Marachius Ainsley

The People We Should Be

Marachius crossed over the canal on his way back to the Cathedral, his tabard with the symbol of the Cathedral flapping in the wind. He’d been sent to have one of his pauldrons repaired as one of the buckles had broken during the morning’s practice. As he stepped off the bridge, Marc heard voices coming from the path to his right. When he heard someone cry out to stop, the paladin started moving towards the noise.

As he rounded the corner, Marachius found three teenaged boys standing around a much younger one. One of the teenagers held a rocket-car toy up in the air while the younger boy fruitlessly jumped in the air after it.

“What’s going on here?” Marachius said, startling the three teenagers who stopped what they were doing and took a step back.

“Nothing,” the boy holding the toy answered cautiously.

“Is that his?” Marachius asked calmly, stepping next to the teenagers and pointing to the rocket-car.

“No,” the boy holding it answered quickly.

“He said we could play with it,” one of the other teenagers said almost at the same time. His two friends glared at him until he realized his mistake and looked to the ground.

“Right,” Marachius said slowly. Without saying anything else, the paladin reached forward and pulled the toy out of the teenager’s hands.

“Hey,” the teenager said, surprised to have been suddenly relieved of the car. “What are you doing?”

Marachius held one finger out at the teenagers, warning with a gesture to stop, before kneeling down next to the young boy.  

“Is this yours’?” Marachius asked quietly. The boy mumbled something and nodded slightly. “Okay,” the paladin said as he put the toy in his hands. “Why don’t you go sit on that bench for me for a moment.” The boy gave another short nod and then moved to the bench, sitting and hold his toy as he sniffled. Seeing him sit down, Marachius stood up slowly and turned his attention back to the teenagers.

“Not a very nice thing to do, is that?”

“So what?” the teenager who had been holding the toy shot back.

“Be a shame to get into trouble for something like that,” Marachius replied calmly.

“Do you know who my father is?” the boy taunted.

“No. But then, that’s not the question you really should be asking right now.”

“Really? What’s that then?”

“You should be asking me whether I care who your father is. The answer to that one is also no.”

“You…” the teenager started, but was cut off by the paladin.

“You three should be trying to help out here in the city, not picking on people smaller and weaker than you.”

“Yeah, whatever,” one of the other teenagers responded dismissively.

“Really. With so much going on right now, this is the time when we need to stick together the most. Instead, you’re letting them down.”

“Who?” the third teenager asked, earning him glares from his friends again.

“King Varian. You’re not being the kind of people that he hoped we could be. The kind of people that King Anduin needs us to be.”

“Right,” the lead teenager answered with a sneer.

“Right,” Marachius repeated, obviously disappointed with the teenager’s dismissive tone. “Of course, there will always be people who will step up to protect the innocent. To make sure that the good people aren’t hurt by the bad people.” Marachius stood back from the teenager, but continued to stare directly at him. Finally, the boy blinked, looking away from Marachius.

“Let’s go,” the teenager huffed before turning on his heel and heading down the path from the Cathedral, his friends racing to catch up.

Shaking his head, Marachius turned and walked over to the young boy on the bench. Sitting down next to him, he looked the youngster over real quick.

“Are you okay?”

‘Yes,” the boy answered quietly.

“That’s a neat looking car. Does it go really fast?” 

The boy stared at the toy in his lap and nodded.

“It looks like it does. I wish I had a car like that.”

“You do?” the young boy asked, looking tentatively up at the paladin.

“Yep. Maybe one day I’ll be able to get me one and then we can race them. Would that be okay?”

The boy looked back at his toy and nodded again.

“My name’s Marc. I work here at the Cathedral. What’s your name?”

“Ben.”

“Well, Ben. Its probably time for both of us to be getting home,” Marachius said, standing slowly from the bench. “Do you think I could walk with you back home?”

“Okay,” the young boy answered quietly. He slid off the bench, his toy tucked under one arm. 

“You’ll have to show me where to go,” Marachius pointed out. 

Ben stood for a moment, looking like his was thinking over his choices. Finally, the young boy reached up and took hold of the paladin’s hand, leading him back towards the trade district.