Every small gesture of closeness meant something to him, and he let her fingers wind through his, her skin soft against his roughened hands. They bore their own scars already. He could have not imagined that she might have been bracing herself for what he was about to say; she was a listener, and only that. If he dwelled on the thought he could have assumed she hated elves or was indifferent to their troubles--Maker forbid that she be more affected by their suffering than he, or that she find any tale he bore back to the Pearl loathsome.
As Ordhan smoothed her hair he grazed one finger along the line of her cheek, and he let his chin rest against her temple. But then she was moving and he automatically moved with her, following wherever she led as he always did. Soon he was reclined against her, her arms draped around him. He let one of his own hands lay on her arm; the sleeves still covered the skin, but he traced his fingers back and forth over the soft cloth.
The story of how he ended up on Alienage duty would have been a complaint itself on another day, but the events that followed more than drove it from his mind. "I was on duty with Dalbach there," he mumbled, tension like a stormcloud gathering around the spoken name. It was not the first time the older guard was mentioned in this room: the man's antagonism and bullying was as widespread as it was crafty, as he abused whatever power was given to a common guard as much as he could get away with. Somehow, though his grievances were much more than Ordhan's own idleness and sloth, Dalbach had been punished far fewer times than his unfortunate comrade.
In fact, Ordhan was surprised when he learned Dalbach had been assigned to the Alienage, and dared to tell him so. It had made an icy shiver of discomfort run through his veins when the other answered that he had asked for the assignment.
"We had hardly been there two hours when he started shouting at one of the elves. I am not even sure what about," Ordhan went on. "But Dalbach hit him first, and the elf struck back, and...and Dalbach started beating him, and then a woman came from the crowd--his wife I think--and he....hit her, and she ran away and left the other there with him." At this point Ordhan had not been able to watch further, slipping away to "guard" a spot of ground just out of view.