Erin stood alone on the edge of the yard staring at the old red brick walls of the orphanage. Only a few short hours from now he would be saying goodbye to his childhood home, heading out the front door and down the road with the next caravan. Unlike his previous trips this time he would not be heading towards the village of Doru, situated at the bottom of the valley. Instead his feet would carry him in the opposite direction, over the mountains and towards Hida, the largest city in the eastern world. With what little time he had left Erin sought to burn the image before him firmly into his mind. Although the building was in a desperate state of disrepair, he felt something for it that words alone could not express. Trying to shake off feelings he couldn't quite place, Erin picked up the two water buckets he had set down, and made his way towards the side entrance that lead to the kitchen. As the door shut behind him, Erin saw the matron Camelia entering from the adjacent room holding two large bundles of fresh carrots. "If you have finished filling the pot, could you please take the loaves of bread out of the oven dear?" She asked with a smile. Erin nodded, and after dumping the buckets of water into a large black pot he wrenched open the iron doors of the oven to retrieve the loaves of bread. "Is there anything else I can help with?" Erin asked as he wrapped each loaf in a small towel. "No dear, you have helped enough this morning I think," Camelia replied brightly. "Breakfast will be ready before you know it. Why don't you go finish packing?" Erin ran a hand through his mess of hair, "I have been packed up for almost a week now." "I must say, you sure are eager to leave." Erin's smiled again as the unease he felt in the past week resurfaced, and he tried to think of a way to explain what he was feeling. Before he could speak though Camelia walked over and hugged him, "I remember the first time you told me that you were going to be a hero." Erin's throat constricted as Camelia continued speaking, "You were just five years old when you jumped into the freezing River after Maria." Erin could see vague images of a small girl in a thick coat falling off a large boulder as Camelia continued. "I was sure I had lost both of you, but against all odds not only did you drag her out of the water, but carried her all the way back here. The truly frightening thing for me at that moment was not Maria though, it was you," She said heavily. Erin lifted his head and looked up at Camelia's tear streaked face. "Me?" Erin shifted in her embrace, feeling awkward. "But... I was fine though." Camelia smiled warmly down at Erin, "That was the problem. For someone so young it was simply incredible that you were willing to risk everything to save a small girl that you had barely known even two days." Erin looked down at his feet as his face began to flush, "I just did what I thought any hero would do." Camelia kissed his forehead before walking back around the large prep table, "I know, and that is what frightened me the most. I knew at that point that no matter what I said you would follow your dream, even if it ended in your death. You must understand that a hero's life is often short and painful." Erin joined Camelia at the prep table and began chopping up carrots, "Not all heroes die young though, Belgad the dragon slayer lived to a hundred and seven, and his wife Nameria out lived him by another forty years." Camelia sighed, "You must have what? A hundred books about the deeds of some of Ethraldor's greatest heroes, and all you can think of just two that lived full lives?"