"I'm done," Graham said, stomping back through the woods toward the town, wrestling with the emotions plaguing him as the weight and guilt of Achaka's death pressed heavier and heavier on his shoulders with each step. "I am done! This is not for me!"

But as he neared Daventry proper again, a small voice came out from somewhere in front of him.

"Going somewhere?" asked Manny, standing before him on the road.

"Yes," Graham said, firmly, immediately, determined. He'd had a lot of thinking, between here and the cave, and he was resolute in the conclusion he'd reached. "I'm going home. Where I belong. I was promised wonder and adventure and fantastical floating islands, and what I got was a Daventry that will never live up to what it once was!"

The Daventry of the brochures and the storybooks. The Daventry of that his father had protected. The Daventry he realized was never going t be for him.

"Daventry needs you, Graham," said Manny, softly, gently. "I know it's not what you expected, but give it time. We can work through the kinks together. It can be great once again, with the right people in charge."

But Graham just shook his head, hanging it with his shoulders. "I'm not that person," he said, and his voice hitched; he thought the flood of tears would be over by now, but they were swelling up inside of him again. "And you should stop believing in me..." A sharp pain twanged in his chest. "...It could get you killed."

"Fine," said Manny, and his next word was a little harsher. "Leave. Go be a dentist, for all I care. I guess Achaka was wrong..."

And that pulled Graham out of his despair and his self-pity enough to blink down at Manny. "Wha?" he stammered out. "What?"

"Eh," Manny shook his head, waved his hands dismissively. "It was nothing...." He kept moving past him, with another, slightly diferent wave of his hand. "It was nice meeting you, Graham...."

"Spill it!" said Graham, suddenly forceful, willing to reach out and stop Manny if he had to, but, thankfully, Manny did stop.

"Well," he said, lifting his little armored chin defiantly, "Achaka and I were chatting during your Chivalry Test yesterday, and he had some...thoughts...about you. Didn't you find it odd that Achaka entered the Knight's Tournament, Graham? Did he ever tell you why?"

"What?" Graham blinked at Manny, frowning, shaking his head. "He might have!" And then, his frustration made way for more disappointment as he sighed. "But I only learned two words of his language...."

"A horrendous famine," Manny explained, "struck Achaka's village, Itch-two-wey. He left his suffering family to enter this tournament! He hoped to seek an audience with the king to plead for help! It was a long shot, even for him."

"Great," Graham all but sobbed out desperately, "so....because of me, a whole village will starve! That makes me feel better!"

"No," said Manny. "Because of you, a village will be saved. Achaka was....impressed by you. He told me he was watching you on your travels to Daventry, and that you seemed like the type of person that could inspire change. More so than those bucketheads, anyways. Just look at how many people came with you to cheer you on and support you, too! You practically have your own army of well-wishers alone already!"

As the feelings in his chest took a hard twist yet again, Graham struggled to know what to say. "I...I, uh...."

"If you're not going to compete for yourself," Manny proposed with a heart-felt appeal in his voice, "or for me, do it for the Itch-two-wens! They need you! And do it for your friends, who came all this way, because they believed in you, too."

With that, Manny took a moment to hand something over to Graham: his adventurer's cap, which he'd left behind him at the cave's exit, determined to let it be buried in the dust and overgrowth of the Daventry forest.

"You're their last hope," Manny said.

Graham took the hat from Manny and Manny, slipping by with a reassuring pat on Graham's thigh, sauntered off to leave him there, hat in hand, and a grave decision ahead of him, and the weight of what being a knight really meant.

He took in a shaky breath, lifted his hands, and settled his cap back onto his head with a nod.

"For Achaka," he said, nodding firmly, and then taking a moment, lifting one palm, and then lifting his other hand to give his fingers a little waving dance before making a fist and pounding it into his palm with another nod, exactly in the way Achaka had done, and continued on his way, not to the town, but directly to the Theater.

He had an Eye of a Hideous Beast to present.