"First Kill" by Jenny Olivera

"Are you two all right?" Jaetin peered around at the scene of the recent scuffle. He'd heard the fight, but by the time he'd gotten there it had been over.

"Yeah - we're fine," Fenta replied, a little breathlessly. "We gotta get out of here, though." She reached over and tugged on the other woman's arm, snapping her out of her apparent daze as she looked at the body cooling in the dust.

"What happened?" Jaetin asked after they had gotten back to their room at a local inn. Neither of his friends had been hurt aside from some bruises.

"I dunno," Fenta said, pushing her dark curls away from her face. "I think they saw a couple of little halfelven women and thought we'd be an easy target. Or something. They didn't leave me and Detch much choice. One of 'em took off, but the other one -" she jerked her head toward the fireplace, where Detch sat with her arms around her knees, staring into the flames, "- well, like I said, we didn't have much choice."

Jaetin squatted down next to the young woman - more like a girl, really - and placed his hand on her shoulder. "Hey, kid. You sure you're all right?"

Detch shifted her gaze to her freshly cleaned dagger, lying on the hearth next to her feet, and then turned her wide, haunted blue eyes to Jaetin. "No," she admitted in a small voice. Jaetin rubbed her shoulder and waited for her to continue. She turned back to the dagger. "He's dead. I killed him. Just like that. Yeah, I know -" she continued before he could say anything, "- he would have done worse to me if I hadn't. But still, I... I didn't even think, I... just killed him..."

As she drifted off Jaetin glanced over her head and shared a look with Fenta. So young, he could tell she was thinking, but it had to happen sooner or later. "Hard, isn't it," the older woman said.

"I mean, he mighta been..." Detch sighed, and stood. "I don't know. That's what it all boils down to: I don't know. I'll be in the common room, all right?"