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Big Smooth (talk | contribs) m (Text replacement - "Tvalkv" to "Tvlakv") |
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Several days later, as the group was settling into camp for the evening, Shallan used Pattern to spy on Tvlakv and his other mercenary, [[Tag]]. Unsettled by their plans to hold her hostage in exchange for payment, Shallan approached Tvlakv to reiterate her promised payment and hint that she was aware of his schemes. Punctuating their exchange with an subtle Lightweaving, Shallan turned and headed back towards her carriage as Bluth returned from scouting the area with a call to put out the fire. He reported bandits in the vicinity, prompting the group to pack up their things and travel further through the night. As they continued riding the following day, Shallan began a new sketchbook with drawings of the santhid, local plant life, and Bluth in order to ease her nervousness. The bandits were spotted following, but eventually they found smoke in the distance ahead of them. Shallan pushed
Shallan emerged from the carriage just as they moved near enough to determine that the caravan ahead was under attack. As they approached while the sun set, they encountered [[Tyn]]--the head of the new caravan's guard--who explained that the bandits who attacked them were still nearby. As this group began to attack again, Shallan turned with Bluth to confront the bandits following behind. Finding these men to be deserters from the Shattered Plains, Shallan appealed to their sense of honor and made promises of forgiven debts and pardons. She succeeded in convincing them, again with a Lightweaving to aid her, and these men charged off to join the battle. They proved victorious, but not without cost. Shallan found Bluth dead, among dozens of his comrades. He was however clutching the sketch Shallan had drawn of him earlier in the day, indicating that Bluth was inspired by Shallan's sketch to uphold a sense of honor that Bluth originally assumed he had abandoned, resulting in a surprising amount of dead bandits surrounding Bluth's body in the aftermath of the battle. It is assumed that the inspiration of honor from Shallan's sketch inspired Bluth to risk everything, including his own life, for the chance of becoming the person he saw as himself in Shallan's sketch. Shallan then spoke with the caravan's owner, [[Macob]], and they agreed to accompany one another to the warcamps at the Shattered Plains. Shallan then seized Tvlakv's slaves, claiming them as payment in exchange for saving his life. She purchased his wagons as well, despite his protests which were stifled by Shallan's tentative ownership of her own new band of mercenaries.{{book ref|sa2|20}}{{book ref|sa2|21}}
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