Sometime during the quick march to the Grayfax estate, as the group is moving down the road. Alexis moves up and addresses Gustov.
“I feel bad for the poor woman. Surely she was mentally tormented in some way by Barra. You seemed so confident about tying her up… and gagging her. I see now, I hoped there was some of-the-land magics you were in the process of working on here to alleviate her torment. In hindsight this seems like a childish wish.”
“What was your plan?”
Lucius, still mostly covered in blood, perks up and listens closely to any reply Gus might have for Alexis.
Gus looks at Alexis with suspicion and checking for any judgement on his face. When he sees none, he answers:
“She was a danger to herself. She was distressed and there was time to calm her later. I gagged her because I worried she would swallow her tongue to kill herself. Action was needed, not gentleness.”
“What if no one had done anything and she had killed herself. Would you have asked me why I didn’t act?”
“The mistake was ultimately mine. Rushing after Lucas was unreasonably hasty. It got Inga killed, and we could have lost ‘my servant’.”
“Can you give Inga a better funeral than the one she got with the monster? And an even better one when we find where she was eaten on the road [when we go back that way]?”
“Of course! Poor Inga. She certainly didn’t deserve what she got in life. Lucas or should I say Barra is a real prick. Hopefully we get a chance to avenge Inga’s death.”
Alexis nods along.
“Let Red know what you need while we’re still here. And what you’ll need when we’re on our way past her death site.”
“Ok, I don’t think I need anything from here specifically since dirt, stone and wood is everywhere here in Aegir. And I wouldn’t want to have to carry a lot around.”
“Okay, but let Red know what you’ll need here as well, for whatever might help her before we get to her actual… Place of death.”
“Help her before? I was going to make a tombstone, burial mound and add grass on top. What do you mean?”
“Isn’t her soul failing to rest? Seems like something a tombstone isn’t going to fix.”
“It sounds like you are suggesting we need a priest. I don’t think Red will be able to get one. We could check with the nearest town when we get to her current resting place to see if there is a local man of the cloth.”
“You’re the closest we got. You’ll have to fake it until you can get your hands on a full priest… if you think that’s best.”
“Sorry Alexis, I am not the priest you are looking for. I can’t help her soul. I can create a grave, but I don’t know what to do beyond that.”
“That’s where you’re wrong Gus. You are the one with a godly connection I’m looking for. This isn’t the time to dig your heels in and be obstinate. That poor woman needs help, and you’re the best we got.”
“I know you can do this.”