Frontier Challenge Being a Border Guard for the Kingdom on the far northeastern frontier is, at best, boring. It's very arid with little to do because travelers are rare. It's easy to go mad, even when you have another guard for company. I was young and eager when I was assigned to this place. That was a dozen years ago, and I'm still here, even though most of those assigned with me only lasted one or two. They went mad from the loneliness and boredom. The loonies who didn't kill themselves were sent back with the supply wagon, which came out twice a year. If it weren't for that wagon, I'd have thought myself totally forgotten by my superiors. However, the wagons still come. Don't know why I've managed to stay sane when so many didn't. Maybe, I'm something of a hermit by nature. I had become a total slob, though. The watchtower was a permanent mess and everything we owned was filthy. Discipline lasts about the first week out here. Then Gw'neth came into my life. I'd relieved Duran an hour before at first light, when I saw her dim form appear out of the wastes of Carthon. She moved slowly and it wasn't until she was fairly close that I realized she was female and hurt, for she leaned heavily upon a knobby staff and dragged her left foot. Of course, I made a fool of myself by lifting up my sword and issuing a warning challenge before I understood her condition. She was young, but her bruised face was old way beyond her years. Starved, too. Looked like she hadn't eaten in several days; and then meagerly. In the growing light I could see dried blood caked upon her chainmail and a little that was fresh as well. A half-healed cut ran across the bridge of her nose and right cheek. Rumors of hard fighting on the far side of Carthon abounded, so her condition didn't particularly surprise me. What did, was that she had managed to get this far in her condition. Gw'neth told me she was trying to get back to her home village in Soonaga. There was no way she was going to make it in her condition. I insisted that she stay with us until she was healed of her wounds. (I didn't realize, then, that some wounds are not physical; nor do such injuries heal quickly, if at all.) I helped her back to the watch tower, fed her, and put her in my bed, filthy as it was. I'm afraid that I watched her far more than the frontier that I'd been charged to guard. She slept for two days. When Duran woke up, I informed him of the situation. He is seventeen and horny all the time. I made it clear that he was to leave Gw'neth alone or I'd have his hide. Duran didn't like it, but he knew better than to cross me. Within two months, Gw'neath was healed of her physical wounds; although she still had that hard look about her face that told me other things had not. About then, the supply wagon showed up. The teamster was almost too willing to drive her back to the closest town. Gw'neth, however, declined the offer and, when he drove off, she remained with us. Gw'neth never left. She was left with a deep facial scar and a pronounced limp. Eventually, the hardness left her face, although she never ever shared its cause. We fell in love and I actually built her a house of stone and mud bricks. We had children, and life was good. The funny thing was that once a woman had settled here more people came and stayed. Over the years, a small settlement grew up around my tower. The supply wagon still comes twice a year, but so do any number of merchant caravans. Although, I had several chances to leave, I didn't. A woman makes all the difference. CREDITS: Male figure: DAZ H3 realistic, "LM Takashi" skinmat and morphs. Watchtower: Nytoprod�s "Scout Tower(DAZ). Female figure: DAZ A3 realistic, TiffT785�s "Kirei na Kanjou"(DAZ) with SilverElf's "RealmStrider" outfit(Renderosity). Hair: "Gwenith Hair" by littlefox(RDNA). Terrain texture: Jonathan Allen.