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Liseth and Kerr said goodbye to their friends, then began walking back down Tower Street towards Northchurch Square and the cathedral.

"Well, we did it, didn't we?"  Kerr draped an arm over his smaller girlfriend's shoulders, squeezing her close.  "I don't know about you," she could feel him tensing and relaxing muscles, "but I feel like a bath and a bed are the most heavenly things I can imagine right now."

Suddenly he stopped and looked down at her.  "You know what this reminds me of?"  He asked her, a crooked smile on his face.  "The Swallowtail Festival from last year.  Remember that?  After the butterflies, we walked down to the Herb Challenge?  It was a little like this."  He sighed.  "I think I was happier when I wasn't a 'hero.'"

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"Do you suppose this is what people imagine being a hero is like?"  Liseth walked slowly with Kerr, leaning into him as she put one foot carefully in front of the other.  "Stories usually leave these parts out, where the heroes are so exhausted and dirty that all they can think about are normal things like bathing and sleeping."

"I think people who want to be heroes think that way because of the adventure, or the praise.  I'm not so sure that there are many people who would actually want to..." she looked down at the mess that was herself, "do the dirty work involved with being a hero.  Maybe that's what really makes a person a hero; not slaying monsters and winning accolades.  But doing what really needs to be done, even if it's something that no one wants to do.  Like visiting haunted manors with evil curses."

"Sandpoint has a Swallowtail festival every year, right Kerr?"  Liseth looked up at him, "Maybe if we stop this evil cult the next one won't have any problems.  Then we could have a perfect day that doesn't end with screaming goblins."

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Kerr laughed.  "You're right, we never hear about how a dog-tired, wounded Ursion* had to limp around the castle for a month recovering from his injuries before he was well enough to marry Pontia.  I bet he was ready to sleep for a week after the battle.  But the storytellers all make it sound like they had the double wedding the very next day."

The young paladin's face grew serious as Liseth talked.  "But that's what makes a hero, isn't it?  Doing the though things?  Although," he pondered, "I guess in the end it doesn't really matter why they did it.  If someone slays a menacing dragon or saves a town from marauding bandits because they like the acclaim rather than just out of the goodness of their hearts, does that make them that different than the dragon-slayer who does it but doesn't like all the attention?"  He shrugged uncertainly.  "They've both saved the town."

"I mean," he continued, "I guess if you're talking about virtue, then the second one is more virtuous.  Is that part of heroism?  Or are results a part of it too?  Maybe the most-important part?  Is the person who actually slays the dragon more heroic than the person who dies trying to slay the dragon, but doesn't, and the village is destroyed anyway?"

Kerr grabbed his forehead with both hands before grinning.  "It makes my head hurt.  But yes, there's a Swallowtail Festival every year.  We might even make it back for the next one, depending on how our mission to Magnimar goes.  And if we do?  It's a date!"  His shoulders slumped a little.  "But who knows how long it's going to take in Magnimar?  This cult sounds pretty serious."

*see message #7 in this thread for the full story, Ursion fans!  link to a message in this game

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This message was last edited by the player at 16:25, Mon 14 Aug 2017.