“You must be Mother Frère.” Ser Achart spoke in an even tone, dragging her one hazel eye towards me as if through a pool of molasses. 

The other, unwaveringly committed to her noble occupation, remained focused on Fay and the imposing form of Wilkes. This must be why they called her the Everwatcher.

“Y-Yes.” I responded softly, “You must be Ser Achart. I have heard tales of your bravery.”

With a calculated turn of the head, she looked at me and bowed ever so slightly but did not otherwise acknowledge my praise. Fay hissed something in what I recognized to be a lizard language and spat across the table at her. 

“Mind your manners!” A taller, brown-haired man spoke up from behind Ser Achart, “You are in the presence—!”

Fay slammed her fist into the table, making it groan painfully upon impact. “Quiet, you glorified tagalong, or I’ll tear your throat out!”

I flinched at the terrifying way her voice itched its way out from behind her teeth, though Ser Achart seemed unfazed by it. However, the brown-haired man I now gathered to be Sartor clearly didn’t share her stoicism. He shrank back, fully feeling the weight of Fay’s threat. 

“Introduce yourself.” Ser Achart commanded as if nothing of note had occurred.

“Fuck off. If you don’t already know who I am, then you shouldn’t be standing here.” Fay quipped back angrily.

The knight delivered her a long look before gripping the hilt of her blade and squaring her shoulders but offering no rebuttal. In response, Wilkes caught the compass he’d been flipping in his hand with a threatening finality, a low growl entering the air around us.

“Sh-Shall we begin?” I suggested nervously, “Th-There is much to do…”

“Aye, if’n ye’s be done flirtin’ we can start on.” Axtapor said with a frown as he unrolled a long map across the table before us. 

Fay leaned over the table, spreading her hands eagerly over the map, eyes lighting with wild promise. “Shut your mouth now. The adults are talking.”

He frowned, but before he could get a word in, Ser Achart’s voice came through, accompanied by the tick-tock of her rosary. “This is a quiet time.”

I tossed Axtapor a sympathetic glance that he met with an already weary-looking one. Interesting wouldn’t even begin to describe our time together.

“L-Let’s begin.”