Piak Chooses to Continue with Tiuri to Unauwen

Piak chooses to continue with Tiuri toward Unauwen Capital, turning what Tiuri had understood as a guide’s escort over the mountains into a shared journey beyond them. The choice is made openly: Piak acknowledges the danger, asks to go anyway, and Tiuri’s reluctant consent ends not with a pledge of service but with their agreement to travel as equals.

A journey meant to end at the mountains

The decision comes as the two young men continue on foot toward Ardoc’s estate. Piak hopes they might travel with Ardoc in a wagon, something he has never experienced, but Tiuri’s question abruptly shifts their attention from the next leg of the route to what comes after it. Tiuri reminds Piak that he was only supposed to bring him across the mountains and asks whether he should not return to Menaures. For Tiuri, the arrangement has a boundary; for Piak, it has become a choice he wants to make again.

Piak answers that Menaures himself had allowed him to continue if he wished. The permission matters because Piak is not simply abandoning his earlier responsibility or slipping away without explanation: he has been given agency in the matter, and he declares that he wants to use it. His request extends the companionship beyond the original escort, making the next stage of Tiuri’s mission something Piak has chosen to share.

Tiuri’s warning and Piak’s answer

Tiuri refuses at first. Although he would dearly like Piak to remain with him, he says that the road could be dangerous and insists that he would be better off alone. His objection is therefore protective, not a lack of desire for Piak’s company: the scene sets what Tiuri wants against what he believes Piak should risk. When Piak asks whether there is another reason, Tiuri says there is not, and holds to danger as sufficient grounds to stop him.

Piak does not treat that warning as new information. He already knows about the Red Riders and Slupor, the spy, and answers that two people can keep watch better than one. He also promises to travel quickly, matching Tiuri’s urgency rather than asking him to slow down. The argument changes from whether the danger exists to whether Tiuri has the right to decide that Piak must face it alone. Piak understands the risk and still wants to go.

From proposed squire to equal companion

To make his offer, Piak proposes becoming Tiuri’s squire and obeying him in everything. Tiuri hesitates over whether he may accept. Piak then warns that if Tiuri delays too long, he will run off and follow secretly, like a spy. The threat is playful in form but decisive in effect: refusing to let Piak accompany him would not end the pursuit; it would only turn an open partnership into a clandestine one.

Tiuri begins to laugh and gives in, preferring a travelling companion to someone following him. Piak celebrates by running ahead, then stops and waits until Tiuri catches up. He makes a deep bow and presents himself as Tiuri’s servant. Tiuri immediately corrects the terms: they are travelling companions and equal to one another. Piak’s wish to continue is accepted, but the hierarchy he offers is not. The scene thus secures both his place beside Tiuri and the character of their partnership: chosen mutual company, not obedience.