Tor felt himself falling down the ladder of life in all the small ways that mattered. A place to sleep and somewhere to call home was something he'd taken for granted. Piled on top of a gruelling schedule with sleep deprivation had him heading like a zombie to the next chore. The narrow walkways would normally fit two regular sized men walking beside each other but Tor wasn't normal sized. Nor was he paying attention to the two normal sized soldiers walking directly torward him. When they realized that Mosse wasn't moving from directly in the middle, they tried to squeeze past him and got doubly bowled over with a shout. Out of his mind with tired, Tor honestly didn't even notice the guys on the ground behind him swearing the air into a blue streak. He covered his mouth as he yawned loudly and saw Rhedara. 

His face brightened and he gave her a nod as he moved to stand next to her to join in their duty. 

"Shannon." 

Rhedara wasn't alerted to Mosse's presence so much from him calling out her name, but more from the guards that were cursing him up and down the wall.

"Mosse," she returned his greeting with a tired smile before leaning over to look past him and at the guards that were now picking themselves off the ground, shooting her companion dirty looks before continuing with their duties, "I see you made some friends," she teased, "I wish I could knock people over like that. It would make walking through crowds so much easier."

She found herself pleased that Mosse would be her patrol partner. She still wasn't sure what he had done to get into trouble...she knew he had ranted at Abbott, but she had been too caught up in her own rage as she cast her curse to hear what he had actually said. She was just glad that she wasn't being punished alone. At least she had someone to talk to who would know exactly where she was coming from.

Once they started walking for their patrol, she would say after a few paces of silence, "So...Lassiter was pretty scary, wasn't she?"

Torsten followed her line of sight and saw the two disgruntled guards stomping off in a huff.
"Sorry about that!" he called out to them, feeling bad about it. Then one of them shot him an age-old, one fingered gesture that said it all. He ducked his head down for a moment before turning back to Rhedara.

"I didn't mean to. I .. just..I'm just big, I guess." He was exhausted beyond belief, but the prospect of spending the day with his partner in crime who just happened to be very pretty, was quite the consolation prize. Now if he could just be a calm rational human being around her, that would be nice.

When she started walking, he shortened his stride to match hers, glad that a leisurely pace was called for at the moment. Tor answered her question fervently.

"Lassiter? Honestly, I thought I was gonna wet myself!" His eyes turned wide just remembering it. "That woman doesn't have to raise her voice or threaten to get respect or fear. She just gives that ... look! She could wear a fluffy pink poodle on her head and no one would dare backtalk her!"

Rhedara didn't bother to hide her laugh when she saw one of the guards flip Mosse the bird, "You tall-ies have it so good though! If I tried to plow through people like that, I'd be the one knocked over. I'd bounce right off them and land on my backside."

"You were scared?" her voice was full of awe, "But you seemed to cool and calm! I felt like I was a mouse and I was cornered by a hungry mountain cat," his imagery of Lassiter wearing a fluffy pink poodle as a hat nearly had her bent over, laughing, "That is an image!" it felt good to laugh, "I thought she was going to melt me with her eyes. We don't need an army, we just need Lassiter with that look she gave us and we'll win," she gave an exaggerated shiver.

When she was finally able to control her laughter, she asked what had been on her mind since the day they both got into trouble, "So...the chicken incident," that was what she was choosing to call it at the moment, "I was a little preoccupied cursing Abbott so I missed it...what did you say to him?"

"You wouldn't have to be tall to make them move Shannon, you'd just have to smile at them." Tor responded with no filter. His face turned crimson with embarrasment, ducking his head down, and cursing himself for being so overtired. He couldn't think straight wtih the exhaustion and he couldn't believe he'd just said that out loud! 

When she'd brought up her astonishment at him being scared, he was surprised. Someone standing like a scared motionless rabbit too frightened to move, seemed like the most obvious tell of seeing someone terrified. It didn't occur to Torsten that height would have any part in how you're perceived and his lawful good nature was a strong part of that. He had zero clue of any intimidation factor on his part.

Rhedara's next question smacked him hard in the face and Tor clamped his mouth down in a hard line, his dark eye snapping with anger.

"You were there. I said things out loud that I should've continued to keep only in my thoughts."

Mosse said her smile would make people move out of her way and she nearly faltered a step. She hadn't expected that from Mosse. It wasn't that she wasn't unaware of her own looks, she had just never considered using them for that purpose...or having someone like Mosse suggest it, and on duty no less! But she didn't realize how much she needed a compliment on her looks until Mosse had given it. She'd been doing difficult, menial tasks for the better part of several days and her fingers were red and chapped from the scrubbing she'd been doing in the kitchens. Even so, when she saw his blush, and a wicked part of her couldn't resist teasing him, "So are you saying you think I'm pretty, Mosse?"

At Mosse's flash of temper, she raised her hands as if to ward away his anger, "Sorry, point taken! That was rude of me," she didn't want to have him angry with her the whole time they were on patrol, so she tried to explain herself, "I was too busy casting a curse so my superior officer would walk and cluck like a chicken, I didn't hear what I heard was a dressing down of godlike proportions. I just wanted to hear it from the man himself, but forget I asked. I shouldn't speak after the amount of sleep I've missed."

Torsten exhaled and covered his mouth at her flirty question, obviously fishing for another compliment. The pretiest girls were already well aware of their charms and he was certain that Rhedara was no exception to it at all. He tilted his head to the side a bit as he looked down at her. Tor didn't know if it was the social tension alone or sleep deprivation talking or not, but he answered,

"You own a mirror Shannon, so you know you're good looking. And yes, yes I do think you're pretty." 

Her next impertinet comment had him start with a small chuckle, then a series of unending tired giggles burst forth that he just couldn't stop. Torsten was so exhausted, so stressed, so fed up, that the laughter bordered on hysteria. Every time he thought he'd stopped, another series of chuckles busted out, time and again. It took him almost ten minutes to finally stop and he wiped the tears from his eyes, noticing that his face hurt from laughing so hard. 

"Seriously? A dressing down of godlike proportions?! No it was a tantrum I held onto for too long." he kept walking as he looked down at Rhedara.
"I said, 'Sir. Well if it isn't DI Dick, Sir.
'Sir. I see in your old age that now you suddenly take all your orders from a younger, lower ranked, 28 year old soldier woman. And that you're so predictable, they can openly tell *you* what to do. Sir. Sir. And when you put your boot under Miss Sliva's chin, you could have simply told her to raise her chin a little to breathe better when doing push ups instead of adding more weight. I find it very strange that you're taking orders from Mrs Winter and letting the soldiers tell you what to do next. Unless *she's* running things now instead of you.... You wouldn't let me speak without permission back then, but I see things have changed. Sir. Sir. If you have any learning ideas of your own that actually teach, I'd be happy to help. Sir."

'I'll probably pay for it the rest of my life but it was still worth it.' he thought vehemently.

Moss didn't adorably squirm like Rhedara had hoped he would, "Oh!" she feigned disappointment, "There I was hoping to get you to get all adorably shy again and you had to be so sweet," she side-eyed him before dropping the act, "But seriously, you don't know how much I needed to hear that this week."

She listened to him recount what he had said to Abbott. Her eyes got wider and wider in astonishment as he recited his rant. When he was done, it was her turn to laugh hysterically. She actually stopped walking and doubled over and laughed all the built of stress that had been building up since she had realized she'd released a curse during a loss of temper.

"Oh that was bad," she said as soon as she got a hold of herself, "You must have been holding that in for YEARS."

It had been a rough time and it looked like they both needed a good laugh.
Mosse nodded, adjusting his stride again for her tiny steps, but tried not to be too obvious about it. He shrugged and replied,

"I guess everyone needs to hear something good about themself once in a while right? Nothing wrong with that. I wasn't trying to be mean or anything." His dark eyes scanned the thickening crowds as people started heading home for lunch breaks. A horse trotted past them, almost running directly into Tor and he flinched away, looking startled. Horses were too unpredictable and jumpy and he did NOT like them at all. 

"I've been holding it back for seven years, so yea." He looked down at her, as if taking her measure. "Have you cursed a lot of people? I mean, you -are- a witch."

Rhedara did notice that Mosse had shortened his stride for her. Normally with people his size, she found herself moving her legs way more, but for once, she was walking at a comfortable pace. She considered informing him that she could keep up with his own pace whether it was true or not--she had a firm belief that if she couldn't keep up with everyone else, she didn't deserve to be there--but she chose not too after some consideration. Going at a slightly slower pace meant it would take a little bit longer until they had to return to Abbott, and that small rebellion gave her some much needed satisfaction.

She saw the horse nearly clip Mosse and moved just in time avoid Mosse bumping into her if he got too close. She turned and followed the horse with her eyes, looking for it's rider, "Geez, some people shouldn't be allowed to have horses if they're going to ride them around like that. What is this, a race track?" she eyed her companion, "You okay?"

When he asked if she'd cursed anyone before, she groaned, "Yes, I am a witch," she confirmed unnecessarily. She should have expected this sort of question, given the subject at hand, "And yes," she sighed, "I've cursed someone out of spite before. But it was just one other person. There was no plural until the thing with Abbott."

She felt the need to elaborate so that he didn't think that she just cursed people with every turn of her temper, "It was in the middle of the mandatory training years...I must have been fifteen or sixteen...I, uh," she swallowed, thinking of the year she had lost her whole known family, "I was going through a tough time, and this noble was being particularly irksome. He liked to tease and make fun of me because I was a commoner," a commoner with a disowned noble for a mother at that, but she didn't tell him that, "and one day I had enough and I decided to punish him," she was quiet for a couple of paces before saying, "...he never did figure out why his socks kept rolling into the toes of his boots."

"Huh? Yea no, people should be able to control their trasnportation better if they're going to go by people so fast."

Tor looked down in surprise at Rhedara's explanation and it seemed to solidify the feeling he already had around her--it was like having Nora back in his life. He'd missed his sister so much and this girl acted so much like her that the comfortable attitude instantly made her like a sister to Torsten. As she explained further, he thought more about his own situation in the debacle. Never in his life had he lost his temper like that or flouted authority in even the slightest way, nor was there even an ounce of rebellion in his personality. But the fact that he stood up for lawful good principles like defending a subordinate against blatant bullying--not training, was the core of Torsten. Throwing a 200 lb guy on a woman's back didn't make her stronger-that was no lesson.

For seven years he'd held onto those angry thoughts and not once had he flared out his temper for himself, nor would he. But he'd at least in his mind, rightfully defended some fellow soldiers from bullying, which was the solid moral code that he lived by. It wasn't a flouting of authority because he hadn't disobeyed any spoken orders. Tor took his punishments, as was his due, but he sincerely doubted that it was anything more than a personal vendetta by Abbot.
It felt like the guy weirdly wanted Torsten to behave rebelliously during punishment, which was just not in his nature to do so.

"I don't know about him. We're both obediently taking our punishments without a single extra word or movement. Abbot is acting like a rebellious soldier is a new thing for him and he's weirdly obsessed over it. You'd think we did something that hundreds of other soldiers before us haven't already done to him over all those years he's taught. Do you think it's your chicken curse that he's taking so personally?I know I'd be mad about that, to be honest. But I did what my moral code led me to do. While I admit it was badly done, I'd still try to defend them if it happened again. But I don't go around bullying people and I don't think you go around cursing every single person you meet." He shrugged and kept walking, too tired to move any faster.

Rhedara listened quiety as Torsten spoke. She agreed to a certain degree...at least when it came to Torsten. It had been a couple of years since she had lost control of her temper like that, and she had given herself away like a fool.

Next time, she promised herself, she would find a good scapegoat.

"I expect that I'll have the short end of the stick for some years," she said, "I think if it had just been you scolding him, it would not have been so bad. But It's probably a lot worse for you because I added to his humiliation so thoroughly," she shrugged, "If it makes you feel better, you'll probably get dismissed from this sooner than I will," she slapped the back of her hand to her forehead in mock distress, "I shall be an old lady before he is through with me!"

"But, going back to what you said about your moral code...sometimes the right thing to do is not what is written down as the law. Sometimes you have to do what you have to and say damn the consequences."

Torsten tillted his head as he listened and they walked. He wasn't sure he agreed with that she'd be the only one. This was the military! 

"You really think that? Just you?" Torsten shook his head as he said, "A lot of it seems more complicated than that. I mean let's face it-class division is a real thing no matter how much they say the military doesn't do that. Nobles will always..." He paused and thought of one strong exception to the rule that was Miss Elodie, so he corrected himself mid-speech..."Most nobles look down on us and when they get a whiff of authority, it goes straight to their head."

Tor wasn't sure about exactly what had happened for Rhedara, but he new the differences were real and sometimes painful. The changing of simply Lord or Lady to Sergeant or Lieutenant was just enough to keep high born thoughts constant. It was a fact of life that all commoners had to deal with. 

His eyebrows rose at her next comment and he instantly denied it.
"No Miss Shannon, I dont believe that for a second. We each let out our tempers equally bad so you didn't make things worse or better for me. What I did, I did of my own free will, so you cant take blame for it. Besides, he'll keep both of us on KP or chores and most likely put it in his will too!" 

A tired chuckle escaped at her whimsy and she reminded him of Nora even more. When she brought up damn the consquences, he wasn't sure how to react to that bold statement. 

"I don't think it's about the consequences. We both got angry and objected to bullying and we reacted badly. Neither of us should have handled it that way. Own your actions, good and bad, all of it. A line was crossed, we both agree, but we really shouldn't have cursed or badmouthed Abbot for it."