Bartering takes many forms. Life for life. Belief for power. Captivity for freedom. But not every exchange is forced. Sometimes, trust is given freely, without trade or consequence. Yet it isn’t always magic, or steel, that saves you. Sometimes all that remains is faith, and the hope that those whom fate has tangled into your story will be there to catch you when you fall. And together, even the chill of death feels less certain. While it may linger, searching for peace in whatever form it can find, the strength to stare it in the face rarely comes from standing alone. At the end of it all, it’s the promise of the first strike, and the weight of the last, that leaves the deepest mark.