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Nicomede hoped that this wasn't the first time for any of the knights.

He knew it wasn't the first time any of them had seen a body, or the violence wreaked upon one. For many it wasn't the first time that they had seen a battlefield when it was over, strewn with the dead. This was different. This was a massacre, brutal and one sided. The bodies left where they lay, piled atop the friends and comrades that had lain at their feet before Death came for them too. And the time.... A body was a difficult thing after five minutes. After a couple of days it was worse. Some of the garrison had died brutally. Others had died indescribably. It would take a lot of work to... piece together all of the remains, given the state of some, but Nico was willing to bet that the whole garrison would be accounted for. If there were survivors, they were few.

Fanilly's reaction dashed his hopes, not that there'd ever really been a chance.

But Nico had stood in a place like this before. He had begun, even before they stepped inside, to push aside his feelings. To disconnect for the moment that part of his brain that cared about these people that had fallen, and pay attention only to what mattered. And that was why he put together before Fanilly did that this girl was not to blame for these deaths. At least not solely. No spear had inflicted [i]all[/i] of the wounds that he saw. 

Still, here she stood. She had comrades nearby. She was [i]not[/i] a friend, not as far as Nicomede was convinced.

He reached out to the blood that clogged the soil beneath his feet, thick red mud that had squelched with every step. It was macabre, but it was the greatest source of water he had; if he needed to provide a defense, he wouldn't have the time to be choosy. The garrison would fulfill their duty one more time even if he had to apologize to their spirits later. But it wasn't time for that yet; he gathered the energy, the awareness, but he held it there. Waiting for the moment— if it came— where he would need to shield them.

Gerard knew the girl— Alette— so he left the address to him. Rather than distract him Nicomede nudged Serenity lightly with his crossguard, catching her eyes and flicking his own briefly towards the soil. He hoped it was enough for her to divine the nature of his preparations. That silent communication accomplished he turned his attention to the body nearest to his feet, fallen on its stomach. Carefully he rolled it over with a boot, checking for what might seem... Unusual. 

[@VitaVitaAR] [@HereComesTheSnow] [@ERode]