Rio 6
She finished washing quickly irritated that he had interrupted her nice relaxing bath.
She climbed out and groaned because she had forgotten a towel.
She slid on her semi dry under garments and pulled on her new outfit. She left her hair unbound until it was dry.
She sat down on a rock to pull on her boots and noticed her feet were still partially wrapped.
They weren't hurting anymore and she was curious why. So she unwrapped the bandage.
She stared in disbelief her feet were unblemished.
Just what had been in that cream and more importantly where did he get it.
So far she'd only met one person who could make injuries vanish.
"Daleah" she said
Did he steal it? Or did she sell it to him.
It couldn't have been cheap so where would a beggar blacksmith get the money for magic healing cream?
More importantly why would he spend it on her? There was just too many things about that man that made no sense.
She quickly pulled on her boots and set off down the trail.
Determined to get some answers out of him.
She didn't like not knowing about the people around her and Killian had gotten closer than most.
It bothered her how close she was letting him get and she knew so little about the man.
She didn't even know where to find him.
She stopped walking come to think of it she had no idea where he even spent the night.
An odd pang hit her when she thought of that, was it jealousy.
She had no idea having never really felt it before.
All she knew was she didn't like the idea of him spending the night with someone else.
She grit her teeth and started walking again.
Reentering the settlement just in time to see him leave Lancelot's house. He was adjusting his clothes and looking down.
She quickly slipped behind a building and watched as he walked away.
She tried to make sense of what she had seen. Was he sleeping with Lancelot ?
Did that make him gay? Was he really interested in her or was this some sort of sick game he was playing?
She fumed, just what was his game? She watched him walk away towards the gypsy camp.
On impulse she decided to follow him. He passed Mulan on the street and Rio was forced to duck behind a pile of hay.
She watched Mulan move past him and stop. She was talking with a shop keeper.
Unfortunately she was blocking the only way she could go to follow him.
Rio was trying to find a way around him when she spotted Aurora approaching the warrior woman.
She silently cursed as if getting past Mulan wasn't going to be hard enough.
They were too far away to hear their conversation.
Mulan looked angry for some reason and the princess strode off towards the gypsy camp.
Rio swore, now what was she supposed to do?
Mulan angrily strode towards Lancelot's cabin and knocked.
A second later she disappeared inside.
Rio quickly followed the princess into the camp and used the wagons to hide.
She watched the princess approach the wagon belonging to a guy who sold weapons.
She was haggling with the man for a few minutes and then she handed him some gold coins.
Then Aurora walked away tucking a blade up her sleeve.
Rio hid until she passed and then went in search of Killian. He was a bit harder to find.
She watched him come out of a wagon carrying something in a satchel.
He walked towards the edge of camp and several men approached him.
Rio started turning to walk away when one of the men pushed him.
She watched as the now heated conversation evolved into an assault.
The guy in the lead looked familiar.
Two guys grabbed Killian's arms and started to drag him into the space between three wagons.
Great a gypsy camp with alleys.
"I don't suppose we could discus this?" said Killian.
She had moved closer to the group.
For a moment she debated going to his aid but guys tended to get weird when women rescued them.
She stepped back and considered just leaving him. These guys must have a reason to consider him a thief.
What if he was one? One of the guys hit him in the stomach and she winched in sympathy along with his grunt of pain.
The guy wasn't satisfied with a single punch to the gut though.
She listened to the impact of fist on flesh for a whole ten minutes before it got to her.
Usually she would just detach and do some sort of mental exercise.
Like cataloging the amount of blood vessels being damaged.
She started to leave because she just couldn't watch this when she heard the unmistakable sound of steel being drawn.
Just because she was irritated with him didn't mean she wanted him dead. She turned back and started towards them with the intention of interceding.
"Maybe after we're done with you. We'll visit that fire haired trollop of yours,
take out what you stole from her . I'm sure if she doesn't have any money we can extract payment in other ways" sneered the man with the knife.
Killian struggled but they held his arms fast. Very real anger showing on his usually calm face.
"You touch her and I'll.." said Killian
One of the guys punched him before he could finish that statement.
He doubled over with a gasp and the men hauled him upright and put the knife under his chin.
Killian met his gaze without a trace of fear, in fact he looked pissed.
"You think your brave huh well lets see how brave you are when I skin you" said the man
His two friends were standing there cheering him on. With their backs to where Rio was crouched.
She mentally did the math and planned an attack in the time it took for the man to move towards Killian.
She lunged forward and kicked the first guy in the back of the knee.
His leg buckled and she spun him into his friend. They fell and started to rise. Noticing her presence for the first time.
"Well speak of the devil, hey look Cal, red came to us" said the guy sitting on top of his friend.
He started to rise and she kicked him in the face.
"No! Rio Run!"said Killian
She snorted not happening, I run you die she said mentally.
Guy with the knife turned and saw her kick his friend in the face.
The blow knocked him out cold but she still had the other guy on the ground and the two holding Killian.
Not to mention their knife wielding pal Cal.
"Get her Reese, we can have a bit of fun and make him watch" said one of the guys holding Killian.
Reese lunged for her trying to catch her in a huge bear hug.
She dove below his grab and punched him as hard as she could in the solar plexus.
The wind left his lungs in a rush. He turned to the side and Rio punched him hard.
Reese went down and was also out like a lite.
Cal stared in shock because she had just taken down his two friends.
Both of whom outweighed her by at least thirty pounds.
"What the?" said Cal
Rio crossed the distance and Cal tried lunging for her with the knife.
She caught his wrist and twisted hard. When he went down she slammed his arm against her thigh.
She heard a resounding crack and Cal screamed. He dropped the knife held his arm and moaned.
She turned to find Killian had already taken care of the other two.
They were on the ground clutching their sides.
He kicked one soundly and then walked towards her. He still looked angry.
"I told you to run" he said
"Why thank you Rio , your so very much welcome Killian" she said sarcastically.
He grabbed her shoulder and his other hand came up as if to mimic the movement. He shook her roughly.
"Enough, I'm not playing Rio don't you ever risk yourself for me again like that.
When I tell you to run you run damn it!" he practically growled at her.
The look on his face stopped her humor cold. He looked dead serious and was that fear in his eyes?
"Okay chill I'm fine, they didn't hurt me. It's cool relax" said Rio
"No it is not cool, whatever that means and no I will not chill either.
Rio I just spend the last few minutes listening to all the horrible things they were going to do to you.
So no it is not fine" he said
He was practically yelling at her. He turned and angrily grabbed his bag off the floor.
They had frightened him she could see it in the way he held himself.
He wasn't concerned for what they were going to do to him.
No he was concerned for her safety. He threw the bag strap over his shoulder then strode towards her.
He grabbed her arm and propelled her out of the alleyway.
"I want you to go back to Clara's and stay there. Rio do not come back here again" he said
His tone sounded like he was giving her an order. She stiffened and glared at him.
"And just who the hell do you think you are to give me orders?" she blurted back.
He opened his mouth to say something. Then changed whatever it was he was going to say.
She could see he was still angry and knew she was probably pushing it.
But she hated being told what to do and he had made her feel like an errant child.
When he should have been thanking her.
"You know what forget it do as you will" he said storming away.
Groaning she went after him. How dare he just blow her off.
He was walking towards town and Rio was literally chasing him.
Damn he moved fast, must be those long legs of his.
"Damn it Killian slow down!" she yelled
People turned to look. One of them was Mulan. They were almost to the center of town.
"Why?" he said without turning around.
"Because I want to talk to you not shout at the back of your head" said Rio
They were drawing a small crowd of curious onlookers. He turned
"So talk" he said
He still looked livid and she could see he had a busted lip.
"Why are you reacting this way?" said Rio
Honestly she had no clue what was setting him off they were just friends right.
He gave her an incredulous look, like he didn't understand what he was hearing.
"Why am I..?"said Killian
He ran his hand through his hair in a gesture of exasperation.
"You honestly don't know do you?" he said.
"I wouldn't have asked if I knew, Look whatever I did to piss you off I'm sorry" she said
Honestly she didn't feel like she had to apologize for anything except maybe hurting his pride.
He sighed like he didn't know what to say.
"I just want you to listen to me Rio, please can you do that?" he said
She nodded yes and bit her bottom lip.
Feeling for all the world like she had almost lost him and not knowing why that bothered her so much.
Why was her heart aching it wasn't that long of a walk?
"Come here" he said
He motioned for her to come to him and she did. He folded his arms around her and hugged her close.
"Rio?" said Emma
Rio turned to see Snow and Emma standing there next to Lancelot.
"Ah this must be the last member of your party" said Lancelot
Killian kissed her forehead and then pulled away from her and walked away.
"You've been here the whole time?" said Mulan
She sounded surprised. Emma came forward and hugged her.
"Oh thank god your all right" said Emma
"Yeah I'm fine but I didn't know you guys fell through too" said Rio
"Emma tried to catch you" said Snow
"Let me guess you tried to catch her" said Rio
Snow looked embarrassed when she nodded yes.
"Who was?" said Emma
"Just a friend met him when I was coming here, his names Killian" said Rio
Emma gave her a knowing smile.
"Friend my ass, that looked like a lovers quarrel" said Emma
Rio blushed
"It was not. We aren't like that, it's just complicated okay" said Rio
She glanced at Lancelot and tried to see if he in any way looked like he played for the other team.
Emma caught her look and nodded. It was good to have someone back who understood her like that.
"Great then we can get started on finding a way home" said Snow
She gave Rio an unreadable glance.
"Great, I'm going to have to insist you take Mulan with you Snow.
You've been away from here for awhile and things have changed" said Lancelot.
Snow looked less than pleased and neither did Emma. Rio could guess why considering their treatment of Snow and Emma.
"Mulan see that their provisioned" said Lancelot
Mulan nodded and wandered away presumably to fetch what Lancelot requested.
Aurora was just standing there staring at the group of women.
Rio was worried she would be coming with them.
She knew the princess was the least stable of the two women.
Plus she was armed and had a grudge against all three of them.
Rio prayed they left the useless bit of fluff at home.
Mulan came back with two guards carrying a huge box between them. The guards set it down and Mulan opened it.
"Take what you want but choose wisely." said Mulan
Rio looked in the box trying to make a decision on what to take.
Snow grabbed a bow. Emma asked for her gun back while Rio tried to decide.
She finally settled on a wicked looking curved sword and a smaller shorter curved blade.
She also still had her guns and two clips. If worse came to worse she could loan her second gun to Emma.
She would feel better if she at least took a knife or something.
She was relieved when Emma grabbed a dagger out of the box.
"We should get going as soon as possible" said Snow
Rio bit her lip. There were people she'd like to say goodbye to. Would she have time? She could understand Snow's hurry though.
"Tomorrow morning" said Mulan.
Snow opened her mouth to protest but a look from Emma stopped her.
"We need other provisions besides weapons" said Mulan.
She walked away before the others could say anything.
Snow watched her retreating back with a look of trepidation.
At least Rio wasn't the only one worried about taking Mulan with them..
"So where have you been this whole time?" said Emma
"Well for the last few nights I was staying with some friends I made.
Which incidentally I need to see if she can put you two up for the night as well" said Rio
Emma made a sighing noise.
"That sounds way better than that pit" said Emma
"Do you think they'll mind?" said Snow
Rio shook her head
"Don't know gotta ask" said Rio
She led them towards Clara's house.
"Clara?" said Rio.
Calling out her name when she entered the front door.
Clara never locked the door not that the thin wood would really stop someone if they truly wanted in.
"In here dear just getting ready to do the washing" said Clara
Rio walked into the back room to find Clara shoving a huge load of clothes into a big bag.
"Wanna help?" said Clara
Rio looked at the huge pile of stuff.
"Ah yeah sure I just wanted to ask you something though" said Rio
She started picking up stuff and shoving it into a second bag.
"Ask away" said Clara
"Ah I actually found my sister and uh foster mother." said Rio
She didn't know how else to describe snow.
" I was wondering if they could stay the night.
We're leaving in the morning to see if we can find our way home but they really don't have anywhere to stay.
If that's all right with you that is?" said Rio
"That's fine as long as they pull there own weight" said Clara
"Thanks Clara I'll go tell them" said Rio
She headed back out the door and poked her head outside
"She said it was cool as long as we help out" said Rio
"Thats fine"said Snow.
Readily agreeing to anything that would put them indoors tonight.
Rio led them into the small house and introduced them to Clara.
"Shanse will be back shortly she buying me a replacement washing board.
The last one rusted. Then we'll start down to the river.
I want to try and get this done before nightfall. So we can get it all hung out to dry" said Clara
The door opened and in walked Shanse.
Clara handled the second round of introductions and then they rounded up the kids.
Everyone grabbed a bag basket filled with soap and washer-board. As a group they headed out the door.
They spent the afternoon scrubbing clothes out by hand.
On rocks or scrubbing board until they had a pile of wet wrung out clothes.
Then they trudged those back to the house. They clipped each and every article to ropes strung behind Clara's house.
Then Clara and Shanse took them inside and started dinner.
"Did you tell Killian you are leaving?" said Shanse
"He was there when I found Emma and Snow, plus he knows I'm trying to get home" said Rio
"Still you should tell him" said Clara
"Who is this Killian, was he the guy you were arguing with?" said Snow
"Yeah and he's a friend" said Rio
"Boyfriend" quipped Shanse
Rio turned red.
"Oh he is not, we haven't done anything except kiss" said Rio
"You kissed him?" said Emma
"No he kissed me and he was trying to stop me from doing something stupid"said Rio
"Uh huh, was he any good?" said Emma
Mortified Rio hit her arm.
"Oh stop, and yes he was good" said Rio
The ladies chuckled.
"So tell us about him" said Snow
"Well there's not much to tell, he's kind of mysterious and he used to be a blacksmith" said Rio
"Used to be?" said Emma
"He lost a hand" hissed Shanse
"Ogres did it" said Clara
"Oh poor guy" said Snow
"He's sweet on Rio" said Shanse
Rio covered her face.
"Oh god, he's just being nice" said Rio
"And buying you stuff" said Clara
"Giving you a massage with expensive healing ointment" said Shanse
Rio groaned because she knew her face had to be the color of a stop sign.
"A massage?" said Emma
"Healing ointment?" said Snow
"Her feet were horrible thanks to those ugly shoes" said Shanse
Rio's mouth fell open those shoes were Manolo Blahnik's. They were cute weren't they?
"Yes well six inch heels aren't the ideal shoe for trudging through the woods in,
remind me when we get back to send Mr Gold the bill for my wardrobe" said Rio
Emma snorted .
"Good luck getting him to pay" said Snow
"Well if he doesn't I'll make sure he has to use a walker from now on" said Rio
Emma started laughing.
"Snow's right he wouldn't pay though. Your better off just counting them as a loss,
I mean how much did you spend on those ugly things anyways?" said Emma
"Twenty thousand and they're Manolo Blahnik's" said Rio
Emma and Snow's mouths dropped open in shock.
"Twenty thousand what?" said Shanse
"Dollars its like gold but in paper form" said Rio
Both women looked shocked.
"You spent twenty thousand gold pieces on shoes?" said Clara
"Yep and they aren't my most expensive pair either. You should see the receipts for my wardrobe" said Rio
"Holy crap! What do you do for a living again?" said Emma
"Oh, I work for the department of defense as an independent contractor and strategic consultant" said Rio
"Strategic consultant?" said Snow
"I solve problems the government wants kept hush, hush and I design weapons" said Rio
"And you make?" said Emma
"Six figures a month" said Rio
The room went silent.
"Holy shit I'm in the wrong business" said Emma
Snow looked troubled by her responses and so did Emma.
Clara and Shanse looked kind of confused
"What kind of weapons?" said Clara
" Smart ones that explode and kill a bunch of people" said Rio
She sounded less than pleased by that fact.
"But my company does an awful lot of medical research as well." said Rio
Snow was still glaring at her with what amounted to an disappointed look.
"You must be good at it "said Shanse
Rio nodded yes.
"Yes I am" said Rio
Emma sensed Snow building up to a rant so she quickly changed the subject.
"So what happened to you because you weren't where we landed" said Emma
Rio grimaced in disgust
"I landed in a moat" said Rio
"Ew yuck" said Snow.
" When I climbed out I didn't see either of you. So I thought I was alone" said Rio
Emma reached out and gripped her hand.
"Nope we followed you through, got knocked out. Mulan and Aurora found us. Then they took us prisoner" said Snow
"I saw them first and hid. They had a guy with them ah Phillip or something" said Rio
"Prince Phillip he came here months ago with Mulan . They were searching for the sleeping beauty" said Clara
"Well they found her" said Rio
"Anyways I spotted them camping in the woods and followed them,
I was hoping to find somewhere to get a change of clothes. Dolce doesn't exactly blend around here" said Rio
they nodded
" I saved Phillip from the wraith the first night, he was marked and didn't say anything" said Rio
"Unfortunately he took off the next morning.
Thinking it was safe because the sun was up and took my flamethrower with him" said Rio
She looked down at her hands.
"He didn't know that it wasn't any safer during the day or that the thrower was almost empty" said Rio
"Oh gods" said Clara
"It wasn't your fault" said Snow
Rio nodded in appreciation.
"I got there in time to be accused of bringing the wraith down on him and they knocked me out" said Rio
" I woke tied up and while they gave him a proper flaming send off I snuck away, I thought they were going to hang me" said Rio
"That must have been when she found us" said Emma
"Great" said Rio
"Anyways I fell down a cliff, you know dark, hands tied not a good combo and some gypsies found me" said Rio
"They took me in and I ended up walking alongside the other refugees to here, in heels" said Rio
"That's when Killian gave her the massage" said Shanse
"Oh stop, it was only my feet and he was just being nice" said Rio
They laughed at the rising blush covering her cheeks again. Until they noticed she had gone all quiet and pensive.
"Rio?" said Emma
"Sorry I'm just realizing how much I'm gonna miss everyone here" said Rio
Emma rested her hand on her arm.
"Hey" said Emma
Rio shook herself out of her funk.
"I ah, I just need to go for a walk" said Rio
She stood up and walked outside. Wrapping her cloak around herself to ward off the chill of the night air.
She saw the flash of metal in the shadows and a pair of blue eyes.
"Killian?" said Rio
"Hush love, yeah it's me" he said
She walked closer to him and sat down next to him on the steps.
"What are you doing here?" she asked
He looked at his hands.
"Watching" he said.
She looked at where he was sitting and smirked
"Your guarding us?" said Rio
He looked uncomfortable and she thought it was adorable. He nodded sullenly.
"You're leaving with them?" he said
She nodded yes. He looked away for a few moments
"I shall miss you" he said.
It was probably the most heartfelt thing he'd ever said to her.
She put her arms around him and hugged him close. He hesitated for just a few seconds
"I would rather you not go but it is probably safer for you if you do" he said.
He looked incredibly sad. She reached up to her neck and unlatched her necklace.
"Here I want you to have this" she said
He shook his head no
"No darling I can't accept that" he said
She snorted
"So you can give me gifts but I can't give you anything?" she teased
He didn't laugh back instead he kissed her forehead.
"Help me put it on" he said
He turned so she could fasten it around his neck.
She clicked it in place then on impulse kissed his neck and wrapped her arms around him.
She rested her head on his back and closed her eyes. He closed his hand on her wrist and just let her hold him.
"Rio?" he said
She slowly lifted her head. He bent down and kissed her.