Two Days

I hadn't set foot in the library in two days, and it pissed me off. While I knew it was better that way, because I didn't want to run into the elf again, it also meant I couldn't investigate further. Which in turn meant that every day I didn't find out anything new was one I wasted. And that was his fault!

After all, neither of them had dared to set foot in the Golden Crow again after the first evening. Maybe they were just busy, but I told myself that they just weren't interested in me anymore. It was not clear to me what the reason for their visit had been, but if they had had a concrete suspicion, then king's guards would have shown up long ago to pick me up. In this respect, I was not allowed to make a wrong step now. Nevertheless: I wanted to go back to the damned library!

"Table three wants two plates of barbecue," Earun just said as she set a pile of empty beer steins down on the counter. "Can you take care of that?"

"Of course." I hurriedly ran into our small kitchen. It wasn't often that guests ordered something hot to eat. We also only had two dishes to choose from, which were essentially the same thing: Meat on a spit and meat on a plate. Both of dubious origin, which was why I had never tried it. We prepared it in small portions every night and usually didn't sell it all.

I grabbed two skewers and delivered them to table three as requested. The rest of the evening passed slowly: a fistfight and the collapse of a lovesick city guard who had to be escorted out by Hallas made it at least a little more entertaining, but in return a guest had tipped his beer over my apron, which I had to wash now. In moments like these, I wished for nothing more than to have a washing machine again, or at least running water. But those were both luxuries I didn't have access to here in Middle Earth.

When the end of the evening finally came, I was more than relieved. Hallas put the last guests out the door while Earun and I pulled up the chairs and swept. After sweeping up all the leftovers from the evening, she turned to me. "Have you heard anything else from your friends?" she asked.

"You mean the Duo Infernale?", I asked without thinking. Of course I knew she meant the dwarf and the elf.

Earun laughed. "Sometimes you say really strange things."

"Sorry." Even though I hadn't spoken my native language in years, sometimes I would lie in bed at night and listen to music. I was still able to do that after this long time because I had bought a solar-powered charger for the hostel change at that time, and it still worked fine. Via a USB cable I connected my cell phone to it and could charge it. Of course, I couldn't do much with the device anymore, but sometimes I used it: To listen to music, for example, when I felt lonely and homesick. Or to take pictures of Minas Tirith and its residents in unobserved moments. Sometimes I gave myself up to the hope that I would one day look at these photographs like the pictures I still had of my world on the device. By now, I knew every single photo. I held onto them like the music that had become a piece of home for me.
"And no. I haven't heard from them again," I answered Earun's question. "I hope they don't show up here again."

"If they do, I'll take their table," she said with a grin. "I certainly won't miss that stack of Castars."

I laughed and took my soggy apron off the counter to wash in the morning. Then I left the tavern.

It was just after midnight. Hallas had already disappeared, as had the last of the guests he had driven out. The streets were empty. I loved going home alone at this time of night: The city was so quiet you could almost hear its heartbeat if you were focused enough. As vibrant and full of life as Minas Tirith was during the day, it was reversed at night. On clear days, even in the city, you could see the Milky Way as clearly as it had been possible in my time only far from any civilization. Another indication that I was on Earth. Therefore I liked to count constellations, because they also connected me with my origin. Of all the places I could have landed: This city had certainly not been the worst of all options. I also didn't usually feel unsafe because there was simply nothing going on.

But today the mood was different. I felt it the moment the tavern door slammed shut behind me. There was something in the air that made me walk quickly through the streets with my shoulders hunched. It took me a good twenty minutes to get to my room. I usually took my time, but not today.

As I turned a corner, I also knew where the feeling had come from. Two drunken members of the city guard were staggering loudly in my direction. If I could have turned back without them seeing me, I would have.

But it was too late for that. Shit.

"Hey, sweetie!" One of them had already spotted me.

I ignored them and quickened my steps. In a moment I would be past them, then I would sidestep to shake them off. They were so drunk that hopefully they wouldn't be able to follow me.

"Not so fast, honey!" One of them took an awkward step in my direction, but I dodged it. "Fuck off, asshole," I hissed, my hand already tightly closed around one of my daggers.

"Now quit being such a bitch." He grinned. "I just want to talk a little."

"Talk it out with your buddy," was all I said, and I was about to dive out of his reach when the second man grabbed me by the shoulder. As fast as I could, I spun away, but I was still too slow. They had me cornered between two walls of a house. Even though they were still standing a good arm's length away from me, I could smell their breath. They stank disgustingly.

One of them opened his mouth to hurl the next obscenity at me as the metal of a blade appeared at his throat all at once. I blinked.

"She said she didn't want to talk," said a voice that sounded all too familiar. "Amin feuya ten' lle."

The man froze in mid-motion and didn't even try to fight back. Instead, he and his companion staggered away as the elf gave them a jab that could not be misunderstood. When they disappeared behind the next corner, he lowered his blade. "Sorry, I shouldn't have let them get this close to you in the first place."
"What are you doing here?", I asked, still perplexed by his sudden appearance. My hands sought grip on the stone wall at my back.

"You're welcome."

Embarrassed, I lowered my eyes. "Thank you for your help. I could have done it on my own, though."

"For sure."

I shot him a poisonous look and pushed myself off the wall. "Have you lost your way? The Seventh Ring is not made for elves who don't know their way around here."
"Who says I don't know my way around? After all, you frequent the Inner Rings as well, though you're obviously not from there," he said.

"That is somewhat different." I wasn't sure if that last part had been meant as a disguised insult, but I didn't have the nerve to go into it, which was why I just walked off. The elf caught up with me after a few meters.

"You can leave me alone now," I said as he continued to keep pace. "It's not far to... my room."

"I'll walk you home."

"I didn't ask for that."

"You didn't have to."

Wonderful. Where I had just gotten rid of the other two unwanted appendages, I had caught a new one. I sighed, but I knew I wouldn't be able to talk him out of it. Still, I didn't want him to know where I lived. I had to find some way to shake him off before then.

"You know," I said after we had walked in silence for a few minutes, "I don't believe in coincidences. And to meet you here at this hour purely by chance would be a bit too much of a twist of fate, don't you think?"

I saw something like a smirk playing around the corners of his mouth. "You were right," he finally said. "I'm looking for a thief. There are scripts being stolen from the library that are very dear to me."

He watched my reaction quite closely, and he must have seen that his frank words had surprised me. Nevertheless, "If you are looking for a thief, you have come to the wrong place. I am not interested in the scripts, but in their contents."

Now it was his turn to be surprised, I could see that, though he tried to mask it. "You can read?"

My street came into view. It was time to get rid of the elf. "I can do much more than that, but none of this you will ever find out because this is where we part ways. I can only repeat myself: I am not a thief. If you are looking for one, I can only advise you to search elsewhere. You're wasting your time with me."

Fingers crossed, I turned away and walked into my street. Hopefully he wouldn't follow me any further. When I didn't feel a rush of air beside me after a few steps, my shoulders relaxed. I seemed to have caught him off guard.

I had almost reached the turn that would cut me off from the Elf's gaze, if he was still there, when he called after me, "What's your name?"

I paused, pondered, and replied just loud enough for him to hear, "Aspen."

We stood in front of each other, separated by only a few meters. "An unusual name."

"No more unusual than yours."

With that, I raised my hand and left him standing.