Aidan didn’t choose to oppose Lord Gramel, but when the Lord took offense to the joke, it was already too late. His henchman hunted Aidan day and night, terrorizing his family and friends in an attempt to find him and put an end to what they saw as an informal jester. Lord Gramel made the decisive decision to show his true self then, the true, power hungry, violent Lord he always had been - and was. Aidan found solace in the nearby hills, living with monks and nuns and their sheep and pigs. He missed his family, though.

There was an estuary nearby. He often visited the water, sitting on the edge and thinking about how things had gone wrong. He hadn’t made a joke since; hadn’t spoken much, either.

He was sitting there with the Lord’s men found him and made the sparkling waters of that estuary turn a darkened red.