[quote=@Hawlin]
Kaite's heart sunk into her stomach at the mention of innocents having been murdered where she responder to such urgency with selfish diversion. Confliction quickly arose as Tiberius pressed the orc for an explanation of what his business was, and before Kaite could interject, Gorman gave the knight an answer in the way of hard, callused hands clanging against her ally's steel helmet.
She froze, only able to imagine the pride of the knight standing two orcs tall only to be brought low by such a display. In any other situation, Gorman would have paid with the loss of arm privileges by means of swift dismemberment. However, the uniqueness of her relationship with the men left this fight in Tiberius's hands in spite of how she realized her hand had already drawn her sword an inch. Easing it back into her sheath, the ringing of adrenaline in her ears was replaced with a small whisper of the helmet's darkness creeping into her mind.

[color=black][i]-Just an orc
How dare he?
A cowardly knight.
What do you see in him?[/i][/color]

The last bit caught her off guard, but she already saw his lack of action as being far more dignified than the orc's brutishness, refusing to stoop to his level and instead see reason. Kaite had to admit that the mention of murders had made her suspect the orc at first, though it wasn't like orcs to [i]not[/i] make a mess of things. A lack of fresh 'jewlery' and relatively clean appearance washed away such suspicion as Kaite would never expect Gorman to be the methodical 'clean-killing' type. He likely did well what he knew how to do, and the steps in getting away with implied multiple murders while talking to her made her feel silly for ever expecting him.

The glint of eyes somewhere behind Tiberius's visor as he looked at Kaite eased her back a step, appalled by how damaged he was by something so simple. Though it must have taken considerable strength to keep from retaliating, all things considered. She was just in the process of throwing her cloak back around herself before being asked for assistance. 
Now it was Kaite's turn to look down as she had been moments from abandoning the town to suffer the killing of innocents in favor of some savage backwater yurt. It was in the spur of the moment, but closer issues presented more pressing problems.  She looked up to Gorman before saying, [color=a187be]"Y'welcome to walk with us so people don't get the wrong impression..."[/color] hesitating as she was aware of how confliction was turning her previous statements against herself. Thankfully, her judge of character wasn't much to be damaged by a change of plans, though she continued, [color=a187be]"...if it is an agent of the warlock, this may be a start."[/color]

[color=a187be]"...The [i]warlock[/i] is my mission"[/color] Kaite nearly inaudibly said, mostly to remind herself of her place in the world. She wasn't a human or an elf, and most certainly was no orc; Kaitra J. Elzbrn was a victim and agent of evil and sought to burn it from the land, nothing more.

[/quote]
[@Lord Zee]

Tiberius' intrustion single-handedly destroyed the repoire Gorman had built with Kaite. All the praise that the Captain had lavished on the man suddenly seemed unfounded. Even the knight's apology couldn't repair the damage done. In the span of a few minutes, Gorman's mission to recruit Kaite went from rousing success to dismal failure, all because some dam human couldn't screw his head on straight.

But pointing fingers didn't help anybody. Gorman was a newcomer to politics, but the Captain's crash course had proven valuable time and again. [i]Swallow your pride. Be responsible for your own failures. If the object of blame is uncertain, assume it's yours.[/i] Both Tiberius and Kaite saw Gorman's response as wrong. It didn't matter whether it was actually wrong - what mattered was how they perceived it. The most obvious solution, then, was to apologize to Tiberius. Making concessions was practically heresy among most orcs, but then again, Vain's Victors weren't like most orcs.

And so, before Tiberius and Kaite had gotten very far, Gorman caught up to them and marched to stand in Tiberius' way.

"I apologize for assalting you, Sir Tiberius. It was improper, insulting, and condescending. Forgive me."

The apology left a bitter taste in his mouth, but he bit it back. It was more important to stay on their good side than to repair his wounded pride.