The night's air felt unusually thick to Teresa as she followed Leah and Julia out of the mountain. Darkness had settled onto the village, and in place of the usual cool breeze that came with it, was a thick, sticky, heat. Dozens of standing torches illuminated the downcast faces of the citizens of Dagger's End. There were hundreds of people gathered for the somber occasion. They all wore black clothing and sat on small, wooden seats that reminded Teresa of tree stumps. She looked down at the brown dress she wore and felt slightly out of place. The seats were arranged in circular rows surrounding the funeral pyre. As Teresa studied the frowning, tear stained faces of the people, she wondered if their despair had made the air so thick.
"Looks like everyone showed up to see Allana off," Leah said. She sounded tired but upbeat.
Teresa looked at Julia, half expecting her to respond, but the large woman didn't show any sign of acknowledgement to what Leah had said.
There was nothing in Julia's face, she looked like a reanimated corpse. Her eyes showed no emotion and her mouth was set in a half frown. The recent lack of sunlight had taken the shine out of her skin and left it dull and dry looking. Even her posture was off. Her shoulders drooped and she seemed a foot shorter than she actually stood. It looked as if the right breeze could knock her over. Teresa couldn't believe she was looking at the same woman from the first time they had met. She wanted to slap her to see how she would respond. At the moment she looked like she would either ignore it, burst into tears, or possibly just drop dead. Leah on the other hand, looked powerful. She was slight of frame, but her presence demanded attention. She held her head high and exuded confidence. Plus she was beautiful. Her yellow hair and fair skin showed brightly even in the torchlight, and she smelled like the sweetest flower. Teresa walked closely behind her as they moved out into the night. It was probably inappropriate behavior for a funeral, but she was sure Allana wouldn't care. The other people of Dagger's End sat and talked softly amongst themselves until one of them noticed the women approaching.
"It's lady Julia," a voice called out and caused everyone to stand at once and lower their heads.
The three women walked through the crowd and up to the pyre where Allana's body lay wrapped and glowing in the light of the torches. Teresa left Leah and Julia and sat on an empty seat in the front row. Julia gazed out at the faces that made up her village. Her face remained as still and emotionless as stone, while her eyes darted from person to person. Her eyelids twitched slightly as they did. That made Teresa wonder what was going on inside her head. Was she looking for the killer, or was something else causing that to happen? After a few seconds Julia gave a slight nod with her chin and the people sat down again. Leah placed a small hand on Julia's slumping back and led her to the empty seat to the left of Teresa. She sat down without a hesitation as Leah walked back to the pyre and began speaking to the crowd. Teresa leaned forward and looked past Julia. She was surprised when she saw Cardin. He sat hunched over. His shoulders heaved emphatically as he wept. Teresa shook her head slowly back and forth as she watched him. She just couldn't bring herself to feel sorry for him. Maybe it was because she wasn't used to seeing a man be this vulnerable. She looked back at Julia and the feeling of contempt faded. Was that it? Was it the tears? There couldn't have been any other reason, she didn't even know Cardin. It's strange how the same emotion either turns you to stone or a baby, Teresa thought as she looked from Julia to Cardin and back again. That made her wonder what form her grief would take. Could she even feel grief anymore? If her father's training worked as he intended, she shouldn't be able to. He had trained her hard to ensure she could never feel most emotions that came naturally to people. She spent most of her childhood having feelings like grief, fear, and sorrow beaten out of her. The process worked, she went through her life an unfeeling weapon, for whoever could afford her skills. It was only Simeon that saw her as a person. That was why she loved him. He made her feel human again. If anything ever happened to him, she would definitely feel pain, but not nearly as much as the person that hurt him. Unless for some reason she couldn't avenge him. Her eyes wandered over to Julia's blank face and lingered there as she considered this. How would it feel if she was forced to live with the loss of the person she loved more than anything and had no way to avenge it. Would she ever be able to move past the hurt? She was a warrior by nature, taking revenge for her loved one wouldn't ease the pain but it would surely bring her a sense of closure. She suddenly understood Julia as only someone like them could. Leah could try and soothe her from dusk till dawn and it would never work, not until she rid herself of the demon haunting her every thought.
As the people of Dagger's End walked forward in a line and placed pink flowers on Allana's body, Teresa formulated a plan. It wasn't a very smart plan, but if it worked Dagger's End would be better off, she hoped. After the last person placed their flower on Allana's pyre the man from the black tent lit it with a torch. Thick grayish, black smoke rose into the air as the flames devoured Allana, her flowers and her pyre. The people sat back down and talked amongst themselves again as the fire did its miserable work.
"I know you understand me, you won't speak, but you understand what I'm saying," Teresa said as she turned to face Julia.
Leah had left the two of them and was now part of a group of people that had gathered around Cardin. They were giving him their sincere condolences. This gave Teresa the time she needed to talk to Julia alone. Julia cut an eye at her, but didn't turn to face her.
"I want you to know that it was me that stole your vengeance from you. I killed that rat bastard Conlin jr and enjoyed it. I don't regret it either," Teresa said. She leaned close to Julia when she said that last part. Julia did turn to face her now. The emptiness in her face had been replaced with a scowl that brought the color back to her skin. If Teresa didn't know her words were necessary she would've stopped, but she knew she had to keep going. She swallowed hard and continued.
"Yeah I stole your kill, and after the killer gets you I'm gonna steal pretty little Leah too," Teresa said with a cruel smile.
Julia roared with anger and jumped to her feet.
"I'll kill you, bitch!" she screamed and clenched her hands around Teresa's throat. She lifted her so high off the ground Teresa's feet dangled in mid-air.