[color=goldenrod][i][h2][center]Gerard Segremors[/center][/h2][/i][/color]

[@JessieTargaryen][@VitaVitaAR]

So that was why they called it the Shrine of Silver— it looked like a fragment of moonlight fallen to the earth, an obelisk of flowing argent pointed towards its ancestral home. 

As though Mayon herself had descended, and gifted her followers a pillar from her home.

The ride out here from the fort had been a rigorous one, haste overriding any last vestiges of or designs upon subtlety. They had rolled through the countryside of Thaln, the thunder of the Goddesses returning to a site of ancestral worship. He, in truth, had only a foggy idea of a connection perhaps between their Order specifically and the Stone, but as a devout worshiper of her twin Goddess, Gerard understood well the significance of Mayon's foremost shrine coming under potential danger. As they rode into close proximity of the site, the surrounding ring of stones just barely crested the trees of the Brennan Forest, tips of white of the the curtain of silhouettes. Deep within his breast, below armor, below skin, below even his heart, he felt as if that moonlight had flowed into him as well; like gentle, nurturing aether surrounding his spirit.

And yet, he couldn't ignore the tension. Beneath the gentle nighttime breeze flowing through him, beneath even his primal, instinctual awe... the atmosphere was thick. He could chop it in half with the blade on his back, if he were to take his battle sense at its word—

So too it was, then, that upon hearing the sound of a horse galloping out of step as they'd slowed he whirled, reaching for steel. A pincer attack? Lure the knights with a message they had no choice but to investigate, only to fall in upon them from behind? No, this sound...

Only one rider. A horse he'd seen a day or so before, outside Candaeln— the very same moonlight that had illuminated the stone for their retinue had cast enough brightness onto the field behind for his sharp eyes to make out both horse and rider fairly quickly from the rear of their formation. He remembered it seeming temperamental, and as for the woman he'd mistaken for an attacker...

A pretty Hundi woman, clad in armor that seemed almost decorative, ornamenting her form as much as it was guarding it— that said, what steel there was was clearly forged well, maintained better, and caught the light as she rode to a slow canter, about a minute out. Shoulder length dark hair, bushy tail, large longsword across her back... A new recruit, if he remembered right. He'd not gotten opportunity to meet her yet, not in person.

[color=goldenrod][i]Pity this is the circumstance where our paths first cross, and not a proper welcome.

Guess it's better than her riding up to accost us, though... These weeks have made me jumpy. Like I never left double-waging.[/i][/color]

At this point, satisfied enough that he was at least fairly sure he knew who she was, he turned for a moment to the knight beside him. Perhaps just a formality, seeing as they were certainly as aware as he'd be with their seniority, but nonetheless a confirmation that there wasn't an immediate threat.

[color=goldenrod]"One of ours back there. Just fell behind a bit— might have paced the ride poorly."[/color]

Was that a whispered lie? He couldn't say. He certainly hoped he'd have remembered her tagging along in their investigation of the fort, but they'd not gone back home to pick up reinforcements. Time was paramount. They couldn't have afforded to. Where had she fallen behind, if such was the case?

...Regardless.

She was new, as he still felt he was. He'd been in spots akin to hers before— a first impression was an important thing. Knightly Orders, despite being a collection of the Crown's warriors, were effectively communities in and of themselves. There were better ways for one to stick out. 

He looked over his shoulder again, amber eyes meeting hers, and quietly waved her in. He could see her face a little more clearly now, as it grew closer to torchlight— pensive. No kidding. He would have been too.

[color=goldenrod][i]You were simply rear guard, as I am. Nothing out of place here from me.[/i][/color]

Hed'd ask his questions when she caught up in full. Best to keep it quiet for now.

After all—

Those golden eyes were cast towards the front again, searching the Standing Stones, the Moon Pool, the shrine itself. He was no shrewd investigator like Sir Jerel, nor as seasoned a veteran as Sir Fleuri or Dame Tyaethe, but to be distracted was to be unaware was to be killed. There were those among them that would have keener intuition, surely, but that same tension that had so troubled him upon the Hundi's approach had also saved his life in the battles before. 

—He needed his ears open.