Relaxing on the road with the Band

[The Don]

At first the stay with the Tinkers was nice, but their way of life tiring to a veteran soldier. They seemed to pity him for his way of life. He had given up wearing his sword around them, but that didn't seem to lessen their judgement of him. He found out later it was the scars, the largest being his missing left hand. He tried to explain that it was the doing of a Darkfriend assassin, and if he didn't kill him then many more would have died, but they only lectured him about their bloody Way of the Leaf. Even trying to explain he had also protected these lands by killing Trollocs and Myrddraal, but their Way of the flaming Leaf even discredited those achievements. He had given up trying to explain himself to the bloody flaming Tinkers and kept away from them as much as possible. As a senior officer, he was obligated to meet with their leaders when Calder required him to, but he kept his interactions to official business only. He would do his duty because it was his bloody duty, but he didn't have to like it.

He had taken to eating and sleeping at the edge of camp, usually by himself, while the rest were dancing and singing with the Tinkers. He was rarely left alone though. Tinkers weren't exactly keen on drinking and gambling, they didn't seem to need either, but the Band was always up for one or the other... usually both. He leaned back onto a fallen tree and lit his pipe, took a swig of ale, and idly tossed his dice onto the ground.