Shafir waited outside at the main gate of the city. Dawn had just broken and his horse nudged at him affectionately. He wasn't good around people, but it seemed animals liked him a fair bit, so that was a win. If animals detested him, then he would assume his curse was one that made everyone and everything hate him. Shafir patted the horse's nose, and she nipped at his ponytail. It was a bad habit she had, trying to eat anything and everything in sight. He had fed her so much when she was still just a pony that he had to have the stable boys put her on a diet. The doors to the city gate opened up once more, and Eliqinor came walking through with his own steed beside him. 

Unlike what most might envision the golden captain to have as a horse, he was much more meek-looking. The dark mane and dark patterns that dappled its side and rump were beautiful, but for as long as Shafir could remember, he never took this horse with him on missions, as it was rather skittish. When they were youths, the stallion was hard to get a reign on, often running off and being nervous. At some point, Eliqinor had eased its nervousness, and it took a liking to him. 

His horse nudged Shafir once more before he let go of her reign. She trotted over to where Eliqinor now stood near the closed doors. He was fixing his bags more tightly to the saddle and was nudged by Shafir's mare. When Eliqinor looked back to pat on the horse's nose, she grabbed a bit of his hair and began checking. Shafir watched as Eliqinor had to wrangle his hair from her mouth without angering her. It was entertaining to watch the two interact. 

"Nabu!" Shafir called to the tanned mare, and she turned around, letting go of Eliqinor's hair. Did Shafir find the mare being attracted to Eliqinor's for its uncanny similarity to hay funny? Yes. He still remembered the first time she did that and Shafir laughed for weeks. Even treating her to her favorite snacks as a reward for annoying his captain. When she trotted up in front of Shafir in all her glory, he pulled an apple from his satchel and handed it to her. Once again, he rewarded her for her service. 

"I apologize for being late. I had some business to attend to," Eliqinor said as he pulled himself up onto his horse. What matters would Eliqinor need to attend to at this time of the day? The sun had barely risen, but Eliqinor was a workaholic, like always. Shafir patted Nabu's muzzle one more time before sticking his foot in the stirrup and pulling himself up. He shifted until he was comfortable and tapped the horse's side with his foot. The ride would be a long one and would take at least a few days to get to the location. He was concerned that the scene would be so close to the city itself. The dwindling supply of game was the only issue that the towns were affected by, the orc cleaning out most large and small animals. The Empress kindly compensated the town's people with fresh meat and plenty of coins until the issue was resolved. 

"What was so important that you had to be late for the mission?" Shafir asked as Eliqinor quickly rode up beside him. The horses walked at a slow gait as it was still early and they never wanted to overwork the beasts. Eliqinor didn't answer right away, probably thinking about how to twist the situation so as not to tell Shafir anything. Of course, Eliqinor didn't trust him, so he was used to this happening. 

"Some things of importance had to be addressed. I put someone in charge of it for the time being while we are gone," Eliqinor stated matter-of-factly, without explaining it further. It was honestly more of an explanation than he was expecting. Shafir thought Eliqinor would just brush it off and not answer him at all. Shafir went to open his mouth to speak when he was interrupted. "Valneiros is the one in charge of the project."