The three Ostian spies arrived at a small village that noon just half a day away from the Kingdom of Bern. They were supposed to meet General Vaida at the village's pub that night, so they decided to spend the night at the village's inn as well. The group entered the inn, and Legault approached the female innkeeper casually to get a room. The woman asked what type of room they would like for the night, and the purple haired spy answered happily that they would like to get the best room. Matthew quickly grabbed Legault's arm and dragged him away while informing the innkeeper that he was just kidding.
Matthew said, "You can't do that, it's not your money, Legault."
"That's exactly why we should do that. Come on, when will we get free vacation again, Matthew?" pleaded Legault while smiling sheepishly.
The youngest spy replied, "I can't believe this is happening. We should save our money, who knows if we need them for something while we're in Kingdom of Bern?"
The Hurricane finally gave up and decided to follow what Matthew wanted. He walked toward the innkeeper and could have been heard weakly murmuring about a darn young thief from Ostia who did not know how to have fun. As Legault stood in front of the innkeeper once again, he now asked for a normal room with three single beds and insisted that they have a clean sheet for that night. The woman informed him that there was only one room left with four beds in it, and one of them had been occupied by a female traveler who just arrived a few hours before.
"Female traveler, eh? That's even better .."
"That's alright, we'll take that room," said Legault.
The innkeeper asked, "And what are the names of these gentlemen who would occupy my three beds for tonight?"
Matthew responded, "My name is Matt-"
Legault stepped on his foot. Before Matthew could finish up the sentence, Legault already took over the conversation and said that the young fellow's name was Matthias, the red head man who had not spoken a word was a mute named Jeffrey. Legault also added that it did not really matter what they refer the mute because he was deaf as well, so better just to give him a small pat to get his attention than yelling out his name. Lastly, Legault introduced himself as Lloyd, and that they were travelling merchants who wanted to find a job in Kingdom of Bern.
After being told by the woman that the bathroom was at the each end of the corridor upstairs, he finally excused himself from the lady. Legault led the three men to the stairs to get into the room and as they entered the room, they could see that one of the beds had been used and there was a leather bag under the bed. It was assumed that the bag was the belonging of the woman who occupied the room with the three Ostian spies.
Jaffar suddenly said, "So I'm a mute and a deaf, Hurricane?"
Legault was surprised at the suddent comment, but replied, "Well ... you don't talk much, Jaffar. And I had to come up with a lie to tell. Seeing that you hadn't said a single word at all, it would only be appropriate that you're a mute and deaf as well, my friend."
Before Jaffar could make any attempt to reply once again, Legault quickly stirred the conversation into a different topic by asking Matthew whether he thought that the girl in the room would be pretty or not. Matthew said that he was not interested at all to play a guessing game with him, while at the same time, Jaffar silently slipped into the bed and took whatever rest he could before the planned meeting with General Vaida at the pub that night. Legault noticed that, and followed suit. It had been a few days outdoor sleep for the three of them, and it would be the first time since leaving Ostia that they had warm and clean beds to sleep in.
While the two former Black Fang members fast asleep already, Matthew was wide awake though trying as hard as he could to sleep. He tried thinking about the most boring story that Merlinus had told him once, but it did not work. He tried counting the sheeps, it did not work either. Imagining General Oswin's punishment if he failed this mission, it only made him shudder, not sleepy. As his mind was randomly thinking about specific moment in his past, the door of the room was suddenly opened and a red haired girl entered the room. She paid no attention to Matthew at all, and started to undress to get ready to sleep.
Matthew was surprised, and said, "Miss, I think it would be wise for you to get change in the bathroom."
There was no reply as the woman kept on undressing. Matthew looked at the back of the woman and noticed a tattoo, a familiar tattoo that he had seen on Leila's back. He thought that it would not be possible for the woman to be Leila because she was killed by Jaffar, something that he tried to get over with because his life might depend on the assassin's hands. As the woman finished undressing, she turned around and smiled to Matthew. He, on the other hand, was totally shocked at the face that he was looking at.
"It .. it couldn't .. be ... Leila?" asked Matthew.
The woman gave no reply, but she approached him slowly. Once she was in front of Matthew, she gave him a big hug while saying that everything was okay and there was nothing for him to worry about. She kept on saying that she was alright, and how she would always be with him through life and death. Matthew's eyes quickly became wet, and tears started pouring out easily. He was filled with joy and happiness. To be able to see his dearest Leila once again.
"Leila .."
As soon as he finished saying that, slowly but surely the image of the woman in front of him started to blur until fully vanished into the cold thin air. Matthew yelled loudly, "LEILAAAAAAA!"
In a split second, Jaffar jumped out of the bed to block the door while Legault secured the open window. Both got their weapons ready, but then simply wondered what had caused the other spy to yell like that. Matthew then realized that it was all just a dream, though it felt very real. He apologized to both Jaffar and Legault, quickly explaining that it was just a combination of nightmare and illusion. On the inside, he knew that it was more like a sweet dream, but obviously something really private that he would not share with anyone else.
A knock on the door was soon heard, and a blonde haired woman entered.
"YOU?" Legault dropped his jaw and surprised to see that the imaginary pretty girl roomate turned out to be none other than General Vaida.
She replied, "What? I have to share a room with the three of you? How about if we fight to see who gets to keep the room? Come on, take out your daggers, and I'll bring out my spear. Hurry up, outside while it's not dark yet."
"Huh?" Legault was totally confused and still could not understand anything.
" ..." Jaffar said nothing but took out his daggers out of their sheaths.
Matthew quickly apologized, "Our apologies, General Vaida. We're not her to fight against you. You can have the room if you want to, it's yours. Jaffar, put the daggers back in. Legault, stop opening your mouth wide open like that, it's not polite."
"Hmph! At least one of you have the manners and use common sense. Otherwise I'll have Umbriel eat three little snacks," then she added, "Now to the business, don't make it suspicious, but we're not supposed to know each other. Go to the pub and wait for me there. I'll come there after it's dark."
The three Ostian spies could only follow the instructions and head slowly toward the pub, wondering deep down what was going to be said by General Vaida once she got to the pub as well.
