Margrave I

Margrave let the final chunk of debris crash to the ground, the sound soon evaporating into the silence, leaving her staring across a sea of silent faces staring back at her. Flat looks and worried frowns soon turned into ugly grimaces and angry glares and a grumbling and murmuring began to boil up from the crowd, getting louder and louder with each passing second, until they were roaring and shouting.

"So why'd you save us?! Just so you can break us all down again!"

"Better off just letting the earthquake do its worst! Couldn't do a better job than you already did!"

The first brick soon followed the shouts, sinking into Margrave's stomach and making her huff and bend. More bricks and pieces of rubble followed, one missile for every shout, landing anywhere they could. And Margrave made no attempt to block them or shrink away, just stood there until the rocks finally slowed and the crowd stopped to breathe and nurse hoarse voices.

People shifted and a boy pushed his way out from between two adults, a final rock held high, only to pause, looking between the angry faces behind him and the bruised warrior in front, unsure of what was right. Everyone had been doing it but now that they stopped, it almost seemed a shame.

The boy looked back and forth again, raised the rock, lowered it and dropped it to the ground, staring up at Margrave. "Why?" He asked in a plaintive whine, the whole situation far too much for him, the question both to his fellows and to her. Like a dam breaking, Margrave finally knelt, embracing the boy in a hug. "....because I'm sorry. Even gods makes mistakes and I can never take it back. But I'm trying to make it better."

She released the boy and stood up, wiping away the blood from a split lip. "......I don't expect you to forgive me. I don't even want you to. But I will protect you, you have my word."