Chapter 02: On the Road

Acolyte was used to long periods with nothing to do. It was a side effect of not being a member of any church, when assigned to work with followers of different Gods. Sure, he had learned enough that he could lend a hand when needed, but he was never their first pick when they needed help.

Plus... war is boring. Well, not all of it of course. Actually fighting for your life and the lives of those around you is anything but. However... there tended to be long periods of downtime, between those life or death battles... and that got boring.

Acolyte was very experienced at simply being.

Often he stood, but in this case he simply sat and watched the road pass him by.

Eryx passed the time learning the strengths (and weaknesses) of his new companions. He wasn't used to prolonged personal interaction with other species so this was also a good time to learn more about them. Eryx in turn demonstrated his mental powers for them, from telepathic speech to illusory terror, but he remained guarded as to his people.

Charm loved her horse. It wasn't white but was very calm and had big sweet dark eyes and very soft lips. She fed it a carrot and occasionally tried to feed it some grass which sometimes it took and sometimes it didn't. Since they hadn't told her it's name, she called it Whickers.

She asked lots of questions about horses, both hers and others, even those pulling the cart. Charm thought it would be wonderful to have a horse of her own when she got rich and she needed to know how to take care of them, to brush them, to check their hooves, even to saddle them though they hadn't let her saddle one herself yet. They would knee the horse in the stomach when saddling it which seemed really mean though they said they had to or the girth would be too loose and the saddle would slip. Wonder how they could like it if someone did that to them.

But now she was tired and her butt was really sore. She tried standing first on one stirrup then the other but it didn't help much. Nor did using an extra blanket. And the snake person was trying to be nice but the thought of it creeping its thoughts inside her head gave her the ick.

When will we get there? she asked again.

Shem spends his time on the road talking to his companions, trying to determine who is likely to be trustworthy and who might be less reliable. He also tries to get a sense of everyone's capabilities, to the extent that they are willing to share. He also makes a daily supply of Goodberries, which he offers to anyone if the daily rations aren't keeping their bellies full.

Riv twirls his holy symbol between metallic fingers. His amulet has weird etchings on it, probably unrecognizable to anyone except fellow clergy (holy symbol of The Becoming God, if anyone is interested).
If we need a particular mundane item, I can forge it. I need only sacrifice the gold value to do it.
Those goodberries look tasty, Shem. I require no food, but if I did, I’m sure I’d enjoy them.

"They are. Thank you, Shem," Eryx replied then mumbled under his breath, "Anything's better than divined manna."

He remembered years of eating nothing but bland yet nutritious food conjured by priests daily. There was no agriculture in the ruins and wastes where his people lived and prayed to the Flame, so the shock of eating real food and tasting wine was almost fatal to his taste buds once Eryx reached so-called civilization. His habit now was to keep the day's goodberry until night, eating it as a treat before going to bed or going on watch.

Though he moved around a lot to talk with the others, Eryx mostly rode squarely in the middle of the procession.

Charm is riding with her sister generally. If it's early in the day, she's pushing her sister to ride closer to the front so she can see but if noon or later, she's just tired and following Jyn's horse.