DH AN: Okay so, this is not the plunny of doom that needs its second half (It's a heavy plunny and I desperately needed a small break from it but that is next on my list.)
AN 2: As always, Benu belongs to Ataahua. She's just letting me borrow her.
Enjoy Chapter Four of An Heiress' Mantle.
Chapter Four
She returns to her allotted room, exhausted and struggling. Of all the days for things to return to normal...
All she feels are the throbbing aches from holding the same position for hours. The prospect of no sleep before she has to press on as if nothing has happened is daunting. It's nothing new.
This time feels harder. Nassr had never been gone past sunrise. Benu sighs, hoping that her partner did not succumb to exhaustion.
The first place she went was always his room. This time instead of finding him, all she'd found were the contents of a folder littered on the desk. A photograph of the ritual knife, the black veins of obsidian glass in stark contrast to the gray of the monochrome photo, a set of coordinates... That she knew were wrong... This excursion was meant to lead him to exhaustion out in the desert, fifty miles from the real quadrant's coordinates. At the very least, it would keep him out a while...
Did he run out of gas? She collapses on the bed, shaking. Was he in the right mind? Did he suffer from exposure? Benu rises and slams a fist against a wall. She trembles. He could have been captured! Despite all the research hours- most of them hers-, nothing, not one scrap of information, reveals something regarding the Rare Hunters even taking captives.
She squares her shoulders and steps out of the room. Stalking through the halls on quiet feet, she finds her way to the garage. Benu marches straight to the gas cans. She pulls one off the shelf and dashes to the nearest car. She grips the can so hard her hands go white.
She places the can next to a black sedan and moves to retrieve the keys from a case controlled by a keypad access. Her feet drag as she paces back to the car. She feels fatigue seep into every inch of her.
She leans against the car, wincing as the contact presses against her midsection. She closes her eyes for a moment. In seconds, her eyelids filter lights from headlights. There is the soft squeal of brakes.
The driver silences the engine. The door opens and closes. Each careful, heavy step makes Benu shake with relief and fury. "Don't you dare make me worry so much..." She buries her head in Nassr's chest. "I was about to go looking for you." She hears him sigh as he picks up the gas can and returns it to the shelf. She watches him rub his hands across his upper arms in a vain attempt for warmth.
"Where is your jacket?"
"Had to ditch it." Nassr avoids looking at Benu. "Shame. It was my favorite."
"Mine too." Benu steps back towards him. "I'm just glad you're back. Just tell me next time."
"Ok that was stupid and I'm sorry."
"Were you successful?"
"I got incorrect coordinates. What do you think?"
"You must have found something."
"I would think what I didn't find would relieve you."
"Tell me then, what didn't you find?"
Nassr laughs. "I didn't find my death in the desert."
"That's-" Benu winces as she steps wrong and pain shoots through her body and stills her. She grits her teeth. "That's good," The phrase is quiet and in a matter of seconds, Nassr is there to catch her before she crumples to the floor.
"You're in pain…and your shirt… " In the moment when Nassr finds a two inch gash in the side of her shirt, everything stops. His eyes widen and then narrow in two seconds as he catches sight of the bruising as well. "I'll kill him…" The phrase flies through Nassr's teeth as he trembles with disgust and rage. How could he have not connected the pieces earlier?
These 'excursions' started two weeks ago, coinciding rather nicely with the fact that he was woken by her scream two nights before the first assignment. All he remembers was seeing red and he still feels the impression of a boot on his back two weeks later. Air gusts past his teeth, the words punctuated by air more than his voice. "I'll kill him." He falls to his knees, shoulders shaking with rage and feels a fire ignite deep within him. "If I ever see him even raise a hand to you again, I'll kill him."
"I… can handle it." Benu stands slowly.
"Not alone." Nassr still shakes but his temper has cooled and dread fills its place. "Should have never left you alone."
"Nassr, quit your worrying. I'm. Fine."
"You don't look fine."
"I am." Benu jams her fists to her sides. "Drop it. That's an order, Nassr."
"Of course, Lady Benu."
"Of all the days for things to return to normal…" The unamused phrase slides past Aromhe Sharti's teeth as she shrugs off the leather jacket and quickly stuffs it into the closet and pulls her cloak swiftly from a hanger. She slings it onto her shoulders only after ensuring the signed contract from the day prior is still in the inner pocket, and bolts out the door barely managing to affix the last clasp before rounding the corner. "Not exactly time for a leisure walk through the halls…" She sidesteps by two other Rare Hunters who clearly do not understand the concept, only to realize as she passes the next hallway that those two are always in that spot at that hour with coffee in hand.
Good ness she needs caffeine! And a week off and a new set of shoes (as she can feel the tiles against her toes through the worn soles of her current set- quite literally dragging the feet does that) and countless other things she'll never ask for. She has to back step to Gabriel Roi's room like the day before.
"Roi! Come on, we'll be late!" Arlomhe bangs loudly five times on the closed door.
"Geeze girly, stop it! Somebody already came and got 'im!"
"Who, Rouse?" Arlomhe starts to panic, I was supposed to retrieve him… if somebody else did-
"Girly, relax, it was the kitchen lady!"
Arlomhe rounds on Rouse grabbing him by the neck of his cloak. "Her name is Raji, or in your case Ms. Rejorahl, and I swear if I ever hear you call her anything else, she'll have a new assistant that very day. Do I make myself clear, Rouse?"
"Okay okay, geeze girly clearly you're not a morning person."
"Also, Sharti, not 'girly'. Now go back to bed, clearly you're not a morning person either." Her grip and anger slacken completely.
He returns to his door with a parting shot. "For somebody in a hurry, you sure had no qualms about wasting time on me."
Arlomhe shrugs the comment off and heads for the kitchen, in sore need of a hot breakfast…if she's going to be late anyway, may as well eat something so that the resulting lateness-induced knot in her stomach won't be near as bad.
She steps into the kitchen and doesn't even get to sit before Raji pushes her out as fast as the rapid fire explanations she gives. "Was left a note to not let you stick around, that you were meeting him at 9 and it's now 8:45 and if you're late- I will not have that on my hands, missy."
"But Raji-"
"No buts, Ms. Sharti. Here's breakfast." Raji presses a small, filled loaf into Arlomhe's hand. "Minced apple and cinnamon filling, you'll like it."
"But-"
"Go, go! For goodness sake it's his first day back and you very well know he doesn't like to be kept waiting."
"You don't act like this when he leaves you notes…"
"Two week late monthly consumables review." Raji clenches her fists and Arlomhe doesn't miss their subtle trembling. "Just go!"
"Raji, just two minutes…" She sighs with relief as the pushes toward the door finally stop. "Are you ok?"
The only response Arlomhe receives is a penultimate push out the door and towards The R.H.'s office. She turns on a heel to face the door, pushing it open slightly. "Thank you for breakfast. It's very appreciated."
Raji flashes a small smile. "I gave that to you cold, how forgetful of me." She pulls the filled loaf from Aromhe's hand. "Two minutes should do it."
"It's a miracle I was able to get dressed in the right clothes this morning." Arlomhe leans against the counter close to the door as Raji places the small loaf into the still warm oven. "I guess we both rather quickly got used to him being away from the office."
"He didn't even miss a beat. Straight to that review… as if two weeks hadn't gone by. His focus is-" Raji rubs her hands on her upper arms as if cold. "It's quite unnerving."
"Quite unnerving, indeed." Arlomhe shifts her weight to the doorframe. "His stillness more so." She looks down to her hands. "I don't know whether normalcy leaves me relieved or terrified."
"Unfortunately, I think it is a good mixture of both." Raji removes the loaf from the oven and then wraps it in a small, clean towel. "If I leave it any longer, you'll be late." She slides it across the counter and then the futile self-warming gesture reappears. "And that would certainly not be good."
Arlomhe suppresses a shudder. "No… That wouldn't be good." She slides the toweled loaf from the table and dashes out the door. The cold immediately swoops in and her hands are the only things kept warm until she presses the loaf to her chest. Relief sweeps through her upon seeing the door to the office hallway shut and then to dread as she sees Bryn waiting to its right.
"It's been weeks. I'd think The R.H. would have quit making you account for your every move by now."
"Technically, it started the week before that business trip…And as far as I know that requirement is unfortunately still in place." Bryn glances to the eight sheets of paper held to his right side. "Regardless, it's smarter to err on the side of caution."
"I still think that demotion is still unwarranted." Arlomhe unwraps the still warm loaf from the towel.
"Why is your breakfast bigger than mine was when I'm bigger than you?"
"I guess I'm Raji's favorite." Arlomhe cheekily sticks out her tongue for a second and then bites into her breakfast. "This is almost as good as her honeyed bread."
"Well, nothing can beat that." Bryn places a hand to his chin. "Y'know, every so often I get reminded at the fact that we're lucky he didn't hire an ex-prison cook."
"You don't have personal experience, do you?"
"Oh, I've heard horror stories."
"Speaking of that, I've heard horror stories about what we're waiting for…"
"You" Bryn points for emphasis "have nothing to fret over."
"That does nothing to lessen the anxiety." Arlomhe steadily wrings her hands. "His first day back. And this time I returned from my excursion conscious. And I can't really employ my usual 'Avoid him for a few days so he can calm down' strategy."
"That's a smart strategy, mind if I steal it?"
"The nature of your position isn't really conducive for that."
"Stop worrying- you were successful. And in case you forgot, The R.H. likes successful." He hears her slide down the wall and follows suit. "Hey, you came back on your own feet this time, that's an improvement. And I know you like improvement from anybody. Sometimes we just need somebody else to point ours out." After a moment he leans onto his bent knees. "And aside from that one snafu that no one should really fault you for that happened the first day I met you-" His face sours at the mere acknowledgment of that. "You always hold yourself with the most impressive backbone I've ever seen." He pauses. "It's scary."
Arlomhe elbows him lightly. "You flatter me." She smiles as she stands, inching her hands up the wall. "But you do always give a good pep talk."
"Glad you appreciate them…. What can I say, you've grown on me, kid."
"Bryn, I'm not a-" But her protest halts as the outer door opens and Gabriel Roi steps out, and with slow, purposeful movements stops in front of her.
"He wants to see you." She watches Bryn start to move from the wall before Gabriel quietly adds, "Just you."
As Arlomhe side steps toward the door, she quickly beckons Bryn over. "Help him recover a bit would you?" Bryn nods and Arlomhe squares her shoulders as she quietly steps inside.
DH: Next update will hopefully be that plunny of doom that's ripping my heart in two. Thanks for reading and please review.
