After being shoved away, Malin seemed to try harder to make up for it. And after a few days of silence from Eisso and Morgan, Malin apparently decided that it was the perfect time to stalk the two.
Eisso and Morgan were leading the march, as per usual. Lucina was a few paces behind them and the rest of the small army followed.
Relative peace and quiet was once again broken when Malin came up beside Eisso.
"Uh…hey," Malin said. "Look, I know you two don't like me very much—"
"That's probably an understatement," Morgan said, cutting him off.
Malin grunted, but continued, "But I just wanted to apologize. I haven't talked to this much people in over a decade; I forgot that what I choose to spend my time doing may not be…accepted by everyone. And I'm sorry if I offended you or made you uncomfortable or anything else."
"You knew my mother was a touchy subject, yet you continued to ask me things I didn't know," Eisso replied. "Topping it off with a question about my parents' relationship just made it worse. I will admit that I may have overreacted a little bit, but I still don't like you."
"Morgan," Malin said. Morgan looked even more uncomfortable. "You're good with strategies—I know you are. What would you have to gain by outright ignoring me? What would you have to lose?"
"First off," Morgan began, "Don't sound so desperate; it's not helping you case. Second, if you were an enemy—"
"Which I swear I'm not." Malin said defensively.
"—it would be best for us to not get attached," Morgan continued firmly. "As for what we could lose, well…that's a bit of a list."
"See?" Malin said. "You have more to lose when you're avoiding me; a possible ally, a possible friend, trust of your current allies and friends, a second opinion on strategic matters, a guide, and so on. I know my way around a sword and I can use magic; I can fight. I've fought a war before, and I know what I'm doing. Please, let's just get this…mess settled so then we can move on."
Eisso sighed. "Your persistence has been noted, but it's getting annoying," he said. "You were lucky that I even talked to you about my mother. A lot of other people would've been met with silence the moment they asked about her. But I can't let it go."
"And I don't appreciate how you talk about some people," Morgan said. "You counteracted my opposition to writing about living people by saying she was dead. You keep on saying that you're old friends with Mother, but I can't fully believe you."
"That's just uncharacteristic," Malin replied.
"You don't know me well enough to decide when I'm being 'uncharacteristic,'" Morgan said. "And don't start that 'we're the same person' nonsense. Until I hear it from Mother, you're just a stranger who insists on being a persistent idiot."
"Okay, I get it, you hate me," Malin said. "But my points still stand. So, please, say you forgive me and you can go back to hating me after we win this damn war against the damned Grimleal, okay?"
"Fine," Eisso said. "But don't ask about things that I don't know."
"And maybe try to stop writing theories about currently living or once living people without their permission?" Morgan offered. "If you can agree to that…temporary truce."
"I agree to your terms," Malin said. He cheered up significantly.
They fell into silence. Eisso wished that Malin would fade back into the crowd, but he didn't. He just continued walking my Eisso's side.
"Hey, Morgan?" Eisso said, admittedly quieter than he had intended.
"Yes?" Morgan replied.
"Do you think we should check in with Robin?" Eisso asked. "She could help clear up the Malin confusion, and she might be able to provide some advice on how to move a little quicker."
"We could try," Morgan said, "But I'm not sure if she'd get it unless we send the courier ourselves. Not a lot of people would be willing to go to Ylisstol, and while we have plenty of funds to support our cause, we need to save it for buying rations so we don't starve."
"Who do you think would be able to get there and back quickly?" Eisso said.
"Cynthia or Gerome," Morgan replied. "We could send them together, and give them a note to bring to Mother. Then they could either record her reply or ask her to write her down to we could read it with little to no confusion."
Eisso nodded. The two of them continued discussing the topic until it was time to set up camp for the night.