“Naia,” Efrain mused as he let go of the man’s hand.

“Commander, if you have the mind to respect convention. I understand if you don’t,” he said, the smile that accompanied the statement easy and inviting.

A commander, one that had the authority over an entire of battalion. Efrain wondered just where the rest of his men had gone off to, perhaps this was a ‘best and brightest’ situation.

“Commander, then. Tell me, if you don’t mind, what are you and your men doing this far north? I didn’t think the church’s arm reached quite this far, last I passed through.”

Naia looked around at the straggling remnants of his formations, and looked back.

“I’m sorry, but I think it best to answer such questions away from here. You never know what might be attracted to the smell of blood, and I’ve had enough problems today. If you wish, you could accompany us.”

The smile had morphed into an apologetic one in an instant. The paladin, by contrast, merely tightened her jaw, and set her eyes in a stony glare.

“Accompany you?” Efrain said, his wariness bleeding into his voice, “to where?”

“As you can see, my men are tired, and some are injured. I think we’ll set out further afield, then recover.”

Efrain weighed the options - on one hand, he’d finished their task. They could return to Kalnive and claim their reward, if any reward was to be had. On the other hand, it might be worth to investigate just why this group was in the valley, and this was the only place he was going to get that knowledge.

On the other hand however, that paladin’s gaze was enough to reconsider all of the previous points. The fact that her fingers were twitching near the hilt of her great sword was only further fuel for the fire. That besides, as soon as he was in the centre of the camp, he’d likely lose most if not all ability to flee.

On that balance alone, and given the conditions of the retreating group, he was prepared to refuse.

Then he saw the child.

It was a difficult thing to describe, as often it was when one attempted to explain ‘seeing’ magic. The real world overlapped with the magical - the best analogy of would be like looking at crystal under a flow of water. The mineral was still there, hard and definite, but there were currents and streams superimposed upon it. The analogy was limited, however, given that it was more like ‘feeling’ in some cases, rather than ‘seeing’.

Most were soft, amorphous things, barely noticeable against the environment. In the case of magic users, it tended to ripple and flow, as if a curtain of water moved across and between their limbs. But this, this was entirely different.

In one way, Efrain saw a younger boy, perhaps in her late teens, with long red hair, and muddy green eyes. On another, well… It was rather like iron sands when exposed to a magnet. Hard, defined series of arcs, wrapping and weaving into and around his body. He’d never seen the like, and was struck rather speechless at the sight.

“I want to see the battlefield!” he was calling back to another person, a second child, and an armoured figure chasing after them. The procession stopped when they saw the ‘meeting’ in front of them.

“Who’s that?” said the girl, who looked practically identical to the boy beside her. She was more alike than she probably knew, however, for her aura consisted of the same lines. A third girl emerged, different than the first two, at least physically, with dark hair and deep brown eyes. However magically, she possessed the very same, hard lines tracing all over her body.

Efrain turned to Innie, attempting to verify that he had not indeed gone insane. Her alarmed eyes brought confirmation that, yes, she had seen the exact same thing. Efrain broke the awkward silence with a feigned cough. In that instant he know he’d have to unravel this mystery, it was simply too tantalizing to resist.

“I’d be happy to accompany you,” Efrain said, before thinking quickly, “I’m heading in that direction in any case.”

“I see,” said Naia, “how fortunate.”

“Who’s this?” asked the second paladin, who had walked past the children he’d been minding.

“A guest,” said the commander, “who kindly aided us in fighting off the Malfeazed.”

Efrain’s ears pricked up at the specific term, but he choose to be silent as the paladin sized him up.

“Seems a rather unusual guest. You say he fought them off? With what?”

Naia’s eyes twitched, almost imperceptibly.

“With magic, so he claims,” he shrugged.

The man’s reaction was oddly slow, as if Efrain could almost see the figurative gears within his head turning as he processed the information. His hand went to his sword faster than Efrain would’ve dreamt, and he already had a few fingers of steel by the time his female counterpart stopped him.

“No,” she hissed, the glance that the two shared spelling out a back and forth that ran deeper than a simple matter of propriety. Efrain was tempted to shy away at that point, but he was already too deep. The commander had also noticed the interaction, and promptly stepped in.

“Please, come with us,” he said, “let’s continue our conversation elsewhere, from a safe place.”

Efrain debated whether or not to call Tykhon, considering the thinly veiled aggression from the paladins. He ultimately made a shrill whistle, figuring that if he was going to be reviled he might as well have a fast transport. The whistle was a strange sensation, one that felt like some coarse brush was being pushed into his nasal cavity and rubbed furiously.

“Wait a moment. My mount’s coming,” he said, “I wouldn’t want to take up one of your horses.”

Tykhon, whether it was the whistle, or the intent behind it, came up the side of the basin slowly, much to the chagrin on the paladins. Before they could do anything, however, Efrain swung up onto his back - silently cheering the fact he managed to do it relatively smoothly.

The commander’s surprise seemed oddly ephemeral, passing over his face like an errant cloud. He merely considered the animal before asking Efrain a nonchalant question.

“I do hope it’ll be well behaved?”

“I don’t think you’ll have anything to worry about,” Efrain said.

He nodded, and sent another knight running with a snap of an order.

The paladins retreated past him, glowering as they thumbed the pommels of their swords. Efrain for his part kept his eyes straight, focusing on the back of the children as they were taken in hand and lead away. Even at this distance he could see them, like torches in a dark room.

The troops proved to be considerably efficient, and were ready to march on in under an hour. The injured were given what aid they could, though most of it was minor enough. The few dead however, were wrapped in cloth, and trussed over the back of the mounts. They climbed up the hill and out of the clearing, and out into the wider woods.

About an hour later, they made a temporary camp in a flatter, less snow covered piece of land. The wounded were given fuller attention by medics, apparently identified by tails of red cloth wound around their neck. Efrain almost followed them into their tent, curious at how this new position of Angorrah functioned. He was instead pulled over by the commander when he was done speaking to a group of his senior officers. Most gave strange looks at Tykhon as they passed, but they proved surprisingly level-headed.

“I’m impressed,” Efrain said, “not a single comment or question yet.”

“Oh, from them?” said the commander, slipping into a far more casual cadence, “I wouldn’t worry. Many of them were born and raised in places were magic more… commonplace. If not, they’re smart enough to know that if they’re going to raise an objection, they do it with me. Now our resident paladins…”

He smiled a thin, conspiratorial smile as if to indicate that it was their own little secret.

“I can only enforce my command so far with them,” he said, “one of the conditions of our glorious founding.”

Efrain nodded, not unfamiliar with the strictures put in place after the fall of the Angorrah monarchy.

“So, stay away from them. I suppose that will be easy enough. It’s a wide forest.”

Naia smiled, but said nothing as he pulled out a roll of paper from a sack. The map was clearly old, and had many gaps, but was likely the best we had.

“Now we get to the reason I asked you to accompany us,” he said as he laid it out on a nearby stump.

“A reason?” Efrain said, realizing that he had been completely taken up with the children.

“Correct. I was wondering if you could be of aid in a more… geographical way.”

“You’re lost,” Efrain said, trying not to laugh.

“Alas, I admit it,” said the commander, rather sheepishly, “the mists of the damnable things completely threw us off. I think it would be reasonable to assume that’d you be more well versed in this area than we would, no?”

Efrain conceded that, yes, he did know the area, though he was quick to add that he did not live here, and had only passed through a handful of times. He thought that would be enough cover, in the case where questions arose around just how he knew the area.

“We are trying to get to a small village down around here,” he said, placing a finger at a collection of houses, “and last we were… around here.”

The finger drifted to a vague area to the north of the village, and circled the inked forests.

“So, you have an actual mage, and you want me to be your… cartographer.”

“Perhaps your magic will help with that. You’re free to leave of course, should my request not please you,” he said, as he stood back from the map.

Efrain said nothing, merely scanned the available slopes through the trees, and noted some of the land marks. He summarily drew his position, and pointed it out on the map.

“Thank you,” Naia said, eyes sweeping across the map, “well, that about concludes our business, I think. Other than any questions you might have from our last conversation, of course.”

Clever, Efrain thought, an anti-climax. If you want me here, you want me to feel as if I came along willingly.

But Efrain wasn’t about to let that go unanswered.

“I’m guessing you’re going to try circling into the mountain passes. Break out onto the eastern cliffs and descend back into the forest. Safer, surer, probably the way you came in.”

The man stopped, tapping his hands with the map.

“And you have an alternative? The forest is too dense past here to be faster than the passes.”

“Oh, there’s a road through, but you need someone to find it, and to negotiate your passage.”

The man turned around, the smile shifting to something much more predatory. He think he has me, Efrain thought as he approached.

“Tell me more,” said Naia.