Private Tales Scorched Earth

[Fife]

He urged Dusty on, and Fife finally turned Socks around to follow. The pony plodded along behind the horse and shortly caught up to him with his hurried steps.

Thought she was glad to be leaving, she was not excited for the long ride ahead of them. It had been a struggle to make it this far, and now that the adrenaline was wearing off... she could have laid on the cold, lumpy ground tight there and slept.

Still, when he asked how long she could stay awake, she simply offered a thumb up. It was necessary. They couldn't pull off and camp this close to that town. If it meant tying her into the saddle, she would stay on the road.

But it was such a long ride. Fife was struggling by the end of the first hour. Her head was bobbing and she would start to lean before she jerked and caught herself. She patted her cheeks (aching or not) and shook her whole body. It didn't do much good.

// Raigryn Vayd //​

 

[Raigryn Vayd]

"Come on Fife lets get off the road." Raigryn turned around in the saddle. He couldn't see anyone behind them in the fading light. Even if they left tracks no peasants would be following them in the night. The ground was firm enough that the horses were not leaving much of a trail to begin with.

He directed them straight for a copse of trees. The sun was setting behind it, making it seem almost like an oversized tuft of grass at a distance.

He slowly led Dusty between several trees until he felt they were out of sight of any passers-by, even when the sun started to rise. Raigryn slid down from his horse, taking a moment to steady himself on his feet.

"Do you want a hand?" he asked Fife, offering and arm. The boy looked ready to collapse.

 

[Fife]

Reaching the copse of trees, Fife was far too tired to question if this was a good spot or not. She was relieved and would have to take her chances. Socks had mostly followed on his own without her guidance, thankfully, and she dropped her reins to slump against the pony's neck.

Fife made no bones about taking a little help. They were both in rough shape, but hopefully they could both get some good rest. She held onto his arm as she dismounted, then leaned against Socks as she began to unbuckle the saddle. Even as tired as she was, she was still going to take care of her pony.

She got his tack off and tied him to a tree to graze. Then, mustering the very last if her energy, dragged the saddle and gear far enough away that she wouldn't accidentally get stepped on.

And then she was finished. Laying the saddle blanket against the saddle, she didn't even bother getting out her bedroll and simply laid down against the tack. She could barely keep her eyes open long enough to softly whistle Raigryn's name and sign thank you before she slipped into sleep.

// Raigryn Vayd //​

 

[Raigryn Vayd]

Raigryn stood with a hand against the trunk of a thick tree. He still felt a touch of dizziness from the blow to the head. Fife had earned this rest.

It had been a hard day for the boy. There were a lot of dangers on the streets for an orphan, and they would all still be there. Fears that would stay with him for a very long time.

The town's behaviour concerned him. Whatever lord's owned these lands needed to get grain and food out to those stuck on the edges of the land tainted by demons. Then there was that whole business about tentacles. Raigryn wasn't sure if he even wanted to entertain it as anything more than peasant stories.

Then again, the demons really had come to this world.

Raigryn settled down with his sword across his lap and waited for the world to enter the true dark of night. Only then did he settle down on his own bed roll nd fall into a light sleep.

 

[Fife]

She was exhausted, but she slept terrible. Fife had been asleep for a few fitful hours before starting awake, gasping and shaking, hands braced and eyes searching for a threat that wasn't there. As she realized it had just been a nightmare, given new, terrible life by recent memories, she curled up and rubbed her face. Focusing on breathing evenly helped to slowly draw her back to reality.

Fife was frustrated. She was physically and mentally exhausted. She wanted these awful nightmares that had plagued her for so long to finally release her. Fife craved normalcy, whatever the hell that was.

She rubbed her burning eyes and sat up, surveying their camp. Raigryn had laid down and it was dark, but her eyes lingered momentarily on the older Empath. If he had ever noticed her night terrors, he had never said anything about it before. That was fine. It wasn't like they could be helped. She valued the privacy to sort herself out.

At least she had gotten a little sleep. A few hours of bad sleep was better than nothing, right? She rubbed her face, considered lying back down and crying, but that was stupid and wouldn't make her feel better.

However, she wasn't going to be immediately trying to sleep again, so she picked up her canteen and took a quiet drink, then put her arms around her legs and propped her chin on her knees to listen to the night sounds. She would try to sleep again in an hour... or three. She wasn't making any decisions on it. In the meantime, she could keep watch.

// Raigryn Vayd //​

 

[Raigryn Vayd]

"What's wrong," came a tired voice from Raigryn's bedroll. In the starlight just his silvery hair and eyes could be seen. He watched her, a slow blink and the reflections of moonlight briefly melted into the shadows.

Tonight he slept lightly with his sword close at hand. Thoughts of demononic hybrids or bandits remained at the forefront of his mind, even as he slept.

Fife should have crashed and slept until morning. Being an empath was cheating, but it was also a way of learning. The emotions you sensed were matched to the physical cues you saw. He needed no Empathy to see that the boy was agitated.

 

[Fife]

Fife started and turned to look over her shoulder at him. So he wasn't sleeping. She was glad it was dark and he couldn't she the flash of color on her cheeks. Shame wasn't a new sensation, but it never got any easier to conceal.

Turning toward him, she set down the canteen by her feet and lifted her hands. Can't sleep, she signed for him. Fife paused, trying to figure out how to say why, and settled with simply touching her temple. She didn't think there was much sense in fibbing around it. Raigryn was smart enough to put it together.

But she held up a thumb and smiled, hoping to disuade any worry. It wasn't a new experience. At least she wasn't in Elbion where her fears had first been forged in the dark. At least there was someone to ask her what was wrong.

// Raigryn Vayd //​

 

[Raigryn Vayd]

"Nightmares?" he asked, when Fife pointed to his own head. "Or a headache?"

Either seemed possible given Fife's history and the last few days they had been through, respectively.

"Promised you a warm fire and hot food and instead we're out here."

The woods were not silent. In a way it made him feel safer. This wasn't the silence of the empty lands where the mist had been. Yet night birds still made truly chilling cries.

"Anything I can help with?"

 

[Fife]

She huffed in laughter in spite of herself. Both, she signed. Her head was still a little achy, mostly her cheek, but she had slept through that easily enough.

Raigryn seemed upset about the lack of fire and food, and Fife sat up to shake her hands and head. No. She gave him a thumb up, smiling. It was okay. He couldn't have predicted circumstances. That, however, was a reassuring statement that was far too complicated to say in gestures or simple drawings.

Him asking if he could help didn't help the feeling like she wanted to lie down and cry. She bit her lip, refusing to blubber like a child. Fife shook her head instead. That was a question that warranted some sort of response, however, and she struggled to find a good way to express it. She indicated him him, then gestured to the ground. You're here. With a small smile he probably couldn't see in the low light, she signed thank you.

They were both awake now. Fife lifted her canteen and shook it, motioning it toward him in inquiry.

// Raigryn Vayd //​

 

[Raigryn Vayd]

Raigryn slowly sat upright. A very audible crack was accompanied by a grimace. Once he could have slept rough for weeks at a time when he marched with armies. Age was catching up to him. It was an accumulation of small niggles rather than anything that significantly hampered him from day to day. All of them seemed to get worse in the cold and damp.

He smiled softly, seeing the myriad of emotions flash across Fife's face. That told a story that a thousand words would have failed to capture.

"Thanks," he said, reaching for the canteen.

They had reached the point of darkness where the land was eerily silent. Even the predators who hunted in the night had turned in. Jocelyn was fast asleep, likely having spent the first hours after they had fallen asleep hunting insects and small rodents.

"Want to try for a few more hours or get moving soon? The sunrise can make even the most drab landscapes seem inviting."

 

[Fife]

He was slow sitting up and Fife pretended not to hear the crack of something, but she leaned out to put the canteen closer to him. Raigryn could seem like a middle-aged man on the back end of his prime sometimes, but at others he seemed older. If he kept dragging her around to these godforsaken places, he wouldn't live long enough to see her imagined ponies and chickens.

Fife sat with her arms around her knees as he drank, silent as always. She contemplated his question only briefly.

Pointing to the ground, she then indicated him and tipped her head to the side over her folded hands. Stay. You can sleep. She would rather be dead tired traveling than invite sleep and dreams again. Thankfully she was still young; she would bounce back easier than he would without a good shuteye.

She turned and untied her bedroll from the saddle and, going to get her canteen back, dropped it beside him. She pointed to it, then gestured to him insistently and patted her back. If he tried handing it back she wasn't taking it, going back to her saddle pad and sitting down again. She wasn't using it; he might as well double up.

Fife smiled stubbornly, pointing to Raigryn and making the sleep sign.

// Raigryn Vayd //​

 

[Raigryn Vayd]

Raigryn only shook his head slowly. He knew when it was pointless to keep fighting. It was something that had seperated him from many nobles he had once served. Many dead nobles.

"Don't light a fire," he said softly. "The smoke would be visible from the road in the morning. And don't be afraid to wake me if something doesn't sound right."

Raigryn wasn't quite sure what the last statement would mean for Fife. After his life in the city nothing out here would sound 'right'. Following instruction, he soon drifted off into a light sleep. Only the sky would wake him.

 

[Fife]

She nodded and put a thumb up. She wouldn't be afraid to wake him, especially not after last night. But he needed the rest; one of them needed to be functioning at some capacity tomorrow.

Keeping watch, she listened to the night noises. She knew some of them from the city, but many of them were strange. They'd spent a few nights out on the road before, but she was far from experienced. Fife laid her chin on her knees and listened. Night noises were good. That meant there was nothing out there that didn't belong.

There was nothing that made her uncomfortable or worried, however. She was tired and filled her time tying and untying her boot laces, flipping her little knife, or scratching pictures into the dirt. She occasionally looked up to listen to something in the dark, but it passed on.

// Raigryn Vayd //​

 

[Raigryn Vayd]

Fife

Dusty and Socks did not appreciate the barren ground. No longer were they afforded a rich thicket of grass each night to chew a pair of circles away. As they travelled west of the portal stone recently discovered near Elbion - which had meant crossing demon touched black earth again - they had followed the coast. Then as they had turned inland the air had turned hot and dry. The winds swept around the small mountain range they headed towards. It wasn't a pleasant breeze that carried a cool sea spray.

This was the first time that Raigryn had taken them somewhere with a strong purpose in mind. This time it revolved around Fife. He had a history with the Idemni people and he knew several key facts about them.

They lived in just one town now, straddling an oasis near mountains north of the deserts. They were some of the greatest swordsmen he had ever crossed, considering martial prowess the most important value in determining status. Most important of all they had a near complete sign language.

They considered forming expressions with the face as crass. Instead they used signs formed with one hand to describe their feelings as they spoke and to add inflections to their words. Then they had the more complete form of Idemni sign that required two hands. This had been developed for situations where silence was required. Even if Fife learned to write perfectly communicating through the written word required ink, a parchment and - most importantly - time.

"Have you noticed them yet?" Raigryn asked Fife with a wry smile. Several Idemni scouts dressed in drab colours had been shadowing them for a mile. They were hard to sense when they kept their emotions in check with such rigid discipline and even harder to see.

Ahead the natural rock formation that was the boundary of their settlement loomed. There was a mural carved into one wall: a mass of Idemni warriors falling in battle beneath a charge of cavalry.

 

[Fife]

It was dry and it was hot. Fife sighed.

She had been sighing periodically for days, sometimes consciously, sometimes not. Seeing the landscape had been exciting at first. But one could only be excited about dry red earth for so long. After days of it, Fife was about as excited as their mounts. The rust-colored dirt got on everything and was insistent and difficult to get off. It was coarse and gritty -- neither sand nor dirt nor rock, yet somehow simultaneously all three.

It could be pretty, though. Sunset was her favorite time of day now because the horizon painted the coppery earth blood red and vibrant pinks. For a very short while, the world glowed like a bed of embers that slowly died down to heavy purples under the light of the moons.

It was beautiful. Boring, but still so very beautiful.

Fife didn't know exactly where they were going or why, but she and Socks faithfully followed behind their much taller companions. She had plenty to think about with her time, though often went in circles around the same handful of thoughts.

Things had been strange since she'd "become" a girl. Not that she blamed Raigryn for that. It couldn't have been easy, learning that what he had thought was a preteen boy was actually a girl in her late teens. She hadn't found the right ways to explain, but he seemed to get it. She was both mortified that he might understand why and yet glad that she didn't have to fumble through it. Fife didn't know if she could have explained even if granted the opportunity.

The fancy ball had been more fun than she had wanted to expect, and it had been a relatively safe way to dip her toes into the daunting vulnerability that was her femininity, but it had only encouraged her a little. Fife had continued to dressed the same afterward, and still bound her chest out of habit. She just didn't feel safe or comfortable most days on the road, and the nightmares that randomly plagued her only amplified those fears.

The nights she was visited by those memories were the days she pulled her binds tighter, tried to talk to Raigryn less, and curled up under her blanket with her back to him when she had exhausted all the odd chores she could do trying to distract herself.

He hadn't left her yet, and for that she woke up daily feeling incredibly grateful. But there was still an enormous wall of questions between them. He knew her about as well as she knew him. After almost a year on the road beside one another, what had they learned?

A lot of Empath magics and odd natural facts, and as little about the other as possible.

Fife was deep in these thoughts when he broke the silence. She blinked, looking up at him. A frown pulled at the corners of her mouth and her brows pulled together. Keeping her eyes on her mentor as she turned her head, she finally scanned the barren landscape around them. Who was he talking about? Fife twisted in the saddle, looking around the from all sides, then straightened again to shake her head and look at him, dubious eyes narrowing. She still didn't see anyone.

Nor had she noticed the enormous mural they had been approaching until that moment. The doubtful expression melted into awe as she looked up at it.

Where in Arethil were they?

// Raigryn Vayd //​

 

[Raigryn Vayd]

"There are a few things you should know about the idemni," Raigryn said as he drew them to a halt before the mural. He directed Fife's attention to their left. Several figures appeared, men and women wearing clothes of the same ruddy brown as the earth. They were appearing on all sides, perhaps a dozen and closing in slowly. Raigryn did not appear phased by this.

"They think that showing your emotion on your face is incredibly crass, so try to keep what you're feeling hidden. If they agree to teach you the sword and signing then you will have to be a very obedient student.

"Unlike most martial organisations the idemni teach their soldiers to question the orders of their superiors if they don't agree with them but this policy does not extend to students.

"Also don't show pride in your crossbow. They believe such weapons are for idiots who don't have the capacity to learn the sword.

"Does that all make sense?"

Raigryn wore that knowing smirk he wore when he threw Fife into the deep end. He was still adjusting to the new perspective on Fife. He would be for a very long time.

With a nonchalant air a woman emerged from the gap in the rocks ahead of them, stepping past the mural. Like the others she wore reddish-brown clothes. There were leather straps on her arms and legs that held a variety of knives and sharp implements. Her sandy-blonde hair was pulled into a high pony tail.

 

[Fife]

She watched Raigryn as he spoke, a decided frown upon her face. Idemni? Following his gaze, her brows rose and wiped away the questioning look. Oh. He didn't look concerned in the slightest, but Fife turned in the saddle to look around. She hadn't noticed them at all, and even now that she could see them, she could barely perceive them as people with emotions.

Straightening once more, she cast him an uncertain glance but still nodded. It didn't make sense. Regardless, she would keep it at the front of her mind. People who thought showing emotions was crass? Perhaps that explained why they were hardly perceptible to her senses.

A few choice words of what he said stuck out, however. If they agree to teach you the sword and signing. She looked around at the gathering figures with interest, her expression blank but her eyes searching. These people had a language without voice? Was that why they were here -- to train with them?

Questions that were neither easily asked nor answered right now as the group closed in around them and an intimidating figure in red emerged. She was dressed quite differently from the others. Her demeanor alone spoke of confidence and skill, likely warranted by the knives about her person.

Fife glanced from her to Raigryn, and Socks stepped anxiously at the approaching people. He crowded closer to Dusty and his ears swiveled, so Fife scratched his withers with the reins to soothe him... and her. She was just as nervous.

// Raigryn Vayd //​

 

[Raigryn Vayd]

"Don't worry, they know me," said Raigryn as he slid down from Dusty. He kept the reigns tight in one hand and waved for Fife to do the same.

"They know me too well," he added without context. His tone was full of regret. Raigryn reached over his shoulder and unclipped the strap which secured his bastard sword by the crossguard.

The sword had been replaced after taking too many chips cutting through plague ghouls. Raigryn had never been wedded to any particular sword. People who named their swords amused him a great deal.

"Don't worry, it's considered rude in their society to meet an old aquantaince without having a weapon to hand. Stems back to gatherings of allies being ambushed. You alright? We might be staying here for a while Fife. Though that depends on them."

 

[Fife]

Cryptic remarks of familiarity aside, she didn't know if she thought these folks knowing him was a good thing or not. She hoped it was a good thing. The hardly went anywhere without Raigryn knowing a guy. He knew a farmer here. He knew a lord there. He conveniently knew people of all stripes. However old he was, he seemed to have traveled to a lot of places and met a whole lot of folks.

It just so happened that the "guy he knew" in this one looked like she was going to skin him before she shook his hand.

Not at all reassured, Fife got down from Socks, but hung close to the pony's head. She nodded. She wasn't comfortable, but she was alright. Distrustful by nature, she watched the woman's approach, then glanced up once more to her mentor to try gauging if his calm attitude was genuine or if he was putting on airs.

With Raigryn, it was impossible to know. The whole world was a series of open books, their emotions laid bare with no means to conceal them. Fife could interpret their feelings and manage herself accordingly. But Raigryn was like a seamless curtain wall, high and solid -- impassable and unknowable. She was a very poorly constructed dry stone wall that barely kept her mental sheep in, let alone kept others like him from looking in.

She trusted him regardless. The voice of reason spoke over her uncertainty; Raigryn wouldn't have brought her here without some expectation of safety. Even in their closest scrapes when he had invariably thrown her into water trying to teach her to swim, she had paddled to shore okay.

// Raigryn Vayd //​

 

[Raigryn Vayd]

"Aretta."

"Raigryn."

If there was any endearment between the two it was well hidden. Aretta gave a hint of a bow from the neck up, keeping her eyes on Raigryn.

She brought a hand up to shoulder height, moving through a few overt gestures. The Idemni that had formed a semi-circle at their backs melted away.

"It has been too long."

"I have travelled far.".

"As always." Aretta turned her gaze to Fife. She let it stay there for a fee seconds, taking the measure of her.

"Who is she?" Aretta asked.

"She is... Damn it everyone but me..."

"What?"

"Never mind. This is Fife, my apprentice. She is mute so i came to ask if you would teach us your hand languages."

"And I thought you would ask me to..."

"And also the sword please."

Aretta raised an eyebrow, but gave no more of a reaction to this. Down by her side her hand twitched.

"And you want this?" Aretta asked Fife directly.

 

[Fife]

Their exchange was dry, to say the least. Fife very quickly understood what he meant about facial expressions. Aretta, as Raigryn called the woman in red, could have been carved from the stone around them. The young Empath watched with interest as she made a sign over her shoulder and the group around them began to back away. Keeping her features in check in spite of the excitement that sprang up inside of her was not too difficult, but took conscious effort.

Then the Idemni woman's attention turned to Fife, who was biting back a small grin. Poor Raigryn. She was introduced, and then the woman asked her if what he had said was her wish.

She glanced from the hand twitch to Raigryn, but met the woman's gaze when she nodded. Though she doubted she would be any good at it, she recognized how impractical her crossbow was. If she was following Raigryn into more trouble around the world for however long it took to learn sympathomancy, then she wanted to be able to fend for herself in more way than one.

// Raigryn Vayd //​

 

[Raigryn Vayd]

"I will consider this," Aretta replied. She stood her ground a few seconds longer, turning her head to regard them both carefully. It started to seem as if she was going to make them wait outside their settlement until she could make up her mind.

"Come," she called, turning away and waving over her shoulder for them to follow. "Your horses need to be tended to and you need food and water."

"Im sure Fife would like to look after Socks herself," Raigryn replied. She seemed to have bonded with her pony and enjoyed brushing him down after a long journey.

Aretta drew her left hand into a ball at her side and made a sweeping motion against her hip.

"That's a shrug," Raigryn whispered to Fife. He had learned a few of their expressive gestures in his time with them.

They were led through the gap in the rocky formation to find that it hid a sprawling town. The idemni had a number of large permanent wooden buildings, but most of them were round tents. The settlement was centred around an oasis on the river that wound through the middle.

The region wasn't a desert, but the green and fertile soil within the settlement was a start difference to the land they had crossed.

"They are a harsh people living off a harsh land," Raigryn whispered.

Aretta had turned to face them. "Important matters: women bathe every morning in the secluded end of the lake, men every evening. And yes Raigryn with soap. A double portion today because you both stink."

There had been a discussion once on the frequency of bathing necessary and it was an argument Raigryn wasn't going to win whilst staying here. He rolled his eyes, knowing he was going to smell of flowers for the entire stay.

"Up river is drinking water, down river where it leaves Indretar is where you do your business. Any questions? Otherwise we will find you a spare tent."

 

[Fife]

Aretta replied, but continued to stand and inspect them, and Fife tried not to fidget beneath her scrutiny. She did so for a while before finally turning and granting them entrance.

Fife pulled hard at her pony's reins, trying to keep him at pace to stand by Raigryn and Socks rather than having to follow. She might have considered letting someone else handle her stubborn mount for once. The frustrated and nerve-born thought was immediately followed by the slight panic of not known for sure he was safe and the need to relieve stress. Caring for their horses had become routine but also a way for her to unwind at the end of a long day of whatever mayhem she'd stumbled her way through before lying down for what fitful sleep she could manage.

Her mentor knew that, however, for which she was grateful, and spoke on her behalf. Breathing a quiet sigh of relief through her nose and tugging Socks along, she had almost missed the gesture Raigryn commented on. A shrug; indifference. It was going to be more important to watch them as they spoke. Eye contact and knowing what to do with her eyes when people spoke to her was already awkward. At least watching hands gave her a decided purpose.

Mindfully keeping her expression neutral as she made her observations, Fife blinked with astonishment at the change before them. Entering through the stone wall transported them from the featureless red landscape into a hidden alcove of water and greenery. What were these things called? An oasis? Schooling her excitement in a glance at Raigryn, she took it all in with eyes wide with curiosity and interest.

The talk of bathing, however, made her brows twitch together and her hands tighten around the reins, already held close to her body and now held closer still. She bit her lip and looked toward the lake in question, but refrained from lifting an arm to smell herself. Perhaps she'd gotten too comfortable with the tolerating a little bodily funk in Elbion.

A bath sounded nice. Bathing with other people sounded terrifying. Raigryn didn't sound much pleased with it for his own reasons and, for the first time, Fife was actually thankful that her secret had already been aired. Trying to tell him here would have been awkward -- as if it hadn't been and wasn't still awkward.

// Raigryn Vayd //​

 

[Raigryn Vayd]

In the absence of further questions they were led to a round tent. It stood no more than a handful of strides from the next tent but they were not packed in tight. There was a short stretch of sturdy fence nearby that was obviously for tying horses.

"You can unload your bags and then lead them to the stables," Aretta told them. "I will return later. If only to ensure you bathe," she said pointedly at Raigryn.

The empath offered a nod of thanks and went to unstrap the saddle bags. For once he was on the same side of a fence as Fife, being ordered about by someone else.

"They're going to make me use the lavender soap again. Every day." He threw the bags over his shoulder, grunting at the uneven weight. He was glad that they travelled light. He had several changes of clothes, spare boots, camping and writing equipment and that was about all.

He stepped through the tent flap and held it open for Fife. Inside there was a central living space and two further sleeping compartments.

"They spend as much time washing as they do training," he bemoaned.

 

[Fife]

The tent Aretta led them to was much like all the others, except that this one was now apparently theirs. Fife looked around, orienting herself to what would distinguish theirs from the others and where it was in relation to everything else. She was feeling somewhat cagey, but tamped it down. This was fine. Given a task, she tied up Socks and unfastened her saddlebags.

Raigryn packed light, and she lighter. Still, Fife could barely carry her gear as she padded after him and ducked inside the tent. She set down her bags with a thump, and inspected the new space. It wasn't much unlike the way she looked at rooms in an inn. She had usually been more subtle about it, checking out their lodging and familiarizing herself with each new space. The habit was hard to kill, even given the better part of a year. Especially since the feeling of security she had started to feel was invaded again.

Going to the far side of the communal area, she poked her head into the first and then second private rooms. She went to the edge of the tent and poked at the bottom of the wall with her boot. Pressing her hand against the fabric and watching how it gave but snapped back to its precious tension, she ended her inspection.

It wasn't as confining as a room in a solid building nor did it feel as fortified. Her dark gaze scanned the communal room and she sighed deeply.

Something new -- an adjustment. She would get used to this the way she had gotten used to sleeping in rooms in buildings.

Rubbing her palms on the hem of her tunic, she looked to Raigryn. She quietly whistled his name and gestured between the two private rooms. It was only fair that he got first pick.

// Raigryn Vayd //​