Responsibility

[Excerpt from page 231, chapter 28, Son of Sferesh]

[Anloi] whirled her head around, knocking [Maric] in the jaw. “Sorry. But what do you intend to gain by going back?”

Maric rubbed his jaw a little. “Nothing, but I can’t leave Kalen and the others in the position they’re in. I have nothing, but they have mountains to gain by me coming back.”

“Maric, they’ll try to kill you!”

“I hope they’ll be afraid enough of me to keep those attempts at bay until I tell them where Endrëa is. Knowing her, she didn’t tell them where she was going, and though I’ve never been a brother, I can guess that Kalen is frantic, and Randalek too.” Almost as an afterthought, he added, “Zefran’s probably not in the best of moods either. His betrothed has gone missing, and I have no doubts as to who he’ll be blaming.”

“I didn’t tell my family where I was going either! I never would have gotten anywhere; Brandon would have stopped me before I got to the street. But I’m not asking you to go back and explain to them. It is Endrëa’s fault she came to Sferesh; let it be her fault that she won’t be coming home anytime soon.”

“You didn’t tell your father? You didn’t even leave a note? What were you thinking?”

“That’s not my point, Maric. I’m ready to accept responsibility for what I did, and I am, as she says, a simple tavern wench.” Maric’s chest vibrated against her back as he started to growl. “If I can accept it, so can Her Highness.”

Sometimes the difference between high schoolers' responsibility levels bothers me. Two people will do the same stupid thing (which can be labeled as irresponsible, but is not a part of the discussion right now), but one will blame others and the other will accept the blame as their own. It gets to me sometimes. Considering that Anloi and Endrea are both in their late teens, this is more or less my allusion to that.