Fate - First Reply Into Thin Air

[Samantha Black]

He certainly wasn't wrong about any of that. They were all tools to the state. Some of them had brighter careers than others. Some of them would likely take the opportunity to leave. She'd always known what her fate was and she'd come to accept it at a rather young age, but from time to time Ralene caught herself wondering just where everyone else would end up. Not that it mattered much to her at the time - for certain whatever bonds were forged in the Academy would be fleeting as after graduation everyone went their separate ways. Sure, some would work together again in the Guard, but that would likely be few and far between.

The Guard was extensive, after all, and its various units did not often interact except for under very specific conditions. That Henk seemed reliant on having his family of Initiates to look after as his purpose didn't feel like a good foundation to base the rest of his life on.

Ralene glanced back at him over her shoulder, "Maybe we don't," she replied in a tone that suggested perhaps she followed his line of thought, but that it was somewhere caught between wishful thinking and an order of possibilities rather difficult to attain.

"My life was signed over to the Guard from the day I turned eight," her attention returned forward as she gently ushered the horses on to close the gap between them and the cart ahead, "I was always going to be a tool of the Guard, never had a choice in the matter. Holstag has been training and grooming me for a position in the Knights for as long as I can remember."

A pause as she gazed off briefly toward the west where those that had already drank from the oasis well were setting up tents and firepits for the evening. It looked peaceful, watching the people work and go about their humble lives. She'd had the opportunity to live something close to that for a few days. Samantha Black, Blacksmith in Wissburg, wife to Orin Black. How quaint and unusual it had been. A strange comfort of a quiet life of ignorance that was never meant to last. Ral didn't think poorly of those few days either. She'd been given a chance to see a different side of Edric that she likely never would have seen otherwise.

"Maybe you're the best of us then, Henk," she said after a length of silence, "maybe it's really the ones like you and Chasmine we should be looking to. The ones that figured out how to be a person instead of a tool."

 

[Henk]

When Ralene took the time to briefly look back at him, he offered her a soft smile. Though their situations were far from the same, Henk truly believed he understood how she was feeling on some level. "And I never wished to be a Dreadlord. Yet, here I am. Often I find myself angry that my fate was so thoughtlessly chosen by somebody who isn't me. I believe though, that even in our predetermined roles, we can make meaningful changes."

In his time as an Initiate, he'd always made it a point to spare those it would have been easier to kill, to smile when it would have been much more preferable to frown. As Ralene moved the horses forward, the sounds of chatter growing louder as they neared the watering hole, Henk continued a bit more."Vel Anir can choose my title, and they did. They cannot change who I am, or what I believe in. Nor can they force such a thing onto you. If you must be a Guard, then be the Guard that you would trust. That you would believe in."

Ralene didn't immediately reply. Henk could only see part of one of her eyes as she looked out at the campgrounds being pitched, but he knew a storm when he saw it. Henk looked away, suddenly finding his old ruined coat very interesting. It almost felt like an invasion of her privacy, to watch her in the cloud of memories she'd been floating in. What did she think of, he wondered? The bonds she'd made? The people she had to lose?

Perhaps... Henk was projecting.

"Maybe you're the best of us then, Henk."

His head snapped back to her, caught off guard. The scarred mouth on his face opened to respond, but...he wasn't sure what to say. She didn't mean that. Henk wasn't a leader like her. He wasn't devastatingly powerful like Edric, or inhumanly brave like Zael. Henk was...

Nothing special.

He laughed a little. "Yeah... maybe." It wasn't anything more than a quiet chuckle, barely holding any words within. "You're a person, Ral. A damn good one. They've just taught you not to see it."

Finally, he felt the wagon come to a complete stop. Their turn, at last, Henk gave a pavlovian lick of his lips, releasing a breath he didn't know he'd been holding. "Right now, we're on the job though. At least until we get something set up to sleep in. Come on, let's get some water for the horses. And maybe for us if we're lucky."

Ralene

 

[Samantha Black]

Ral didn't have much more to say on the matter concerning whether or not she was a person. These sort of thoughts were distracting from their priorities: getting water, finding their place in the caravan for the evening, and keeping their mind on the mission. She dropped from the wagon bench without another word and stepped over to the well to begin cranking the pull system for their ration.

Later that evening...

They were fortunate enough to water the horses until they no longer drank, and then water themselves the same. Ral made sure to fill a few extra waterskins for their trouble, considering no one else awaited a drink behind them, and walked the horses and wagon off to where the caravan elves had created a community circle of their various carts, pack animals, and people for the evening.

As outsiders, they were relegated to the - surprise, surprise - outside of the circle. Not that she cared much, but it just meant that for the evening hours they would have to rely on their own awareness and no one else's. She unstrapped the horses and ground-tied them nearby with a bag of oats each. The tent they set up just off the back of the wagon to give them better position in protecting their things from another pilfering.

Ral set a campfire and traded a small amount of coin for fresh food to fill their bellies. So long as they made it to Maraan the next day, they would have no need to continue living off their rations - but she'd rather save them just in case.

"So what do you intend to do," she began as she sat fireside next to Henk, chewing on dried fruits and enjoying a rare indulgence of elvish wine she'd bartered for, "after graduation?"

 

[Henk]

Finally, it seemed fate had thrown them a bone. Personally, Henk had been almost sure that there wouldn't be enough left for them to drink after the horses were finished, as long as they'd been running. Thankfully, a filling drink of water, and a setting sun over the horizon was leaving him feeling much more lively than he had been on the way here.

Ralene, finding even more ways to show her value as a partner, had scrounged up some good food and even a little bit of sharp drink to take the edge off of the long day they'd had. Henk didn't think he'd ever been so happy to see wine in his life as he was after that trip through the hellish heat of the Savannah. It may as well have been liquid gold.

Of course, Henk had been no slouch either. Once the tent was secure and the horses happily feeding, he'd snuck off for a moment himself, using some of his own saved gold to procure some relatively fresh meat that the party had hunted. It wasn't anything more than a savannah pup, a sort of weasel or ferret like creature, but it was quite tender if you cooked it correctly.

Henk was doing his very best on that, a stick wrapped with the meat held over the fire as he used his light to sear the edges, with quick bursts of heat. His own small portion of the wine sitting already half-empty beside him as he looked over at Ral with a shrug and sheepish smile.

"No idea. Some part of me thinks I should try being a Proctor, or keep working within the Guard. Some other part thinks maybe I could do better away from Vel Anir, out on my own."

Henk pulled the stick from the heat, unwrapping the side of meat and quickly slicing it in two, offering half to her. "But..." He continued, before taking anther long sip of the wine, the heat in his belly bringing a shiver down his spine. "I figure I won't be able to tear myself away and choose exile. I don't think I'd know what to do with myself, Ral."

Ralene

 

[Samantha Black]

"It's a big fucking world, Henk," she replied over a short drink of wine, "and we've seen more than most on our missions, but far less than others I suspect. You might just find real purpose out there."

Accepting the offered meat, she took a bite and chewed over a deep sigh, taking a moment to peer quizzically at whatever it was he'd just handed her. Didn't taste like anything she'd ever cooked over a campfire and eaten, but it wasn't bad.

"You'd make a fair Proctor though, I think. Soft spoken and patience in droves," her blue eyes slid sideways at him, brow propping as she offered him a faint half smirk, "bet the Republic would love that for their new regime."

 

[Henk]

He'd never really thought about it seriously, staying in Vel Anir to teach. He worried so much about what would happen to the others that thinking of his own life moving forward just... slipped his mind. Henk knew, though, that they would all be adults by that point, perfectly capable of managing themselves.

And, at some point, he would have to stop relying on them all.

"You think so, huh?" Henk grinned a little at her generous appraisal of his prospects. "I guess it makes sense, me being the 'best of us all'." She'd actually smiled a little bit there. Henk wasn't sure he'd ever seen that. "You keep handing out compliments and I'm going to come out of this mission with a big head, then you're going to be even more surrounded by ego."

Taking charge of the education of the next classes though... being there for them during the scariest moments of their lives, and guiding them through in one piece. Maybe he was just starting to get a buzz, but he liked the sound of that. Tossing his now empty stick into the fire and downing the rest of his wine, Henk leaned back, crossing one leg over the other as he let the pleasant fog wash over his brian

"Yeah. Maybe I'll do that, Ral. That way I could stick around and keep an eye on you. I certainly can't imagine never coming back again. You'd all miss me."

Ralene

 

[Samantha Black]

"Why do you think I spend so much time alone at the forge..." Ral snorted. There was an abundance of ego in the Academy at any given time. While Ralene didn't think herself innocent of having one, she liked to think that whatever confidence she emulated had been hard-won and well-earned. Had the scars and the reputation to prove it.

She ate and drank slowly, laying off the rest of the wine and stoppering the bottle after seeing Henk wind down for the evening. Though neither of them had gotten much sleep over the last several days, it was her turn for first watch and she was better off alert than overly relaxed.

"I'm not one you need to keep an eye on," she breathed out long and slow with a glance over in the direction of the main caravan circle, "I'll have Holstag and his regiment for that. Doubt you'll see me at all after graduation. Be too busy on missions."

 

[Henk]

Henk's reply was quick, sharper than he normally spoke. "I'll make the time." He shifted to meet her gaze before she looked over to the circle. "Goes for everybody who stays. I'll find an excuse to run into you."

Henk wouldn't offer a reason or rational behind his words. Was it nonsense to expect to be able to see everybody else whenever he pleased? Yes, of course it was. He wouldn't forget them though, any of them. He wouldn't just move on "Least until you inevitably get sick of me showing my face and re-arrange it." The scarred lips curled into a smile again.

"We have to make this time we have left count". Henk reached over and plucked a fruit from the small collection. "If I really do decide to spend the rest of my life in that Academy, I want to be able to say I've experienced life as much as possible before that freedom goes away." Taking a bite out of the fruit, Henk allows the clouds to claw at the edge of his vision as he starts to doze.

"You should show me how to work that forge sometime, Ral. I think I'd like to learn."

Whatever she said back to that request was to a peacefully sleeping Henk, fruit still in hand.

Ralene

 

[Samantha Black]

What a fucking lightweight.

Ralene made a face at the boy, keeping her thoughts about his living life to the fullest to herself. He could sleep and he could dream of a better life, far away places, beautiful and naked women (or men, she wasn't judging), but truth be told she wasn't sure if Henk would follow through on those words.

And that was a shame, but it was also his own loss.

She settled into her spot and, much like the evening prior, pulled out her book and continued right from where she left off. Ral wasn't exactly sure just how much time had passed, but after a while her vision had grown notably hazy and it became nearly impossible to focus on the words scribbled across the pages. Shaking her head and rubbing at her eyes did not seem to improve it, so she pushed herself up to her feet with the intention of getting over to the tent and her pack - but the world spun completely out of her control.

Ralene's stomach lurched as she stumbled off balance, narrowly missing the fire, and caught herself against the wagon's side.

"Fuck..." what the hell was in that wine?

With a grunt she pushed herself, eyes winced shut, down along the side of the wagon and over toward their tent, but a shifting shadow just around the corner caught her delayed attention. By the time she turned to look she had no idea what hit her.



The next morning Henk would awaken feeling groggy but quite rested.

The horses stood lazily, still ground tied. The tent remained. The remainder of their things stowed in the tent remained. But the wagon and the caravan were gone and, curiously enough, there did not seem to be any tracks to follow.

Ralene was flat out on the ground near the tent with a sizeable angry blue bruise forming at her left temple and a gash on her forehead crusted over with sand. The sand beneath her head was stained with dried blood.

 

[Henk]

Something was wrong. Henk knew it even before he opened his eyes. It wasn't the silence, or the groggy feeling that really shouldn't have come with even that amount Elven Spirit. No, it was something else that tipped him off.

The sunlight.

Henk's entire body shot up, like he'd been hit with a bolt of lightning, swears leaving his mouth in blaspehmous waves as Henk clambered to his feet, stumbling under the effects of whatever the hell had been in that drink.

Ralene should have woken him up for watch a long time ago, and she wasn't the type to voluntarily stay up all night. At least not to stare at nothing for hours. The sun glared harshly in his eyes, and Henk had to bring his hands up to block out the sun before he could start adjusting to the light a little better.

The first thing Henk saw, or didn't see rather, was the Caravan. The wagon was gone too.

Henk merely stared at the empty space where they should have been, dumbfounded at first at the sheer audacity of it all. Then he felt his jaw clench, teeth grinding against each other. They'd been duped. Left for dead in the middle of the Savannah like a couple of suckers.

And he'd slept through it, again.

Soft or not, Henk had a pretty good track record with missions. There was a sense of pride he held in the lack of obvious mistakes he'd made in his career as an Initiate. Now, for the second time, he'd slept through something he could have prevented. He'd put not only himself in danger, but Ralene.

When Henk got his hands on those elves...

The sound of a horse invaded his rage, causing him to whip around. The tent was still here, as were the horses, and not far from them...

"Ralene!"

Henk rushed to her side, dropping to one knee and propping her up on his leg. Reaching to his hip, he retrieves the extra waterskin she'd given him the night before, pulling out the stopper and bringing it to her lips. Something had hit her hard, but she'd be fine. What confused him was how anybody even got close enough to hit her like that. It was Ralene after all.

Once she'd gotten a bit of water, he moved the waterskin up to her forehead, pouring just a tad over her wound and using his hand to break up and brush away the sand. That revealed another issue, though: she was burning up.

Not a fever, he didn't think, probably just that she'd been laying exposed out in the sun for who knows how long. Either way, she needed to cool down or things would only get a lot worse from here.

Henk could figure out what had happened to the caravan later, Ralene had to come first, without her he was in even more shit, and while he knew she'd scoff at him if she knew, he'd actually grown quite fond of her over the course of this mission.

"Alright then..." He muttered under his breath, moving both arms underneath her to scoop her up as he stood, carrying her back into the tent.

---

When Ralene came around, she would be laying on the sleeping mat in the tent, a folded scrap of cloth soaked in cold water resting on her forehead over her wound. Henk had removed her greaves, boots, the fur-covered piece that covered her upper chest, and the stray armor she'd worn on her arms in an effort to cool her down quickly.

Henk would have preferred to be able to take off more, just to cool her down more quickly, but he was fairly certain Ralene wouldn't take kindly to being stripped in her sleep. Instead, he'd pulled her top up to rest just beneath her chest, with another strip of cloth on her abdomen.

The sound of thundering hooves would be a suitable alarm clock, as Henk returned from riding in a wide circle in an effort to get his bearings. They hadn't moved overnight, of course, but the absence of tracks... It was difficult to tell, but Henk was certain they could still make Maraan in less than a day.

Assuming Ralene woke up soon, and even then that she was ready to move.

Re-entering the tent, Henk tosses his bag off to one corner with a huff. "You awake yet?" Obviously, she wouldn't answer if she wasn't, but Henk wasn't thinking entirely straight. He was frustrated. Angry with himself more than anything. He was better than this and he knew it too well to ignore.

Ralene

 

[Samantha Black]

Thundering hoofbeats were indeed just the thing to awaken the blacked-out Initiate.

Ralene awoke to fuzzy vision, a splitting headache, a biting sting on her head, and the groggy feeling of deja vu. Why was all this so familiar? Oh, yes, because she'd already done this once before. Only this time she hadn't awoken on an impossibly comfortable bed with silk sheets, gentle breeze carrying in the scent of the wilds, and the lurching feeling of sick in her stomach.

Instead it was the dark enclosure of the tent, stagnant air that tasted like salt, and the stench of her own sweat. Not the worst circumstances to wake up in, really, and at least this time she recognized the voice speaking to her.

Ral peered up at Henk with one eye, sparing no effort quite yet to sit up.

"Hey," she started, "they got me."

 

[Henk]

The frustration that had been nagging at Henk since he'd woken up couldn't stop the small laugh that escaped him at Ral's first words back in the waking world.

"Yeah. They sure fucking did."

Somehow, Henk doubted Ralene prided herself on her ability to put smiles on faces, but she did alright with it just then. He wiped at his forehead with his arm, the sweat soaking into the strips covering it as he sat down beside her on the floor.

"Here." Henk held a waterskin to her lips, though it only contained a mouthful. Once she'd taken a drink, he tossed the empty skin with the rest of his things. "That knock on your head would have been no big deal on its own, but then you were baking in the sun for a couple of hours. Not a good combo." Henk knew all too well about the things heat could do to a body.

"Caravan's gone. Took the wagon too. Any idea who it was that hit you?"

Ralene

 

[Samantha Black]

Well, at least they were on the same page about that.

Ral loosed a breath halfway between a flat, single beat of laughter and exasperation with herself. The gulp of water was welcome and washed down her throat like rain down a dry riverbed. With some effort the Initiate leaned to sit up, wincing as the pounding in her head rolled into overdrive.

"They put something in the wine," she added to Henk's summary of her grievances, cradling her un-bludgeoned temple in a sweaty hand and shaking her head once, "no, I could hardly walk a straight line. They come at me from around the wagon."

But somehow it wasn't surprising to hear they'd abandoned them out here and took their wagon for good measure. "They leave us the horses at least? Our supplies?"

 

[Henk]

"Played us like a couple of rookies fresh out of our first year, didn't they?" Henk couldn't help but smile at the revelation about the wine as he shook his head. "I guess at least I'm not as much of a lightweight as I thought I was when I woke up this morning."

At her question, Henk nodded towards the supplies in the corner. They'd even taken the water they'd had on the wagon off and left it for them, in a surprising show of mercy. "Yeah, Horses are outside too. So, on the bright side we can probably still get to Maraan without much of a problem." Henk smirked. "Assuming you can still ride."

This would have been the only time he could tease Ralene without any chance of getting socked in the mouth.

If Ralene felt half as rough as she looked, Henk hoped they were able to make it to Maraan by nightfall for her sake. She'd be fine, as tough as any of them, but cooling her down had taken a considerable amount of their water, and that wound on her head still needed to be properly cleaned.

"I don't understand why they felt the need to do that when we were going to give them the wagon as part of the deal anyways, but it doesn't matter. If they're at Maraan when we arrive, maybe you can go another round with them."

Henk wouldn't want to be them.

Ralene

 

[Samantha Black]

"Honorable assholes," Ral gave a facial shrug, "hm."

It occurred to her that the elves may have been suspicious of who and what they were. Or, perhaps the story Henk had shared earlier in the evening while they set up camp about being fated for misfortune wasn't such a fairy tale after all. "If I had outsiders in my camp that were marked for death I probably wouldn't want them around either."

Unless of course there was a bounty attached to that death, but that was neither here nor there.

"But," with a grunt she pushed herself into a sitting position and slowly began to pull her armor back on, "this doesn't change our mission. I can ride," she winced as she pulled the chest plate over her head, settling it into place on her shoulders before reaching for her greaves, "and we will make it to Maraan by nightfall."

 

[Henk]

A knowing smile settled onto his face as Ralene pulled herself up and began to dress for another ride in the sun. "I think I'm beginning to learn how you operate, Ralene. Somehow I thought you'd say that." Henk gathered what little they did have and left the tent to prepare their horses.

At least those two were in good spirits, Ral's horse giving a little jump of excitement when Henk emerged again. He strapped as much as he could to their backsides, though it was apparent the tent would have to be left behind. By the time Ralene emerged, everything was set.

"Doesn't make sense." Henk referred to her theories on the betrayal as he offered to help her up onto her horse. "If they didn't want us around, it would have been easy for them to get rid of us the moment we came to them, as outnumbered as we were. Even if they couldn't kill us, I doubt we'd have seen too much reason to chase them if they refused and ran."

Nothing about this mission had added up from the very beginning, and every time Henk thought he had an answer, the questions changed. Ralene was correct, however. It didn't change that they needed to get to Maraan and pry for answers there. It was their best bet right now.

Hoisting himself onto his own mount, he nodded to the luggage on the back of her steed. "You've got the rest of our water there, if you start getting too hot don't push yourself not to drink it."

With that final warning, which he wasn't sure she'd take to heart, they were off. Back to where they'd started, dashing through the sands of the Savannah under the blazing sun and a coat of sweat and grime.

Ralene

 

[Samantha Black]

Ralene wasn't about to comment on the moral quandries a caravan of trader elves might have with leaving two human teenagers out in the desert. So far as she knew, most elves didn't give two shits about humans and she supposed they probably deserved that sort of treatment. For her part, it was less about race and more about honor.

But she couldn't write herself off as the most honorable person around. Henk likely topped her there. He probably hadn't helped a fellow Initiate kill their own father and wiped out an entire household of people whose guilt or innocence hadn't been proven. She pressed on with her armor, not stopping until every piece had been returned to her figure, and stepped out after Henk. He wanted to leave the tent but there was no sense in leaving all of it. She stubbornly folded and rolled the tent canvas, tying it off at the back of her saddle with the rope and opting to leave the pitching poles behind. It was still useful to them if they were to, say, get caught in a sandstorm.

The pair of them rode off through the unyielding sun and spent the day traversing the great and seemingly endless plains of sand and scrub. Ral took no extra drinks of water, beyond the few breaks they took, and despite Henk's advisement pushed herself to continue on the entire day. Ralene knew one thing about her current state of self: she had no desire to be caught out in this desert a single day longer than absolutely necessary like this.

So they made it to Maraan by nightfall and the first thing Ralene wanted to do was find a healer.

 

[Henk]

The Twin Arches were the first sign that they'd finally reached their destination, the curved dunes that the town was named for sat peacefully about a half-hour from the thick, featureless walls that surrounded Amol-Kalit's trading hub. It was common for travelers to camp among the dunes if they didn't wish to actually enter the city, but Henk saw no signs of life among the arches today. With things being how they were lately, all the disappearances... that didn't surprise him.

Ralene was doing well to hide her struggle, but Henk knew she had to be in rough shape. Of course, she wouldn't have admitted it to him if he'd asked, even though he'd been the one to take care of her while she rode through the worst of it. It didnt' make him any less concerned; and the first thing they'd be doing once they passed through The Bannered Gate was finding somebody who could give her the help she needed.

They approached it now, the large, singular gate to the city guarded by men in armor without any sigils or banners to signify their allegiance. Noting that the two Initiates had nothing in the way of marking where they'd come from, they were allowed to pass underneath the enormous gates into the city proper. Henk bit the inside of his cheek, looking up at the few varying flags that hung above them on hooks fixed to the gate.

"Looks like our friends made it." Henk pointed up to the flags, several of which bore the same symbol as the caravan had been flying. "This is a neutral space, so when you enter through the gates they take whatever banners or flags you have until you leave." The main road was wide ahead of them and flush with wagons, horses, and pedestrians on foot ducking in and out of any of the thin alleyways that branched out and ran throughout the city. The two of them didn't stand out at all, and neither of them were paid a second glance.

"Come on, this way."

Henk turned his horse left down a street that hugged a cluster of ramshackle residences, short term housing for the travelling merchants, no doubt. This street was far quieter than the main road, and the only passerby were merchants either packing up or unloading from their wagons. One of the buildings definitely stood out though, with the large sign affixed to a metal pole so that it hung out over the road in a rather eye catching fashion, the name "Harrod's" painted on the wooden surface of the sign.

The old man sitting in front of it in an old rocking chair with a pipe in his mouth seemed to recognize Henk, waving him over.

"There's our man. Harrod will be able to fix us up, and probably give us a place to stay if I sweet talk him a little..."

Ralene

 

[Samantha Black]

Ralene didn't often take the back seat in missions with other Initiates. Typically the Proctors selected her as a team lead unless there was a senior Dreadlord or ranked military operative on the job as well. Though neither of them had been specifically told to lead the mission, she wasn't too bothered by Henk taking it upon himself to do so.

At least, she wouldn't be bothered until she was. Like if he failed to meet her own high standards for decision making and strategy - but Ral wasn't yet convinced that would be an issue. Despite how quiet he tended to be, she'd never been given the impression that Henk was an idiot. Though that could have very well been a case of Henk remaining silent to remove all doubt. In her book, he was competent until proven otherwise.

The flag of the caravan noted, Ralene gave it a dark, stony glance as they passed below, "I owe an elf a cheap shot to the head," the Initiate grumbled as she followed. The migraine that had set in about an hour into their day's journey dogged her the entire way here and still presently pounded and blazed within her skull, just behind the swollen gash by her temple. Ral could deal with pain, but the strain on her vision and the uneasiness of her gut from the concussion had proven quite the foe in this unbearable heat.

With their contact located, she slowly dismounted and lead her horse into the shade of an awning where she let it drink from a trough before tying it to the waiting pole.

"Sweet talk?" she offered Henk a gritty half smirk, "Can't wait to see this..." and kept to his heel as he moved to speak with Harrod.

 

[Henk]

The brooding promise of vengeance against the elven refuseniks who'd left them behind brought a hint of a smile to Henk's face. The whole caravan had collectively found themselves a very powerful enemy, and he would have felt bad for them if they hadn't left him to die as well. Now he was actually rather looking forward to seeing her in action.

He was getting ahead of himself, though. First he had to convince Harrod to help them out. Now, Henk didn't think it would be a problem, but he'd been proven wrong a few times already on this mission. As the pair of them brought their horses to a stop in front of where the old man rocked, he looked up at them through the smoke pluming out of the mouth of his pipe with a little smirk.

"Espen! Didn't think I'd see you back this way for some time." He took a long puff as he announced the and crossed one of his legs over the other as his head swiveled to Ralene. "You brought company too! This your lady?" Harrod pulled the pipe from his mouth, hacking a bit before he set it down on his lap. His eyes roamed over Ralene once or twice, but it wasn't a look of perversion. There was something else behind those wizened eyes.

Henk spoke up, hoping that Ral would play along. "Yeah, Harrod. I know I said I probably wouldn't ever see you again, but our wagon got stolen on our way up to Elbion and we're in a pretty bad way. This is... Raen. Raen Black." Henk quickly bit the inside of his cheek. No real names, moron. If they had enemies in this city and word made it that they were here it'd be shit hitting the fan. "Could use a healer, and a room too."

The smile drained from Harrod's face as Henk started making requests. The sounds around them were starting to pick up; midday was hitting and the merchants were setting off for the afternoon market. Taking another look over both of them, and then casting a glance down the road, the old man took the wooden cane leaning against the side of the chair and stood.

"Hitch the horses, we'll talk inside, kid."

He hobbled to the tall building, built with stones stained with more age than any of the other ramshackle apartments on the little backroad. Henk looked toward Ralene and offered a shrug. "Wasn't a no."

Ralene

 

[Samantha Black]

Espen.

This your lady?

This is... Raen. Raen Black.

Ralene maintained an unreadable expression of stoic heat exhaustion. Wasn't hard when that was her present state of being, but this also wasn't her first rodeo in working with aliases and cover stories. Fuck, she'd been married to Edric in Wissburg, what was one more unsung beau to add to her list? At least Henk had the smarts about him to know not to use real names.

Give the boy another point of respect.

Ral turned her gaze up at Henk as he shrugged at her and bobbed her brows back at him in return. Indeed it wasn't.

"We have some coin to haggle with if you think it will help, Espen," she replied to him quietly while he hitched his horse to the waiting post before leaning in toward him with a serious look on her face, "and if I'm your lady then we need a story that fits whatever history you have here."

 

[Henk]

Henk smiled, giving the horses a comforting pat of his hand before turning to face Ralene's forward lean with a nod. "Harrod's a weird one, but he'll do right by us as long as we do and pay what he asks." The boy's brows raised a bit as he reached out to brush some sand from Ralene... ahem... Raen's shoulder. "As for a story, I don't think he'll be too nosy, but as far as he knows I'm just a wandering mercenary. It's not unreasonable for me to have a girlfriend with a similar lifestyle."

Obviously, anybody who knew the two of them would probably find the idea of Henk and Ralene in a romantic relationship to be somewhat difficult to believe. They thought similarly on many things, but they were still quite divergent when it came to their personalities.

Henk didn't think much of that. He doubted they would have to play up the relationship angle too much while they were here.

Harrod's 'shop' was actually a great deal more than that. The creaky wooden door he lead the two of them through did open up into a dusty storefront that displayed all manners of old trinkets and antiques. Odd baubles seemed to line every shelf on the wall, with a table in the center lined with bottled liquors and spirits with exorbitant price tags to match the long-past ages listed on the labels.

Behind the counter was a bookshelf lined with tomes that looked as though they could have been written ages before even some of the oldest books in the Academy. Henk wasn't lost on the fact this place was a treasure trove, to be certain. Even so, there was more to this building, he'd learned.

The stout old man walked behind the counter as they entered into the musty room and reached underneath the oaken surface, retrieving a key and placing it on the counter.

"Room is on the house, but we're even now, okay kid?" He chewed on the end of his pipe, the expression on his face hard to read with the foggy glasses he wore over his face. "Standard rate applies for protection though, and a healer is going to be more than usual because Ariae is out helping at the doc's place."

Henk nodded, expecting that much. "That's fine, as long as she gets what she needs." Casting a brief glance to Ralene, he smiled before retrieving the key. "Let me take her upstairs and help her settle and then I'll return with the money, Harrod."

The old man raised an eyebrow, but eventually shrugged and leaned on his cane. The experience he did have with "Espen" gave him no reason to believe he was being deceived. "Fine. No messing around until that room is paid for though. I know how you kids are. You help her up there and I want you right back, alright?"

The male initiate gave a deep bow. He'd have to explain things to Ralene, but for now he offered his arm to her. "Come on. You've gotta be melting in that armor."

Ralene

 

[Samantha Black]

Funny how a room that was on the house one moment then required to be paid for the next. Ralene narrowed her eyes at the old man and silently bit her tongue. With Henk in charge it wouldn't look right for her to speak out of turn, but she sure as shit would give Henk an earful upstairs before she forked over any of her coin. Especially since she'd quite like to peruse the bookshelves here for her small library in her dorm back at the academy.

A tired glance found the offered arm and after a short sigh she took it and followed along with Henk upstairs to their room. Not much to unpack given how little they'd been left with, but she tossed her pack onto the bed and pulled out one of the chairs at a small table in the corner.

"Don't go paying for a room that's on the house," she remarked dryly as she fidgeted with one of the leather utility cases strapped to thigh and extracted from within a pouch of coin, "this is all I've got. I had more in another bag that got taken the night you were attacked by that beastie."

Ral didn't think she'd be getting that bag back, though.

 

[Henk]

The room itself wasn't anything special, but Henk had used this room before; he hadn't been expecting a luxury suite. The bed, furnace, chairs, and dresser were basic amenities, but hopefully, they wouldn't need to stay here long. There was a surprisingly nice fur rug on the floor that hadn't been here the last time he'd used the room. Odd place to make improvements, Harrod.

The sun was let into the room through a singular square window between the bed and the two chairs lined up on the opposite wall, too small for anybody to squeeze through.

"He's not asking me to pay for the room, he's asking me to pay him to ensure nobody knows where we are." Henk replied, stripping the makeshift wraps from his arms and tossing them beside the small wash basin by the door, where he began to scrub the grime off of his arms up to the elbow. "Harrod runs this place as a sanctuary for people who are on the run, in trouble, or in need of a place to lie low. You wouldn't think it from looking at him, but he's got some serious pull here. If we pay him what he asks, nobody will be able to get to us in here."

Henk gave Ralene a quick brief on Harrod as he counted the coins in her pouch. He'd been here on an assignment with some underclassmen and they'd gotten kidnapped by a slaver of all things. Harrod had given him a room to work out of in return for saving his daughter, and the one who did most of the healings for him, Ariae, from said slaver as well.

Handing the pouch back to Ralene, The initiate offered a half-smile.

"If you don't think it's worth it, I'll just pay for the healing. I don't think we have to worry much about money though. I have a little tucked away from last time I was here."

Henk nodded towards the dresser against the wall. "Back of that thing pops right out, hid a pouch there with some of my extra, just in case."

Ralene

 

[Samantha Black]

"You tell me if we need it," Ral took her coin back and shoved the purse back into the case, "I'm not worried about the elves but I'm not the one that was told by some old biddy we were marked for death."

Or whatever it was she told him. She followed his gesture to the indicated hidden coin but didn't bother to comment. Why Henk thought he'd be back here again to find or need a stash of coin was beyond her. Maraan was so far out from Vel Anir territories, the fact that he'd been assigned to the task that brought him back here once again was rather strange. Or at least, she thought, what were the actual odds?

"Maybe it's better if they can find us so we can get this mission done and over with." Who knew how long they'd be looking for this creature and whatever or whoever it was connected to it, "And I'll be fine with just a healing potion. Someone has to sell them around here."