She stepped back when he yelled, not because she was afraid, but because she was surprised. She hadn’t really expected him to be capable of such emotion. Her eyebrows climbed high as she regarded him, watching as the color drained and his spike of fury dropped to a near inaudible whisper. His words didn’t give her a clue as to why this was happening. He still hadn’t said what the papers were about exactly and she wasn’t going to press. She wasn’t stupid and Big Jim made her pay some attention to politics but only in a larger [i]who should one work for[/i] way. Not in a small nuanced [i]who would pay to have some random papers taken from a seemingly helpless scribe[/i] sort of way. She was out of her league in that and she was worried if these attacks kept coming that she’d be out of her league in protecting him as well. That pricked her professional pride. But she was satisfied by one thing, he hadn’t known. He hadn’t expected this and hadn’t risked her life needlessly. It wasn’t much, but it was something.

She put her hand on his shoulder and gave a comfortable, companionable squeeze followed by two pats that were a little awkward since normally she’d be thumping the back of a fellow merc and not a slender scribe and she was uncertain of the force to use. 

“Well we might be fucked or we might not but was can make it a certainty if we don’t get moving.” 

She rubbed between her eyes and looked down the road and cursed loudly and vehemently for a long bit. She’d forgot to have the idiot bandits move the damn trunk before they’d left. 

“I was going to ask you which you preferred, speed or stealth but I think speed is out of the order.” She pointed towards the trunk. 

“How important is it that you get to Avantshire in time? I mean I understand that it is important, but it is worth your life? We might need to re-prioritize here. We can spend time moving that tree and take the expected route to the town and risk further ambushes or we can pick our way there over paths and game trails. I can’t say which will be faster but I think the latter will be safer all things considered.” 

She sighed and her mouth twitched at the third option which pricked at her professional pride.

“Or we head back to the city and you join up with one of the presumably safer merchant trains heading to Avantshire and send me on my way.”