[SRP] Wyvern Rescue

[Echo]

Joachim twitched his poleaxe again in acknowledgment of the rider's signal, but she was already turning her mount. Safe to assume she probably wasn't a bandit, then, unless she planned to ambush him on the ground. He drifted above for a moment to give her enough clearance for a head start to land and scanned their surroundings. All he saw were rocks, trees, and a crow noisily startled from its course by the other wyvern's descent. Satisfied, he led Fafnir in to a landing beside her.

Fafnir turned to face her on his own, rumbling low in his throat. Joachim let his axe rest across his knees and sized her up. A young woman with battered but cared-for armor, and an obedient wyvern; it watched Fafnir warily but didn't move to attack. Far too healthy and compliant to its rider to have been stolen. That still didn't rule out a skilled thief with her own mount; her actions could be designed to catch him off-guard. It was becoming steadily less likely, however.

His mind finally registered a detail firmly incongruous to his suspicions. He nodded to her armor. "Bern military issue?" Perhaps stolen as well, or she was a deserter out for money. If she wasn't a bandit, he was well aware that his own ragged appearance wasn't exactly reassuring.