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You tell Gordon to return to the village without you. He has his duties with the inn and his father is sure to give him an earful if he does not fulfill them. You can see by the wistful gleam in his eye that he wants to meet with Mabel, but you make him swear an oath against it. You want to speak to her first, maybe even convince her to leave him alone (though if Gordon ever got wind of your intervention he may not take it so kindly; it will have be handled delicately, if at all).
You find your cousin the castle's enormous stables, located along its inner walls. He is one of a half-dozen hands, neither the oldest nor the least experienced among them, but by far the best looking (at least by the estimation of all the girls who have met him; you personally don't see it). Indeed, your arrival seems to interrupt the designs of two servant girls, castle attendants by their dress, who both give you a venomous glare as you steal away your cousin's attentions. They make some further attempts but your cousin dismisses them with a wave of his hand and they retreat with a pout.
After some brief pleasantries and embrace, you tell him of your father's passing. He merely nods his head at this news, as though it were no surprise to him. Your cousin has never been the sentimental kind, but he knows the pain of losing a father better than most. His own abandoned him when he was only a boy to seek his fortune across the sea, with the heathens who are his ancestors. More than ten winters have passed without word of him.
The talk soon moves from the past to the future. In your excitement, you let slip the encounter with the reeve and your recent acquisitions. Your cousin is rapt with interest at mention of silver and it soon becomes apparent that he has some plot of his own that requires coin he does not presently possess. After a moment, he straightforwardly asks whether you would lend him more than half your remaining purse, sixty silver pieces, for the purchase of a soldier's quilted garment. He breathlessly expresses his desire to join the other soldiers in the next campaign, feeling that he'd rather ride horses then groom them. He has already bought a spear and obtained promises of a shield from the barracks.
He further explains, that while the old lord is done with war for the moment, his son, the "young lion" has plans to raid along the southern border, dressed as brigands. On whether he has his father's blessing, your cousin is not as certain, but, it is known that he is looking for volunteers outside his father's retainers, and should the outing prove successful each will be given a handsome reward. Even a single head of cattle would pay you back "with interest", the going rate these days being a hundred pieces a head.
To this offer:
>You politely decline. You have your own plans for the money.
>You accept, for you can you see your cousin's seriousness
>You try and convince your cousin otherwise, before he gets himself killed
>Write-in
