Shy wound tighter when Esfelt stood. She didn't know what to make of what he said, when he'd been so dismissive outside. Was it that he'd liked how she'd taken Namer to the face? Shy wouldn't have known what to make of that either. She didn't like when he came near. Shy was never totally certain when men came near. She didn't know what would let them see through her modest disguise. At some point in her youth, being confused for a young male would have hurt her ego. Now it was her safe harbor. "Marius is a good man. I look up to him." Shy said, stiff but direct. Her green eyes followed the Silverum knight, cornered beast. Both predators and prey did such things. It seemed like Shy could have been either.<br/><br/>"I don't believe favoritism should come into play, regarding my capabilities... Ser." Shy said. She stood straighter then, that low stance that said she thought he might come at her for a fight shifted. Hands behind her back, taller because she wouldn't let her worth be questioned. She'd fought hard to prove herself here. And then he loomed over her. It startled her, and Shy bit the inside of her cheek to keep from flinching. She remained steady. "Ser?" Shy said, slowly. She'd nearly missed what he said. "I..." she took a deep breath, "I won't disappoint you." Numb, because the interaction was bewildering and her swollen face gave no support to his seemingly sudden change of heart. "Please allow me to join your company."<br/><br/>She blinked at him, her surprise showing plainly then. Was he joking, she wondered, about her needing to bathe? She hadn't known any of the local guards to feel strongly on the subject, and she'd met more than a few knights who stewed rank in their plate. His expression did not seem to imply any humor. Rather, he seemed frustrated. She studied him for a moment. "Ah, yes, Ser. I apologize if my scent is offensive. I was training this morning." She said at last. He stepped back, and she took his wave as dismissal. A short bow,  and she turned on heel to go. Her steps died before she'd made it out of the tent flap. "Yes, Ser." She said. She couldn't imagine why he'd want her to come back, but it was possible this sort of tidiness was a standard of Silverum's men. He was a frightening sort of knight, with a reputation for bloodshed, not clean hair and shining boots. She touched her cheek, where Namer's guard had left it's blue and red mark.<br/><br/>"I will report back."<br/><br/>Shy was quick to slip off into the woods, checking over her shoulder before she let the shadows swallow her whole. She moved through the trees rapidly. She'd been certain nobody had watched her go, but she wove through the thick brush like she was trying to lose someone. Perhaps Esfelt had lingered with her.<br/><br/>When she had bathed, she returned to the barracks to put her odd-pieced armor neatly away. Shy pulled an extra tunic over her wet mop of hair before she left to find Ser Silverum again. Marius saw her enter and leave, but said nothing. He did not know what to say to the pretty boy with the swollen cheek. He was certain Esfelt Silverum would take Shy now, and he thought, for a moment, that he would regret seeing Shy go. Marius reminded himself that Shy had come to him with the intention of leaving and that Esfelt was a means to do that. With glory. Marius tried not to think that such glory could just as easily come in death as in personal victory.<br/><br/>Shy stepped back into Esfelt's large tent, careful and straightening out her tunics. She'd taken the second as a precaution in addition to her binding, but she was still uneasy as she stood before Silverum. Shy hadn't felt eyes on her that way since she'd taken her brother's name. Hungry stares. She had not realized knights could see their men like pieces of meat, but that was the unsettling sensation she had in this space. Vessels to dull swords. "I have returned, Ser." She said, and stood straight for inspection with the scent of forest-pool water lingering on her skin and the vague taste of an unknown anxiety on her tongue.