As Grace started her walk back to the orphanage, she reflected back on the recent events that took place. It had been about a month ago since the angels attacked. The three cities still lay in ruins. Most of those the survivors were children and many had been sent to Grace's orphanage, easily stuffing it to it's max capacity. A curfew was set up and a massive hunt had been organized to find all the angels involved in the attack, often arresting those who weren't involved and who had been outstanding citizens for many years. There were some incidents of self-protection from the angels' side that caused even more distrust from the beings. Law enforcement, militia, adventurers, and bounty hunters were being called in from the surrounding towns to aid in the hunt. This left more casualties and more orphans. Now stuffed to over what it should handle, Grace found her orphanage a great challenge to manage.
Grace sighed. At least there was the anonymous tip just before the attack, otherwise there easily could have been much more destruction. The general hate against the angels bothered Grace. She knew there were many more good and decent angels than bad, but the fact that most angels work alone and having a group of them attack left the beings in a state of frenzied panic.
Grace thought back on when she found the squirrel babe while the initial attack took place. The hardships that James would have to face would be incredible if the attitude toward angels wouldn't change. The resistance she was getting for just taking care of him was already a nuisance.
Grace stopped and turned around suddenly and looked down the street behind her. The street looked totally void of life.
"I swear I heard something..." mumbled Grace to herself. She sighed and buried her head in her hand. "Great, now I'm getting paranoid..."
"I wouldn't say that..." said an airy voice.
Grace turned sharply once more. Now in front of her stood a black stallion in simple dark garb. Grace instinctively pulled up her staff and held a defensive stance. "Back off!"
"Don't be alarmed my fair lady. You do know that the streets can be quite treacherous to beautiful lasses like yourself this close to curfew..." said the stallion with a gentleman's air. "Allow me to escort you home." He said as he bowed.
"You mean you and your goon behind me with the freakishly large knife?" Grace snapped. "How about you and your friend kiss the end of my quarterstaff?" The stallion looked up.
"I guess our introduction is over." he said with a sneer.