An Icy Rendevous

[Farlus]

OOC: Pseudo-support between Farlus, Clair, and Leontius taking place in between the time skip in Through the Snow Once Again.

Farlus eyed Clair with crossed arms as she led them to a spot to discuss things. He was sure that, knowing her, she would be doing much of the talking unless he had something to input. So the mage prepared to simply take everything in unless his insight was needed.

"Milady, I believe we are far enough away."

Farlus suggested to his superior as they approached a relatively empty portion of the mountain pass. The soldiers going about their duties were barely audible over the winds moving through the cliffs. It was likely few would overhear them unless they got close enough.

[Leontius]

Leontius followed the dark-skinned tactician and the young commander as they trudged through the snows of the former battlefield. Leon was still a bit surprised that the fabled Richter Abend's second in command was so very, very young. She honestly could not have been out of her early twenties and yet she was his second in command? It was all a little hard for him to fully grasp. Hell the moment she'd noted that he and his sell-swords were now under her command, his stone face cracked. His hawk-like watchful eye viewed her with a new, unexpected curiosity. He was very impressed that someone so young could carry the burden of command so casually.

Even so, circumstance had proven that she was indeed the current head of the army, and for whatever reason, she'd pulled the mercenary commander and her mage/tactician to the side to discuss some matter of which the mercenary was not yet aware of.

The snow crunched under the mercenary commanders heavy boots as the young, blonde, falcoknight lead them to an isolated area. The trio was relatively far away from the main force, when the white-haired spell slinger spoke up. Leontius was interested in what the faloknight wanted to discuss, considering that whatever she wanted to talk about could not be heard by common soldiers. There was hint of suspicion in his mind, in all truth he was a bit concerned for his own life. He'd just met this young woman, and while he had every reason to believe she was who she was, he could not resist his paranoia. He had an uneasy feeling, something telling him to be on his guard. He tried to resist this urge as best he could, but he could not help but allow his left hand to rest on his sheathed sword, in a bit of a relaxed manner. Quite ironic considering his paranoid feelings.

The light-blue haired swordsman rested his eyes on the white-haired mage as he finished his piece. After which he shifted his sight to the blonde haired commander. He didn't have the privilege of meeting her own gaze, as her back was turned. "Commander." He began cautiously. "What is it you wish to discuss?"

[Clair Feldsky]

Clair stomped along through the snow. She had only wanted to get out of the way of the army's activities so that they wouldn't be bothered by the threesome standing around. There were other reasons as well. Once she'd started walking, it had seemed difficult to stop. Farlus' voice brought her to a halt though. This was plenty.

She almost flinched when he caller her Commander, but restrained herself. It didn't seem natural, but that's exactly what she was right now. Commander of the army. She'd have to get used to hearing that from more than her little pegasus troop, and fast.

A small sigh escaped her lips as she turned to face the man. She set the heavy shield she was carrying on the ground at her feet, and leaned on her lance slightly. He seemed relaxed, but it was a dangerous relaxed. Not the ease of sloth, but the feeling a warrior wanted to be feeling during combat. She idly wondered if that was his habit all the time, as she made sure she'd be able to bring her lance up to counter if needed.

She really wasn't sure if she was supposed to call him by his rank, or not, so she ended up simply using the man's name to address him. Leontius. Had she ever heard a name like that before?

"There's a few things, Leontius. What your force consists of. What sort of tasks do you feel most comfortable taking.... There's time available now, so it would be best to make use of that to get caught up on things."

She met his one eyed stare again, wondering how he could stand to be there with all that hair covering his other eye.

"I guess what's caught my interest the most right now, is why you're even here. This is the first I've heard of any mercenaries joining up with the army aside from the ones in Edessa when we left."

[Farlus]

Farlus plodded uncomfortably in the snow. It wasn't often he had to trudge through the stuff as he tended to simply melt a path as he walked. However, he was far too tired to bother with such a thing this time. Though it was becoming bothersome. The mage sighed and mustered what he could of his remaining strength and held out his arms at waist height bent at the elbow. Palms upturned, he focused on the ground around them and slowly melted the snow as Clair voiced her opinion on the situation. The bare ground was finally visible after she was finished.

Despite his concentration, Farlus was listening to his superior intently. He had something to add.

"Indeed. I do not mean to point any fingers, good sir Aurelei, but a mercenary troupe coming to our aid soon after a victory over a small army of bandits does have a... slightly suspicious vibe to it." Farlus placed his thumb to his chin, "Of course, I am not accusing you of anything and I assume milady isn't either. It is likely these suspicions are completely misplaced. However, it is best to err on the side of caution in a situation such as this."

[Leontius]

Leontius? The commander wasn't really sure how to respond to that. He'd always kept an air of informality about himself when dealing with his company, mostly because they were a tightly-knit group. So, truthfully he was used to being called by name instead of rank. But, he'd expected soldiers in the military to act differently. There were a lot more of them after all, so professionalism and appearances had to be drawn up, if only to remind everyone of their place. Which was why Leon was rather surprised by his newly acquainted commander's tone.

The commander's thoughts were drawn to more important subjects when Clair voiced concern regarding his presence. From what little he could gather, it was likely that either she did not believe him or was merely exercising caution. His own suspicions were confirmed by the dark-skinned tactician's input. The man really was a sight to behold. Leon had to wonder how a man, who was likely more then used to the warm rays of a heavy sun, could stand the biting cold of the largely sun-forsaken Ilia.

The two officers were staring at Leon intently. The hand that had been resting on his sword hilt rose and then waved in a downward motion to the left. "No." He said in response to Farlus in particular. "Both of you have very well founded suspicions, and frankly, even though it puts me in an awkward and uncomfortable position, I'd be disappointed if I were to earn your trust so easily." The commander puffed out a bit of air, the harsh winds buffeting the patch of hair resting over his eye. The stern commander reflected on how amusing the situation was. He'd arrived in the pass, envisioning himself and his troop as the cavalry, riding in to save the day. Only did he realize too late that they did not need his help, and his arrival only garnered him suspicion. He'd almost wished that he'd avoided the main force altogether, and instead met up with them in Bern. Least, he'd be spared the interrogation.

"My recruitment was something of last minute. Well, past last minute, actually. The thing is, I have a friend in the government, a man by the name of Publius. From time to time he talks about his work, and recently he told me about the expedition into Bern." The commander paused briefly, uncomfortable about mixing his personal feelings with work. He'd thrown his lot in with the Ilians in order to keep his family safe, but that was something he was less then comfortable divulging. "For reasons, which are my own, I took interest and was able to land a contract with the military." The commander, a little disturbed stroked his light-blue hair with a gloved hand. "As for my timely arrival, my pegasus knight, who bears a name shockingly similar to yours, commander, was scouting a safe path for us. Can't ever be too cautious in Ilia, never know when there's a bandit lurking around the next corner." He stated in a slightly lowered voice. "Anyway, she spotted a large pair of forces engaging each other in this pass. She told me that she had reason to believe that one of the armies was under Abend's command, and apparently it was, until recently. I figured that, if you were in trouble I should lend a hand, do my job." The commander took a moment to turn his head in order to view the former battlefield. He was still accepting the irony of his situation. "Guess you didn't need it." He muttered casually.

[Clair Feldsky]

Though she didn't comment on it, the Falcoknight did appreciate Farlus clearing the area of snow. Farlus, because that was the only explanation. In a world of blustery winds, and frozen earth, the ground itself seemed to sigh in relief at the slight warming of the mage's magic. She sure noticed the temperature changing, if only briefly.

Farlus had picked up on the same thing that Clair had been getting at, though he was considerably more blunt about getting into it. She couldn't help but feel a bit amused as he dove straight into what she'd been heading into more carefully. Ah well. It seemed like a potential "interrogation team" going on here, with the way the discussion was going.

It all made enough sense. It could be a cover story, and she'd be watching in the future, but it sounded about right. Both groups were heading to Bern, after all..., and it would have taken enormous forethought and resources to leave a group of Etrurian sympathizers to join the army.

So he'd been hired by Illia. Hired by Illia to help a group that they'd asked for help from? It seemed a bit... overcomplicated. And a bit meddlesome. Clair really wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth, but if the Illian government wanted to play off of Richter's notoriety in fighting Etruria, then they really should have kept their paws off. It would be hard enough to convince a rebelling Bern to yield to a force of Etrurian defecters and Illian mercs, led by a famed Illian, who was coming from Illia,... even if he was better known as the face of the Etrurian war effort.

"A pair of dragons on the front lines will do that." Clair said smoothly. Honestly, all that power was enough to make her feel useless at times. Not true, she knew. Truthfully, the dragons were more useful at shattering the enemy. Both their formations and their resolve. The army was the real killing machine here.

So, he had a pegasus knight,... and what else? She had to assume that he knew what he was getting into. With Bern, anyway. Situations had changed somewhat.

Clair paused slightly considering the information. "The army hired you?" She wondered. Perhaps there were elements in the Illian leadership who supported turning their guns on the Prophet of Etruria. They certainly wanted Bern pacified.

"I believe you, Leontius." Clair tried to relax a bit, and felt a miniscule improvement. She'd felt wound up enough to snap, what with all the happenings today. It seemed odd now, that only a day before she'd been tense for reasons pertaining to excitement and success. Now all that had been replaced.

"I just hope you and your men know how to fight." She said, a small grim, but pleased smile making its way across her face. She was glad to have this troop commander, who at least seemed to have a competant force at his disposal joining them.

"You have a pegasus knight? That's good to hear. We'll need every one we can get when we get for Bern's wyverns."

Clair was acting like things were moving ahead in perfect working order, but the truth was, she was only doing that because to not do so would be to be without guidance. There were other courses of action which could be taken than heading directly to Bern though. Searching for Richter was a particularly tempting one to the young woman.... A corpse couldn't walk itself off the battlefield.