[center][color=#008b8b][h2]Fionn MacKerracher[/h2][/color][/center]
[hr][@ERode] [@Psyker Landshark]
[hr]
Luckily, Renar, Tyaethe, and Sergio hadn't needed any back-up by the time he got over; those few who were rejecting any offer of surrender quickly rounded up and dispatched by the time he got back over the burning log. Afterwards, he'd done his part in rounding up the prisoners, disposing of bodies, and the trip back had been relatively uneventful. Taking turns with Gerard to display Jeremiah's sword as another symbol of their victory as they passed various villages, or after re-entering the capital city, was the most work that really came to them as their column rode along.

Otherwise, he stuck near the back of the pack, riding alongside the cart that carried Rickert's corpse rather than making conversation with the others. The satisfaction he'd felt at helping fell the bandit king had rapidly diminished as he thought more about the rest of the battle; less due to the losses they'd sustained, which were themselves rather minimal, but more the nature of the battle itself. Surprises could never be avoided, they were almost to be [i]expected,[/i] but the fact that a griffin had been unleashed upon them as it had was beyond anything he'd experienced before. Beyond that, though, was the general disregard the bandits seemed to show for each other, from using their least equipped and experienced to try and man the ambush, to Jeremiah callously dropping a tree atop his own forces in his mad search for some sort of vengeance against the knights.

To his estimation, to his understanding of tactics, they didn't fight like they wanted to win. Their leadership, at least, fought like they wanted to [i]die,[/i] and that fostered nothing but disquiet in his soul.

By the time they made it back to the capitol, however, he seemed to have reconciled the events with his understanding and feelings well enough, starting to make his gregarious rounds through the ranks of the knights when not taking duty holding aloft the bandit king's oversized blade. Once back in the keep proper he'd quickly run to doff his traveling clothes and find something cleaner and more comfortable—and stow the singed and tattered cloak he'd have to figure out some way to salvage—before retrieving the bardiche he'd purloined from the bandit forces and starting to make his way down to the armoury and smithy...

...Utterly unsurprised to spot someone else along the way, who he'd [i]already[/i] spotted moving to corner their bard just as he'd been making his way to his quarters. Normally he might let her pass along uninterrupted, but given they seemed to have the same general destination and Fionn was hoping that the conversation might go better than their last:

[color=#008b8b]"Finished cowing our compatriots for the day?"[/color]

Why not call out to her, and see if some of her humour might start to show again now that they were free of battle?

[color=#008b8b]"I think I saw Renar gathering his things to come this way as well. Care to wait for him?"[/color] He flashed her a small grin. [color=#008b8b]"I don't know about either of you, but I think it would do me good to hear the [i]unofficial[/i] recounting of your parts of the battle, and I don't think either of you are the type to shy away from giving that unofficial truth."[/color]