Young Writers Society

Evaline quietly listened to James talk as she tried to absorb every word, but it was hard since she didn't fully understand everything. There were a lot of questions she could have asked, but one stuck out to her the most.

"Why would you be interested in obtaining a peace treaty with the goblins?" she asked.

James breathed in and out, slowly, but not too deep.

"There's been enough bloodshed," he said solemnly. "Countless lives lost, and all in the name of nothing. I would rather us lose land than lose lives."

Evaline stared at the fire and paused for a while, soaking in every word to his response one-by-one, and letting it fully sink in. She knew deep down she could empathize with what he was saying, but on the surface, she didn't understand.

After a long silence, she decided to throw in another conversation topic.

"Let's say something happened with the thieves," she said. "Say, I got hurt instead."

She glanced to James to gauge his expression.

"Would you continue fighting or would you surrender?"

"They never gave us a chance to surrender," he said, feeling his eyelids grow heavy, even though sleep itself was warded off. "But if you got hurt, I would probably use one of their own as leverage. Bargaining. And if they were truly heartless, and didn't care about their own, then I would fight. Because I would need our supplies to take care of you, and I wouldn't risk handing those over."

Evaline wanted to take the thought further.

"But what if I really got hurt," she said. "And no amount of salve or bandages would help."

She paused.

"If you had both options available, would you continue fighting or would you surrender?"

James felt a deep sadness just at the thought.

If Evaline were to be fatally wounded, and he couldn't save her... he knew what he wanted to say he would do, but in his gut, he knew he probably wouldn't.

Idealistically, he would want to ward them off, somehow. Run to Evaline's side, so he could be with her in her last moments. If he fought, he might miss it. If he surrendered, he would lose Elliot, and then he would truly be alone and sentencing himself to death.

He hated that he would choose the selfish option.

"Fight."

But he wouldn't just fight. He would push himself to his limits. Exert all of his strength. Whatever he could, just to get them out of the way so he could run to Evaline. Hopefully, before it was too late.

Evaline was glad James said that.

"It's not much different than the situation with the goblins," she said. "They took away someone close to you, and naturally, you'd want to keep fighting."

She looked back at the fire with steely eyes.

"A peace treaty is a surrender."

James felt something inside him crack. Just a little.

"A peace treaty could've stopped my father from being killed before it ever happened," he shot back before he could think to take back his words.

"But it didn't," Evaline blurted back. "It could've, but it didn't."

"Because it never happened," James retorted. "So I'll never know if it would've worked, will I? But that's no reason to not try for it now. There are plenty of other families who have lost fathers, mothers, and children. Just because I lost mine doesn't mean I shouldn't try to save theirs."

Evaline sighed, but it didn't stop the next words from coming out of her mouth.

"James, you can play the 'what if' game all day," she said. "There are a probably a million reasons that could have prevented your father's death, and a million more that could save everyone else. But it's not your job to save everyone. Don't you want to fight for what you have lost or what you have now?"

"What I have?"

James wished he had the strength in him to sit up and face her, but even the thought of doing so pained him.

"Evaline, all I have is you, and Elliot. I will fight for those things, but the things I've lost? No amount of fighting will bring my father back. No amount of fighting will restore my reputation, or make me 'unwanted.' No amount of fighting will fix the mistakes I've made, and no amount of fighting will stop the violence. That's adding fire to the fire. Humans and goblins have been at war for generations. If fighting hasn't worked after some hundred years it's time to come up with a better idea. Because it's not. Working."

On one hand, James was appealing to logic. On the other hand, he was bringing out emotions in Evaline she didn't even know she had.

It was a mixed bag of feelings. Although she knew this wasn't the intent, his words felt like a personal attack, and she felt like she had to defend herself. But at the same time, hearing him say "all I have is you and Elliot" made her pity him. It was hard to figure out a properly reply.

But she did, eventually.

"Is that what the military taught you?" she asked flatly.

"No," he said, just as flatly. "I can think for myself."

Evaline let a short, tense silence sit between them.

"I'm sure your father would be proud," she said in a monotone voice, keeping her expression cool.