Chapter 6

Quest: Belongings

"Ho! Wagons approaching!"

Bea sat up like a shot, head swimming a little even though the afternoon was wearing on and the temperature had been steadily dropping over the last few hours. But maybe it was more than the heat that was making her feel a touch dizzy, anticipation also curled in her belly.

She'd finished her tour of Hidden Ember a while ago, Morlund apologising profusely before running off to tackle the many jobs he claimed to have awaiting his attention. Bea didn't mind at all, besides being grateful that the tinker had given over so much of his day to show her around, she was also a little overwhelmed by the sheer amount of information that had been steadily poured into her ears over the course of several hours. The new settlement didn't currently look like much, but it held the hopes and dreams of the many people who now called it home.

At present her hopes and dreams were simple, and that was to make sure all of her things were in one piece. She'd managed not to dwell on the state of her belongings too much since the convoy had been attacked, but the closer she got to getting her things back the more anxious she got. Much of what was in her boxes and crates was delicate, priceless, even irreplaceable. Even though it had been carefully packed, she fretted over some of the more breakable items.

Just after midday, with the sun beating down mercilessly, the first lot of carts had arrived, causing a stir across the camp despite the blistering heat. Bea had raced down to meet the carts along with everyone else, anxious to see how her belongings had fared. At first she had almost panicked when she saw the size of the convoy, only half as big as it should have been. Had the Behemoth wreaked more damage than she'd feared? But then word had spread that the remaining carts were still being repaired and she'd been able to take a full breath. Her cart was not among those being unloaded beside the tower because hers had been almost at the rear of the convoy.

She'd hovered for a while, watching the sweaty freebooters unloading the carts, then finally retreated beneath the tower to wait once more, drawn by the shallow pools of water that gathered beneath the lower floor. There was just enough room to stand and, while it was near impossible to sit without getting a wet rear end, low chairs and wide benches had been scattered around for people to lounge on comfortably, their lower legs sunk deep into the soggy sand. Bea wasn't the only one to seek out the shadows, a handful of fellow settlers sat with their pants rolled up, feet dipped into the water as they chatted and dozed away the worst heat of the day.

Now, as the shout rang across the camp, those beneath the tower were jumping to their feet, excitement rippling through Hidden Ember once more in anticipation of finally getting their belongings. Bea darted from beneath the tower, completely forgetting to grab her boots as she practically ran out to see the last of the wagons arrive. Luckily the sand had cooled significantly and was pleasantly warm between her bare toes as she hurried down the slight incline to join the excited crowd.

"Calm down everyone, take a step back so we can unload this stuff. I promise we didn't leave anything behind, I double checked the area myself before we left."

Bea ground to a halt at the familiar, rumbly voice, almost leaving skid marks in the sand when she belatedly recognised the broad back that had somehow sprung up directly in front of her. Her stomach executed a perfect flip as she began to back up as instructed, eyes running over the large, muscular arms that were spread out in a very familiar stance as their owner addressed the crowd. Thankfully he was facing squarely away from her, the late afternoon sun making the stubble on either side of his mohawk glint a little as he turned his head this way and that to address the jostling Oseram.

"C'mon folks, you aren't going to get what you want if you don't give us room."

Erend sounded tired. His voice lacked its usual, forceful resonance as he raised it over the hubbub. Bea felt her eyebrows draw together as she snuck back the way she'd come, climbing at an angle up the embankment to an elevated spot where she could keep a watch over the proceedings while she waited for the area to clear. She sat, arms looped around her bare shins as she took the opportunity to observe him. Again her stomach gave an almost painful flip the second she locked eyes on him and, even though she was safely out of his line of sight, she ducked her chin a little so that her hair fell across her face, just in case he looked her way. Heat crawled up her neck and she found herself feeling more than a little foolish at her continued reactions to seeing him. Even though she had put a good distance between them, the pull she felt towards the vanguardsman was a palpable thing in her chest. Surely her initial shock at finding herself in the presence of a certified hero should have worn off at least a tiny bit by now? He was just a person after all, not that different to herself. Yeah, she thought wryly, if I too had the ability to rouse armies and storm cities.

Taking a deep breath to brace herself, Bea snuck a look at Erend from beneath her brow. He remained in the same spot, arms loose by his sides as he watched over the proceedings. From her perch she could just make out his drawn expression and slightly exhausted curve to his shoulders. She'd bet that if she got closer she'd see lines of tension around his eyes and mouth. Again a frown creased her brow. He'd been out all day with his men in full armour, labouring in the desert sun to ensure the caravan's safe arrival. Most of the original hired guards and workers had been too injured, fatigued, or sun-touched to assist, which meant that it had been left to Erend's much smaller band of men and women to complete the laborious task. No wonder it had taken them a full day to fix, load and cart the convoy back to the settlement. Bea felt a stab of guilt that she hadn't even thought to offer help, then grimaced at the idea. It wasn't like she was particularly useful with anything remotely resembling physical labour. Her aching muscles and healing ribs could attest to that well enough.

She was pulled from her thoughts when she noticed one of the freebooters approach Erend, saying something then pointing towards the tower. Almost immediately the captain of the vanguard was striding away, leaving the mostly unloaded wagons to go tackle some new task. Bea stood slowly, relief and disappointment warring within her as Erend clomped up the tower's ramp, vanishing from sight.

Once she was sure he'd left she turned her attention to the scattering of boxes and trunks and began to make her way back down the dune, cautious steps taking her towards the line of now mostly empty wagons. The carts had obviously been reloaded on a 'first come, first stacked' basis, she could tell straight away that it might take a while to track down everything that belonged to her.

There. Bea let out a heavy sigh of relief when she spotted the familiar crest on one of the containers, hurrying towards it with a blossoming grin. She hefted it into her arms, wincing a little at the sharp pull in her side but determined to manage the weight on her own as she lugged it to the side of the path and plopped it down into the sand. Straightening, she scanned the carts again and soon spotted another trunk she recognised, pleased smile resurfacing as she went to scoop it up.

Her pile of luggage grew steadily and eventually she was adding the final box to her collection, satisfied she had found each one. Gathering them all up had taken longer than she'd expected. The setting sun bathed the sky in colours that competed with the rising lights of the old city and, when she looked around, she saw that she was the last one left at the gathering of wagons. She could hear the residents of Hidden Ember as they gathered around the other side of the tower, their voices mixing with the smell of roasting meat on the evening air.

Bea pushed her hair back from her face, running the back of her wrist over her sweaty brow before planting her fists on her hips as blew out a breath, surveying the pile with a critical eye. It wasn't completely good news, while all of her luggage was accounted for, several pieces had sustained damage. Her heart had sunk a little each time she'd found a scuffed and dented container and she'd only just managed to stop herself from immediately opening them to see what condition the contents were in. That assessment could wait until she had everything safely moved to…where exactly? She grimaced as she realised that she'd never gotten around to asking Morlund about a safe spot to store her things. Well, she'd just have to lug them all to her tent for now. If they took up all the space within then she'd just have to keep sleeping on her bedroll, it wasn't like it ever rained here…

"Need a hand, miss?"

Bea almost swallowed her own tongue when a deep voice spoke up right behind her and, even before she whirled around, she knew exactly who it was just by the familiar flip and twist in her belly. Erend was back, looming over her with a friendly smile and slightly raised eyebrows. Immediately a wave of goosebumps erupted along her arms at his proximity, a breathy squeak escaping her lips as she realised how close he was. She automatically tilted her head back, eyes tracking lightning fast up his chest, neck, chin, mouth and nose; cataloguing each before locking with his. His light blue eyes showed concern as he reached for her and she realised she was tripping, that she'd taken a step back and her bare heel had caught on one of her boxes.

"Woops, careful." Huge gloved hands closed around her upper arms and the resulting zing of electricity was enough to make her head feel like it was about to explode. Her entire body went rigid and she vaguely noticed she was holding her breath as he pulled her back towards him and set her back on her feet. "Sorry I startled you, I just came down to see if everyone had claimed their stuff. Didn't realise you were so deep in thought." He paused, tilting his head and leaning back a little to squint at her as he carefully let her go. "Hey, don't I know you?"

Yes. The word never made it out of her throat. All Bea could do was keep gazing up at him. She could feel her biceps tingling where he'd touched her. Heat was coming off him in waves but she crossed her arms over her chest as though cold, her hands coming to feel where his palms had gripped her moments before.

Erend's easy smile returned, he snapped his fingers and nodded at her. "You're Bea, the girl from the wagon yesterday. I didn't recognise you with all that hair, you were wearing a headscarf the last time we met. I've been thinking of you all day," he paused almost imperceptibly, then clarified, "wondering if you were ok, and, uh, how you pulled up after your brush with those machines."

His gaze drifted downward then he gave an exaggerated wince, "looks like at least one of them got you good." He gestured to her ribs and Bea flinched, started to lower her arms to cover the bruises then halted halfway and let them drop to hang awkwardly by her sides. She could practically feel the inside of her skull reverberating as she processed his words. He'd been thinking of her? He knew her name? He'd noticed her hair? He'd been thinking of her?

"So…are you ok?" His thick eyebrows had drawn together, the upward turn of his lips dropping. She quailed a little as he continued to stare at her expectantly.

I'm fine, thanks for helping me. The words she wanted to say lodged behind her clenched teeth and she swallowed heavily against the familiar choking sensation as her throat tightened. All she could manage was a jerky nod.

After a few agonising moments he cleared his throat, visibly resetting to try again. "I'm Erend, by the way. I'm helping Morlund, Abadund and Stemmur establish Hidden Ember."

I know who you are. By the sun, she couldn't unclench her jaw let alone form the answer crashing around inside her skull. She desperately tried to hold onto the words, wrestle them into order and force them to march out of her mouth in an orderly line but they wouldn't cooperate. The air between them was thickening with awkward tension and, to her absolute horror, she could feel frustrated tears building behind her eyes. Humiliation ramping up another notch she dropped her chin a little so that her hair swung forward to hide her flaming cheeks.

He cleared his throat, obviously forcing his light, teasing tone as he forged on in the face of her silence. "And, speaking of help, I saw you down here and thought you might like an extra hand to carry all this. Lifting heavy things is one of the few things I'm good for." He motioned towards the boxes behind her. "Would you like that?"

Yes please. Bea nodded and, without thinking, lifted her right hand and moved her open palm in a circle over her chest. His gaze dropped to follow the action, a quizzical look on his face. Why had she done that? She hadn't used hand speech in forever, there was no way he would know what it meant.

He lifted his grey eyes back to hers, friendly smile back in place as he motioned again in an indication for her to take the lead. "After you."

Bea finally managed to force her body to move, turning around hastily she blindly chose a trunk at random and hefted it off the ground, immensely thankful it wasn't too heavy despite its size. Erend stepped up beside her then squatted down easily on his haunches to begin constructing a tower of crates. Once he deemed it high enough he scooped his huge hands beneath the one at the base and lifted the entire stack in one smooth movement. After positioning them slightly to the side against his hip he looked down at her and caught her open mouthed expression. "Heavy things." He repeated with a small grin. "Lead the way."

Bea tore her eyes away from Erend's, gaze catching briefly on the bulge of his biceps before she swung around and began making her way towards the spread of tents on the other side of the tower, the trunk in her arms suddenly feeling ridiculously small. Awareness thrummed through her, the small hairs on the back of her neck lifting until goosebumps broke out over her arms. She could hear the heavy tread of his boots following close behind her and realised he must have been shortening his stride quite a bit in order not to clip her heels. As they went people called out friendly greetings to the enormous Oseram and every time he raised his voice in reply she fought not to flinch, his rich voice feeling like a caress down her spine.

By the time she reached her own tent at the far edge of the sprawl she was relieved to be able to let the trunk thud to the sand so she could run her hands over the prickling skin on her arms. Erend placed his significantly larger load next to hers carefully then straightened to watch as she tied back the tent flap with fumbling hands.

When she began wrestling the first trunk into the small space, he cleared his throat. "This is your tent?"

Bea straightened to look at the tent, then back at Erend, nodding hesitantly. Had she mixed up which was hers? They did all look the same. She cast a worried look around at the neighbouring structures.

"And you plan to store all this in there?" He motioned to the stack next to him then pointed at the tent, a frown beginning to darken his brow. "Plus the stack back there?"

Again she nodded, rolling her lips together as she realised where he was going with his line of questioning.

"And where exactly are you planning to sleep?" An edge of incredulous humour was now colouring his tone and she lifted her chin to see him raising an eyebrow at her, lips pulled to the side. When she shrugged and gestured vaguely to an area beside her tent he let out a bark of laughter, "Are you serious? What's in these that's so important that they need a roof over their head more than you do?"

She reflexively opened her mouth to explain but then slammed it shut again when she felt the telltale tremor in her jaw. An embarrassed flush began to creep up her neck and to cover it she nodded hastily then reached for another trunk, letting her hair swing forward to hide her tense expression as she moved it in to rest beside the first.

She had just reached for a third box when it was plucked out of her hands and she was forced to look up at the tall Vanguardsman once more. His smile had turned thoughtful, he tucked the crate under his arm as though it weighed nothing and he held up his other hand in a placating gesture. "Hold on, I have a better idea. I've got another tent you can use. Much bigger than this one, the guy who owns it is always travelling and doesn't need all the space. If you really have to keep all these boxes with you it will be better suited to the task, then you and your things can all enjoy the comforts of a place to sleep."

Bea felt her face brighten, a tent big enough for all of her trunks? Maybe she'd even have the space to unpack them.

"There you go, I knew you'd like that idea." Erend placed the crate back on the pile, throwing her a wink that made her belly clench. "Just hold on while I grab a few of my men. We'll have your new tent set up and the rest of your things brought over before you know it." He hesitated halfway through a turn, dipping his chin as his light eyes sparked at her. "Don't go anywhere."

She watched him as he strode away, guilt and gratitude waring within her. He should be eating and drinking with his men after a long, arduous day, not dropping everything to help her yet again. But, she thought, it fit perfectly with everything she knew of him. The fingertips of her right hand came to her chin then extended towards his retreating back. Thank you.