The Paladin met the party while they were committing a crime.
This was not, Jo Mama would later insist, the same thing as being criminals.
There was context.
There was always context.
Usually too much of it.
“STOP!”
Jo looked over her shoulder.
Six city guards were running toward them.
She looked down.
She was carrying a sack of stolen gold.
This seemed relevant.
“Run?”
“Yes,” Ellie said.
“No,” Paul said.
Jimmy was already running.
Jo followed Jimmy.
Paul swore and followed Jo.
Ellie disappeared into an alley.
Behind them, the guards shouted again.
“STOP, THIEVES!”
Jo shouted back:
“NOT THIEVES!”
Paul, running beside her, looked up.
“You are holding stolen gold.”
“Evidence!”
“That distinction will require explanation!”
“Tell Steve!”
“WHO IS STEVE?”
Jo did not answer.
She was busy fleeing law enforcement.
They turned into the marketplace.
This was a mistake.
The market was crowded.
Jo swerved around a vegetable cart.
Jimmy ducked beneath a laundry line.
Paul nearly collided with a woman carrying six geese.
Ellie appeared from nowhere beside them.
“Left.”
They turned left.
A figure stepped into the street.
White-and-gold armor.
Polished shield.
Holy symbol.
Sword.
The Paladin raised one hand.
“Halt.”
Jo stopped.
Jimmy ran into Jo.
Paul ran into Jimmy.
Ellie stopped because she possessed functional reflexes.
The guards entered the street behind them.
The Paladin looked at the guards.
Then at the party.
Then at the sack over Jo’s shoulder.
“Is that stolen?”
Jo thought.
“No.”
Paul whispered:
“Jo.”
Jo corrected herself.
“Temporarily relocated.”
Paul closed his eyes.
The Paladin frowned.
“Why are the city guards pursuing you?”
Jo answered immediately.
“Lawful investigation.”
Paul opened his eyes.
Ellie looked at Jo.
Jimmy looked impressed.
The Paladin blinked.
“A lawful investigation?”
Jo nodded.
“Yep.”
The guards were getting closer.
Paul stepped forward.
“It is considerably more complicated than she is making it sound.”
Jo looked at him.
“Is?”
“Yes.”
The Paladin looked between them.
“Explain.”
Paul looked at the approaching guards.
“Could we perhaps do that while moving?”
“No.”
“Of course not.”
The guards arrived.
Their captain pointed at Jo.
“They robbed Varrick’s counting house!”
The Paladin turned.
“Did you?”
Jo looked at Paul.
Paul looked at Ellie.
Ellie looked at Jimmy.
Jimmy looked at the sack.
Jo said:
“Define robbed.”
The Paladin’s eyes widened.
Paul stepped in quickly.
“Varrick has been running an extortion scheme against merchants in the lower district.”
The captain frowned.
“That has not been proven.”
Ellie pulled a leather ledger from beneath her cloak.
“Actually.”
Everyone looked at her.
She held it up.
“Now it can be.”
The captain stared.
“Where did you get that?”
Ellie smiled.
“Evidence.”
The Paladin looked at Paul.
Paul sighed.
“She stole it.”
“Recovered.”
“Stole.”
“Recovered illegally.”
“That’s stealing with adjectives.”
Ellie shrugged.
The Paladin held out her hand.
“May I see it?”
Ellie hesitated.
Then handed over the ledger.
The Paladin opened it.
Her expression changed as she read.
Names.
Payments.
Threats.
Debts inflated beyond recognition.
Bribes.
Properties seized.
Families forced from their shops.
The captain shifted.
“That document belongs to Master Varrick.”
The Paladin looked up.
“And these records?”
“Private business.”
“They appear to document extortion.”
“That is for the magistrate to decide.”
Paul nodded.
“Agreed.”
Everyone looked at him.
Jo whispered:
“Whose side?”
“The side where we stop running through a crowded marketplace carrying stolen money.”
Jo considered.
“Good side.”
The captain held out his hand.
“Give me the ledger.”
The Paladin did not.
The captain’s expression hardened.
“That is evidence belonging to an active investigation.”
“No,” Ellie said. “Five minutes ago it was private business.”
The captain looked at her.
Ellie smiled.
The Paladin closed the ledger.
“It should go to the magistrate.”
The captain stepped forward.
“I am ordering you to surrender it.”
The Paladin looked at the crest on his uniform.
Then at the names in the ledger.
Several payments had been made to city officers.
Including one whose name matched the captain’s badge.
She looked back at him.
“No.”
Paul’s eyebrows rose.
Jo whispered:
“Paladin said no.”
“I heard.”
The captain’s hand moved toward his sword.
The Paladin’s hand settled on hers.
“Do not.”
Nobody moved.
Jo looked between them.
Then leaned toward Paul.
“Can punch?”
“Not yet.”
Jo nodded.
“Okay.”
The captain looked at Jo.
“Put down the gold.”
Jo tightened her grip on the sack.
Paul looked at her.
“Actually, yes.”
Jo frowned.
“But evidence.”
“The ledger is evidence.”
“Gold also evidence.”
“It is also stolen property.”
Jo looked offended.
“Bad guy stole first.”
“Yes.”
“So stole stolen.”
“Yes.”
“Double stolen means ours?”
“No.”
Jimmy quietly raised one finger.
Paul pointed at him.
“Absolutely not.”
Jimmy lowered it.
The Paladin looked at the sack.
“Where did the money come from?”
Ellie answered.
“Varrick collected it from merchants through the debts in the ledger.”
“And what were you planning to do with it?”
Jo answered immediately.
“Give back.”
The Paladin looked at Paul.
Paul nodded.
“That was genuinely the plan.”
“Eventually,” Jimmy said.
Everyone turned.
Jimmy shrugged.
“Need count first.”
The Paladin’s eyes narrowed.
“Why?”
“Inventory.”
“No.”
Jimmy looked at Jo.
Jo looked at Paul.
Paul shook his head.
Jimmy sighed.
The Paladin looked at the guards.
Then at the ledger.
Then at the sack.
“We are going to the magistrate.”
Jo blinked.
“We?”
“Yes.”
Paul looked surprised.
“You believe us?”
“No.”
Jo’s face fell.
The Paladin continued.
“I believe the ledger should be examined, the money should be accounted for, and everyone involved should explain themselves to someone who is not named in the bribe records.”
Paul smiled.
“Excellent.”
Jo brightened.
“Lawful investigation.”
The Paladin looked at her.
“No.”
“Little lawful?”
“No.”
“Technically lawful?”
Paul whispered:
“Stop helping.”
They went to the magistrate.
Under guard.
This was less dramatic than escaping across rooftops but considerably better for everyone’s criminal records.
The magistrate was an elderly woman named Mara Venn.
She read the ledger twice.
Then summoned three clerks.
Then two additional officers.
Not the captain.
The captain stopped looking confident.
Master Varrick arrived forty minutes later with two lawyers and the expression of a man deeply offended that consequences had discovered his address.
“This is outrageous.”
Jo leaned toward Paul.
“Bad guy?”
“Yes.”
“Can punch now?”
“No.”
“Later?”
“No.”
Jo sighed.
Varrick pointed at Ellie.
“That woman broke into my counting house.”
Ellie nodded.
“Yes.”
Paul looked at her.
“You could at least pretend to be conflicted.”
“Why?”
The magistrate looked over her spectacles.
“Did you?”
Ellie considered.
“Yes.”
“Did you take this ledger?”
“Yes.”
“Did you take the gold?”
Ellie pointed at Jo.
“She carried it.”
Jo waved.
The magistrate looked at Jo.
“Did you take the gold?”
“Yep.”
Paul closed his eyes.
Jo added:
“For lawful investigation.”
The Paladin covered her mouth.
Paul looked at her.
“Are you laughing?”
“No.”
She absolutely was.
The magistrate turned to Jimmy.
“And you?”
Jimmy thought.
“Helped carry rope.”
Nobody knew why this was the answer.
The magistrate decided not to pursue it.
The evidence was examined.
The gold was counted.
Then counted again.
Then counted a third time after Jimmy produced seventeen silver pieces from his pocket.
The Paladin stared at him.
Jimmy looked down at the coins.
“Separate.”
“From where?”
“Counting house.”
“Jimmy.”
“Was going return.”
The Paladin held out her hand.
Jimmy gave her the coins.
Slowly.
One at a time.
The Paladin waited.
Jimmy sighed.
He reached into another pocket.
Three more coins.
She continued waiting.
One copper.
Another silver.
A decorative brass token.
The Paladin looked at it.
Jimmy shrugged.
“Not money.”
“Where did you get it?”
Jimmy put it on the table.
The Paladin nodded.
“Thank you.”
Jimmy looked devastated.
Jo patted his shoulder.
“Good returning.”
The magistrate ordered Varrick’s accounts seized for investigation.
She ordered the captain temporarily relieved pending review of the payments recorded beside his name.
She also informed Ellie that recovering evidence did not grant her permission to commit burglary.
Ellie nodded.
“Understood.”
Paul looked at her.
“You’re going to do it again.”
“Probably.”
The magistrate sighed.
The money was returned to the merchants whose payments could be verified.
Not instantly.
Not perfectly.
But returned.
Varrick was not dragged immediately to prison.
This disappointed Jo.
“Bad guy not jail?”
“Investigation first,” the Paladin said.
“But ledger.”
“Evidence has to be reviewed.”
“But bad.”
“Yes.”
“So jail.”
“Not yet.”
Jo frowned.
The Paladin crouched slightly so they were closer to eye level.
This did not help much.
Jo was still enormous.
“Rules have to apply even when we are certain we dislike someone.”
Jo thought.
“Why?”
“Because otherwise the person deciding who is bad becomes more important than the law.”
Jo frowned harder.
“Bad legal.”
The Paladin paused.
Paul looked at Jo.
Jo pointed toward Varrick.
“He use rules hurt people.”
The Paladin looked at Varrick.
“Yes.”
“Then rules bad?”
“No.”
“Varrick bad?”
“Yes.”
“Captain bad?”
“Possibly.”
Jo gestured vaguely at everything.
“Complicated.”
The Paladin smiled.
“Very.”
Paul leaned against the wall.
“Welcome to our lives.”
The Paladin looked at him.
“I am not joining your party.”
Jo gasped.
Nobody had asked.
Jo looked genuinely wounded anyway.
The Paladin blinked.
“I only meant-”
“You should,” Jo said.
Paul closed his eyes.
“Jo.”
“What?”
“You cannot recruit every competent person we encounter.”
Jo pointed at Ellie.
“Worked.”
Ellie shrugged.
Jo pointed at Jimmy.
Paul looked at Jimmy.
Jimmy was examining the magistrate’s inkpot.
Paul pointed at him.
“Do not take that.”
Jimmy withdrew his hand.
Jo pointed at the Paladin.
“See?”
“I do not see how that supports your argument.”
Jo turned back to the Paladin.
“You good.”
The Paladin hesitated.
Jo counted on her fingers.
“Strong.”
One.
“Law smart.”
Two.
“Give money back.”
Three.
“Didn’t let bad captain take book.”
Four.
“Laugh funny.”
The Paladin stared.
“I laughed once.”
“Still count.”
The Paladin smiled despite herself.
Jo pointed.
“TWICE.”
Paul sighed.
The Paladin looked at the four of them.
Jo.
Paul.
Ellie.
Jimmy.
A barbarian who had carried stolen gold through a marketplace while shouting that she was not a thief.
A wizard who looked permanently one inconvenience away from a headache.
A rogue who admitted burglary with alarming confidence.
A man whose pockets had required a secondary audit.
She should have walked away.
Instead she said:
“I’ll consider it.”
Jo grinned.
“Staying.”
“That is not what I said.”
“Not no.”
Paul noticed all three.
“She said she’d consider it.”
“Yep.”
“That is not yes.”
“Not no.”
Paul sighed.
“No. It is not.”
Jo settled beside the fire.
“She’s coming.”
“You cannot know that.”
Jo poked the fire.
“Know.”
Paul looked at Ellie.
Ellie shrugged.
Jimmy was reorganizing his bag.
Paul sat.
“Fine.”
Jo smiled.
The next morning, the Paladin appeared on the road.
Jo saw her first.
“PALADIN!”
Birds fled three trees.
The Paladin stopped.
Jo ran toward her.
Paul shouted:
“ASK BEFORE HUGGING!”
Jo skidded to a halt.
Dust rolled past.
She opened her arms.
“Hug?”
The Paladin stared at the enormous half-orc.
Then smiled.
“Yes.”
Jo hugged her.
The Paladin’s armor creaked.
“Too much?”
“A little.”
Jo loosened immediately.
“Better?”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
Paul relaxed.
The Paladin approached the camp.
Paul handed her a cup of tea.
“You’re actually joining us?”
“For now.”
Jo whispered loudly:
“Staying.”
The Paladin ignored her.
Paul sat.
“There are a few things you should know.”
The Paladin took the tea.
“I’m listening.”
“Jo will tell you things are legal.”
Jo raised one finger.
“Sometimes are.”
“Verify independently.”
The Paladin nodded.
“Understood.”
“Jimmy takes things.”
“Could need.”
“Ask where he got anything valuable.”
“Understood.”
“Ellie is an excellent rogue.”
Ellie looked over.
Paul continued.
“Her dice do not know this.”
The Paladin frowned.
“You’re blaming dice?”
Ellie held up her pouch.
“Yes.”
The Paladin decided not to ask.
Paul pointed at himself.
“I am the wizard.”
Jo leaned in.
“Tiny smart grumpy.”
Paul looked at her.
“I was handling my own introduction.”
“Huge brain.”
“Thank you.”
The Paladin laughed again.
Jo pointed.
“SEE?”
The Paladin sighed.
Jo grinned.
“Oh, you staying.”
“Ready?”
Paul nodded.
Ellie nodded.
Jimmy nodded.
The Paladin hesitated.
Then nodded.
Jo grinned.
“Perfectly lawful adventure.”
The Paladin immediately said:
“Do not call it that.”
Jo started walking.
“PERFECTLY LAWFUL HEROES!”
Paul followed.
“That is going to become a problem.”
Ellie followed.
“Already is.”
Jimmy followed.
“Good name.”
The Paladin stood alone for a moment.
She looked back toward town.
Then at the four people disappearing down the road.
Jo turned around.
“YOU COMING?”
The Paladin smiled despite herself.
Then followed.