When Ryoma reached The Fiddler's Green, the village inn, he was almost afraid to go in. The public house had a cheerful aspect with its bright green door and orange lamplight glowing in the windows. But he feared the questions that were surely to come.
And he was only too right.
"Hey Ochibi is back! What took you so long! Wait- holy- what happened to you?"
Ryoma bit back a groan as a tall, lanky man rushed up to him. His fiery red hair sprang up disobediently in random spots like sticks in a haystack, and his eyes were bright and cheerful before he laid eyes on Ryoma's disheveled appearance, upon which the soft brown pools immediately filled with surprise and questions. He loved Kikumaru as a travel companion, truly. But sometimes he found it hard to match the energy and demanding air of the friendly red-head.
"I, uh, got in a fight on the way back." Ryoma tried to feign calmness, which became difficult when he felt a hand clutch his injured arm and he winced as he looked into the extremely concerned face of Oishi.
"Ryoma, Oh my- this is…this is terrible! Here, you better go upstairs to the room and I will have some hot water sent up for a bath, and some food- are you too tired to eat? Should I send up some broth? And you are bleeding!" Oishi's voice gradually increased in pitch as he muttered worriedly under his breath. Ryoma sometimes wondered whether he was talking to himself half of the time, but had to admit the fussing could be quite comforting on days that he was starving for that parental attention.
Not today though. Definitely not today.
Ryoma batted away Oishi's hands, which were insistently pushing him towards the back of the dining area, where the stairs leading to the rooms were beckoning to him. There was still so much to do! And the girl-
"I'm fine-really-"
"Ryoma! It's about time! Why you little- how come I am never around when there's a good fight, eh?" A great big shadow leapt out from behind a table and Ryoma felt his throat locked playfully behind a powerful muscular forearm.
Sweet God, can't they see I am injured?
"Momo! Stop that- Ryoma is hurt!" Oishi flew to the rescue and scolded the burly man, who loosened his hold and smiled guiltily as Ryoma leaned heavily against a chair and gasped for breath.
Yet before Ryoma had recovered enough to speak, another tranquil voice cut through the noise.
"Yes, you better have some very good explanation for that – as well as for this lovely young lady you've just brought back. Echizen."
Ryoma's heart went cold as he turned and met the piercing blue eyes of Fuji. If anyone in their group did not forgive someone who has mistreated a woman, it was Fuji. Ryoma watched as he gently draped a blanket he had conjured out of nowhere onto the girl's thin shoulders, and knew that it was probably a good idea to explain himself. Quickly.
The room they had been given was small but cozy. The crackling fire in the hearth threw warm honey-coloured lights that danced across the walls, chasing away the bitter cold that gnawed at Ryoma's body as he sank down into one of the beds lining a side of the wall with a sigh. Oishi had helped him dress his bleeding left arm and the graze on his shoulder, but the throb of pain only worsened as the numbness from the cold began to wear off.
He had tried to make the explanation as brief as possible, but Kikumaru and Momo's endless pestering forced him to dig out all the details of the incident – down to the colour of the scarred man's hair and the length of the axe he had been waving around like a child's plaything. To be honest, such a long-winding interrogation was the last thing Ryoma wanted - he was so exhausted he could hardly gather up the energy to chew the mashed potatoes and sausages that had smelled so heavenly five minutes ago, brought up piping hot on a plate straight from the kitchen.
"So you just left them there?" Kikumaru asked, looking incredulous.
"Can I go back and give them another kick in the gut?" Momo bounded up excitedly from the bed, only to sit back down again under Oishi's hard glare.
"What I meant was, does the magistrate know about them?" Kikumaru reached out and stole a piece of sausage from Ryoma's plate, earning a grunt of annoyance from his younger companion.
"You think I can go with my arm bleeding all over the place?" He huddled closer to his plate of food and forked another two mouthfuls before he could see another flash of unwelcome hands. "So that's it, end of story."
He slapped his bread down onto his plate with an air of finality, sending up a splash of gravy that glimmered in the wavering light from the fire.
"Wait, there is one other thing," Fuji leaned forward from where he had his back against the wall. "… what is this beautiful young lady's name, Echizen?" Fuji turned his tender gaze on the girl shivering in front of the fire, who was now so focused on forking bits of meat and roast vegetables into her mouth that she hadn't realised there was a smear of gravy on her cheek. Ryoma presumed she had came from a reasonably well-off family from her gown and the way she carried herself while walking, but looking at her now, with her cheeks stuffed full of food, he began to have some doubts.
"Uh," Ryoma stopped, and realised he hadn't even think to ask her that question. After the fight, he had been so preoccupied with how to break the news to his fellow travellers that he had completely ignored her on the whole way back to the inn. He avoided Fuji's cocked eyebrow as he stood up uneasily and picked his way across the crowded room, then slowly crouched down a few feet from the girl as if she was a wild falcon ready to pick his eye out if he stepped too close within range. The girl started and shifted her focus from her plate to his face. He was mildly surprised to find that her eyes were not black as he had thought, but a rich chocolate brown with a speck of gold in the centre – although it could have been a trick of the firelight.
"…Who are you?" He asked stiffly, again ignoring the quiet slap to the forehead from Fuji's direction and a muttered "Tactful".
Her fork stilled. Ryoma was almost certain she was weighing up whether to tell them her real name or not. At last, she broke the silence that had begun to congeal in the room.
"My name is… Sakuno." She drew in a deep breath. Ryoma could see her bottom lip tremble slightly as she tried to gather up the courage to reveal herself to a roomful of strangers. "I-I come from Horell – a few towns to the North."
"Sakuno," Ryoma tested the name in his mouth, and it rolled off his tongue like a familiar melody.
Sakuno nodded, blushing slightly.
Ryoma scratched his head uncomfortably with this reaction.
"Right… so now that we've got that out of the way, how did you end up where I found you?"
"The coach I was in was hijacked on the way here by some highwaymen," Sakuno said in a quiet voice that turned even lower into a shaky whisper at the last word. "The driver was killed and the coach taken along with everything in it – I only just managed to get away as they were preoccupied with the guards- who tried to protect me-"
Here her voice broke and hot tears began pooling in her huge eyes. Awkwardly Ryoma fumbled inside his sleeves, only to find a filthy piece of fabric half caked with dried blood, which he quickly decided against offering to the girl and stuffed back into his pocket.
"So if you managed to get away- who were the men Echizen saw?" Kikumaru asked, puzzled.
Sakuno swallowed hard. "T-They were from the same group – they must have realised I had gotten away and came after me."
"But why did you escape along the main road? Shouldn't the forest offer more cover?" Ryoma pointed out with narrowed eyes.
Sakuno bit her lips and shrank back slightly, fear and regret returning to her deep eyes.
Ryoma felt a chill run down his spine as he sensed several not-so-discreet frosty glares penetrate the back of his head from all around the room.
"Don't mind Ryoma – he's experiencing some severe post-traumatic shock," Oishi said with a dry laugh that sounded more like a strangled sigh. "You poor thing- you must be exhausted!"
"So-Where exactly are you travelling to anyway?" Momo asked gruffly from his position on the floor, with a lopsided smile on his lips that did not seem to match with his muscular frame. "Is it far from here?"
Sakuno thought for a moment before finally hesitantly nodding her head. "I was going to Estanria."
"Estanria, as in the Capital City?" Kikumaru piped up excitedly. "Do you have business with the King?"
Ryoma snorted. "Please, the King is not the only person who lives in the Capital City."
"Well- I thought- if she knew him it would make what we are doing so much easier-"
"What, you think everyone going to the city is a distant cousin of His Majesty?" Ryoma scoffed. "You sound like everyone goes there with no other purpose other than to accompany the King for a cup of tea."
Kikumaru's face brightened with a grin. "Why not? I'm sure he would appreciate the offer."
Ryoma rolled his eyes. "And anyway, in case you've forgotten - it's not the King we are interested in, it's the Princess."
Sakuno felt a sudden prick of curiosity in her chest, but she gulped it back down along with her flash of amusement at the amiable argument currently playing out in front of her. As far as she knew, she was not yet in the situation to relax and open her mind up to humour, especially not to a group of strangers.
Yet when Ryoma and Kikumaru finally remembered the source of their argument and turned their expectant eyes onto her, she felt her lips part and the string of words naturally flowed out like a dollop of honey.
"Well… actually, I was on the way to Princess Saki's birthday ball."
Ryoma felt a sudden hush fall over the group.
"You're going to the Princess's ball – in two weeks time?" Momo repeated slowly, his eyes widened. "Do you know the Princess?"
"Well – n-not exactly," Sakuno stammered. "I am just the daughter of a small Earl in Horell. I've… I've never met Her Highness but am attending in response to the invitations sent to all the Nobel Families in the Kingdoms."
Ryoma eyed her pearl-like creamy complexion, her hands as smooth as polished china, her travel gown that had been conjured out of slippery silk, and nodded slowly. It was not difficult to believe she was daughter of an Earl.
"…But surely you will have to travel back to Horell now? With…what happened to you?" Ryoma asked slowly, and almost regretted it when he saw her thin shoulders flinch slightly at the memory.
"Of course not!" Oishi's voice cut through the silence as he turned his warm eyes onto the girl in front of the fire. "We are, in fact, also on the way to Estanria – if you don't mind travelling with us, we would be happy to escort you there, My Lady."
Ryoma looked back at him, shocked. Surely a fine educated young lady – even if it was just a lowly Earl's daughter – would not resort to travelling with a group of strange men who has done nothing so far but peppering her with questions.
But he was even more stupefied when the girl – after a brief hesitation – gave a small nod with her head.
"If you would be so kind," She blushed and glanced nervously around the circle of faces around the room. "I hope it would not be too much trouble."
"No, no trouble at all, My Lady!" Kikumaru jumped onto his feet and did an exaggerated bow with a bit of his own added flourish, and winked as he glanced up at her, making her blush even more. But it wasn't until the next comment that she felt embarrassed enough to want to reconsider her decision to travel with these men who she knew next to nothing about.
"Alright – that's all very well…" Ryoma said with a sigh as he rubbed his right temple with his fingers, trying to suppress the gnawing headache that threatened to explode from the depth of his tired brain. Then he lifted his intense golden eyes towards her and she could see the glimmer of distrust in the depth of the glowing amber pools. "-but just so you know, if you want to travel with us, you can't have gravy all over your cheek."
The blush turned scarlet as Sakuno's eyes widened and, having looked desperately around for more napkin and finding none, she resorted to using a corner of the sleeve of her ruined dress and started rubbing her cheeks furiously.
Ryoma felt a small bubble of triumph stir in his chest as he turned back towards his bed, but the next second cold fingers closed around his ear and give a sharp twist, making him yelp with pain.
"Echizen-" Fuji's smile was almost murderous as he breathed into Ryoma's stinging ear. "I recall getting you to ask for her name, but did I also ask you to insult her?"
Ryoma scowled and clapped a hand over his ear that felt like it was about to burst into flames.
"I was only telling the truth!"
"Ah, then you should do this." Fuji bent down and gently put a hand on Sakuno's, which was still rubbing her cheeks so vigorously it left two round raw marks on her face. She stopped and peered up into Fuji's face, surprised and slightly fearful. Fuji calmly pulled out a clean handkerchief from his pocket and smiled reassuringly as he carefully dabbed away the tiny drop of gravy still lingering on the corner of her mouth.
"T-Thank you," Sakuno whispered shyly after she had recovered from a stunned silence.
"The pleasure is all mine." Complete with a charming smile.
Ryoma could hear a small commotion behind him on the beds as the rest of his companions tried to suppress their snorts of laughter. He thought he caught a muffled gasp followed by the start of a protest from Oishi's direction, but when he swept what he hoped to be an icy glare over the group, he saw Kikumaru's hand clamped over Oishi's mouth and three pairs of eyes looking innocently back at him.
Then he looked back at Fuji, who had already fallen into easy conversation with a dazed looking Sakuno. Ryoma rolled his eyes and shuffled back to his plate of food, which he now strongly regretted leaving in the first place. At least his potatoes did not turn scarlet when he poked it with his fork, and his bread did not snicker at him when it had soaked up the gravy on his plate.
