"Thank you again for coming with me," Jack smiled to his traveling companion.
"Traveling alone can be a weary experience," Dolph casually waved Jack off. "So long as I get away from the capital and get some change in venue, I don't mind where I go. I'm certain I'll see Freed's home eventually."
They continued on in silence for a few more hours when Jack broke the quiet again.
"Why did you want to come along anyway, if it's not too bold."
The paladin trainee sighed. "I find my sense of duty becoming strained lately. Gods, I've not even graduated from training and yet here I am talking like some old veteran," he half chuckled.
"What has been causing you to question your order?" Jack was asking himself if he could help at all if they continued this conversation.
"I think we just have to look at your friend's brother, Stanley for a good example. His heart I believe is in the right place, but he acts with a single mindedness of a zealot. His sister, Sara, has done nothing to earn his ire and yet he speaks of her like she's slaughtered whole villages, or is one step from doing so. And he is just a novice, what of the veteran paladins? Are they just as or even worse?" His wide shoulders slumped beneath his armour as he sighed.
Jack took a while to mull over these words before he began, speaking slowly. "Why did you join the paladins in the first place?"
Dolph seemed to perk up as he recalled the stories he had heard when he was a child. "I grew up hearing stories of them defending the weak and upholding the law. Bringing order and peace to the realm, and toppling evil forces." He smiled as he continued, his energy seeming to return. "And then, I got to watch them in motion. My hometown was attacked by a band of brigands and they tried to steal everything from us; our valuables, our livestock, and even us. I would be in a slave pit now if she hadn't arrived. Her faith created an impenetrable shield that made her armour shine like a second sun that blinded all of them, but didn't harm any of the villagers. The bandit's weapons shattered on impact and they were all defeated. Not one of them was killed, she captured all 20 of them alive by herself. But it was what she said to me that impacted me most. 'A strong man stands up for themselves, a stronger man stands up for others.' I saw my village be at the bandit's mercy, the people I cared about powerless, and I never wanted to see this happen to anyone ever again. So I made a promise to become a paladin that day. I never did learn what happened to her, she was gone before I could even ask her her name."
Jack was glad to see Dolph's demeanor change to a more upbeat one. "Then maybe you should keep with your dream," Jack found the words spilling from him without even realizing what he was saying. "If they are changing in a way you don't like, then maybe you should try and change them from within, try to set an example for how you think they should act."
Dolph nodded silently at this. "Perhaps you're right, I hadn't thought of it that way. Thank you."
The pair continued to converse as they traveled down the road for the next 2 days until they finally arrived outside the tall gate doors to Jack's village, Helmharbor.