Father's Blessings

[Shay Cormac]

After those few exchanges of words, the priest watched as the Templar prepared himself to hop upon the backside of his mount. However, the light clacking of a small pair of feet could be heard a literal mile away by the two Primes, and as expected, another one seemed to want a say in the conversation that was supposed to have ended a minute ago. The greeting was simple enough, and seemed friendly at face value, but Shay knew better; surely Alexander would as well.

The privateer began with his name.

"My name is Shay Cormac," he paused, finally hopping onto the horse that stood in front of him, hooves stamping as he did so, "and..."

The Templar stopped, outstretching his hand towards the priest offering him a ride. Alexander appreciated the sentiment, an ironically devilish smile on his face as he took no time at all to finish where Shay began. Admittedly, he was strangely eager to meet a magician. Not like he hasn't seen one before, but putting it bluntly, extinguishing the life of a witch would definitely have kept his mind occupied during the trip to Nippur. 

"Alexander Anderson, missus! Why, must I ask, has a girl like you skipped up to us in particular?" The priest seemed to make very clearly that there was a spit of venom in his voice referring to this Marisa character, despite maintaining his almost signature uncanny smile. 

A moment of silence. Marisa blinked, looking at the man with... slight concern. Had Shay been in the woman's rather tiny shoes, he wouldn't really be able to blame her.

"Uh..." Marisa placed a gentle finger on her chin. I haven't really thought that through... The girl pondered. The mage supposed it would be best to tell these men something that would ease their nerves, especially Alexander's. That expression of his was quite enough to discomfort the woman through her immediate boredom of the situation.

"Just passing by!" She suddenly exclaimed, a fake smile plastered on her face. 

Before things escalated further, Shay raised his hands, putting on a slight grin that seemed more genuine than either of the two Primes he was currently talking with. "Perhaps we can direct you where you need to be, then? We are both planning on going to the Dunes up ahead."

"The Dunes?" Marisa replied, almost amused that people would go to such a lame verse in the first place.

"Yes," Shay nodded, "to take back lands that previously belonged to me and my allies."

Take back? Marisa hummed, evaluating the implications of this. The rather knightly man talking about conflict was enough to give the magician a drive to get there first, for surely riches followed their path. Perhaps that wasn't the brightest idea however, seeing how ever so slightly intimidating these two Primes already were...

Strangely enough, the girl perked up at the explanation, offering to give herself something to do in this terribly dull life she was living at that very moment in time. "Then I'll come with you two, ze!"

...Another awkward silence. Alexander himself was already getting impatient, so once more, Shay had to propose something before these two clawed at each other's throat the very moment some manner of disagreement arose between the two, which the Templar knew was coming at one point or another. 

"Hop on then, we'll need all the help we can handle for this."


Moments later, Marisa herself obliged, riding behind Shay, who himself was behind Alexander. On a single horse. Shifting his weight, Alexander was the first to eventually comment on how rather silly this seemed to onlookers. 

...

"Aye, this is a tad uncomfortable."

Looking back, Shay was immediately greeted by the uncomfortably close face of a woman he could now loosely call an ally to his cause. 

"Yes, a lot."