>>5211917It is moments before you see a reaction among the initiates and knights. But it is soon clear you have touched them. To your surprise, your lack of divine favor does you little damage. The sworn functionaries appear to be behind you as you expected, but to your surprise the unsworn knights also gravitate to you in some numbers after your brief speech. They have questions, and you give assurances, but overall you cannot call this anything but a success. You have Bardus give you a quick rundown on the needs of the caravan, and finding little that draws your direct intervention, you decide to make your own tent up and sleep yourself. It is still the early evening, but you and the others will be leaving tomorrow morning according to your previously agreed schedule, so more sleep is preferable to less.
Sunlight floods your tent as morning comes, waking you from slumber. You wipe the grime from your eyes before standing, taking a drink of water from the small the table you keep while traveling. It is almost gone before you finally notice the dark figure seated in the corner of the tent. You reach for your scabbard as the mug falls, but the figure is too fast and warmly embraces you before you can do anything to stop them. The smell of lavender threatens to overcome you, and you only just manage to resist clasping the woman back.
“Alys, I-”
“Will, be quiet. You did exactly what you needed to. They'll follow you now, forever if you keep that example to heart.”
“I don't know, Alys, I don't know if we have the right-”
“We do, Will, we have a duty. I know you believe in that, if nothing else. And we won't lose our souls to it. If you commanded me, I would have mutilated Vera. You knew better. That's not nothing. It's something amazing, and I will never let myself forget it.”
Her gray eyes stare into yours, and you know that there is no transgression that will drive her from you. If you go too far, she will tell you, if you fail, she will still be there. But when you triumph, she will be by your side. Unshakable. Constant.
And so you return her embrace, and you remain that way for some time, until she gently releases you and returns to her own accommodations with no words, but a glance that says everything. You know now, you have your duty, but also good people and friends who believe in you. The horrors you might commit may weigh on your soul, but letting down those depending on you would be the worse burden by far. Soon you return to your cot and sleep, and it comes easier than it has in months.
Weeks pass as you travel to Hold Campbell. You spend the time with the men, many of them clearly more sold on you as a leader than they were before. You spend your nights dining with Alys and Bardus, both of whom seem to accept your role as leader. Alys has been more familiar than you remember, and you find you miss Elpest and his customary derision of the closeness you share with the cloaked woman. A strange observation.
