Marachius Ainsley

Concerned Thoughts

Marachius sat at his desk and stared at the papers in his hand even though it was obvious that he wasn’t really seeing them. There were people moving around in the room. Other paladins spoke quietly as they moved in and out. But Marachius never seemed to notice.

“What’s up, Marc?”

The young paladin jerked his head up and looked at the hand that had just slapped him on the shoulder. Standing next to him was his squad leader, looking with a slight grin.

“Nothing, Kiernan. Just looking over the orders for the week.”

“You’ve been looking over them for the last few minutes. How much do you remember?”

“Oh.. uhh.. Yeah, sorry about that. Guess I’m a bit distracted.”

“Kind of what I figured.”

“Sorry, boss.”

“It’s okay, Marc.” Kiernan took his hand off Marachius’ shoulder and leaned to the side. Grabbing a chair from the neighboring desk, he pulled it over and sat down. “You going to be okay?”

“Yeah, I’ll be fine.”

“Still worried about your friend?”

“Reggy. Not really. I mean, I know she’s okay.”

“Still haven’t heard from her?”

“Her friends let me know. They said she needed time to herself. And I can accept that.”

“But you’re still worried.”

“Maybe a little bit.”

“Tell you what, Marc. I know what we need to do. Once we get off duty, we’ll head over to this bar I found.”

“I don’t know..”

“This is exactly what we need. A night to blow off some steam. I’ll grab the others and we’ll all go tonight.|

“| don’t..”

“Too late, Marc,” Kiernan interrupted. Standing up, he slapped Marc’s shoulder again. “Make sure you’re ready.” 

“But,” Marachius started to say but then stopped as he watched the other paladin turn and walk out of the room. Sighing, Marachius shook his head and slumped in his chair slightly. “What just happened?”