II: "Powers That Be"  

News of Kilton Reiss' near deadly assault on Hail spread like wildfire; certainly Hail was very fortunate to have survived. As time passed, of course, the story faded into whispers and so too did Kilton. No one had seen him since.  

Perhaps coincidentally, Remy Rocher had been in Provence at the very same time as Hail and Eric Maheswari, though there was no joy to be found for him then. He had been given news that a cancer of the pancreas had begun its irreversible invasion of his body and with it came also deep sorrow. He had been traveling on Park Se-Yun's world tour as a sound stage engineer and every night after the show closed, Remy returned to his harsh reality. He hadn't thought to tell Park, even if they had become fast friends on the road.  That shouldn't suggest, however, that Park hadn't noticed that something was...amiss. 

Remy hadn't even mentioned it to his loved ones, nor could he imagine how. 

Exhaustion crept upon him night after night, and occasionally he found himself wandering outside of town and into the foothills or along the shoreline to seek a peaceful, albeit bitter solitude.