Paladins: Laina and Raven on the road

"There's something wrong here," said Laina, and turned to look out the window of the coach. 

"There's always something wrong," said Raven, but she straightened and pulled the curtains aside as well. 

The road was brightly lit, and they were passing a large farm; the workers in the field toiled steadily, ignoring their passage. Something... It was something about the way they moved. Something very wrong about the way they moved. 

Laina opened the door and stuck her head and torso out. "Driver! Stop the carriage!"

The little girl -- Adira, age six, and sitting on the bench across from her with her mother -- gasped and pressed into her mother's side. Opposite them, the girl's father Drabben said, "Here now, there's no cause for--" 

The carriage was already slowing. "You're certain?" called the driver, glancing back and down. 

Laina nodded. "The road should be safe enough for you, but we need to get off here."

The man sighed. He was young, and had looked at both Laina and Raven with... maybe not lust, exactly, but at least hope. "As you wish." 

Drabben said, "This hardly seems--" but his little girl met his eyes and said: "Hush! They're adventuring."

"We most certainly are not," Raven said glumly. "We're just going to go put ourselves in danger because Nepthys wants us too. It will probably end very badly."

Laina glanced back at her, grinned, and then met the little girl's eyes. "There are other, better ways to help people, Adira. Just being fair to them is always a good place to start."

The girl nodded solemnly, and Laina swung herself out onto the road as the carriage came to a stop. A moment later Raven stepped out behind her, and the driver set the brake and scrambled back to help them with their gear. "Take care," he said. "I'll be back through in four days. I'll keep an eye out for you, though I'll be headed back to Drisnan Springs. But if you don't mind the wait, we can start out fresh after that."

"He's sweet," said Raven flatly, as if that were a condemnation. 

"You stick to your duties," said Laina, "and let us stick to ours. If Nepthys wills it, our paths will cross again... and if She doesn't, then I wish you well in all things."

The young man blushed. He'd never even managed to give them his name; he was just the driver of the mail coach. Still, he smiled and waved as he climbed back onto the bench and clicked his mouth at the horses. The little girl Adira put her head out the window and waved. "Kill the evil!"

Laina waved back.

"What now?" asked Raven, looking at their bags where they sat on the roadside. 

Laina considered the heavy one with the full plate armor, then the brigandine coat that she'd managed to coax out of the Temple of Amun. Neither really appealed to her; nor did the sword, or the shield. She'd found a leatherworker in town to make a leather sheath for the silver bread-knife, which she now wore at her hip. That had been enough so far; Nepthys willing, it would continue to be. 

"Let's get this stuff into the bushes," she said, "and see what's going on at this farm."