Cuthbert Allgood

"You worked harder than we ever asked of you," Bert said quietly, slipping his arm around her shoulders and leaning in to kiss her gently on the lips. "You aren't a gunslinger. It isn't your land. Nobody would have blamed you if you'd cut and run." For once, he didn't take the bait and let himself be drawn out into light-heartedness. Not for the moment, anyway. He pressed his forehead to hers, closing his eyes. "Thanks to you, they paid in blood for that land. It's more than we expected."

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Ah, but he could have taken the bait that would lead him away from the seriousness. That was what she'd expected but hindsight, tricky as it was, told her that she did need to hear that from him. Even if it ached and brought up the wretched desire to cry. She returned that kiss, but just leaned into him for a long moment afterword, eyes half-open.

"I really can't believe how much I love you," Despite the vulnerable tone she spoke with Kaine was happier for it, and she did eventually smile again. "

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"Me neither," Bert said, and his voice was surprisingly serious. Then he shook it off, pulled that easy cheer back over himself like a cloak. "Then again, I am oddly lovable. Like a three-legged puppy that's not quite figured out where to piss yet." Laughing, he kissed her again, lighter this time, on the corner of her mouth. "Come on. I don't know about you, but I'm dead on my feet. Shall we head back and get some shut-eye?"

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"You had me up until the pissing part." She rolled her eyes and accepted that kiss just as easily as she returned it.

"That's not a bad idea at all. But I'm not looking forward to that stew at all." That said he should probably still eat some of it before falling asleep for the night. With her arm still around his side she pulled back towards the direction of camp. If it seemed like the right thing to do she'd stop when they got a little bit nearer. Maybe gunslingers didn't like seeing open affection for all that she knew.

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"Ah, well, I wouldn't be me if I didn't put a damper on the mood," Bert said cheerfully, wrapping his own arm around her waist and resting his hand comfortably on the rise of her hip. The dark mood hadn't totally gone - wasn't likely to any time soon, either - but, strangely, he did feel a little easier than he had before. Maybe there was something to letting it all out. Or maybe it was her.

He didn't loose his hold on her as they came closer to the circle of firelight, although he did make an obscene gesture at the youngest gunslinger when the boy whistled teasingly. "Lay off, Jim."

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... Right, they were definitely still in a camp of men, which generally wouldn't bother her but. How did you handle relationship stuff like this? Would it be better if they didn't sleep together or kiss nearby or was it actually alright? She should have asked all this before they came back, goddammit.

A little red in the cheeks Kaine shrugged and let go of Bert easily so that she could drop back to her seat and resume carving. It was going to be her task for this entire two-three week process, and that wasn't very long for what she wanted to do with the hunk of Behemoth tooth.

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Bert laughed, dropping down next to her and retrieving a bowl of stew for each of them. Whatever she might say about the food, he was used to plenty thinner rations, and he ate with gusto, joking between mouthfuls about everything that came to mind. He was the only one talking most of the time, but he seemed blissfully unaware of that, yammering on animatedly as he talked through what had happened in the other world (notably leaving out all mention of Susan, and skimming over that strange talk they had parted on).

Across the fire, Roland watched, unsmiling, as the light danced over his face. A faint line had appeared between his brows, as though he was trying to put a name to something going on inside him. At last, tapping ash off his cigarillo, he got to his feet, locking eyes with Kaine, and gestured towards the edge of their little camp, where his bedroll was set up. The message was clear: come with me.

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Kaine forced herself to eat but for the most part she was dedicated to her task. She laughed at Bert's jokes when he made them, and found herself more comforted by his chatter than anything else. While she obviously had no reason to distrust the gunslingers she had always been a bit nervous around groups of men, to have one she trusted would probably help maintain her sanity.

She reached such a calm state that the only reason she even noticed Roland was thanks to her finishing dinner, and moving to set it all aside. She caught his look and - didn't hesitate, but Kaine did try to run through the list of things he might possibly want to speak with her about.

But nothing came to mind. Her knife and the rough shape in her hands went back down, and she stood once more, giving Bert a brief little smile before doing as Roland asked. Whatever it was: Best to get it over with.

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Roland walked to the edge of camp, his lit cigarillo a faint amber glow in the darkness, before turning to look at her. "Heard him shouting at you out there," he said, his voice low and even. "It's not my business what for. I need to know, though: is it going to be a problem between you?"

That wasn't what he'd called her over to talk about, not precisely, but it seemed a good idea to get it cleared up right off the bat.

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Her brows raised and her expression likely told him all he really needed to know. That he even felt the need to ask was beyond reasoning to her, but she answered as simply as she could all the same.

"We're perfectly fine, and even if we aren't it won't stop me from doing what I should, Roland. No matter what we are to one another I have a job and I'm going to do it." That said job now included the love of her life was just a bonus. "It seems as if he just needed to scream a lot."

And he might not be entirely better, she knew, but hopefully it was something of an improvement.

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"He does, sometimes." Roland nodded, taking a deep breath of smoke, and closed his eyes. For a moment, cast in the harsh, dim light of his cigarette, he looked ancient, not merely like a statue but like a cliff face, something carved out by wind and weather rather than by any human hand. Then he opened his eyes, and he was just a rather tired-looking young man again.

"I'd have you learn to shoot," he said. "I know it's not your weapon. You're not a gunslinger, and I doubt you ever could be. But if they come for us, I'd as soon not wait until they're in range of a sword-swing before you can be of use."

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"No." It was a clear cut response that didn't allow much room for argument, though she didn't doubt Roland would find a way. "Putting aside that even holding a gun makes me incredibly anxious, I doubt you or Bert could teach me if Nariko, Christian, and Wei couldn't pull it off. Knowing my luck I'd be more likely to accidentally shoot someone else in the foot."

"And while you're greatly underestimating my Excalibur, if you're really that concerned about it then I know where to get a bow and arrow, among other things. If I go now I'll be back before the sun."

The real truth here was that she was probably likely to run off on her own anyway so granting his approval might just make things easier.

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Roland opened his mouth, and then did something very un-Roland-like: he hesitated. Whatever he had been about to say, it was gone for the moment, pushed to the back of his mind in favour of a suddenly more pressing issue.

"Excalibur, you called it," he said at last, slowly. "Its name, or a figure of speech?"

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Of all things for him to set his focus that was the least expected, but there was no harm in answering the question.

"That is its name and grading. Scythian blacksmiths give particular names to their creations to denote the intricacy and work needed to make them. Excalibur is one of three that take the longest to finish and supposedly require centuries of use before they need serious repairing. It's the only one made of steel that can stand up to and deflect magic. It's been in my family since great, great, great-" She does this eight times "Great grandpa Art forged it. It goes through the family to the eldest kid, male or female."

And while Kaine didn't mind talking about herself she couldn't help slinging her own question. "What's with the sudden curiosity? You've seen that thing for days, now."

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The tension went out of him for a moment. "Seen it, aye, but not known its name." And it's the name that's important. How can it not be, when Excalibur was the sword that birthed the guns he carries? How can that not be ka?

In a way, that's reassuring. He's always found it reassuring to be reminded of ka, that carries them along and assures him that he's on the right path.

"You won't learn to shoot," he says, to take the conversation back onto the track he meant it to take. "I can't change your mind?"

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She doesn't get it, not even a little, but if it was something bad Roland would probably tell her in the moment so Kaine only shrugs. He liked her sword's name! Cool! But as far as shooting, well.

"You won't change it in time for this whole escapade, no. There's nothing I can do with a gun that couldn't be accomplished with Excalibur or a crossbow. And frankly there's no situation that should invite the chance I might accidentally shoot someone's leg off."

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"You may be right. We're short enough legs as it is." And that might have been humour, or it might not. With his face as stony-still as ever, and no change in his inflection, it was impossible to tell. He looked back at the firelight, and pressed his lips together. "Just look after yourself out here. I don't want to lose anyone on this mission."

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"Now I get what she said about your sense of humor." But unlike Nariko, Kaine was rather sure that Roland was just being serious and it was possible to take it was a morbid sort of joke. All the same, she put her hands in the pockets of her jeans and shrugged.

"I'm the one that comes back from the dead, Roland, I'll be fine." She allowed herself to glance back at their camp, something strange coming over her face. It made her older, and maybe a tad more intimidating. It passed slowly, and she pushed the feeling out with a careful sigh.

"Let's get back. I'll never finish Bert's present if you both keep pulling me off to one side or the other."

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Roland pressed his lips together until they were thin and white, but he nodded, gesturing back to the fire with one hand. "Go, then. I need to think. I'll rejoin you in a while." And he turned away from her, looking up at the sky and putting his hands on his hips. Left to his own devices, he'd stand there five or ten minutes, looking as much a part of the landscape as a withered tree, then abruptly turn on his heel and stride back to the fire, where Bert and the others were finishing up their meal.

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It was easy to do as told, Kaine turned on her heel and returned to camp, leaving Roland to resemble whatever aspect of scenery he preferred. Giving Bert a smile she took her place next to him again and picked up her tools without much of anything to say. She didn't expect any of the gunslingers to speak with her, which was a relief considering how nervous it made her to be near what was essentially a group of men she didn't know from a cactus.

But when Roland had joined them she raised her head from the shape in her hands. "You both still have the pieces of crystal, right? The one Bert shot."

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"Aye, somewhere." Bert turned his head to look at her, breaking off his animated retelling of a long and involved joke about a turtle and three horses. "It's in my purse. I can hunt it down, if you need it."

Roland, for his part, just nodded, hunkering down on the other side of the fire and reaching for the proffered tobacco pouch.

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A turtle. And three horses. Only Bert could tell something like that, and only Bert could make it sound believable when it was probably a load of shit.

"I might." She looked over at Roland, her gaze nearly as intense as his could be at its worst. "Hey," She probably hadn't needed to say it, Roland would be aware enough to realize she was speaking to him. "There has to be something you'd want to see, right? About Christian or Wei or Nathan. Anything."

Her hands moved rapidly now, it was the only sign of her nerves.

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Roland was quiet for a long moment. "There's nothing," he said shortly, at last. It wasn't exactly true. There was plenty he'd want to see, about all those men and more besides. About Nariko, or Kaine herself, for that matter.

But he remembered all too well the way the pink had sucked at him, dragged him in. Striking Nariko. Seeing his own reflection in the pink glass and not recognising it.

He'd learnt his lesson about seeing-stones.

"There's nothing," he said again, but he dug into his coat pocket and pulled out his half of the stone, tossing it across the fire to her. "And I'd caution you not to fuck with it. We've got enough problems, without bringing magic into it."

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"What an almost-reasonable answer, even if you're probably lying." She caught the other piece easily, and set her work down to turn it in both her hands. "And I suppose if this was made with as much malice and hatred as that thing you had, I'd listen to. But magic just as much good and harm in equal turns as your guns, Roland."

She made an easy gesture with her free hand. "Besides, I don't exactly remember what I'm supposed to say to get us into Kyrat, and this is the only way I know to see it again. And I don't quite know about you but I'm going to do everything necessary to get back there, especially if Amelia really did send that crazy Walter Dim guy there." So whether he much liked it or not it had to be done, in a sense. That didn't take away from the fact that, in a sense, she'd been testing him, but that was beside the point.

There was no reason to make Roland uncomfortable though, Kaine held her hand out to Bert for the other piece, and she'd stand once she got it anyway.

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