Jisoo's gloves had been made of the finest leather, soft and supple but strong and protective. Now they were covered in blood stains that he knew he could never get out, so with a sigh, he tucked them into his saddlebag with the intent to see if any of the soldiers wanted them. Then he finished removing the saddle from his mare and handed it off to a nearby servant. As he took up a brush to begin to groom his mare, he felt eyes on him, and looked up to see Jeonghan watching him.

Curiousity was written all over the immortal's features, in the downward quirk of his thin lips and the tiny crease between his thick brows, but mainly in the almond shaped eyes that were focused on Jisoo's hands. "You are surprising, Squirrel," he said slowly.

"How so?" After a day of moving pieces of dead animals around and checking them closely for clues as to their demise, Jisoo was too spent to argue against the nickname. His hands moved in the familiar rythym of grooming, the one holding the brush sliding down his horse's body, followed closely by the other, holding a rag to smooth her hair down. It was a comfortable routine, relaxing even, but from the way Jeonghan watched him, it was totally foreign to the immortal.

It took Jeonghan a long time to respond, his slender hands fluttering as if he were trying to grasp the words out of thin air. Much as how Jisoo had seen him grasp magic, though that thought came unbidden. "You're just... different than I expected a human lordling to be, I guess."

Dropping the brush and rag into a bucket, Jisoo picked it up and stepped out of his horse's stall, latching the gate behind him before turning to the immortal. "And how did you expect me to be? Pampered and silly, with a love of money and power and unwilling to get my hands dirty?" The guilty look on Jeonghan's face said that he was too close to the truth, and Jisoo shook his head and gave a huff of frustration. "That idea might be more similar in other holdings, but not here. The Marches aren't easy lands, nor are they rich lands. The lords of the Marches are warriors, always have been and always will be; if something needs to be done, it is the Marcher Lord's duty to set the example for his men. It's really that simple."

Jeonghan cocked his head to the side as he studied Jisoo, a tiny smile forming over his thin lips. "Admirable," he finally said, the word catching Jisoo by surprise. He had more been expecting disbelief or something about how lords were meant to rule, not serve, or whatever it was that Namjoo tended to spew about. She was too set in the ways of the Reaches, where lords told their people what to do and never dirtied their own hands, and so when Jeonghan's word broke through his realization, he turned to give the immortal a surprised look.

He was met only with a shrug, though he was beginning to realize that Jeonghan tended to do that a lot. "I have never seen a ruler work alongside his men as you and your father did today," he admitted slowly, then motioned to Jisoo's side. "May I walk with you?"

"Um," Jisoo began to tell him that he was just heading to his rooms, but then Jeonghan glanced up at him, almost shyly meeting his eyes, and Jisoo's heart missed a beat. Oh hells, he was gorgeous. How had he not realized it before? "Yes, of course," he said, his mouth suddenly dry.

As they fell into step beside one another, he asked the safest question that he could think of, anything to keep himself from calling the other beautiful. "So am I the first lordling you have met? Aren't you... um... uh..." How to call one ancient without offending?

Jeonghan snickered, the sound shocking from a being so poised, but the glee in his eyes almost made Jisoo join in with the mirth. "I am not very old at all, Jisoo. Many Children would still consider me a babe, unfortunately. I am only forty!"

Only... "Wow."

Jeonghan's wry glance at his face forced him to elaborate. "I mean, um, yes, you're much younger than I thought," he stuttered hoping that he didn't offend inadvertantly. Apparently he hadn't, because Jeonghan once again shrugged and nodded.

"Yes, well, that's why Honored Heechul insisted on bringing me along. I am younger and so might be able to understand you humans a bit better than he can, while he can also teach me about you all as we travel so that I can learn more of your customs." Yet another shrug. "Besides that, he is my instructor in the art, and so I am bound to him for another three years."

"Magic, you mean," Jisoo said. He could still see them in his mind, the two immortals standing above the valley of the dead, their hands raised and their faces serene as they murmured w