[h3]Jordan Forthey[/h3]
	The nightwalker briefly looked startled at being addressed, but quickly brightened up and accepted his hand, thanking him. 
	[color=00aeef]"Fifteen years, was it?"[/color] That was a long time to be a page indeed. Fifteen years ago he would have been ... nine ... four. People typically became pages between six and eight (maybe four wouldn't have been [i]that [/i] extreme?), and then squire at fourteen or so, or at any age if they were essentially nobodies like him. And then they were knighted or just ... stayed squires indefinitely. 
	He wasn't entirely sure how old Jaelnec was - he [i]looked [/i]roughly his age, but with how aging worked with different species, he could have been quite a few years older, and Deo'Irah could have been a youthful two millennia strong. He [i]thought[/i] he recalled nightwalkers aged slower than humans? 
	[color=00aeef]"We kind of overheard everything, just by virtue of being, well, here,"[/color] Jordan explained somewhat apologetically, glancing sideways at Sir Yanin, who seemed to be simply waiting and keeping watch stood next to the door, back to wall, head turned slightly to the side as if he was listening to steps approaching the door from within in addition to observing the street. 
	[color=f7976a]"Knighting is usually a public affair for a reason. Prevents people from making claims if something were to happen. Can't see why it'd should be different for naming one a squire." [/color] His master commented.
	That was a point, Jordan guessed, though he wasn't nearly as concerned with the ceremony as the more personal part of the conversation. The lesson about why one fought and ... did Jaelnec seem [i]genuinely [/i]afraid of his master? [b][i]Are you okay?[/i][/b] Well, it's not like he could ask with Sir Freagon standing [i]right there.[/i] Better to stick with a more neutral topic. 
	[color=00aeef]"I never was a page since ... well, being a peasant I grew up weeding cabbages and being chased around by the geese I was supposed to herd as opposed to serving a knight, up until mother decided I could best help out eating someone else's food [i]and[/i] earning money by being the Glades' stable boy when I was eleven."[/color] Jordan shrugged, spreading wide the arm that wasn't holding onto the spear. [color=00aeef]"Which kind of also means I sort of knew Sir Yanin for a few years before he even was a knight, which is also kind of strange to think about, now. It's been three years since I was made a squire, and about two since we left the Glades' estate. It somehow feels much longer than that."[/color]
	
[h3]Sir Yanin Glade[/h3]

	The street seemed comparatively tranquil, in spite of all that had transpired. Some passersby stared. At him, at the guardhouse, still stained by blood. He watched their motions, and memorized their faces. Some he could only hear, not see, some were but shadows cast from behind structures. 
	The younger nightwalker and Jordan now seemed busy talking about their lives as they waited. They were quite loud. It made listening more difficult. The healers were yet to re-emerge. There was faint movement from inside, talking. Lady Bor and Quintin had also vanished, having returned to the manor to restock. [i]Time was running out.[/i]
	[i]“It is time. He has someone to protect now, and someone to protect him. It isn't just the two of us anymore.”[/i] It was a strange statement. It was one thing to determine that one wasn't [i]able[/i] to stand on one's own were you deeply engaged in the moment and unable to intervene. That could happen even if Freagon alone fought. 
	Was it [i]merely[/i] that they intended to be split into three (or four, counting Lady Bor providing cover separately) groups this time around, with them having to keep both their employer [i]and[/i] the main subject of their mission alive, and the two being both on site? Jaelnec could not be grouped with Freagon; he wasn't Immune to the swaigh. 
	If Freagon was as bound by principle and shibboleths as he let on, he wasn't liable to go back on it during whichever encounter the nightwalkers would have next, even once this little merry group had scattered to all four winds. 
	It could also be simple as Freagon himself getting older; no matter how powerful he was now, he was also scarred, and looked to be at least middle-aged. No doubt the man with the broken soul was more experienced than ever before, but purely physically, he was probably not [i]as[/i] fast, strong and agile as he had once been, and knew it. 
	[color=f7976a]"You've fought alongside others before."[/color] During many of which, Jaelnec had undoubtedly been quite young, if not yet to start accompanying Freagon, but there would have been at least one in the last five years. Some of the knight errant's endeavors had stood enough to be somewhat more broadly known, though for someone of his reported skill, one could be surprised not more had reached either the ranks of Fadewatchers or scheming nobles. [color=f7976a]"What has changed?"[/color]
	For a man who'd conduct a ceremony in the middle of the street rather than wait until the storm had passed or let his apprentice take arms without it, 'Fuck it, maybe he'd be more useful than not' probably wouldn't be the reason.

[h3]Madara[/h3]

	Irah would find Madara sat beside the man with the formerly shattered arm, quietly instructing him to keep the splint on for a week, to not lift anything heavier than a mug with that hand. The bones were set, and the magic of the deigan's potion had knit the ends together, but they were still weaker - a stronger impact could shatter them anew more readily than fully healed bones. 
	She didn't break script; only once she was done speaking to her patient did she stand and turn to address the other healer. 
	[color=1a7b30]"That should be most of what we can do at this time - except for Wade's leg and- ah, I don't think I caught your name,"[/color] she motioned to catch the attention of the Fadewatcher that had spoken with the human knight earlier who had a bandaged arm. The more severe injuries had been dealt with, but perhaps there was yet some time until the baroness was ready to embark.