After leaving Lucas, Marissa trudged back the way she came. Lucas's question and the subsequent lack of answer from either of them left her with a confused expression on her face.  That, along with the information they got from Jordan Quopol at the Council meeting left her in a quandry.  There was something about what Jordan said, and the book, and their experiences on the mountain that pulled at her. Something she should go take care of.  But on the other hand, there was her family and the farm...

She stopped just short of running into Garrick, literally.  He was busy hauling all the weapons and armor they'd found into the blacksmith and she'd been oblivious to her surroundings.  "Oh, hey," she said with a lop-sided smile.  "You want some help with that?"

Garrick had been walking along almost in a fog. The bundle of spears and armor loaded across his shoulders wasn't the only thing weighing on him. When he bumped into a fencepost, he nearly lost the lot of them, and when the post asked him if he wanted help, it startled them the rest of the way to the ground, landing with  thud.

He looked down at the bundle, then up at Marissa with a grin. "Hey, yourself." He said looking back to the fallen parcel. "Help? I won't say no..." His voice trailed off, as if the thought didn't need completed. "It's just mule's work. Leaves me free to think about other stuff."

"I know what you mean," she nodded and stooped to pickup the bundle of spears and armor as easily as he would have.  "I got time to help, so it's good. Just stopped to have a word with Lucas before I headed off for home," she said, glancing over her shoulder.  She could have sworn she saw Lucas do the same thing, but couldn't make any bets on it.

"How's he doin?" Garrick asked. It was a simple quetion, and came from a genuine place. "I have to confess I don't really know him that well. He's always so quiet."  Garrick hefted another bundle of the chain armor, and bounced it on his shoulder to settle its load into place. He looked across at Marissa and smiled as he began to stride under his burden.

"He says he's okay," his friend replied, settling her bundle in place and following after him.  "Didn't look too thrilled about goin' home, though.  Then again, he never does.  But, seein' as how word's spread about the Council meeting and what happened with Risos and all, he might get a better greeting than usual."  She shrugged as she set her bundle in a pile next to his.  "Anyway, what do you think about what your dad said at the meeting?  I knew he'd been off and seen some fighting with Orcks and all but... I dunno.  I guess up until those kobolds, it all seemed like just another story, you know?"

Without thought, Garrick shrugged, and dropped his bundle next to the stock pile. He looked over in the direction of Kinz Onomang's house, the Teamster kept a nice place, and his boys weren't espescially troublemakers, any more than Garrick was. "That must be horrible to not feel welcome at home. My Da is hard on me... but.. I know I'm loved." He tried not to feel pity for Lucas, he really did, but he failed.

"I guess I understand a bit more about him, than I did before. He served in The Queen's Horse. He stood in the Battle Pass. He fell in love with a beautiful elf, and lost her to her carefree nature. No wonder he's tried to crush it out of me. The same way you hammer imperfections out of hot steel." Garrick looked around at the forge. He had spent his entire life here, learning how to not be what he was.

"I hate this place." He said simply, his voice seemed calm, but his shoulders shook with rage barely contained.

Marissa regarded her friend with a mixture of surprise and understanding.  She'd gotten the hints that he wasn't really happy going through this life,but this was the first time he actually voiced it.  "I know," she said, her soft voice weaving through the tension.  "But, maybe with the things that seem to be happening, you'll get your chance to get away from it?"  She paused for a moment, thinking.  "But I understand how he might hate the thought of you leaving him, even if you are grown up enough to do it.  You're all he has.  I don't think he'll stop you though, Garrick.  I really don't, even if he does hate it."

"Stop me?"  Garrick had thought about running a lot. Always dismissed, his elaborate plans all boiled down to the fact that he and Jordan needed one another. There had never been a question before, about actually being stopped, or not. "He won't stop me. He didn't stop her."

Almost visibly, his shoulders slumped, and that familiar calm resignation slipped into place. "Wish in one hand, and spit in the other, and see which one gets wet first."

Cinnamon-brown eyes firmed in conviction and resolve.  Marissa placed a strong hand on Garrick's arm.  "Don't," she said firmly.  "Don't give in, Garrick.  You have to live your life, not his and live it the way that will bring you happiness.  You'll never be happy being just a blacksmith, Garrick.  I know that, you know that and I bet your dad knows that.  Especially after what happened on the Ridge."  She didn't know where this resolve came from and she didn't know if she could find it in herself to say the same things to her own father, but she sure as hell wasn't going to allow her friend to throw away an opportunity.

"I was wishing he had stopped her, not that he would stop me." Garrick turned toward Marissa, and the dim red glow of banked coals in the furnace lit a thin line of white between his lips, orange firelight dancing against the thinnest white smile. "If they come for that book everyone is fussing over, I will do what needs done to make sure no one gets hurt." 

"Good," she nodded in reply.  Then she grinned.  "Don't make me run all the way from the farm to save your butt, either."  For a second, her eyes turned speculative, though her grin never faltered.  She gave herself a mental shake and her expression became the usual bantering, teasing one she had with Garrick.  "Damn Lucas for making me actually think about things like that," she thought.

"Run? You'd better find a horse... who's going to watch my back when I do something stupid?" Garrick's grin faded, and his expression turned more serious.

"You know... on the ridge, when those kobolds charged me... I was scared as all hell. Till you burst out of the bushes. I knew that they wouldn't get me, with you there. It was weird."

Marissa took in a breath and forgot to let it out for a few seconds.  She shifted her feet and let out her breath with a shrug and a little grin, wondering why now, of all times, she'd start feeling nervous.  "We're a good team, Garrick," she said.  "We've been training together for a couple of years, now.  If it comes down to it, so long as I've got you at my back or nearby, I know we'll come out the winners.  And I think you're forgetting that slice on the leg you took," she laughed and nodded at his leg.  Her eyes lingered a second, then she forced them back up to his face, hoping the fire in the forge hid her burning cheeks.

A sudden, subtle flinch ran up the muscles on the outside of Garrick's thigh, a subconscious reflex action, and a reminder of the scar he bore and the wound he had taken. "That was nothing... it was muddy, and slick.. on level dry ground, I'd have danced away!"   Garrick flourished his hand in a classic low block, as he spun and jumped, like a dancer, and landed on his toes, atop the waist high anvil. He really was quite graceful, despite his size, and the way his hair moved, it just had to be his mother's hair, because his father was quite bald, Garrick Quopol was definitely half an elf.

His friend and sparring partner was used to his antics, at least when his father wasn't within line of sight.  So, she shouldn't have found his movements quite so fascinating.  "Damn Lucas!" she thought for a second time.  She knew, without a doubt given the young mage's words and actions that he was the one sweet on her, but now he'd gotten her to think along lines she believed she'd suppressed long ago.  Garrick's flowing hair made her tug at her own dull-brown braid, oblivious to the fact that the forge's light gave it more lustre and made the red dance in it like sparks.  "Yeah, danced right into a tree limb, maybe or another spear," she snorted teasingly, tossing her braid back over her shoulder. 

Garrick dropped into a squat on the anvil, and for all the world it seemed like he slid into a comfortable chair. His eyes grinned as much as his mouth did, and he couldn't help but admire the young woman's beauty. Tomboy no more, she seemed somehow more than she had been when they left. More confidant, more safe in her own skin. A woman. It plainly wasn't lost on him. "A tree limb, maybe." He said. "The spears they were trying to stick into you."

"Which they didn't," she laughed back at him.  Bantering and ribbing each other was familiar ground.  Good.  This was good and how it should be, right?  Not suddenly sizing him up for ... other stuff.  "But that was thanks more to you and the others, too.  We all did our parts out there," she nodded.  Marissa fidgeted slightly, an unconscious habit she had when something was on her mind and she hadn't yet spoken about it.  To her sparring partner that Tell was painfully obvious.  "The question next is what're we gonna do when those folks snooping around our camp come this way?  I hope they're not gonna come looking for a fight."  She shifted again, leaning against a barrel.

"That's one of the questions." Garrick said, his brows furrowing as he almost slid off the anvil to the floor. "Another is what's bugging you? If you dont stop pulling your braid, your face is gonna split right down the middle." He hadn't seen that sort of fidgeting out of her since she thought she had ruined Annie's last birthday cake.

She laughed, a nervous tinge to the sound.  "You sound like my dad now."  Looking into his eyes, she knew that wouldn't get her off the hook, so she sighed and shrugged and felt the heat rise in her cheeks again.  "Just something Lucas asked me when I was talking to him before I ran into you... literally," she grinned.  "I have to wonder, sometimes how shy and uncertain he really is, since he can come up with some pretty sharp questions.  Then he looks so stunned that he actually asked those questions, you stop wondering," she chuckled and shook her head.  She hoped her rambling distracted Garrick from what Lucas's question was.

Garrick knew he wasn't exactly the sharpest blade in the shop, but he followed along with her the best he could. "Lucas is smart. I think he doesn't know how smart he is." He agreed. "What? Are you  sweet on him, 'Rissa?"

She flinched, but it wasn't because he'd hit home with that swing, but he could tell it was close.  "He's my friend, same as you are," she said.  "I was just telling him how I think Annie's maybe got a guy over in Ghal when she goes to visit the aunts," she explained, fidgeting again.  "Then he asked if I was sweet on anyone and... and..." she paused and flushed even more.  "I said I wasn't, that you and I were just friends, too but it got me to thinking," she said and stopped abruptly, turning to look at a far corner of the shop.  "I said no one would want someone as big and strong or moreso than they are for a sweetheart or a wife, and... that's when things got really weird."

There was a lot of meat on that bone, more than he could get his teeth around in one bite. "You aren't sweet on anyone, but you and I are just friends? And since I'm stronger than you, you thought I might be a likely husband?" Garricks face screwed down in an attempt to not grin, and subsequently laugh. He got the sense that this was no laughing matter to his friend. "There's more wrong in there than right. Firstly, if a fella worries about how strong his wife is, or isn't, then he's a fool." Garricks blue eyes once more swept along Marissa's curves, appreciatively so. "Second, if a fella did find himself lucky enough to be your husband, then I'm willing to bet he's earned that, somehow. Being able to out-wrassle your wife doesn't necessarily make you a good husband, right?"

"Not hardly," she snorted.  Even though her gaze was fixed on the far corner of the shop, seeing nothing, she felt him looking her over.  She didn't know how that could be and she tried to figure out whether she liked it or not.  "It's just that... around here, most of the guys are a little scared of me, or intimidated, which makes them scared," she said quietly.  "So... I just stopped thinking about things like that, figuring that if Pa got remarried or Annie got married and her husband took over at the farm, I'd just move on, then.  Then Lucas asked that stupid question," she half-growled.  "It's not that I was looking at you as a possible husband, but it just got me noticing things in a way I hadn't before." Slowly, her eyes came back to his face.  "So yeah, I'm just confused is all.  Must have gotten hit in the head or something," she said, trying for a grin.

"Marissa Wolvender, herself, was noticin' me!"  he laughed. He had really tried to be serious, but this was getting too funny. "'Rissa, would it help if I told you I had thought about ... things, too?" His voice was still filled with amusement, but he wasn't lying to make her feel better. "I think that just makes you human, and not the storybook heroine everyone around here treats you like, don't you?" He paused and found his lips suddenly had gone very dry, "A very pretty human."

Marissa blinked and her eyes widened.  "Oh..." is all she managed to squeak out for a moment.  Her throat had gone as dry as a dead well.  "I just... I mean you..." she stopped, flustered and looked down at her boots.  Never in a million years did she believe anyone thought her pretty, or thought about her in a way other than a friend, or could think of her as other than a friend.  "Thanks," she finally said, looking back up into his face.  It must have been her imagination but it seemed he was closer than he was before.  Did she want him that close?  How is this going to change things between them?  Would it be weird, or natural or would they just go back to being friends?  Her heart hammered, and her breath caught in her throat as the possibility... of what? hung in the air between them.

Garrick inhaled deeply through his nose, and looked into those cinnamon brown eyes lit by the dim glow of coals. He felt odd, almost hungry, but still himself. It was plain to see in her eyes, that she wanted to be kissed, she just wasn't sure by whom. He could do the easy thing, the fun thing, and smooch her toes into a curl. But it wasn't right. He wanted to smooch, but he didn't want to look back on it with regret. If it was the right thing, it would keep 'till she was ready. Instead, he hugged her, quickly, and a little too tightly. "You just need to decide what it is you want, no matter where you are."

Sudden relief (though she couldn't have said why she was relieved if her life depended on it) and his too-tight grip released the air from her lungs.  Strong arms wrapped around him in a reciprocal hug.  This too felt a little different as a result of their new experiences.  "Might be we really have grown up, in our own minds and in our folks's," she thought.  "Thanks, Garrick," she murmured.  Normally, she was the steadying influence but she's grateful that he could step into that role when needed.  Marissa stood in that embrace a moment longer, then pulled away.  "Really.  You helped a lot.  Now, I guess I should be getting on home and let Dad know what happened.  I'll catch up with you later. Don't let yourself get into trouble now... too much," she grinned.

"You shouldn't go alone. It's not safe." He was Dead Serious Garrick once more, and the tone of his voice let her know how he felt about her walking the miles home by herself. "I'll go with you, then come on back here."

"And if it ain't safe for me, how unsafe is it for you to come back by yourself?" she asked in reply, shifting to place her hands on her hips and look at him indignantly.  "'Bout the same, I'd say.  So either we get a third person to go with us, or you just stay right there.  And don't you dare say 'I'm a guy, it's different.'  Just... don't."

Garrick clamped his big mouth shut. He had been about to say exactly those words... so he compromised. "I'll walk you home, and make sure your pa don't think you've gone raving, and then sleep there till morning, and we all can come back into town together in the mornin'. Will that work?"

Marissa eyed him warily.  Then she nodded her assent.  "Okay.  That sounds like a good plan.  Better find your dad though and tell him."

Garrick nodded, and headed around the side of the shopfront to the house, making sure Marissa was following. Jordan was in his den, and when Garrick told him he was going to walk Marissa home, and escort her and her family back to town in the morning, Jordan looked concerned, but nodded. "Be careful, son." was all he said, before Garrick was gone to gather a change of clothes. Making sure he had his pack, his sword and dagger, he wasted no time in getting on the road to the Errald farmstead. A road that turned out to be blessedly, comfortably quiet.