What had made him stay in the village for so long, Nicademus couldn’t say. He had spent almost half of his life as a travelling knight for the Order of the Dusk, doing his part to keep the Southlands just a little safer for those who dared to settle in the untamed land, and had passed through countless other villages like this one not saying for more than a week at most in any of them, and yet here he had stained for a whole month  already. “[i]Maybe I’m getting nostalgic in my old age[/i].” He thought idly as he walked through the road that led through the town. 

Ever since he had arrived he had taken it upon himself to patrol the town through the night and, eventually, to help train the town’s guards. Luckily for him the night was peaceful and as far as he could tell it; a wistful smile briefly crossed his face, if he closed his eyes he could almost imagine that he was back at his old village. However, as soon as the thought entered his mind, Nicademus froze, his fists clenching in anger as he stood there for a few seconds that, in his mind, stretched for an eternity. “There's no use to reminisce about such things.” He muttered bitterly to himself “Focus on the present, that's all that matters.” He said as he shook his head to dispel his errant thoughts, continuing his patrol of the town until it was his turn to be relieved for the night.

[hr]
After he had been relieved from duty patrol the last night Nicademus had returned to his small accommodations in the village inn to get a bit of rest but, unfortunately, sleep eluded him during that night, anxiety keeping him up, his mind turning towards memories of the past seemingly of it’s own volition, despite his best efforts to fall asleep. Knowing that he wouldn’t be able to fall asleep, Nicademus decided that it’d be for the best to keep himself busy instead of staying in his room and welling up in anxiety over past memories. Having made up his mind, the knight got up, got dressed, and put on his armor before going out of the inn and towards the little area that had been designated as the training ground for the town’s guard. Once there he started his usual training routines, letting his mind fall into the familiar concentration that came up with training.

Time passed by and, eventually, the training ground was filled with new recruits, the sergeant assigned to train them, and a few older guards with enough free time to train. Having regained his composure after his training routine, Nicademus decided to help some of the sergeants with training the new guards. He circled through the training grounds, correcting errors in footwork, stances, and guards amongst those that were training unsupervised. He was starting to consider findign a sparring partner when suddenly a voice cut his thoughts.

“Sir Vahlen, Sir Vahlen!” A guard was shouting as he ran towards him, coming to a halt. The man bent over, putting his hands on his knees, and began panting “Thanks Guandet that I managed to find you sir.” He said between pants, taking a few more seconds to catch his breath “A group of individuals were approaching the village, a few of our men stepped out of the gate to stop them, luckily they don’t seem hostile but there are a few non-humans in the group.” The guard said turning to look at Nicademus in the face “I was told to go and get you sir, the guards near the gate are unsure of what to do and want to know your opinion on what we should do.” The man finished his explanation. 

Nicademus nodded and made his way towards the open gate that led towards the bridge that crossed the ditch. By the time he arrived to the gate a priest seemed to be addressing the guards near the gate, he wasn’t sure for how long the man had been speaking but he at least heard the man imploring shelter and refreshment in the village. “And we would like to help Your Reverence, but I’m afraid to say that you and your fellow travelers are a suspicious lot and it’s often dangerous to trust blindly here in the Southlands” The Knight said as he took out his valdium blade, planting the tip on the ground before resting his hands on the crossguard of the sword. He let his eyes wander through the colorful party of individuals quickly moving from one individual to the next until he caught sight Aeryn, his body tensing immediately after noticing the Dorcha's presence in the group. “I’ll do you the courtesy of assuming that you aren’t here with ill intent.” The Knight said, his voice colder and more tense than before “But before we let you in I’d like to know what’s your objective here, and how did you come to this place.” He said, waiting for an answer from anyone “Did your Dorcha [i]friend[/i] over there guided you here?” He asked, disdain palpable in his voice, pointing towards Aeryn with his finger before laying his hand on the crossguard of his sword once more. 

[@POOHEAD189][@Gardevoiran][@TheFatedFallen][@Fetzen][@Stormflyx][@BCTheEntity]