(Story starts HERE!)
"I have had enough of your mouth," Zalgus snapped, his patience gone. "I will not stand here and let you leer at, or victimize any lady. The fact that you seem so bold and arrogant to continue to target my companion is almost praiseworthy for your ambition if it was not so stomach churning. You create a lack of confidence in a woman, and then manipulate it to use them in any way you please. Then you dump them into the street at a whim. You sicken me--"
"No more slander from you!" Sleazar cried, pointing a finger at Zalgus' face. He only lost a modicum of his composure at seeing Zalgus' eye illuminated with a ghostly blue light. "Who are you but some random nobody traveling through this haven? I make my living here, and I won't entertain no high nosed snot flinging lies with no proof-"
"It's true," said a sudden, almost miniscule voice. It was only due to Aislynn's shaping that the teenaged girl with blond hair and a button nose was heard at all. A heavy silence reigned as the small, nameless girl shuffled forward. She stood like a bird, turning her head back and forth at all the faces on her.
Aislynn slowly inhaled, in sync with the nervous girl, and then released it steadily just as the girl did. A timid girl hiding from attention, because no one would believe her. No one would ask if she was okay. They'd ask what she said, what she did. It was her fault. Aislynn banished all those thoughts from her own mind and reinforced confidence in the truth and innate goodness people's hearts.
It will all be okay.
The girl lifted her head higher, squaring her shoulders as she announced to the gathered crowd her wretched story of being humiliated, tricked, and then betrayed. Her voice and her gaze did not waver as the man who victimized her lost most of his bravado.
"Futhermore--" Zalgus began, but a gentle hand on his elbow stopped him. He turned to look at Aislynn, who shook her head with a quiet look of reservation on her face.
"Words have power," she said softly, "don't abuse it."
She gestured to the crowd. Disgust, anger, and hate emanated forth like a wall against Sleazar. For wanderers, plucking victims from one's own kind was beyond reprehensible. No one else would protect them, so they had to stick together. Havens were their only temporary homes, and woe to the one who used that minor bit of safety and relief as a hunting ground.
"I think it is time we retired to the inn," Raina said, rejoining them. She nodded to her brother, who turned and took Aislynn's arm. He lead the way through the press of bodies. Traveling certainly was very interesting, the journey was just as eventful as their destination would be.
"I am sorry," Aislynn said as they climbed the stairs back to their rooms. "I seem to keep creating fusses."
"In my opinion," Zalgus answered, "the vermin brought it on himself. Calling attention to one's self without proper control of the possible outcomes is simply begging for trouble the longer one does it."
"Was that girl truly one of his victims?" Raina inquired as she pulled her heavy traveler's jacket off and hung it on the back of a dark wood chair.
Her answer was a nod from both Aislynn and Zalgus.
"It seems that she had carried the burden for some time now," Zalgus explained, shaking his head. "But once it was someone else making the initial accusation, it became much easier to find her voice. No doubt it was even easier with Aislynn's subtle support."
The mentioned shaper turned her head away from the window, having had her nose nearly pressed to the glass. She found both siblings staring at her - one curious, one knowing. Her cheeks flushed at the attention, before she shuffled her feet and worried her hands.
"How did you do it, Aislynn?" Raina asked, sitting in the chair she had placed her jacket on.
"Indeed," Zalgus added, clarifying the question further, "the girl had the vocal power of a mouse, yet she was heard over everyone. Do tell."
Aislynn bowed her head, brushing her foot over the thick carpet below her.
"Everyone who is scared and alone want the same thing," she said, feeling the burden of experience filling her chest. Water trimmed her eyelashes, knowing she had been incredibly lucky to find her own. "All we ever want is for someone to extend a hand, and tell us it's all going to be okay."
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