"Do you think they'll let us stay the night again?" Christina asked, jogging ahead to the rusted sign for the Dragon's Lair.
Lekton exchanged looks with Culgan. As much as he wanted to second Christina's request, he waited for Culgan's decision. They could walk for another three hours before setting up camp, but his feet were sore too.
"We'll ask," Culgan said. "Did you bring a gift for our hosts?"
Lekton had purchased some candy and remembered Grumpy had a sweet tooth. "Yeah, I have something."
Christina eyed him, "It better not be the candy you promised to share with me."
"I never promised that!"
"It was implied!"
"How!?"
"That'll do," Culgan said and walked the path to the house. He knocked on the door and turned at the sound of clinking scales. Down at his feet, Fafnir rubbed up against his boot like a cat. "Do you fly?" he asked. It felt kind of silly asking a contraption a question, but it must have understood because it flapped its wings before jumping on his arm and climbing up to his shoulder. At least it recognizes me, he thought. It was lighter weight than he anticipated for a hunk of metal.
Christina gasped as they caught up to him. "I want to hold it next!"
Justine jogged around the side of the house and laughed, "There you are!"
Fafnir leapt from Culgan's shoulder and glided through the air toward Justine, but she quickly jumped out of the way, allowing the dragon to crash and tumble through the snow.
"We've got some kinks we need to work out still," she said. "Last time he did that, he knocked the wind out of me."
"Aww," Christina knelt down by the little dragon and brushed the snow off his scales. "You can collide into me, little guy."
"Miss Justine," Culgan said, giving her a slight bow. "We don't mean to impose upon you, but we're on our way back to the Muse-Highland border. We were hoping we might be able to sleep on your floor again. It looks like there will be rainfall tonight."
"Of course!" Justine said, pushing her front door open. "Make yourselves at home. Just don't go through Grumpy's underwear drawer."
"Yeah, Lekton, stay out of their underwear drawers." Christina grinned, "He has quite the collection at home."
Lekton blushed, seeing the way Justine's face changed, and shook his head, "She's joking! I don't!"
Culgan stepped inside and set his pack down before taking a seat at the table. "Where is Thornton?"
"He's out gathering firewood," Justine said, letting Fafnir inside before following him to the fire.
Christina sit near Fafnir to watch him. "He's such a cute widdle dragon. He gives me the happies every time I see him."
"He makes me happy too," Justine said. "It took me months gathering the supplies for him. It might have been faster to find some scale mail and disassemble it, but I wanted to make him myself. Thornton helped make him extra special though. He wouldn't be able to breathe fire like a real dragon if not for him." She sighed, "Sometimes I wish he were real though. I can't become a dragon knight without a real dragon."
"He's real enough! He recognizes people and has lots of personality. And what are people anyways besides walking parts with personalities?"
Justine smiled, "Yeah! Hear that, Faf?"
Fafnir's tail wagged loudly with the clinking of metal.
Thornton dumped the firewood outside beside the door before stopping in the doorway for a moment, registering the three faces looking back at him. "Didn't care for Muse?" He closed the door behind him and walked inside as Culgan stood to greet him. "Relax."
"Our business there is concluded," Culgan answered. "We're on our way back to L'Renouille."
"We brought you a gift as a sign of our appreciation!" Christina grinned.
"Yes, sir, we noticed you liked candy, so we brought you some." Lekton offered him a small bag of treats. "Licorice and caramels."
"That's... considerate. Thank you."
"Mine!" Justine snatched a chocolate covered caramel and chewed on it before grinning at Thornton.
"You look like you have rotten teeth," he said with a smile tugging at his lips and looked at the others. "If you're hungry, we simmered some pork and greens."
"We eat like hermit peasants out here," Justine warned them.
"'Food's good wherever I can get it' is my motto," Christina said, picking up a bowl off the counter in the kitchen to help herself.
"What did you think of Muse? They're still rebuilding and recovering after all these years. Some people are scared to go there because they believe there are ghosts who haunt the place!"
Culgan understood why they would think so. There may as well have been. "Three years is not a long time," he said. "They will not be able to recover what they lost. They can only hope to rebuild with the next generation."
"Oh… Well, did you meet anyone interesting while there? I've heard of many heroes from the war that still visit the city!"
Thornton cleared his throat and leaned down to whisper in her ear. "These are Highlanders."
Justine gasped, realizing her mistake. "Oh! Uh... I... Faf! Light this fire up more!" She watched as Fafnir shook his tail and shot a fireball onto the kindling, hoping this would distract them.
"It's all right," Culgan said, "I hope our being here doesn't make you uncomfortable."
"It's fine," Thornton said. "She's from the Toran Republic."
"Me too!" Christina grinned.
"How did you end up all the way out here?" Lekton asked.
"I walked," Christina joked.
Lekton gave her a look telling her he wasn't asking her.
"I was looking for the Dragon Knights," Justine said. "I took a wrong turn somewhere. Then I found the hermit, and we moved in together and adopted a dragon."
"Technically, you created him together..." Christina said.
Thornton thought about how that sounded, like having a child together, and he nudged Fafnir with his foot. "Don't burn the house down."
"He's too smart for that," Christina cooed, "He's a good boy, yes, he is!" She giggled when his tailed wagged loudly.
Lekton noticed Culgan looked worn down and broody as he ate his meal. "Culgan?"
"Hm?"
"What are you thinking about?"
He sighed, "Just wondering how Seed will react to what Fitcher and Nash told me."
Thornton's ears perked up. He turned his head but didn't say anything.
"Who was that Nash guy anyway?"
"A Harmonian spy we'd nearly killed during the war. He was set up though. Seed's either going to feel bad about it or say he was a dick anyway and had it coming."
"Nash Latkje?" Thornton asked.
Culgan looked up, intrigued. "Are you acquainted with him?"
"Yes. You need to leave. Now," Thornton said firmly.
"Wait, what?" Christina stood up. "Why?! We didn't say we were buddies with the guy."
"He might have followed you."
"Is he an assassin?" Justine asked.
"He could be."
"You're Harmonian," Culgan said, standing up. "I doubt Nash has any reason to follow us. I only bumped into him by chance. He was sent to Muse on a mission. If he followed us, he would be deviating from it."
"Nash has a tendency to do that. Get out," Thornton said, finding little assurance in what he said.
"Fafnir. Guard duty," Justine said, picking up her crossbow from where it hung on the wall. Fafnir went outside through the open window in the kitchen.
"Why would he want to bother you?" Christina asked, angry and confused. "Did you piss him off in the past?"
"It's not personal. It's his job," Thornton said.
"His job isn't to assassinate people," Culgan argued. Sure, he didn't know Nash all that well, but even if he didn't take what he told him at face value, he had dealt with him personally during the war. "He's a spy."
"He was trained by the Howling Voice Guild," Thornton said. Even though he trained in espionage, it didn't mean he wouldn't serve the guild by coming after a rogue gunner.
"Grab your things," Culgan said, looking to the other two. "We're leaving."
"But... if an assassin really is coming, we should stay and help fight," Lekton said.
"If they feel our being here puts them at risk, we'll leave," Culgan said. He didn't think they had any reason to fear or that an assassin would show up at their door, but if they thought he was being followed, their minds should be put at ease with his absence.
"I dunno," Justine interjected, "I kind of like the idea of a slumber party where we stay up telling assassin stories and then an assassin lurks outside and we have to muster up the courage to kill it."
"This isn't a game, Justine." Thornton heard Fafnir flapping and saw flames through the window, so he pulled his gun from the holster on his back, hidden by his cloak. He pulled his hood off his head as he kept his back to the wall and peered through the kitchen window.
Justine pushed the front door open, crossbow at the ready, and jumped out into the snow. "Who's there!?" She squealed when a bat swooped over her head and ran back inside. "False alarm."
Thornton growled, "Damn."
Culgan gestured for Lekton to stand down, seeing that he'd pulled his knife. "I understand. You're running from the Howling Voice Guild. I may not be in league with Nash Latkje, but I can assure you he isn't armed to kill a gunner. I doubt he'd motivated to try, for that matter."
Thornton closed the window and holstered his weapon before walking back into the front room. "You may be right… but the longer I evade them, the more people they'll send after me."
"What's a Howling Voice Guild?" Christina asked, noticing the scars on Thornton's face and that he appeared to be missing his left ear. She wondered if it affected his hearing. "Is it a secret murder club for singers? Are you a tenor?"
Lekton answered, "They're an organization of assassins and spies in Harmonia. They're the only people in the world that know how to produce guns. I've never seen one before…"
"So, is it because they want it back?"
"That's one reason," Thornton said. "They don't allow us to speak about the guild's training or machinations. Being a deserter, I make them nervous. They don't like loose ends."
"Have you had anyone find you yet? How many have you killed?"
"Christina, that's rude," Lekton said, shooting her a look.
"Why don't you go count the unmarked graves in the backyard?" Justine offered with a straight face.
"Uhh... you know I think highly of you two, right?" Christina chuckled nervously.
Still uneasy about the whole situation, Lekton couldn't tell if Justine was joking or not, but he didn't think she was a serial killer. Still, he wondered what Thornton's paranoia might lead to. "We better leave soon if we want to be able to set up a proper camp."
Culgan nodded, but he was curious… "Why did you leave, knowing you would live the rest of your life on the run?"
"I watched all of my friends die," Thornton said. "There was nothing left for me there but to die taking their test or to remain their puppet as a squire. I wanted to live life on my terms."
"Grumpy, please don't make our guests leave. It's already snowing," Justine pleaded, lowering the latch on the door.
Thornton sighed and conceded, "You may stay the night." He thought it would be cruel to send them out into the cold at this hour, and ultimately, they could help if someone did try to break in at night. Besides, with the snowfall, it would cover any tracks they left behind them. "If you'll excuse me, I need to make this place safe."
"I'll help!" Justine said and followed him. "I'll give you a shoulder rub later too."
"You two should get some rest," Culgan said. "We leave at morning light."
"Are you going to stay up and keep watch?" Christina asked.
"I don't think there's any need to, but I want to put their minds at ease. I'm going to help them with whatever it is they're doing."
"Okay. I'm going to sleep next to the fire. My nips need help relaxing," Christina said and rubbed them in circle. "Feels like they could cut glass right now."
Lekton stared at her. "Uh... is that... is that something girls need to do?"
"Uhh..." She realized what she was doing in front of Culgan and gave Lekton a playful punch on her shoulder as she laughed nervously, "You know I'm just joking with you, Lek!" Lekton grabbed the bed rolls and laid them on the floor. As soon as he did, Christina wiggled under the covers, red faced.
Outside, Culgan stood at the edge of the house, watching Justine and Fafnir follow Thornton around, trying to help him check the perimeter.
"I can hang something up over the windows so no one can see inside," Justine offered. "We could take down our sign and put shields over the windows in case the assassin has a gun."
"Bullets would pierce metal that thin," Thornton said. "We'll use blankets and nails to obscure their vision."
"Will you slow down?"
"No. The faster I check the perimeter, the faster I can secure the windows."
"Fine. I'll do the windows. Fafnir, follow Grumpy." She ran back to the house and saw Culgan outside. "Is something wrong?"
"I'd like to help you however you need me to."
"You can hold the blankets up over the window while I hammer in the nails."
"As you wish."
Inside, Lekton poked the lump under the covers next to him and whispered, "Christina… Is there anything I should know about girls that my sister wouldn't tell me?"
She rolled over and peeked out from under her covers. "Ooh… so you haven't had 'the talk', have you?"
"I-I know how sex works and where babies come from. I mean other stuff. You know, stuff that might be... embarrassing for a sister to tell her younger brother. Like... nipple rubbing stuff."
Christina grinned, "So, you want to know if girls like their nipples rubbed, is that it?"
Lekton blushed, "Er... forget I asked!" He turned away from her, curious but embarrassed because she was teasing him about it. He would rather just ask Seed for advice about girls. Even though he wasn't a girl himself, he probably knew a thing or two.
"Girls like their backs rubbed when it's that time of the month," Christina offered.
"A back rub?" Lekton slowly rolled back over to face her. "I thought the pain was... lower. And in the front."
"It is, but sometimes everything hurts. And a back rub feels nice and relaxing. Girls like that stuff. Oh, and don't pinch your nose at our underwear during that time of the month. Unless you want to be in the dog house. Just something you should know when you get yourself a girlfriend."
"…Thanks…"
