3rd day of Ransalacue, 5571A Dromdal Manor, Swan Street
Talantier, The Divided Lands
"Sugar?"
Could it be?
Only two people had ever called her that.
Caffrine opened her eyes.
Everything was black; black as pitch but somehow she could still see the handsome face leaning over her.
The red hair; the handsome, rakish features; those eyes, as blue as the sky.
And that smile.
By the gods, she missed that smile.
Caffrine's chest was on fire; it hurt so much to breathe.
But He was here now, and Caffrine knew everything was going to be all right now. He would take care of everything.
He always did.
She wasn't afraid to cry in front of him.
Despite the pain, despite the tears, she managed to get the word out.
"Daddy?"
Hennet Esslos beamed at his daughter.
"Yes, sugar. Daddy is here, and he's going to take care of his little Caffrine like he always did."
He leaned a little closer.
"But first, Daddy needs you to tell him something, sugar."
Caffrine nodded. She wanted the pain in her chest to go away so bad, she'd tell her father anything he wanted to know.
Do anything he wanted her to do.
"Tell Daddy, sugar," Hennet's voice was still soft and caring but he was standing up now and Caffrine didn't want that.
She stretched out her arms to him. She wanted him to pick her up in his arms.
"Saito Takahashi told me he took you up there with him so that you could warn your friends of danger."
The smile was gone.
"Why didn't you, sugar?"
Hennet's red hair suddenly turned a dirty white, caked with blood.
"Why did you fail them? Why couldn't you look after your younger sister?"
The blue eyes turned a dead black.
"Why are you always a failure?"
The dead man raised his leather boot and slammed it into Caffrine's ribs, fracturing several of them.
Caffrine's attempted scream was cut off by a wave of pain.
The same pain that she had been too surprised to feel when Saito had attacked her had only been waiting, and now it was back.
Tears welled in Caffrine's eyes, clouding her vision. There was light now, and many voices, but she couldn't focus on any of it.
Two hands grabbed her shoulders from above.
"No…"
She tried to fight them off.
"No! Daddy, I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"
"Caffrine," said a different voice. "It's Bjorn! Bjorn Sigmundson! Are you all right?"
Somehow, that voice reached her. Caffrine stopped struggling and wiped her eyes clear.
Bjorn's long blonde hair hung down over his face
Caffrine remembered him telling her he hadn't had a haircut in a thousand miles.
But those eyes; those hazel eyes.
She could get lost in those eyes and never want to come back out.
Bjorn squeezed her hand. A smile was on his face, but the eyes were worried eyes.
Worried, she realized now, over her.
"I gave you some healing, Caffrine," the cleric said, then blushed.
"Actually, my god Balder provided the healing," he said contritely. "I'm just the conduit."
She nodded. The pain in her chest was still there and worse when she took a breath, but it was manageable now.
"I'm sorry I couldn't give you more," Bjorn said with a regret in his voice that made Caffrine want to take the priest in her arms.
"I had to give the rest of it to Dark."
Dark!
Caffrine's head turned of its own accord to see her cousin Qidarchios Sunleaf lying, like her, on his back about five feet from her on Bjorn's other side. Apparently, the cleric had placed both patients so he could triage both by kneeling between them.
The bard smiled at the half-elf.
"Good to see you, Caffrine."
Unsure if she was up to more speech and pretty sure she couldn't find the right words to say even if she was, Caffrine settled for a return smile which seemed to satisfy the high elf.
Looking straight up again, Caffrine could see Lumen, Oliver and Sebastian looking down at her with expressions of concern that mirrored that of the priest, who was now standing up and moving out of her line of sight.
"Let her rest," she heard him say, though. "She'll be okay, but she's been through a lot."
That was an understatement, Caffrine thought as the final moments of the battle or at least, her final moments of it slowly came back to her.
She turned her head the other way, to the left, and almost stopped breathing again.
The dead eyes of Peck, the Swan Street Slicer, stared sightlessly at her from only three feet away.
Caffrine looked away. For some reason, the tears were threatening again.
Why, Peck? We were never friends, but I knew you well enough to know you weren't a murderer. Was it Lady Dromdal? Did she find you on the street and show you compassion? How long had it been since anyone showed you compassion? You'd do anything for that, wouldn't you, Peck?
The teenager closed her eyes tightly.
I know I would.
The rogue let her ears work for her. There were unfamiliar voices in the room as well as those of the Light in the Darkness, the city guard no doubt.
She could hear Ceseli Andronovich-Dromdal as well, now. The noblewoman kept on asking, "Why, mother? Why?"
Why indeed, Caffrine thought to herself. What drives people to do these things?
She tried to tell herself that she would never let her own desires, no matter how strong, lead her down that dark a path, but the thought died before it even fully formed.
A brief image of her father's face flashed through her mind's eye.
After a few moments, Caffrine opened her eyes again and with some effort, raised herself up on her elbows just enough to look around.
A city guard officer of about thirty-five or so was standing by Lady Dromdal's bed, glaring down at it. His longsword was in its sheath, but his right hand never strayed far from it. He wore chainmail, which meant he was an officer. She tried to connect the face with her memory, Lieutenant Anderson, perhaps.
Lady Dromdal still lay propped up on her bed, but she was now gagged. The sight of this took Caffrine aback before she remembered what this woman's voice was capable of.
The small dog Sachi, whom Caffrine had not noticed during the battle (hiding under the bed, perhaps?) was now in Auralana's lap again, but the old woman held the dog without any of her usual pampering. She paid no more attention to it than she did to her own daughter, who was sitting next to her, running her hands through her mother's flame-red hair and now whispering presumed words of support.
Lady Dromdal just stared straight ahead. She seemed to be in shock.
When Ceseli removed her hands, Caffrine noticed that some of the dye had come off, putting blood-red streaks on her daughter's hands.
There was no sign of Saito.
The rogue could feel her hands start to clench into fists at the memory of the samurai, jabbing his sword into her chest.
Sure, he had been charmed or confused or whatever it was called, but that alone didn't excuse him.
What would have excused him would have been if his face was the first Caffrine had seen upon regaining consciousness, perhaps crying tears of his own, saying over and over again how very, very sorry he was.
After all, he had fallen victim- twice- to the power of Auralana's voice. Even the intimidating Sebastian Sanders had succumbed to it.
She, Caffrine Esslos, had not.
The teenager could feel the coldness in her blood returning.
It had been absent from the point where Caffrine had eavesdropped on the six individuals who had been having dinner at the Long Whiskers and then made the decision to talk to her great-grandmother Adorella. That had started a chain of events which led to Caffrine associating herself with these people.
But not just a business association like the Nightsong Guild, or a forced association like at the orphanage.
For close to two days now, one thought had periodically ran unannounced through Caffrine's mind.
Is this what it's like to have friends?
She felt the pain in her chest again and took a quick peek under her undyed linen blouse.
There was a scar there all right, and at least some of it would remain. It would start to heal before Bjorn would have more healing available.
The scar on her right forearm was visible to everyone. Vivid and hideous.
Cold blood.
It's what you needed to survive.
She had almost forgotten that.
Caffrine Esslos took a deep breath and turned again to the body of the Swan Street Slicer.
Moving so slowly as to be as unobtrusive as possible, the half-elf slowly rolled over and crawled over to the hobbit's body, her black travelling cloak covering her like a manta ray.
When she reached Peck, Caffrine began to do something she knew from experience how to do very well, even while keeping her hands hidden underneath her cloak..
Quickly and quietly search the body.
Peck had two more potion vials on him, but they were a milky white color as opposed to the red she'd seen before.
He was also wearing metallic bracers on his arms. Caffrine had no way to tell of course, but she knew that sometimes wizards, who couldn't wear actual armor, crafted these bracers and had them imbued with protective magic.
And this dead halfling wore no armor at all.
She stashed both the vials and the bracers in the pockets of her cloak and slowly returned herself to her previous position.
It wasn't until everyone was about to leave Dromdal House when Saito, who had apparently been on the first floor, rejoined them.
Caffrine didn't even wait to see if the samurai was going to say anything to her.
As far as she was concerned, he'd already squandered his chance.
"Takahashi," she seethed at the wood elf as she walked past her, "don't say anything to me. Not a word."
Vivi Knot's elven mother and human father were overjoyed beyond words to receive their daughter home and safe. They swore to reward the Light in The Darkness in any way possible, but Lumen just told them to get a good night's sleep; probably the first any of the three had been able to have in weeks, and they'd be in touch later.
Cole Chartsheim was now conscious again, if barely coherent. Vivi had told them he lived alone, but by unanimous consent it was decided that the young nobleman should not be on his own tonight and instead let Lieutenant Anderson direct them to his uncle Carl's home. The elder Chartsheim was also thankful beyond words and hugged his nephew fiercely for perhaps five minutes before letting him go. He too promised to show his gratitude to the group, who told him that they were staying at the Long Whiskers Inn and Tavern.
The group fractured at this point. Anderson and the guard took Auralana Dromdal to the Talantier Asylum, accompanied by her daughter, and the Light in the Darkness headed back to the Long Whiskers.
It was at this point that Caffrine took her leave from the party.
"Where are you going?" asked Dark, the elf's green eyes looking as sad as any puppy's. "Aren't you coming with us? There's plenty of room at the inn!"
Caffrine shook her head.
"Do you have a place to stay?" asked Bjorn and the look of caring was so intense on the cleric's face that for a moment, the half-elf's resolve almost faltered.
"Yes," she managed after a moment.
"The streets don't count as a place, Caffrine," Illumenatta said bluntly, the caring in the moon elf's emerald green eyes mixed with a piercing examination that the rogue found uncomfortable.
"It's not on the streets," Caffrine retorted, truthfully if a bit evasively, and started to walk off.
"Are we going to see you again?" blurted out Oliver, looking worried.
The half-elf turned around, looking at every member of the Light in The Darkness except Saito Takahashi.
"Are you still going to help me find the rest of my family?" she inquired of them.
"Of course," Bjorn replied at once. "But-"
"I'll see you in the morning, then," said Caffrine and hurried off.
The remaining sextet continued in silence towards the inn.
No one spoke but Qidarchios, who was walking alongside the samurai, noticed that Saito kept up an intermittent sniffling that he kept trying to disguise as a cough.
