Brannor rested a gauntlet upon the barbarian's shoulder in a gesture of acknowledgment, adding in comment to the gesture before he departed.

"All the same, your ferocity was admirable." Brannor remarked, "The men of this tamed land I hope can learn its essence."

With that, the cloaked huntsman strode past the orc and back out through the archway onto the ramparts. The scent of char and... for lack of better words, blood and suffering, had mostly up and vanished into the late night air. Or perhaps it was that the knight-aspirant had recollected his thoughts in meditation and a delve back to the soul. Whatever its case was in root, it made the ordeal more survivable for both the mind and the heart. Two places the enemy could only wish to reach to destroy the defenders most expediently, as such was the nature of despair and its host, those forces of evil principality.

Surveying the keep itself and just beginning his walking along the wall, ever so faint rattle of his chain against his chest announcing his otherwise silent footfall, he happened into the tail end of a conversation that had been ongoing for many minutes; at least as long as he and Orchid were gone, but these concerns seemed deeper, ever more sincere and honest. The Chauntean priestess and a seasoned militiaman were those involved, with Brannor only overhearing... [i]"... We can't run away from our home."[/i]

But there was more than this now that he paid heed to it again.

Most notably, the sobbing he had unattuned himself to was present again and it was clear now where and what it came from. No longer detached, he honed in upon the source, which was in fact past him and down a ways, and soon found himself towering over a rightfully weary, rightfully afraid halfling, whose expression spoke just as many volumes as her actual words had earlier. Brannor had not been there to hear them, at least not in mind, but he had enough insight to see she was disturbed and had come unchecked emotionally. For a moment it impressed upon him to hesitate, just as he did when they first met the dragon, but for vastly different reasons. It was a realization he was in many respects, cold and unfeeling, almost animal.

The divine power the suffused him made him a predator of men and monsters alike, but to see Parum internalize what surely many others felt struck a different chord he had only vaguely understood; kindling the light. A message not so much for him, something he burned brightly with inside, but for those who lacked that otherworldly gift. The ones who needed it sheltered and fed.

"Parum?" Brannor said, proving to no longer stand over her like a mountain but rather crouch down.

[@Hekazu][@Ryonara][@Lucius Cypher][@Gordian Nought][@Norschtalen]