Nobody welcomes exiles.

Keep in mind that, in this time period, there was no centralized state, no law enforcement, no prisons. If you learn that someone has been banished by his people, you have to assume the worst. Maybe he has a violent temper. Maybe he's diseased. You certainly can't trust anything he says about himself.

Naturally Victor understands that. So Mollin's presence in this "new" land, seemingly half-integrated into society, needs to be explained.

At most he has bits and pieces of the story. Mollin simply showed up one stormy evening: agitated, raving, stark naked and nearly feral. It took Faergi's "magic" to calm him, and even then many doses of it and it was a long time later before people stopped fleeing at his approach.

Evidently he was "kicked out" of his herd. Or maybe more accurately he left semi-voluntarily. There were ways he could have stayed, but his mental state at the time made it impossible.

Like many tribes, Mollin's was undergoing a long migration due to the changing climate, although in contrast to the arctic smilodons the mammoths were seeking new lands to the north. They weren't initially a warlike people, but their journey brought them into conflict with many other tribes, necessitating very rapid cultural adaptation. And as part of this adaptation, something was... done* to Mollin, to make him more useful to his herd.

It was something that shocked and appalled Faergi when he learned that such a thing was even attempted, and the fox felt he would be betraying everything he stood for if he didn't at least try to help. He would have done so without payment, but Mollin was so grateful to be understood by anybody that he insisted on giving back whatever he could.

Years later, Mollin has more or less settled down where he wound up. He now works for Faergi as his herb-grower, potion-taster, "stage manager" and, yes, bodyguard (although being a holy man skilled in conjuring, Faergi has little need for his protection**). The local tribes more or less respect Mollin as an associate of the shaman, and although Victor cannot "read" Mollin's body paint, he assumes the markings mean he's devoted to the same gods Faergi is.

But while Mollin is more at peace with himself these days, he is not satisfied. He doesn't know if his mate and calves are still alive, but even if he went back now... he is an exile. At the same time he's too old to start his whole life over. So he'll remain where he is until a better option presents itself.

As for Victor, he also finds himself "taken in" by Faergi and informed that his own background is apparently very similar to Mollin's. For a while he ends up as Mollin's "roommate" (he literally shares Mollin's hut), although he's a terribly lazy and troublesome houseguest.

He drives Mollin up the wall, honestly***.

Art and ref sheet design by  A-Kitsune, based on an original headshot design by LemonCoyotes!

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* It has something to do with Mollin's trunk. That's Victor's hypothesis anyway. He always keeps it bandaged, and although he tends to it regularly, washing and changing the cloth, it doesn't seem to be injured underneath. Even so if he even thinks your hands are going near it he reacts with sheer terror. Very strange.

** Though perhaps he'd need protection from a fellow shaman who knows how the tricks are done.

*** Mollin is at least psychologically dependent on one of the herbs he grows in his garden to "stay calm", and he's never without his smoking pipe. Faergi originally prescribed the herb on an "as needed" basis, but to this day Mollin gets pretty skittish if he goes without it for too long.