Gerard furrowed his brow as he tried to make out the meaning of her gestures. First she pointed to where he had been, held her arms up, and swung downwards. Was that supposed to mean she was willing to protect the wagon's shipment? Then the next set of motions: pointing towards herself before making another swing towards the ground. The nokken scratched his head letting out a drawn out sigh. What was that supposed to mean? Was she trying to convey her capability to defend herself? If only she could speak, then perhaps he could have another means to confirm what the other understood from his prior questions.

He cleared his mind before contemplating how to do this. Looking at the beast woman, he spoke slowly and clearly. "So…from what you're telling me, you're saying you are willing to protect the casks?" He pointed at her, then the barrels, then nodded with a questioning look on his face as if to ask if that was what she had meant. He paired another set of motions with his words to explain his requests further. "We will be travelling a long way before we reach our destination. When we arrive, then I will pay you for your work." Gerard tried a different approach this time, using the water lying around to form shapes from them. His first set of shapes: a miniature of the wagon and some figures of people. The people went inside the wagon and it began to move for a while before stopping. He then changed the shapes so there was only a wagon and a sign post shaped like an arrow. The wagon stopped at the sign, and the people came out. The last set of shapes were more obvious: he wove shapes resembling himself and Eden where he was giving her an item as payment.

A picture was worth a thousand words, right? Surely this would be better than playing charades and taking shots in the wind on what the other was implying. When he was done using the water as puppets, it returned to the puddle it had came from.

Her eyes moved to watched the rising water as they had taken shape. It was the same ability Rhea had shown her, but instead of taking what she drew, he used them to form miniatures of what he tried to talk about. With them before her, she watched him perform a bit of a skit with the water mannequins as he tried to portray his offer once more. It was clear both of them were having trouble trying to talk to each other, but the main thing was he needed help and would give her something for it.

Walking back to the campfire, she took the massive weapon in hand, uprooting it off of the earth with ease before resting it on her shoulder before heading towards the man, pausing a bit before holding her empty hand out, as if offering a handshake. In team fights, it was a sign she grew accustomed to to being marked as a team, even if it was only more the moment. She had seen others do the same action done with others, but never in a situation she was in, even as far as separating after such action was performed. Still, she felt doing this felt appropriate.

Whether he accepted the offer of her hand or not, she would soon follow up with turning at the man with the sword and pointing at him with a bit of a head tilt. She had never seen a sword be used as a decoration piece like that…

With bated breath Gerard analyzed her response. It seemed his new strategy was proving to be much more effective than meager attempts at sign language. The beast woman walked back to her steel pillar of a weapon and hefted it onto her shoulder like it was a bamboo pole before coming back. She then held out her hand to him, poised for a handshake. He went out on a limb and assumed she was accepting his proposal, and shook her hand to seal the deal. With the mutual agreement settled, she turned to poor Grangier who was taking a well-deserved rest in the back of the wagon and gave a questioning look. He grimaced as he followed where her hand was pointing. Oh yes…that blade was still embedded in the poor man's back. In hindsight, he should have invested in a set of armor for the wagon driver before leaving.

"Oh that. Ah…he's fine–for now I think. Please don't touch it, or he'll die." Gerard still felt guilty for indirectly causing this situation. If he had decided to rain down hail instead of getting involved physically, they'd both be riding towards the festival grounds. He'd learned from his lesson this time: when dealing with enemies, overwhelm and subjugate them without quarter in the shortest time possible. In times like these, showing mercy was not an advantage. He motioned to her that the man lying down was fine–relatively speaking, and not to worry about it. He then made short work of cleaning up the campsite and prepared to take the reins at the front of the wagon. They were burning daylight standing around instead of moving on the road. With the horses bridled and prepared, he called from behind to Eden. "We're leaving now! Take a seat in the back and make yourself comfortable. It's going to be a long ride." The bard waited until she and her massive weapon were on board before whipping the reins, stirring the horses into a fast gallop.

The ride was mostly uneventful as the wagon's wheels rolled over the bumpy pastures. If they had set out shortly after daybreak, it was now nearing noon. The sun was high in the sky as the harsher afternoon rays were beginning to beat down on Gerard as he drove them forward. He was starting to feel some fatigue, but they weren't the only ones out in the hills and dales today. In the distance there was the pounding of hoofbeats  as individual horses mounted with riders were approaching. Something about them didn't seem right, and when an arrow whizzed by him his worst fears were realized–more highwaymen. From the back of the wagon Eden would have a clear view of the encroaching chestnut stallions with their riders bearing bows and blades. There were three pursuers on their tail: two brandishing blades and one armed with a shortbow. The twang of an arrow flying past preceded each shot, and lucky for them the archer had lousy aim. But if the others managed to force them to slow down, then the brigands' poor marksmanship wouldn't matter.

Pushing the horses to run faster, a cold sweat was breaking out on his back as Gerard couldn't take his mind off of the precious liquid cargo in the wagon's storage area. If one of those arrowheads made a puncture in the barrels…no he needed to stop thinking like that. Should he continue down that train of thought he'd be jinxing himself. The barrels were thick-hulled, surely they wouldn't be able to pierce through the walls of the containers. Sweat was beginning to drip from his brow as the noonday sun and his growing anxiety were placing demands on his peace of mind. He'd have to leave the robbers to the beastkin woman, as much as it put him in unease.

There was a bit of a bump when Eden rested her weapon into the back of the cart before sitting back there herself, one leg dangling over the edge as the other pulled close her her stomach, arm resting upon it and eyes staring back as the cart was pushed forward by the strength of the horses. The ride was a simple one, filled with the echoes of the horses' gallop and the rotation of the wheel, and yet no words were spoken between any of them. Eden had none to give out in the first place, and the man in the back had a sword in him, and thus was sleeping to try to hide the pain. This gave the men driving the carriage no one to really converse with to kill time.

However, as time passed, a distant figure started to form on their tail. Her eyes grew sharper, slitting as she took focus on the up-comers. Three men on horseback, it had seemed. The one on the back sat differently as well. But why? It was not before she saw the arrow did she feel the intent. They were like the ones from before. It seemed the man up front understood this as well, as the crack of the reigns encouraged the horses up front to speed up.

Taking her weapon in hand once more, her eyes locked onto the chasers as she worked on getting a footing to stand up before leaping from the back, lighting her small load off of them all while slamming her weapon down into the dirt road, sending a plume of smoke to cast a wall between them, enough dust to prevent the archer from being any more accurate as well as placing her into an attack position as she dashed forward, aiming to scare the horses enough to throw off their riders as her beast-like intent radiated from her.

Gerard was driving the horses as hard as he could, when he heard a loud thud of something crashing into the ground behind him. He gritted his teeth and cursed under his breath. If Grangier wasn't injured, he'd be yelling at him to tell him what was going on back there. The shifting of the wagon alerted him that it was lighter, which meant his newly-hired guard wasn't on board. Unable to see behind, he kept going forward. He and the injured wagon driver were the most vulnerable right now, so his priority was getting them out of harm's way. Once the beast woman dealt with the highwaymen he would bring the wagon back around to pick her up.

Eden's act of creating a natural smokescreen blocked off whatever view the bandits' archer had. And her presence spooked the horses as intended, sending them rearing up on their hind legs. One of the men was thrown off in his attempts to regain control of his horse, while the other two were barely hanging on. The other blade-brandishing one of the three attempted to make a swing at her head with his broadsword, while the other two were unable to fight back for the time being. The man who had fallen off his horse was nearly trampled by his own mount as the animals were in a fit of panic. "Bleedin' wench!" One of them shouted over the frantic whinnying of the horses. The horse missing its rider bolted, fleeing into the highlands while the archer finally regained full control over his steed. Squinting out from below his bandanna, he notched an arrow to his shortbow and aimed at Eden, planning to shoot her at short range. The whizzing and twang of the bowstring told the tiger-kin woman that danger was coming her way.

The frantic panic of the horses made it difficult for the mounted swordsman to swing properly, as the buck threw the swing way too high, causing the blade's edge to swing above her. It was enough to force them to focus on calming down their mounts before even proceeding further upon their assaults. When the one horse that got free bolted, Eden was not afraid to abandon her weapon and leap in and onto the floored bandit before he could get up, throwing her weight into his ribs before striking him with a closed fist towards the face.

That was when the sound of the twang rang forth, but no time at such a short distance to dodge. Instead, it had found its way home into her shoulder, piercing into her and filling her with pain. However, it was nothing she was not used to. She was so used to adrenaline and survival instincts numbing it away, it was as if she did not even flinch from the impact. Instead, she merely looked towards the two with her sharp eyes staring them down.

However, it was more like she stared at the horses than their riders. It was an odd sensation, but it.. almost felt like a type of kinship between them. A feeling of understanding. She wanted them to panic more, increasing her presence known to them. Panic… throw off their riders before fleeing and joining the one that had already left. She had no intent on chasing them, just who they had on them.

And it seemed like… the horses complied! Suddenly neighing wildly, they went back into bucking wildly, ignoring any effort the riders placed into calming them down until they were soon tossed off as well, quick to abandon their owners, Eden quick to assault the archer in the same fashion as before, before turning her attention over to the final swordsman. Her eyes locked onto his, as if challenging him to dare fight… or flee for his life!

With two of the three men down, the last remaining challenger lunged at her with spite and intent to kill. Again he had his broadsword swinging, with a dagger in his other hand. The horses  were almost out of sight on the horizon, while the broken and bloodied forms of the bandit's cohorts were lying on the ground. The man yelled, eyes filled with rage. If it hadn't been for this beastly woman, they would've had the wagon surrounded and sacked its contents for the taking. Now they were suffering losses that would take months to recover, and it was all her fault! His strikes were wild, frenzied. It didn't matter where the blade hit as long as it cut into her. That'd show that animal of a wench to get in the way between him and his prize. Everyone else who did ended up biting the dust.

Bringing the wagon back in a wide circle, Gerard strained his eyes as they adjusted from being out of the noonday sun. He saw two figures standing on the highlands, and he guessed the smaller one was his hired hand. Pulling the reins on the horses he slowed them to a quick gallop. If he brought the wagon in nice and slow, maybe by the time he was there she'd be done with business. From the back Grangier groaned, which made him realize he probably sent the man pushed up against the side of the cart when he made that wide turn. Yelling an apology to the man in back, he returned his focus to the fight between the last remaining armed highwayman and Eden. She should have no trouble dispatching him as she had done with the others, so Gerard wasn't too concerned about her. 

It was clear this man had lost all sense of sanity when left alone. Now driven mad with anger, his swings were suddenly wild, unfocused. His eyes screamed mad as his aim went lost in madness. Even in the arena did gladiators know not to lose their cool. Not only did it reflect on a bad "performance" for those around, but it left them obvious and open, the tigerkin using this to her advantage with carefully guided back steps as she drew him over to her weapon (letting some cuts in to fuel his mad-driven desires) before using the thick metal to block his next swing.

The sound of metal cracking echoed in the area as the sword bounced back, nearly snapped in two from swinging at such a thick, hard object before using the new opening made to ram the beam into his chest, pushing him back and down to the ground. Him being out of breath would be the least of his worries, as getting something like that rammed in could easily break ribs. She even pointed the weapon at his downed body as a threat to what may occur if he tried something like that again before resting the thick steel on her shoulder, turning around and walking back towards the road where she saw the cart parked.

At the very least, she gave the driver a wave to show she was doing alright before pulling the arrow out of her shoulder.

Keeping his eyes on the fight, he grimaced when he saw the woman take a swing with that enormous weapon of hers, sending the man flying onto the ground like a ragdoll. As the wheels clattered to a stop, Gerard had pulled it up a few meters away from her. Glancing at the aftermath, he turned to the beast woman and motioned to the back of the wagon. "…Hm. Very good. Seems you've come out in one piece. If you're done, then seat yourself in the back. We've only gone halfway through our projected route. Now at least half an hour's been wasted all thanks to those bloody scoundrels." Towards the back the wearied voice of the injured wagon driver inquired what had just happened. "It's nothing, Grangier. Just bandits. Our new hired hand cleaned them all up quite nicely. Sorry for the sudden banked turn there. We'll be at the fair grounds before you know it–just sleep." 

Once Eden was on board, they continued on. As the sun was starting to set into early dusk, Gerard saw flags on the horizon. Slowing the horses to a canter, he shaded his eyes and strained his sight to make out the banners. At the checkered red and yellow flapping in the wind, he finally heaved a sigh of relief. All this time he had been keeping a straight face, refusing to show any anxiety to betray his underlying concerns. They had made it. Their destination came into view as the sounds of music and merriment were growing louder as the wagon approached. A large makeshift wooden archway lined with streamers and flags of red and saffron yellow welcomed the three to the Ignius Food and Wine Festival. Bringing the horses to a halt. He stepped down as people came to receive them. "I'm here to contribute to the festivities. Aged Shiraz and hard apple cider, three barrels each." Straight away they started heading to the back of the wagon when he remembered Eden was still there guarding the casks. 

"Hold it! One more thing!" He shouted, running after the men. They stopped and turned. "What is it?" A burly, swarthy looking man asked crossing his arms. Lowering his voice, he continued in a calmer tone. "On the way my driver was injured by bandits. Could you bring him to a healer first? He still has a blade in him." Moving aside the back tarp, he showed Grangier. "Not to worry, we'll make sure he's cared for." One of the other men assured. The wagon driver was taken away on a stretcher while he went to see Eden. Taking out a small handful of silver crescents, he gave them to her. "Your payment, for keeping the wagon safe back there. I know it's not much, but as an added bonus–you're free to eat and drink as much as you want from the tents around here." He pointed to the various tents where tables of food prepared for the attendees were laden with the best of the participants' stock.

Some of the tents had chefs invited to the event preparing dishes using the ingredients brought to the festival. There were casks of ale and strong drink arranged by entry, where connoisseurs tasted them as they were introduced to the brewers and vintners. Later the men came to move the six barrels in the wagon cart to where the rest of the alcohol brought for the festivities were being kept, where they were stacked and laid on their side and had a metal spigot installed into barrel lid. Small signs were affixed to each barrel, labeling their contents and the name of their maker for those who were interested. Clean cups were placed upside-down on a small table beside the casks for those who wished to take a drink. When he was done watching the porters like a hawk as they moved his precious barrels, Gerard took a glass in hand and began to walk down the rows of pitched tents as the savory and sweet aromas of delicacies filled the air. He wasn't taking any strong drinks just yet, starting off with a non-alcoholic fruit punch. Finally he could relax for a few days until it was over. Asking around, he learned the wine judging would be taking place tomorrow. It was a good thing too, as he would need time to unwind from the stress of the past two days. As he surveyed this year's spread, he wondered what his temporary bodyguard was doing.

Eden's eyes watched carefully as the crew swarmed around the cart, her hand moving over back to her weapon. However, she paused when she noticed the other man talking with the others casually. Though her eyes followed them carefully, she watched the team unload the giant barrels while also pulling the driver into a stretcher. It seemed they were in a safe haven. This fact was cemented when the man came to her and placed some silver plates into her hands. She eyed them curiously, flipping one in her hand as she examined the design upon them, questioning why she was given such a token. She event went as far as to bite it, but the pain in her fangs only helped confirm they were not edible. Whatever they were, they had some importance, and thus she slipped them into one of the pockets that were sewed into the cloth she wore.

As the driver left, one of the other staff went over to address the woman, noting the cuts and puncture wound that littered her body and the dried up blood from them. "Excuse me," she said, drawing in the tigerkin's attention, "but we would like to take care of your injuries as well. May you please follow me to the medical center?" There was a brief pause before nodding, taking the handle of her weapon in hand before lifting it up. "No, no no!" the staff member suddenly exclaimed. "I am sorry, but we would rather prefer you not to carry your weapon around here. We are here to have fun, not duel. Please, leave it with the cart. I will assure you it will be safe with our staff watching it." While she was hesitant upon the idea of leaving behind her name, she nodded before setting it back down and getting out, joining her to get cleaned and patched up.

With the clerical magic sealing up the cuts, the main issue was the arrow wound on her shoulder, currently patched up with a wrapping and magic to numb down the pain before being sent into the fair to enjoy herself and eat, getting herself drawn towards the smell of cooking meat. "Why hello, miss!" the chef called out as she wandered towards what her nose caught the most: steak. "What will it be?" Her answer was nothing more than a simple point, though the chef did not question it. "Got it. I'll give you some of our brewer's ale and call it a meal. After all, it was brewed to be enjoyed with my meals, after all."

It was nothing but a short moment until she had a plate of steak, a mug of ale, and silverware in front of her, though the thought of courtesy never dropped into her mind as she grabbed the meat by hand and tore through it ruthlessly. This only made the chef laugh. "Either my steak is that good, or you were being starved on the trip here!" he told her, though her mind was elsewhere, hand taking the drink before her and starting to drink it down.

However, what filled her mouth made her eyes grow wide and choked, coughing most of it up. What… what was that fire in her throat?! Her tail was raised high as she found herself glaring at her cup, staring it down as if it was threatening her as the man who hired her came to visit…