You realize through your warring thoughts that someone's calling out to you, and find Anton running up behind you. For an instant you think that the girl's changed her mind and sent him as a runner, but Anton catches his breath after a moment. "I resigned," he says, outrage warring with exhaustion in his voice - it's barely a minute from the castle, he needs to work on his fitness - "I'll not be having with that."
You smile at him, remembering what you found so long ago while rifling through his things: the letters written in secret to his aunt in the Jade College, long since slain in the service of the Empire. "Thank you," you say simply, and the two of you walk down the road from Eagle Castleinto the town of Wurtbad.