"Both Madeline and I were powerful Transcendents at the time, and the Church of the God of Love always arranged for us to act together. During an ordinary mission, we suspected that everyone in an orphanage located some distance from the settlement was infected by a dreadful Evil Fiend, so we were assigned the task of killing everyone there... For that era, it was a very ordinary task."
Shard glanced sideways at the orphanage on the distant hill:
"Let me guess, there was someone you spared?"
"It wasn't me, it was Madeline."
Richard stated calmly, as if recounting a story that wasn't his own. The sound of the river gurgled, perfectly setting the mood for a story:
"It was a child only seven years old. Madeline was very certain he wasn't infected, but she was very sure it didn't matter, for the safety of the settlement, he couldn't be spared either... Yet, Madeline still spared him. She told me about it afterward, so I reprimanded her."
"Did Madeline's judgment fail?"
