As his resident damsel in distress reacted to his story, Erin nearly let out a hearty laugh. Indeed, he did enjoy a good tease; In his line of work, it was important to be able to laugh at one's self every so often. Unfortunately, his desire to laugh was stifled by the head soldier, who proceeded to lecture him on 'proper' cadence with such a member of high society, effectively killing the joke in the process, mostly. This was one of many reasons Erin was pretty sure he'd make a horrible career soldier; He didn't mind taking orders, but he'd never been a fan of being talked down at.
"She'll get to safety when she gets there, ser," The armored adventurer replied, a bit of annoyance beginning to show in his tone, "But I have business in Vythe first. Unless you want to take her away to safety, she's as safe as she's going to be— at my side."
Erin had no idea why he was suddenly acting so uncharacteristically possessive, in truth; Perhaps he was simply bothered by the dismissive attitude of the cavalryman, or perhaps he had grown unknowingly attached to the woman in the short time they'd nearly died together. Whatever the case may have been, it was clear there was a gradual change in his disposition towards Hyathia— where moments prior he'd been trying to scare her away, threatening her with the horrors of war, why was he now suddenly promising to protect her? Such doubts were unbecoming; He'd lived most of his life without worrying about things like what he truly wanted to do.
This, to lighten his own mood a bit, he teased Hyathia a bit more, lightly pulling her a tiny bit closer with a renewed smile. "Isn't that right, my love?"
