged into a shield against the fruitless worries of less sturdy souls.

Inevitably, the warrior entered the cave, undaunted by the darkness...the halberd's shaft already pressed into service as a steadying shoulder on the rocky slope, now it spoke to the warrior in quiet taps, revealing the safest path ahead.  The taps spoke of other things as well, pillars of rock which must be avoided, but the figure paused, running a hand over the rock and finding the echoes of life...arms...head.  A poor soul who had not fared well against the beast.

Dauntless, the warrior continued onward, until faint sounds urged a halt for silence's sake.  Soft hisses, of many snakes, and approaching steadily.  The warrior's grip on the halberd tightened, ready to fend off venom and fang if needed.  But instead a woman's voice broke the quiet.

"Come, have you, to slay the beast which imprisons me here?"  There is little hope in her words, only weariness, barely colored by mild interest.

"I have...if it is right to do so," said the warrior, for long experience had shown that the obvious path is not always the best.  The woman paused for a time, surprised at the warrior's words.

"Wise are you then, to have brought no torch.  For any who look upon the beast's visage are struck into stone, never again to know warmth or comfort, or give it, let alone raise a weapon against it."

"It was not wisdom," said the warrior, who prized honesty, "but strange fortune, for my curse has left me with no fear of dark places."

"You too, are cursed?"

"The Gods ever play their games with us, but I choose not to be their idle pawn.  I find and share what joy I can in the spaces between their moves.  Do you live here in this cave always?"

"I have a small house on the far side of the hill.  But I spend most of my hours here, for fear one might come and fall prey to the beast."

"Is not the trackless sea around us moat enough for your keep, and this hill a watch tower to spy any who come?  Why not at least live in the sun for the time trouble isn't around?"  The warrior extended a hand and found one of the woman's own.

"It has been so long, but if I follow you out, the beast will surely have you..."

"If it is meant to be, so be it.  But I think all will be well."

And so the woman, against her instincts, followed the warrior out of the cave, and blinked and squinted against the brightness.  But the warrior only smiled at the warmth.


Three days later, the sailor was surprised to find the warrior waiting on the beach.

"Did you slay the beast then?" he asked, awed, as the warrior climbed into the boat.

"No, though I think no further trouble shall come from that quarter.  But I would like your assistance to return here with supplies, for I have made a friend who needs help hanging some curtains...thin enough to pass the sun, but tight enough to hide her unconventional tresses."