There had been little cause for all the worry that had surrounded the expedition outside the wall. Superstition and attacks by night made the townspeople more afraid than they needed to be of the beautiful land outside of the town. During the day, however, the entire mood of their wilderness changed to a land of verdant plant life and glorious growth. The outside land seemed to be thriving and flourishing, naturally beautiful and wholesome, and it was hard to think that this was where the threat to the town came from. Since they were out in the bright light of day, the monsters that might lurk in the shadows did not make themselves known. Instead of a harrowing journey, the expedition was instead rather peaceful and calming, which made Erilyn feel rather guilty now about being on this glorious nature walk instead of remaining behind to help with what needed to be done in the town. For all the terrified expectations that were baseless, Erilyn found instead a new cause of unease. The golem that was sent by the bishop made her very skin crawl.
One back safely inside the walls, Erilyn found her adoptive brother hard at work with the fires of his trade. The look on his face was a mixture of relief and vexation for her, one that she was familiar with and had seen many a time before grace his features. She had made him worry again, not a surprise as he knew well how her parents had perished. She wanted to reassure him that she was all right and to repeat to him how the town needed her, but she hadn't the heart to do so quite yet. She would let his fuss over her, mother and worry to his heart's content before arguing with him.
Smiling weakly, she approached him and he almost smiled at her clinking gently due to the armor. She was hard to ignore, with her steady footsteps each bringing the sound of moving metal that jangled against itself. When she was standing in front of him at last, she held her arms out on either side of her body, up far enough away that it would be easy to remove the armor. She could not remove it herself and she could do very little until it was off of her. Shaking his head, her brother finished the last touches on what he'd been working on and then set his hammer down. Fortunately, he'd been nearly finished with the piece when she arrived, so he could extinguish the flames.
"I was worried sick about you, Eri, hearing that you were venturing outside the walls... without even the protection of the mages! You have no idea, I thought you were going to be carried back here heaped on top of your shield. I don't know why you insist on doing this, even. You don't make as much money as I do, they hardly pay you at all considering how much danger you're in every time you don that armor. You ought to just give up all of this danger and politics, with the bishop and the arch mage tugging you around as if a horse with two sets of reins..." she let him talk himself into an eventual silence, watching instead his deft fingers remove the chain mail. She had set her shield down already, since it would have been nearly impossible to remove the armor with that in hand. Her sword had been laid down as well, glimmering a little less brightly in the light as it still had traces of the blood from the dragon's eye.
Erilyn opened her mouth to respond when he cut her off, his expression somber. He was holding the mail in hand, having finally finished freeing her from it, but did not move to hang the mail on its wooden stand. Instead, he was lingering in front of Erilyn. "You're going to meet your death out there one of these days if you don't listen to me, Eri. You'd be better off staying here and learning to sew or do something that won't get you killed. You could even learn to help me out or use my materials to craft jewelry to sell. All of these things would ensure that you live a long life. Going out night after night to fight the beasts who hail from shadows and nightmares, you'll die young."
The implication that she ought to be doing women's work was almost enough to make Erilyn lose her temper. Only reminding herself that he was the only family she had left and that he worried about her endlessly was enough to quell the indignation that had flared to life with his suggestion that she take up sewing. Erilyn turned away from him, taking the mail from his hands as she did so to lay it across the wooden table. The links each glowed as though burning with an inner fire, though she knew it to be the links reflecting the light around them. With the armor off of her, the light tunic beneath was visible, along with the heavy chains wrought from no material she recognized that hung around her throat. With her hands empty, her fingers curled absentmindedly around the chains. They were precious to her, a gift from the arch mage, and she never took them off for fear that one might steal them away.
"Evain, I know that your heart is in the right place and I regret making you worry so much, but do not try to force the duties of a woman upon me. That is not my calling, my calling is to defend the city and its people from all that would harm it. I go out there with my sword in hand so that I can promise myself you will be safe for another day. These people need me and I will not let them down, I won't let you down." He was silent, no further arguing to be had. He knew that he would not change her mind about this and if he pushed her any further, he was worried that he might lose her. She could simply collect her few cherished items and leave, this he knew well. Thus he met her statement only with a clenched hand and, after a few quiet moments, a change of subject.
"Just be safe, then. There's bread and stew waiting for you. You should eat it before it gets any colder." Gratefully, she took the bowl and the hunk of bread, dipping the slightly hardened remainders of the loaf into the thick broth to soften it up. She ate slowly, content with her meal, but as she was finishing, she was interrupted by her brother, who had been outside arranging his things for the next day.
"It sounds like something is amiss in the town, Eri. I can't be sure, but you might want to check it out. I'm sure that if anything is going on, the night's watch will know about it." He was already lifting her chain mail to aid her in putting it back on. She offered in return a wan smile, accompanied by a hug. The familiar weight of her armor over her chest with the sword on her hip and the shield in hand made her feel secure. Bolstered by the tacit support of Evain, for his information he was not obligated to give, Erilyn exited the house. Her first few steps were as quiet as she could make them while she listened for telltale sounds of something wrong. At least there were no monstrous roars.