Enger

Enger turned, his gravelly voice growling out a slight snarl. The well-meaning man coming up astride him backed off with alarm at the response, and Enger stalked on. While the congratulations were well meant, the timing was bad. Very bad.

As Armsman in the Guard, it was Enger's job to train the guards and keep them in fit condition. This was a terribly job, he had decided, because it meant you got to know everyone rather well. And when cases went bad...and by Aeline, they had been bad of late...you knew the corpses. Today had been no different.

Two cages had been dredged up from the river bottom a few months past, and the contents had nearly brought Enger to his knees. In his late 40s, Enger had been in the Guard a long time. His flinty slate eyes had grown hard as stone over the years, his square jaw solid. Nothing made his rugged face shown grief and pain, but this had done it. A growling denial had done nothing to stop the grief this time.

David and Kuma.

He identified the drowned bodies and made his way into the crowd quickly, shoving his way through it until he reached the less curious flow of people who were just going about their daily deeds. He moved quickly through the tide of people, finding himself a dark alleyway between two warehouses. There, he collapsed against one of the walls, slumping, shoulders shaking with racking, grief stricken sobs. Kuma had only been 15. David, 23. So young...

"I saw it happen.." A quiet voice whispered hoarsely from his side. Surprised, Enger started, straightening. He turned his eyes to the boy standing beside him; a younger boy than Kuma had been, dressed in the robes of that damned temple. The boy's face was pale, his brown eyes wide but rimmed red with grief.

"They killed him. My best friend..." That was all it took, and the boy broke into tears again. Enger reached out automatically, his mind racing. Best friend, best friend..Wait! Hadn't Kuma mentioned another Temple Boy? Even as his mind came to that conclusion, the boy sniffled and managed to say something.

"I know who did it. Do you want him?" Enger blinked, then growled out a response.

"Damn right I do, Kid. Damn right I do."

A lifelong Guardsmen, Enger took in David, and then Kuma. Training them allowed him to become close to both men, and when they were murdered, he and Kuma's best friend, Michael, worked together to convict one of the murderers, Gwenlen. While several of the murderers are still free, Enger was able to get Michael into Camilsaya's Silk Scarves for his safety, and give the boy a place to make sure his best friend was avenged.