Rose sat on the bed, still holding the letters in her hand stunned.
"Oh Nathan." She whispered, afraid her voice would crack. She felt a feeling of sorrow for Nathan. Bless his mortal soul, wherever he is now. Rose stood out of bed and walked to the door, she was going to have to tell the news to Caden. He wasn't going to like the news either. And now they were going to have to come up with a new plan.
Rose looked down at the papers. What was she supposed to do with these?
Her thoughts were interrupted when she bonk her head on something.
"Hmph hey!" Came a males voice, Rose looked up and saw she bumped into none other than Caden. Both were standing in the middle of the hallway.
"Oh, uh, sorry Caden. But I got some news. " Said Rose, not giving eye contact.
"It's not a big deal- whats wrong?" Cadens voice was surprisingly calm.
"Well, we have a problem, I found these letters, and lets just say we're gonna have to figure out a new plan." Rose almost struggled to speak.
"Look, you can tell me about it when we get down to the next floor, there's something I think would help." Said Caden, already making his way to the stairs. Rose just stood there watching, trying to come up with something to say. Caden suddenly stopped and turnes his head toward her.
"Are you coming?" He asked.
"Uh... Yeah. Hang on." Rose answered, briskly making her way to join him. The two made their way down the stairs to the lower hallway, as they did Rose tried to explain wgat she had read. About the letters written for the Defenders, the letters written for Adham, and the letter written for any wanderer who happens to come here. Once she finished explaining. Caden scratched his chin thought.
"Well I know one thing. Whoever this Adham is, I wouldn't want to meet him."
Rose was about to reply when she saw that they were headed for the hallway where Rose thought she saw the flickering light. They turned the corner and looked down the hall where it was shrouded in darkness.
"So, what was it you wanted to see?" Rose asked, Caden proceeded down the hall, Rose following behind.
"There's, like this tavern here." Caden answered, once they were halfway. To the wall on there right was a double door, one door was halfway off it's hinges. The other was gone. Caden was the first to enter, Rose followed behind. Caden lit a torch to see where they were. He spotted a torch on the wall and lit it up. Once again causing a chain reaction of torches lighting around the room. Caden placed the torch on a wall. Rose and Caden found they were in what did look like a Tavern. There was a large booth area with shelves full of bottles containing different colored liquids. And around the room there were tables and chairs. Some were knocked down. Caden wasted no time and made his way to the booth. He climbed his way over the counter top. And looked over the wide arranged sections of drinks. Rose made her way to the booth and sat at one of the still standing chairs. She placed the letters down on the booth table.
Caden was looking at the bottles, reading the label. Roses head felt like a storm, wondering what they should do. They could explore the castle for anymore information, and hopefully discover Nathans whereabouts. They could find the library or a study and look for maps, books, or even notes to see where they could go. They could even go back to the portal and mabey go back. But Amber and Dusty had enough problems on their own. Perhaps they could travel through one of the other portals. And meet whoever was on the other side. They could state their business and hopefully seek help. But then there was the thought of how they'd react to Caden. Caden mentioned Villagers didn't like the Grey-skined 'Illagers'. Dusty made that clear. Rose wondered why that was.
"Rose?" Cadens voice called out to her. She looked up and saw him staring at her.
"Sorry, zoned out there for a second. What were you saying?" Rose looked back at him, giving him her full attention.
"I asked you what your favorite drink?" He said, holding up a bottle with deep blue liquid.
"Oh! I don't drink. Is there any water though?" Rose said, feeling her cheeks turn pink.
"Some of these aren't alcoholic, what do you like?" Caden turned around and looked over the wide selection of bottled drinks to choose from.
"Milk?" Rose shrugged. Caden began grabbing bottles at random and placing them in front of her. He climbed over the booth and propped up a fallen chair next to her. Rose stared in the front of her, but she felt his teal eyes staring at her.
"Rose? You feeling alright?"
She glanced over at him, and saw that he was already opening a bottle of deep blue liquid.
"I... I dont know Caden. I don't know what we're gonna do. I-"
She stopped mid sentence and watched with surprise as Caden began drinking the liquid. Once the bottle was empty, he placed it to his far right. He glanced to her.
"Hm?" He expression was gentle.
"Jeez, you needed that didn't you?" She commented. Caden wiped his mouth as he replied.
"Oh yeah. Mabey just a couple more should do it." He said, opening another bottle. Rose stared ahead, her mind elsewhere.
Caden sighed setting the opened bottle down on the counter. He shifted himself on the chair to face her.
"Rose," he began. Rose glanced at him. He continued.
"I understand how you're feeling, alright? You don't have to bear the weight alone. Yeah, we have a lot going on right now. Yeah, looks like we need a new plan. And yeah, there's that painful emptiness inside."
Rose suddenly felt Cadens hand gently touch her chin and tilt her head so her eyes met his.
"Just, try not to think too much. I can see it's getting to you." Rose felt his hand let go of her lower jaw and watched as he slid a bottle containing red liquid.
"Hmph. Its gonna be okay." And with that he began downing his next bottle. Rose took the bottle he offered and sniffed its contents, it smelled like Sweet Berry. She put a finger in it, then drew it out and placed it on her lips.
Sweetness.
