Dealing with children was an exercise in fury. Eragos could try everything his experience told him to try, and in the end none of it mattered, because children were too busy being clever to think. The boy did not consider while scoffing at his offer of assistance that the soldiers only left because Eragos had arrived. Or that the soldiers could try to come back, at night, when there were fewer people awake to witness the harassment. Or that they might not bang on the door loudly, but whisper softly through cracks in said door. It took a special sort of cleverness, he supposed, to see things that way - an experience with the ugly side of life that he would not wish on anyone. He did wish the boy had more common sense. One more thing to worry about. Something about the pose the teen struck was the worst part of all - it looked out of place on a person that young, as if they knew how someone might stand if they'd earned their brash and reckless reputation, but had done none of the work themselves.
The same as hearing a child swear.
It never made any sense. Eragos had to remind himself that he wasn't doing this job for praise, and that the opinion of a child hardly mattered. Difficult when you had a temper, but manageable.
"The reason is the same for all of the questions I have," Eragos tried to sound the same as he had before, and didn't quite manage it; his voice carried a note of annoyance. "A citizen of the Free Cities has been murdered. I must find the culprit."
Even if he could explain that an army was even now mobilizing to destroy this caravan and everyone who traveled with it, Eragos did not think he would understand. A reasonable person would assume - especially if they'd displayed a lack of common sense in other areas - that they would not be touched because they were a musician. Or a White Rider. Or just a mercenary. Everyone's status exempted them from being murdered by soldiers in such a scenario. Eragos knew with all his heart that the white would not protect him, should he still be here when the soldiers arrived. You could not convince a stranger of that. The only thing it might achieve is stubborn refusal to leave in some, and blind panic in others. So he'd not mentioned a word of it - and neither had Harva, damn him for it. Rather than leaving his wagons at home and waiting until all of this was cleared up Harva simply kept right on enrolling customers.
Hiring boy bards to play his soldiers to sleep.
Ridiculous.
"If you are not a citizen of the Free Cities, I realize you have little reason to concern yourself," Eragos went on. "But I will guarantee your safety, if that is what concerns you, no matter what land you call home."