Mud and Gold [Arthur Morgan] [RDR2]

➵ chapter xv

It didn't take much from the older outlaw to convince Arthur to accompany him in search of his daughter; just a few words well-spoken in the quiet tent were enough, added a reassuring shoulder squeeze, and a hopeful smile.

Arthur could not simply deny his request.

Before night arrived, both outlaws had already left the camp.

- ━━━━━━ ↼♔⇀ ━━━━━━ -

The horse trip toward North felt as peaceful as when Arthur had taken (y/n) with him, a little over a week earlier.

This sense of tranquility he presumed ran in the Matthews family; he had felt this way solely in the company of these two talented people. He could only ponder about how much (y/n) had learned from Hosea before he sent her with Odin—Hosea had admitted to have taken care of her for nearly a decade, after all.

Since the older outlaw appeared confident on knowing the way, Arthur focused solely on understanding the sudden, and still palpable, shocking reveal. So many questions plagued his mind; some of them, he'd already gotten the answers to, yet some remained pending of an explanation. Only Hosea could help him decipher them now.

That meant questions had to be asked.

"So, Hosea?" He began, although Arthur couldn't be too sure of how to voice his thoughts. He'd never been good with words.

He received a soft hum from the older outlaw, as well as a curt glance in his direction. Hosea was listening.

"Why d'ya think she went lookin' for the gold?"

Hosea slowed down his steed, causing Arthur to do the same. A small sigh erupted from his figure then. "I can only think of one reason; Odin may have passed away."

"So she went lookin' for his gold, to keep it safe?"

"... It's a possibility." Hosea paused, and readjusted his grip on the reins. "Odin, as you know, has—had—a lot of money. Been over twenty years, that's how long my daughter's been under his care. Seems logical to me that he may have left her his legacy, his gold, if he really were to be dead."

Arthur hummed, nodding his head slightly at the new information. Certainly, this factor did add some sense to everything that had happened; it revealed why (y/n) had involuntarily gone as far as to get kidnapped by O'Driscolls in the first place.

"D'ya think she, uh... may be lookin' for ya, too?" Arthur questioned quietly. "I mean," he paused, a thoughtful frown etching between his brows. "She said she knew 'r gang... perhaps she thought o' findin' ya—I betcha she was glad we rescued her."

Hosea huffed, shaking his head. "And that was 'round the time I was in Saint Denis, ain't it?" the old man sighed. "She didn't see me at camp..."

"Probably thought you was dead, I reckon." Arthur stated. "That's why she didn't wanna stay too long."

"Why'd she ask you to get the gold with her, then?"

Arthur paused, keeping quiet for a bit. Hosea seemed to have found another question yet unanswered—it left the younger outlaw pondering about (y/n)'s true reasons.

"We got attacked by O'Driscolls twice," Arthur mumbled after a minute of silence. "Maybe she wanted me to keep 'er safe."

"Ah, perhaps. If that were true, then she chose the right man." Hosea chuckled, making the gunslinger's cheek turn a subtle pink.