The creaking of wheels on a cart. The hum of a girl. The deafening silence of the forest which ebbed in like the midnight tide as chirps and rustles of critters gave way to the hush of wind through the trees...and the metal of a sword dully chiming against rocks in the trail Ein was taking.

------
"-anything?" a patron slurred, having moved to the table of an old man who sat alone, his daughter nowhere to be found. "Well, she made fun of me and my guards" the man sighed, turning the cup of tea in his hands. Sighing, the patron took a drink and looked around the bar. "Well...ehrm...at least you got your money back?" the patron chuckled which made only the faintest of smile twinkle in the old man's eyes, doing his best to look on the bright side of what he'd witnessed. "Ah! Yeah, see? It's not all bad. Be glad it wasn't any other bandit" the patron laughed, giving the old man a jarring pat on the back.
"Somehow..." the old man began before shaking his head, a lack of confidence in his words that piqued the patron's interest. "Say something?" he asked, the old man looking up to meet his eyes before saying, "What kind of bandit has no use for money?"
The question made the patron frown, lifting their mug once more before hesitating to inquire, "Black armor, you said?"
------

The knight strolled some unseemingly short distance behind Ein. With one hand resting on their thorned hip plate and their left holding a sword loosely enough to clank the flat of the tip through the rocks and dirt of the beaten path as they followed. They didn't seem in much hurry, certain that the one they were following wouldn't be able to outrun them [i]and[/i] keep their cart.

Kaite had found it curious that a girl would be wandering the woods with a cart by herself. There weren't many reasons to explain it since sane people clustered together in town and a residence in its outskirts would suggest shady behavior. Their first and strongest notion was that the girl was smuggling supplies to some kind of bandit hideout. The armor did its work to paint the girl as a mule not worth being trusted, unconsciously quickening her pace just enough that Kaite would come into earshot. "Iz bold of you...wanderink zee forest alone" she called in just over a normal speaking voice. With that, they noisily scraped their sword forward and swing it up to rest on their shoulder. "You know zeht zeir iz bandits in zeis parts, ja?" she inquired in her thick foreign accent, continuing to follow Ein though keeping their distance, visor closed to obscure their face.