The sun was sinking in the sky by the time the trio had reached a minor traveler's outpost. It had a guard post, two taverns, and a good collection of tents pitched within the relative safety of the palisade. Some were rag-tag and thrown together, others sturdy and large. Most of them would be gone by day break; hunters and merchants setting off to work or travel to the next hopeful money pot. There was one main road that the guard were constantly patrolling, both to keep order and to keep people from setting up right in the only clear space left.
"We're lucky to have made it in time," Raina said, half aware that their newest party member was fast asleep against her back. Traveling all day was hard to those not used to it. "They're getting ready to close the palisade."
"I was not worried," Zalgus answered, adjusting his cravat so it sat just so. "In places like this, even the illusion of a well off customer ensures an ever open door."
He pulled his horse to a stop, taking in the scene as Raina came up alongside him. There were interested gazes on them, but nothing outside of what he expected. No one dared to hassle the well-off folks, because if one was banned from one traveler's haven, one would be banned from them all. None of the havens wanted to be known for harboring thieves. The tavern owners were the law, and they were not kind to those who broke it.
"She is asleep?" Zalgus quirked his eyebrow at the clearly worn out girl. How did she sleep on a horse?
"She has been for the past few hours." Raina glanced back, before moving her horse toward the tavern with the flag unfurled under a sign that said The Sleeping Gazelle. "I'm sure she will wake up when she smells supper."
"I am going to request that you do not feed her so many sweets tonight," Zalgus said as he dismounted, careful to avoid landing in a shallow puddle. He brushed his coat behind him, giving his bay colored horse a pat on the neck.
"It was sweet of you to hold her hair when they all came back up again."
"It is not an experience I care to repeat."
"She's a clever girl," Raina said as she pulled Aislynn into her arms from her own palomino. The great, gentle horse snuffled, and then flicked his tail. "She won't repeat that mistake."
"She would have heeded you warning her," Zalgus replied. "I fail to understand why she would have had to experience it."
"Teach you to pay more attention to your reflection than the conversation," Raina snipped serenely.
A small grimace. It was true he had been more lost in thought than normal that night. He had been pondering their current situation, trying to tease out any more information through his spirit. The next thing he knew, he had felt Aislynn crash into the back of his shoulder. He had swiftly flung open the very window he had been staring into so she could empty her stomach on the street and not the expensive carpet. He was certain the rather burly laborer below did not appreciate the near miss.
"Considering the girl has had less than optimal nutrition for most of her life," he said as he set down money on the tavern's fight scarred counter for a room, "it seems in poor taste to let her vomit what food she is able to have now."
Raina stared at her brother, a bit surprised at the comment. He engaged himself gracefully with the tavern owner, who's ruddy, oil smeared face seemed more than eager at the sight of the well dressed trio. Zalgus had glasses which were not exactly a trinket the every day person could afford, even if their vision was poor. Raina couldn't see her brother's face, but he seemed sincere. Zalgus wasn't as flippant of the consideration of others as he often came across, but it was rare for him to voice them so blatantly.
"You seem a bit more open at the moment," she commented, following him up the stairs and away from the quickly filling bar. Curious eyes followed the odd group of the siblings, one of which was carrying a sleeping girl, as they vanished to the upper floors. They would no doubt be able to hear the bar crowd through the floor.
"Not at all," Zalgus pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose as he stepped over a cracked board in the stairs. "I prefer to be in the right, it is the proper dichotomy."
"Ah, is that what is it?" Raina rolled her eyes, a mannerism she reserved for her brother's particularly bloated statements.
The floor their suite was on was decidedly more maintained than the rest of the building. The wood was polished, and there were no holes between the floorboards. A few waist-high wood statues of gazelles flanked the walls, positioned under glittering metal-work sconces. The door to their room even had the image of a gazelle grazing in the brush on it.
"At least they know where to focus their investments," Zalgus said. He unlocked the door, but just after he pushed it open he found Aislynn being deposited into his arms. "What is--"
"I am going to get the rest of our things from the horses," Raina said, making sure Zalgus didn't drop the girl from the surprise load on him. She lifted the weight, moving her brother's arms to support the knees and back. "Just get her settled on the divan and we will wake her for supper when I return."
Zalgus gave a deep, long-suffering sigh as his sighed darted back down the hallway. She was far more pleased with herself than she had any right to be. He was not some porter, and yet here he was carrying a girl who had two proper working legs, and slept far too deeply for her own good. If he was of any poorer breeding, he might have considered dropping her, but as he had a gentleman's pride - and a sister who would physically reinforce lessons of etiquette - he brought Aislynn into the room.
It was well set, with comfortable furniture that was out of fashion and worn, but maintained and clean. Some of the paintings Zalgus was sure would fetch a good price from the sheer age of them, but he doubted the owner had any kind of means or connections to know that. Only one of them was of gazelles though, much to his relief. He walked over to a low green velvet upholstered couch, set just a few feet in front of a broad window, and carefully laid Aislynn down on it, making sure to sweep her skirt under her so it fell properly.
Removing her hat, Zalgus took the opportunity to examine Aislynn's sleeping posture. She naturally curled into herself; her hand folded together nestled under her bust. It reminded him of how Raina would sleep when they were both much younger. Back when they thought their destines were to be used as tokens for trade, or already laid out before them step by step - unable to be changed. At the same time, it was far more defensive than how his sister would sleep.
"Aislynn, my dear, it is time to wake up," Zalgus said softly, laying his hand on her shoulder.
Blue light filled his vision with the constellation of Aislynn lashing out, but he was too confused by it to realize what it was telling him.
"I don't want it! It hertz!" Aislynn's fist caught Zalgus in the stomach, knocking him onto his ass. His back nearly slammed into the low tea table.
"Aislynn!" The indignation of the humiliating posture was greater than the pain, but he pushed himself away from the table quickly.
"No more!" She had already vaulted the back of the couch, slamming her shoulder once into the thick glass of the window.
Zalgus reached out and clenched his hand into a fist. A golden chain coiled around Aislynn, sweeping her legs out from under her as the young man yanked back on the ethereal binding. Stars flooded his eyes, drawing the images of a small girl squirming from the grip of a fully grown man. The constellations blasted away, just as the girl scampered out of an open window.
Apparently he had made a grievous error in not using his spirit to find out more about her previously. However, her steady - if often shy - cheer had given no clue to her unstable interior. Zalgus cursed himself for being so foolish to make such dangerous assumptions. Rising to his feet, he pulled the struggling Aislynn away from the window. She was going to hurt herself before there was even a chance of her breaking through it.
She was whimpering quietly as Zalgus got her seated back on the couch. He wasn't confident enough in her stability to release her yet, so the chain remained for now. Obviously she was still rattled from whatever had been triggered when he touched her shoulder. So he moved slow; he moved carefully. He slid his hand up over her head to push her tousled hair out of her face.
Aislynn stared at him with a dazed expression, before her eyes focused and started to become lined with water.
"I'm sorry," she whispered, knowing she must have done something wrong. "Please don't send me away."
Zalgus took a deep breath and released it through his nose. His hands and rear smarted from the ungraceful meeting with the floor, but he brushed the sensation aside as best he could. He wondered, was his dream a reflection of her past or a warning for the future? Or was the answer simply, yes?
"I am not going to send you away," he answered her, lowering himself to one knee to gaze up into her face."We will have to have a small heart-to-heart talk, however. If you have calmed yourself, I will let you go now."
"I'm calm. Sure as sure!"
"Brilliant."
Just as he lifted his hand to break the chain, there was a thud as if some type of luggage had hit the floor near the doorway.
Raina's voice came next.
"ZALGUS! What do are you doing to her!?"
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