When Brom moved her hands away from the reigns and told her to dry her eyes, Niah took in a deep, shuddering breath and pressed her palms over her eyes for a moment. He was right, she would need to see clearly. Not just in the physical sense, either. She had to remove all traces of panic from her mind, otherwise it would blind her. If that happened she may as well impale herself on her own sword and save the Enemy some effort. Another deep breath, then another, and she lowered her hands.<br/><br/>Tears were drying on her cheeks, but she was done crying. She still shook like a leaf, though. It was impossible to stop - there was just too much going on inside her. It felt like an entire carnival was taking place in her stomach alone, speaking nothing of the cacophony in her mind. A huge rush of gratefulness washed over her when she saw that Brom had fixed her problem for her. She took the reigns from him and stood still for a moment to examine his face - his smile and the hardness of his eyes above it.<br/><br/>He was a brave, loyal man. He would give his life for her in a heartbeat, she knew that. And as things stood chances were very good that he would need to do that.<br/><br/>"You're coming with me onto that ship," she told him firmly and place a hand on his forearm as if to use it to help her into the saddle. She paused, though. "You're not leaving my side." Then she nodded briefly as if in respect and placed a quick peck on his scruffy cheek. It was over in the blink of an eye, then she was on Steben and turning him around to face the road into town. "Let's go!"<br/><br/>The horse reared up on his back legs and kicked at the air for a moment, then crashed back down and leapt into motion.