A cool breeze wafted through the streets, working its way between the houses. Most had darkened now, the fires and candles extinguished as the people fell into a carefree slumber. Though a few yet remained lit, seemingly trying to join the stars in brightening the night. Truly a picturesque night. But it brought no comfort to Nasira as she made her way home.
Dragging her feet, she wasn't even looking where she was going, hanging her head so low she could only see her feet. Step by step, she trudged further and further from Zaina and Kaaf's home, and closer to her own. She and her friend had scoured the entire town for Kaaf, knocked on his coworkers' doors, asking if they might know. But no one could tell them.
Sure, he had shown up for work, looking unnaturally happy, and he'd left a little early even, from there he had gone home, according to his coworkers. Zaina had been out at the time and hadn't seen him. So, anything after that was a mystery. After finding no trace of him, Zaina, sounding utterly defeated though still trying to keep a brave face, told Nasira "Kaaf is an adult. He can take care of himself. I'm sure he's fine and will come back tomorrow…" and bid her goodnight, insisting she go home.
Nasira didn't think she would be able to sleep that night, how could she just lie around with his sudden disappearance? But then, aimlessly looking for him in the dark wouldn't accomplish anything… Thoughts of all the ways he could have been injured, or worse, flooded her mind, and her stride slowed briefly. No, no, Zaina was right, he wasn't a child. Going missing for a single day wasn't unheard of for a grown man. Even if it were a day he'd been looking forward to for ages.
Not much longer, though it felt like an eternity, and she was standing outside her door. She hoped Amali had already gone to sleep. Nasira knew the young woman had been almost as excited about this as Kaaf, and she wasn't even involved. Telling Amali would just make Nasira even more restless.
Unfortunately, upon opening the door, she saw that the other girl was still awake, sitting at the table just barely grasping a cup in her hand. Though she wasn't alone. Across from her, passed out with his head lying on his arm on the table, was a muscular man in an assassin's robe. Amali was gazing at him, awestruck, and didn't notice Nasira. "What… what did you… do to that man?"
"H-huh?" she shook herself out of her thoughts. "This isn't what it looks like!... Okay…. Maybe it is. I just wanted to get to know him, but he was way too closed off. My intentions were good!" Rushing to the man's side, Nasira glared at Amali, daring her to give a good reason for this unconscious man on her table. "I may have spiked his drink a bit… but it really wasn't much! I didn't think he'd just collapse like that!"
"You what?" Barely containing a yell, she continued. "How could you do that? This is no better than drugging someone. And just how do you think he's going to react when he wakes up?" Amali was speechless, she hadn't thought that far ahead, she'd thought he would just get a little tipsy and, hopefully, be more talkative.
Ignoring her, Nasira turned to the man, lightly shaking his shoulder, hoping he would stir. Rather, he only shifted, which prompted the balance of the chair to give way, and he toppled to the floor. Had the situation not been so serious, it would have been comical. Arms limply flailing through the air on his way down. As he hit the ground, he almost seemed to wake, if only a little.
But now Nasira could see his face. Of all the people she could have brought home, why did it have to be him? The most dangerous man in town, Altair, lie sprawled across her floor, in a drunken stupor. And he was opening his eyes, looking right at her. "You… You are…" he was barely conscious, the words almost too quiet to hear. He was going to tell her that they'll be convicted of assault, or kidnapping or something serious, wasn't he? That once he regained his wits, they would be taken into custody.
"A-Are you… um… feeling alright?" she questioned, kneeling next to him, maintaining only some distance, trying her best to seem innocent and nonthreatening. Now wasn't the time to be afraid, that would come later, when he was fully sober and aware of his surroundings. At that moment though, eyes only half open and glazed over, his usual harsh expression replaced with a lethargic stare, he wasn't so intimidating. Not towering over her certainly helped as well.
For a moment he stared at her so deeply she thought he could see into her very soul. "You have… Your eyes… I like your eyes… All six of them." The words came out slurred, overenunciated in odd places, and the moment he stopped talking, his head rolled back, and he once again fell unconscious. Even if he was completely out of it and speaking nonsense, Nasira couldn't help the bit of blush that crept up her cheeks.
"Help me move him somewhere more comfortable." It seemed Amali hadn't heard what he'd said to her, she was too busy feeling guilty to have heard his whisper. Even the two of them together struggled to move him, they had to remove all the weapons they could see, of which he had a surprising amount, one man couldn't even use that many weapons at one time anyway. Yet they still only managed to move him a couple of feet onto a blanket and pillow Nasira had set down upon realizing how heavy he was. But that would have to do.
Setting a jug of water and a fresh cup near him in case he woke up and got thirsty and covering him with another blanket, Nasira left him there, forcing Amali out of the room to keep her from staring. Turning back, only for a moment, she noticed once more just how much less terrifying he was right then. So defenseless, his expression more relaxed, and for once, not coated in weapons enough to supply a small-scale war.
As she sat on her bed, knowing she would be completely unable to sleep, but fully prepared to try regardless, she realized, the issues with Kaaf disappearing seemed so much less pressing now. Nasira had even forgotten about him entirely upon seeing Altair. Though, she reasoned, it was only natural to panic and briefly forget things in a situation like that.
Lying awake for what felt like several hours, tossing and turning, she barely managed to slip into a light sleep. Only to wake in a panic over a dream about a massive, mountain sized horseless carriage demon destroying the world with its tracks. Then again, after several minutes, she could feel herself slipping, but was once more woken by a dream about being late due to being kidnapped by vampires who wanted her to cook them an omelet. The rest of the night continued much the same, falling asleep briefly, only to wake in a panic.
First thing Altair noticed upon waking up was the mild headache he felt, second was that he wasn't in his own room. It only took a moment for him to recall what had happened. That woman, Amali, as she had called herself. She had appeared before him suddenly, he'd known she planned to tackle him, but she was small, unarmed, and seemingly unthreatening, and he'd had no intention to accidently injure her by stopping her too aggressively. Although the contact had made him extremely uncomfortable.
Beyond that, the young woman hadn't stopped talking from the moment they'd met to the moment he passed out, she claimed to know him, but he had no recollection of her. He had only joined her at her home because there was no break in the conversation to excuse himself. Somehow, the thought of just walking away seemed too rude. Not to mention, he didn't think she would have let him just leave so easily.
Not recognizing the smell of the alcohol, Altair hadn't seen it coming. He knew he couldn't stomach alcohol, once before, only once, he had attempted to drink wine, the outcome had been far more unpleasant than just passing out, though thankfully no one had been around at the time. Now however, there was a witness to his shameful struggle with drinks. This information could not be allowed to get out. Malik would pester him for months if he knew.
Ignoring the water jug set nearby, he couldn't be too careful now, he took stock of his environment. A simple home, average, one might say. Shadows played in the corners, the still dark sky not doing much to illuminate the room. The owner had been kind enough to make him more comfortable at least, instead of leaving him sprawled haphazardly on the bare floor, the blankets now rumpled on the floor.
Entering a door further back in the room, attempting to locate the girl he'd met the night before, he came upon a bedroom. The occupant was sleeping restlessly, her blankets had been kicked off and her limbs were twitching slightly. Trying not to wake her, he padded closer to get a look at her face. Now Altair was most certainly confused, for in front of him, was the sleeping face of the very woman he had been so fixated on the night before.
Had there been two women the night before? He didn't remember seeing two people, but… there was a moment, however brief, where he thought the girl had looked a bit different, though he had chalked it up to his state of mind. The memory of having said something the night before came back to him, though he couldn't remember exactly what, he knew it must have been embarrassing.
Something unfamiliar stirred in his chest, this was Nasira's home, if he wasn't mistaken. Meaning he had slept in her house, even if on the floor. And now, he was looking at her sleeping face. While he couldn't say she looked relaxed, in fact she seemed rather agitated, it was refreshing to actually see her face. Normally she was looking down, avoiding his gaze, whenever they met, or she would look so nervous.
Unable to place what he was feeling, he pushed the thoughts aside, realizing just how menacing he might appear for staring at her in her sleep. Though waking her felt awkward, it would be worse for him to wait until she woke naturally. He had never woken someone like this before, most of the time, when dealing with a sleeping person, he would either sneak past or go straight for the kill… his thoughts had turned unnecessarily dark rather suddenly.
Should he shake her shoulder? Call out to her? He wasn't entirely sure the best way to go about waking someone calmly. Settling on lightly shaking her arm, he reached out, trying to be moderately gentle. Nasira shot up, clearly startled, perhaps he should have spoken her name instead.
The creatures were burying her, piling more and more junk on top of her. Little three-legged, wrinkly plant-weasel hybrids had dug a hole and forced her in, then started throwing their trinkets and garbage on top of her. Quickly sinking into the pile, she tried to move, but her limbs felt so heavy. It kept growing; it was coming up to her shoulders now. As she felt the pressure on her left arm, she jerked upwards, sight blurring momentarily.
As her senses returned to her, she recognized the experience as just another bad dream, but the man towering over her bed was all too real. Only for a moment did she forget that Altair had been passed out in her house the night before. Upon recognizing him, it occurred to her that all semblance of comfort she'd taken from his previous helplessness was gone, replaced by the unknown terror over how he might react to the situation.
"Would you mind explaining to me just what happened last night?" He wasted no time getting to the point, there was no need to drag out this encounter longer than necessary. Though it was hard to adjust from nightmares to being interrogated so suddenly.
"It would seem that um, my roommate put some alcohol in your drink last night, and you had an adverse reaction." She didn't want to throw Amali under the carriage like that, but Nasira was far too nervous to make up any lies just then. Not to mention, it would only be worse for both of them if they were caught lying. "Ah, but there wasn't… she didn't mean any harm, she's just a naïve child" Even through her apprehension she felt the need to defend her.
Altair nodded briefly to himself. "As I thought. Make sure she doesn't do this again." Thinking about being in her room in the early morning after spending the night, even accidently, Altair felt a wave of shyness rush over him. He gave a short thanks for letting him sleep, and a warning never to speak of this to anyone, before immediately turning and finding his way out of her home. Leaving her house, he spent the entire walk back to the assassin fort being accosted by thoughts of what he should have said. After all, he had been halfheartedly looking for her the night before.
Waking up to the sound of a door closing, Amali rushed through the small house, ending her search in Nasira's room. Seeing her posture and expression, Amali knew she had spoken with Altair. "Why did you let him leave? I wanted to talk to him more."