(2023-08-24) It Was Just For Company

Details

Author:	Vond
Summary:	After exploratory missions in Dragonblight, Anna Byrne checks up on her former trainee Vond Satterly, and how he has been getting on with a peculiar Confessor.
Rating:	T for Teen

Subsequent to: A Part in the Clouds

At the edge of Dragonblight, before the ley lines repairs and subsequent portal openings.

In the shade of the "chapel" at Light's Trust, one Crusader rests his still snow-caked boots, while another, slightly smaller but of more assured bearing, looks him over with calm assessment, as if searching for something she expected might have accompanied him from the wastes.

"Hmn. It's good to see you got each other back in one piece, transit by dragon notwithstanding." Anna Byrne knits her brow mildly while considering the tale she had just been conveyed. "Allies, then, at least to a degree. Good. They sound to be eminently sensible creatures to join you in striking at the heart of the threat to their dead. Perhaps next they'll reconsider the mortuary practice of moldering to bones where they lie."

Vond blinks owlishly at Anna. "You didn't expect us to not come back in one piece, did you? I know Greennote has a mind to change routes or plans in a hurry at times, but it's mainly on account of new developments."

The more senior paladin regarded Vond coolly as she formulated a broach of topic. "I simply care to ensure that you are comfortable in your current assignment, in rapid change as everything has been." The gaze takes a pointed cast. "That you are being served by this partnership as well and not being held to unhelpful demands."

"Sister Anna, if I didn't know you better I'd nearly be reined to the assumption that you're leanin' out slantwise insinuations about our Brother Confessor."

"It's not like Bensom, is it? No trouble?"

"Aye, I remember you from Hearthglen. Always getting roughed about by Raugh's lass. Weren't no place for striplings the age of you lot, if we're to be straight about it. But you came about all right, hm? We're glad for the help you're becoming."

Sir Bensom had nonchalantly caught him at the base of the lonely watchtower that was soon to serve as a meeting point for other matters. It was someone Vond had known only as one of the old guard, not of the Silver Hand but a skilled cavalier some decades his senior. Part of that mortar of dedication and experience that had ensured a continued thread of survival in the heart of the Eastweald. In another life he would have been listening to the signs that his body was aging out of the demands of the occupation.

"I remember you being particularly close with the Hartwell lad, Light rest the lot of them."

Boiling anger rose in a swift surge in Vond's gut, half at the older man who regarded him with a sort of cautious appraisal, half at himself for initially taking Bensom's sudden show of interest and concern as unselfish. He didn't allow it to reach his voice or expression.

"No, no, it's not like that, it - Light knows I thought it might have been, the way he carries on, but… he sacrificed something precious for me. You should've seen us at Quel'danas, sister. I were unsure on my hip still, and of my heart's readiness, and yet it held, and so did I. I had never seen a bloody terrorfiend in my life, and yet it fell before us. He's good, Anna.

"We fell in with the Shattered Sun and there are countless of 'em living and unmaimed on his account, and all the while he drove my heels with… with some kind of impetus, and shielded me from harm. I've never moved such. It was just, 'Ya got me?' 'Yeah, I got ya,' and I'd be off, never once going without cover. It was brilliant teaming, it was - "

Anna tilted her head slightly as she watched Vond recount the experience with an increasingly animated breathlessness, as if he was recalling something thrilling rather than a desperate struggle against the bearers of world-consuming felfire.

"Definitely on the same page when we ran into a blasted death knight. You know what perturbs me about 'em, almost as much as the undeath? They relish the bloodshed. Enjoy the havoc too bloody much. Disturbin'."

"Uh huh," Anna returned in a deadpan. "That's beside the point. So he saw to your recovery, and it took, for which I am glad. You were his patient," she punctuates with an ever so slightly exasperated blink that may as well have browbeaten him at length for happily embracing the oldest Bad Idea in the libram, that of idolizing or falling for your healer, especially one with the kind of poor discernment to encourage it. You basic creature. You absolute melon. It's remarkable what Anna can convey in a blink.

Vond quells only slightly. "Then after we got here, and saw to poor Brother Ares…" He seems to change track without fully following that train of thought. "He's one of us. I can just be human with him without… without it being like it's all of us up for examination." Without any indiscretions reflecting poorly, seems to be the uncharitable version.

"You know what he is capable of. Even to someone close." Anna's vaguely demanding stare has progressed to a faint frown. Dire.

"It's fair what I'm counting on. You know, you promised to kill me once, if the circumstances were right," Vond notes to her with an affably needling tone. "I grew to find it a comfort. I daresay you've driven me to this."

"That… was a mistake," says Anna.

Vond stares at Anna for a moment as if disbelieving that she might make a mistake.

She continues after a moment's hesitance, "You must understand that many had high hopes for you, Vond. Not only were you enroute to becoming a second-generation paladin, but you were educated and, to be plain about it, well fed. The stay in Kalimdor had you in an enviable condition, and I sensed a certain expectation of getting results out of you."

The pause in Anna's voice signals a thoughtful consideration of some memory or emotion where her impassive face does not. "The strain can get to some people in dramatic ways, and the notion that you might have been starting to go peculiar - potentially becoming a liability…

"Then you understand that my obligations lie with everyone, and always have. Still, I ought to have first reached for a better solution than a threat."

Vond blinks, still a bit disbelieving. "Ma'am, there is and was a bloody war on and I do not for an instant fault you for tellin' me straight, being decisive. I wouldn't've blamed you for following through had I for a second endangered anyone with poor judgement."

"We have all had to make difficult and sometimes harsh decisions," Anna assents with a slow nod, "but it is perhaps on account of weathering enough of them that we can see that while often it is easier to raise a fist than extend a hand - and may produce faster immediate resolutions - the cascade effects of that in time may prove even more of a hindrance.

"There is a lesson about nurturing the collective contact with the Light in here that I don't have the sleep or the lyricism to explicate, so perhaps chew on that for inspiration. All of this is to say that I am well glad that you've taken a better turn."

"And the Confessor's had a part in that, you know," insisted Vond. "'Specially after - Light, d'you know he commissioned some kind of elaborate commemorative piece for my squadmates?" Vond makes a bit of a conflicted face, rubbing at his temple. "To this day I still can't bear to look at it. The company has been a lot more, uh, helpful. But I suppose it was touching in the most misguided way."

"Mmn. You always kept telling me you wanted a family."

"I do! I did. I mean, but…"

"But things didn't work out the way you expected to with Mara," Anna concludes, eyeing the younger man with her even stare of constant evalutation. "Mmn. When are you going to tell me what really happened at Aerie Peak?"

Before Vond can afford any kind of explanation, Etone offers a rather loud sort of annoyed huff to announce his presence and arrival. "Hmhmhm, I do hope you're not conspiring against me, the two of you like that~?!" There is more than a hint of teasing levity in his voice as he quickly closes the distance between himself and the seated Argents. As he walks behind the pair he reaches to clasp a firm hand on Vond's shoulder - after sneaking a gentle brush of fingertips against the back of the blond's neck, mussing up a few strands of shaggy hair in the process.

"Hmnhmn, I'm surprised the other one isn't here as well. No matter - am I interrupting mmn?"

By now Vond's come to recognize the redhead's outwardly annoyed tone of voice and mannerisms are often attributed to completely supernatural factors and lack of decent sleep, not particularly due to current company - mostly.

Anna's normally serious face is particularly deadpan today when she observes the new arrival. She is remarkably staid but respectful in bearing. Though clearly dubious about Etone's mannerisms, history, and general everything, their interactions in the past as members of the Dawn have largely been of positive professional regard from one experienced combat healer to another.

"Confessor," she acknowledges when the shadow forming in the entry of the dugout descends the uneven logs half-sunken into the slope that serve as ramshackle stairs. "You'll forgive me for taking a moment of your aide's time. I have an interest in his well-being, and there is respite in this space."

Indeed there is. In spite of the earthen walls, bare bones altar, and hurried construction, the dugout holds the kind of solemn dignity afforded by the intentful dedication of the Crusaders that built it, the desire for a sacred space in which to carry on their practice, this far remote from the country chapels or grand cathedrals with which many of the Light-followers were raised.

Anna observes the men with a polite reserve that somehow silently castigates Etone for being unsubtle, which Vond has not helped by his ears going red. "You are not interrupting - you are welcome here. I should leave you to rest your feet, and thank you for the information you've been bringing from far afield."

<She could hear the Pet Shop Boys playing from a mile away>

Etone simply doubles down by smiling stupidly and parking himself close beside Vond. "Hmmn? You've other engagements then?" He pauses to offer a furled eyebrow expression finally registering the first part of Anna's comment. "Why wouldn't I be, mmn? I'm every bit Dawn as —" He manages to cut himself off mid thought for Vond's sake. Sucking in a light hiss of a breath, Etone continues with a face wrinkled as one might expect someone suffering from chronic migraines,

"Suppose I should thank you." His smile genuine as he leans back staring upward. "He'll be the last to admit it, but I'm quite convinced his skills are unmatched hmhmhm~! I don't ever find myself needing to encourage Vond - he's already ready to go and often challenges me on my readiness. Mhmhm~!"

Vond half-raises from his seat at the sound and motion Etone makes as if in pain, alert to the frame of the exit, then raises a hand to briefly cover his reddening face at the further commentary when the suspicious scanning proves unneeded.

"Is that so?" Anna queries patiently, taking a pointed look across at Vond. The reserve in the character of her interest wavers toward uncertainty. "I am always pleased to hear that someone I've trained is doing well for themselves. If unmatched those skills are," she comments without levying her judgement on the accuracy, "we will have need of them ahead of us." then blinks slowly at Etone. We. Collectively.

"I'm not going to be anywhere other than where I'm needed," Vond insists, "and him even more than me. Once we can get the walker transported - you wouldn't believe how effective it was at Quel'danas." He bristles with conviction, and perhaps a touch of defensiveness. "It's as I was starting to tell you. You'll see when we're on the field with everyone."

Etone offers a tight lipped smile, eyes narrowed as they do when, as Vond would recognize now, he's internally rolling his eyes. "Indeed, we do. Perhaps you could convince him that two lone Argents against a Lich is a terrible idea, and I've not gone soft mmn?"

His bite firm against Anna's as they verbally joust, "I wonder, are you trying to convince my keeper to jump ship for a safer route through hell to meet the king of the dead? Do you really think he'd settle for that-" he gestures widely about the humble sanctuary, "- after getting a taste of this northern air? - Do you, Byrne? Has he ever struck you as the kind to settle when there's more to be done? Or are you simply blind to his ability out of fondness?"

Slightly bristling, the redhead continues, "Or are you concerned because he's with me?" He sighs loudly as he runs his hand gathering up thick strands of loose red hair up over his forehead. "I really… I thought we were past this." Sputtering the redhead quirks his jaw to bare his teeth, "I'm trying my damnedest to keep him - hell - all of us safe from this - but if we don't do the work - who will? — Tchh, shit."

The redhead looks down and away from the passively listening Anna, and mutters, "I don't -" He starts softly, "I didn't come here to quarrel with you, Byrne. I truly didn't."

"It weren't a lich," Vond interjects in a mumble, looking like he would prefer to melt into the pew as Etone gets his hackles up, with him as the subject matter.

Anna, for her part, appears serene and somehow unsurprised at Etone's reaction to her fairly understated admonition - veritably cooking up a whole dramatic altercation out of it. Unflappable as always, a measured cautious stare is the extent to which she takes the bait - much less reactive than Vond. She smooths a hand against the rough pew when he lets some coarser language slip. Just get it all out of your system buddy.

"Are we quarreling?" she finally queries with a gentle tilt of her head, eliciting a soft clink of her libram's chain. "This is a holy place. I wouldn't dream of it. Aside from that, I have no intention to deviate either of you from our course. We are all counting on each others' contributions."

"Easy, Confessor, we were just catching up, prayin'," Vond adds with a pleading look, then peers at Anna. "It's been a long journey, honest, the road and the trouble we found talking."

Etone offers a low grunt in defeat, if anything he's impressed with her ability to dish so calmly. Paladins.

"The fact of the matter is that yes, I have seen some measure of his abilities." Anna stirred a glance between the two. "His potential as well as the areas in need of support. We need not rehash them here when harsher words have been exchanged in times past." It may be a tinge of regret coloring her tone when her thoughtful gaze searches past them.

"The important thing right now is that you are still with us, Satterly." She searches the other paladin for a moment, as if in concentrated expectation of something that wasn't quite manifesting. Her tone is softer. "You are not the only one to be reassigned after we lost so many. I am not the only one to have seen some of my former trainees not return."

Vond, for his part, gives a furrowed brow back in the face of Anna's examining peer, and puts palm to heart at her invocation of recent losses.

"As for it being with you," Anna nods to Etone. "I am praying that perhaps you two can bring out the best in each other." She lets that assurance stand with another long stare, as though there might be an alternative scenario. "You need someone who can stand up to you at times, Greennote. And Satterly, you need someone…"

Anna frowns in mild thoughtfulness as she makes good on her previous intentions to rise to her feet. "Someone who can keep you even and occupied, calm and focused." She throws Etone a look. "You can do that, can't you? The both of you frankly have the capacity to be a handful if you don't watch it, so make sure to keep each other out of trouble until the time comes for a concerted action."

Etone offers a quiet huff, the bridge of his nose and cheeks slightly pink. "Nmmf, I'm well aware. - Oh stop looking at me like that already, would you? I'm not going to let him fall on anything. Not now, not ever."

The redhead stretches his legs out and sighs softly, its probable these two have 'clashed' before in the past only to have Anna's cool calm blow out Etone's fiery temper. "You're off then, to the main camp?"

"I'm taking some others on further wall surveys, possibly farther beyond to see if there are any established passes through the north mountains here. I'm still teaching the newer crop. Enderiane and Price are likely to come with me until they're ready - perhaps I can count on you to help me ease them into more taxing duties when the time comes," Anna suggests.

Vond palms behind his head, still distracted on something. "Stand up to - it's not like I'm insubordinate you know," he insists, as if he and Etone weren't often in some kind of fluctuating argument as soon as they were out of earshot of the rest.

"I know," Anna answers at the pupil that once ignored her orders and got on serious thin ice over it. She gives an impeccable modified curtsey in her full plate that is difficult to read as something other than teasing in spite of her incredibly solemn bearing. "Behave, boys." Definitely teasing.

Etone offers a shrug, "Suppose we could take on some fresh faces later, mmn Vond?" He huffs and wags a chastising finger at the slowly retreating Anna, "Now where is the fun in that!? Mnf, be well, Light preserve and walk with you, Byrne."

Not exactly fully out of ear shot, but far enough to second guess the words said, Etone offers as a cheeky aside to Vond, "Mmnhmhm, but I like when you challenge me ehe." He's quick to deflect by turning the teasing back around to Vond. Although he's equally as quick to scoot closer to Vond in order to lace his fingers together with the blond's and whisper, "Yea arright, m'lovey?" Definitely out of earshot.

"I'm fine luv," the paladin insists, giving his hand a firm squeeze. "Everyone's just getting a bit frustrated with the pace of things. There's enough food to tread water but not for heavy exertion, not all at once. Byrne was just glad I'm all put together and getting on - she knows that's your doin'."

"Nmmf, we're like oil and water - her and I. Any rate, 'm glad you're not put off or made to feel poorly… Ehe… I were tryin' my best not to call you 'Vondy' -" The redhead's blush still quite firmly holding its ground across his cheeks as he brushes his nose against Vond's, Anna long out of sight by this point. "Mmnf, d'you mind staying with me a spell here? I know you've been here a while yet already, but it's rather lovely isn't? - mmn, calm may be the word I'm looking for."

Vond does his best to look mildly perturbed when Etone leans in to an intimate closeness, but only halfway manages. "That'll be Dawnsman or Satterly around the others," he reminds, chiding. "Ah, or Crusader, rather. And mind you don't get us frozen together like we were warned." It's less severe here than outside but the threat looms.

"And yeah, I was expecting to stay for a spell. Safest place to camp for a while. We can see if there's any word on where we're needed." Here with more numbers and eyes on watch, he finally has eyes for Etone, searching him with warm interest rather than constantly scanning the environment on obsessive high alert. The difference in the level of trust he once displayed couldn't be more obvious. "You're right, 's lovely. I can tell there's been a lotta prayer here already. Feel the presence." Possibly figurative, possibly literal residual echo of repeated Light invocation.

Etone offers a quiet snort of a laugh, "Yes, right, Crusader Satterly. Hmhmhm… Hard to believe the place is crawling with nonsense only a few miles out, innit? Mnf… would do to have a more permanent kind of situation, wouldn't it? More neutral trade posts would be amazing - ah well, pleasant thought at the very most."

Gripping the Paladin’s hand once more, the redhead offers a deflating sigh. "Vondy, you'll let me know 'f you're offered another assignment- yea?" Likewise, the redhead finally seems to be letting his guard down while silently taking in the rare pleasure of the other’s company - no struggle or strings attached for the near future anyway.

Vond twists to face Etone at an angle, taking hold of both his hands, the edge on his ever strained nerves taken off by the reassurance of the place and its tenuous safety. "Are you expecting me to be ordered somewhere else?" There's a hint of that suspicious worry casting over his face again. "Who'd pull that on me now that I'm settled 's long as we mind our manners? Someone who could go over your head, you suspect?" He seems to think there is some kind of active plot possibly going on.

Etone knits his eyebrows and offers a quiet puffy huff of air, his expression softens considerably as Vond's grows darker, "You're saying you've settled?"

There's a slight teasing jab with the phrasing, which comes as no surprise as it's Etone's typical way of dealing with complex or stressful feelings (deflection). "Besides the Highlord himself, I think we're fine on that aspect of things… Although, -" He pauses to side eye Vond fondly, then with his own hint of worry, " - I don't doubt it'll be long before you're going to be getting very generous offers, lovey. Skilled shield bearers are hard to come by. Casters seem a dime a dozen - but a healer who can hold his own on the front? Mhmhm, I suspect you'll be much more popular than I am in little to no time. Though —"

He cuts off his train of thought to grip Vond's hand in his tightly before continuing, "— I may not let you go…" It's almost a threat to anyone else who might be listening. But really it's more of a plea - an ask for the other to stay.

Vond gives the priest a bit of a disbelieving blink, before letting out a short laugh, a bit rough sided from the effects of the cold and recent altercations on the voice - but clearly starting to settle in to the warmth of relief that he can let his guard down somewhat after the skirmishes.

"I can hardly believe it - Confessor Greennote, downplaying his own abilities?" The paladin jostles Etone's shoulder playfully. "You've got to be kidding. You're a thousand times the healer I am. All of my training goes into being durable, and we both saw how that worked out when things got real cussed rough. I've only got so much without a real healer.

"With you, though… Look, don't we make a decent team? Especially when we have a line to support. It feels like I can actually make a difference by letting you work uninterrupted, and, mn, I've gotten the proof for myself, being the beneficiary of your watchful eye. You can't believe how much more that lets me do, having someone like you there that I can get a good second sense of, trust your instincts. I know I'm not the most daring there is, so the double portion of unearned courage is sitting just fine."

Vond quirks a faint smile and hushes his voice, reaching up to palm the sides of Etone's hair and tip forehead to forehead, concealing again the flash of liveliness in his eyes where once there was dullness and grief. "You and I both know what comes first, right? Then I'm settled. I didn't know what to bloody make of you at first and still sometimes don't, but you've convinced me you're straight on priorities so if you're still game let's do it. Let's give this what we've got."

Much Later, before the push into Zul'drak

Two figures are seated on a pew in the dugout chapel of Light's Trust, somewhat protected from the snows, surrounded by imposing blocks of salvaged ice troll masonry and an unfinished beam roof. A steel-cased woman with stern grey-blue eyes and short coppery hair coolly observes a blond man in an arming doublet as he takes a go at buffing a smudge from his glasses with quick rough motions, precision snarled by overtense sinew.

"Honestly, It was just for company.
It was just to keep us going.
It was just to keep us warm.
Then before I knew it his heartbeat had become my refuge."

Anna's fairly slow blink was the only indication that she had any opinions on being served a fresh cheese sampler, while somewhere outside, an ever so innocent eavesdropper walked away with the knowledge that somewhere in camp, a former Illidari had just been handed a tabard.