Primrose didn't know exactly what it was that she was going to do to prepare for their journey to the brothel. However, she could say one thing certainly: this was going to be the biggest fight of her life up to that point. After clawing and scraping her way through existence for the past ten years, she was finally going to be able to reach the apex of everything that she had been working toward. She wondered if she was ready for this. Part of her was while the other half denied such a statement firmly. That did a fine enough job of summing up her thought process, at the very least.
The group was starting to walk back to the rest of town-no doubt off to buy a few extra healing items for the sake of the battle at hand-when Primrose noticed that Alfyn was unable to stop fidgeting on the spot. He was relentlessly pulling at the sleeve of his jacket, his gaze cast down to the snow below. Primrose frowned as she slipped back into pace with him, examining everything about him carefully. "Alfyn, what's the matter? You can't seem to stand still," she commented carefully.
Alfyn perked up suddenly, only seeming to come to his senses when he realized that Primrose was next to him. "Huh?" He looked at Primrose for a moment, bringing his eyes into focus at long last. "Oh, shucks, sorry. It's just so cold up here... I was born in the south, and me and the cold, we don't get along too well."
Primrose frowned at him. He wasn't shivering in the slightest, and his warmer clothing was already doing a fine job of ensuring that he wasn't too chilled in the bitter wintry air. He was lying through his teeth, and he wasn't doing a particularly good job of it. Primrose was good at knowing when others were putting on a show being a performer herself, and she could see the way that his smile was lopsided and half-hearted. She still didn't know what it was that was going on to fuel this strange complex of Alfyn's to begin with, but she could say for sure that there was a crack in his facade that was starting to leak anxiety all over the snowy ground below.
It didn't take that long for Primrose to come to a conclusion though. "You're thinking about the brothel, aren't you?" she questioned. Alfyn started as soon as the words came out of her mouth, and Primrose simply pressed her lips together. "Thought so."
"Sorry," Alfyn apologized with a nervous smile. "It's just... I've been thinkin' about all those poor girls... They deserve better than to have to be forced into something like this, you know?"
Primrose looked down at the snow. "Yeah... I guess so," she murmured. She didn't know what she was expecting Alfyn to say in response, but it made sense. The longer that she thought about it, the more convinced she was that the look that had appeared in his eyes when the subject came up was sadness. He felt awful on the behalf of those who had been dragged into this with no choice, and he couldn't seem to silence his anguish on the matter regardless of how hard he tried.
"B-But we've gotta stay focused. The crow isn't going to be defeated on his own, you know?" Alfyn asked even though it was clear as could be that Primrose already knew the answer to be negatory. Still, he looked at the path ahead. "We're gonna be fine. We'll be out of here in no time. I'm sure of it."
Primrose offered him a small smile, pretending that it was much more genuine than it actually was. "Yeah... You're right," she whispered. She watched Alfyn for another long moment before he started to walk a bit faster, no doubt anxious to get this over with sooner rather than later. After all, the sooner that they defeated the man of the crow, the sooner that they would be able to free the women who had been taken into the brothel. They had a clear path ahead of them, and Alfyn was more desperate than ever to follow it to the end.
It was only after Alfyn had already gone off to focus on buying their next batch of supplies that Tressa came sliding up into Primrose's peripheral vision. The dancer looked down at the young merchant at her side with a light frown. There was clearly something on her mind, but unlike Alfyn, Tressa didn't allow herself to succumb to her nerves, instead asserting her inquiry loud and clear. "Primrose, what's a brothel?"
Primrose was glad that she wasn't drinking anything in that moment, because if she had been, her drink would have wound up spilled all over the snow in front of her. Tressa didn't seem to notice her reaction though, instead simply continuing to prattle on. "I was going to ask Arianna, but I don't think that she really wants to talk to any of us right now. She seems nervous about all of this," Tressa continued to explain.
Primrose looked at the merchant beside her, and a small voice in the back of her mind reminded her that Tressa was only eighteen. Legally, she was an adult, but to Primrose, she was still young enough to be considered a child. She was small and sweet, unaware of the full brutality of the world and not forced to face it even in when confronted with hardship. The last thing that Primrose wanted to do was be the one to shatter through this outward wall of innocence with something that could have destroyed Tressa's thought process and focus for the rest of the mission.
Instead of explaining, Primrose simply swallowed dryly. "Tressa, there are just some things that children shouldn't know..." she said carefully, knowing that Tressa probably wouldn't take it well but still unable to force herself to offer a true answer to Tressa's question.
"Oh, come on!" Tressa exclaimed. "Nobody else seems to want to answer the question either! Someone just tell me!" She threw up her arms dramatically for emphasis before crossing them over her chest, offering her a bit of extra warmth as well as fulfilling the image in Primrose's mind: that of a young child venturing out into the world for the first time. Almost as if Tressa had been able to read Primrose's thoughts, she offered her next statement with a punch of agitation. "And I'm not a child, by the way."
Primrose let out a sigh. If Tressa wasn't going to stop until she got her answer, the least that Primrose could do for her was be the one to explain it in a somewhat delicate way. "If you insist... Lean in closer and I'll whisper it."
Primrose wasn't even entirely sure what it was that she told to Tressa during the seconds that followed, seemingly removing herself from her own body just so that she didn't have to focus on what she had to say. She did notice the way that Tressa's jaw dropped a moment later though, and that prompted Primrose to move on. "Do you get it now?" Even as Primrose spoke these five words, Tressa remained slack-jawed. "Tressa? Your mouth is hanging agape."
Tressa immediately clamped her mouth shut. "Oh, er, sorry! I forgot it was still open..." she confessed sheepishly. "Thank you for telling me, Primrose."
The dancer simply offered her a kind nod, placing one hand on Tressa's shoulder. She wasn't sure if the gesture was more for the sake of the merchant's comfort or her own, but either way, Primrose found that she rather enjoyed it. She was silently selfishly glad that she had decided to stay with the rest of the group even in the face of her doubts.
Shopping for supplies for the upcoming battle was surprisingly easy, Primrose had to admit. All it took was a few healing items for the group's supplies to be rounded off. Tressa wound up snagging them a bargain when it came to inspiriting plums, and she was able to negotiate a few pomegranates into her hands as well, grinning wildly as she put them away in her bag. The rest of the group could simply watch on, and Primrose smiled to herself. Tressa, even in a time of disoriented shock, did a great job of cheering her up when she was at her lowest.
From there, the group returned to the brothel's dormitories to wait for the carriage that would bring them to their next location. To Primrose, the period of waiting that followed was both mercifully short and all too long, leaving her lost in her own thoughts for not long but most certainly long enough. She was almost dazed to the point of falling over when she was tapped on the shoulder by Olberic. He was pointing straight ahead, and when Primrose followed the place where his finger was indicating, her stomach started to do flips.
It was a simple carriage, all things considered, but its regality was still found in the smaller factors. For what appeared to be something perfectly normal, it was incredibly expensive and exquisite as far as Primrose could tell, and she could only imagine that the inside was as comfortable as it got in terms of carriage rides. The car in question was on the larger side as well, and Primrose swallowed dryly. They were all going to be able to head to their destination at once in the carriage, and from there, the gears of fate would begin to turn for better or worse.
Arianna came out of the brothel's dormitory building as soon as she heard the carriage coming, and she came to a stop beside Primrose as they watched the carriage come to a stop in the snowy space between the tavern and the dormitories. She pointed to the man that stepped down from the front of the carriage, and Primrose immediately noticed the tension in his posture as well as the frown on his face. "That man there is Oren. He drives the carriage," Arianna whispered, and it was easy enough for Primrose to assume that Arianna had more than her fair share of experience with the man in question. "He has a sharp eye and a suspicious nature. That's why he was hired."
Primrose could see as much the longer that she stared at him, and she found herself frowning. "That is... Unfortunate," she muttered under her breath. She had been hoping to deal with a mark that was a bit easier to manipulate, but it seemed that the universe was not intent on offering her a break. Then again, it never had been before, so why would it break the streak of more than a decade then?
Still, Primrose didn't allow Arianna's warning to stop her from walking over to the man in front of the carriage. He watched her critically with a gaze that seemed to be on the verge of a glare, only barely managing to straddle the line between unfriendly and downright distasteful. Primrose bowed to him, finding that her wintry attire was both simultaneously more and less liberating in terms of movement when compared to the flowing skirt and cropped shirt of Sunshade. "I wish you a pleasant evening, sir," Primrose said grandly.
Oren simply looked her up and down, his dark hair starting to peer out from the fur cap sitting atop his head. He was more than dressed for the weather, and his eyes sharpened into a glare made of daggers as sharp as the one that Primrose had used to murder Helgenish a lifetime (or perhaps only a few days) ago. "Haven't seen you around here before. You a new girl?" he questioned.
Primrose nodded. Behind her, Arianna gave the other members of the party a look that told them to stay quiet regardless of what they heard Primrose say next. "I am. This will be my first night in the master's service," Primrose told Oren, the words falling so easily from her lips that they tasted like poison and betrayal in the form of honeyed beauty. Once again, flashes of Sunshade filled her mind, and it took every ounce of restraint for Primrose to remind herself that the dunes here were made of snow rather than sand. Luckily, the performance did not slip even in the face of her momentary internal uncertainty, and Primrose was glad for all the practice that she had engaged in previously to refine her skills.
Unfortunately, this was not enough to deceive Oren. "Well, no one's told me about it, so you ain't gettin' in my carriage," he told Primrose gruffly. He was on the verge of telling her to scram as far as Primrose could tell, and she frowned to herself. He most certainly was cautious just the same way that Arianna had said. She sent a fleeting glance in the direction of her companions before she took a step closer to Oren, ready to initiate her backup plan in the face of this opposition.
"You know, before I came here, I was a dancer," Primrose told Oren, allowing her hips and shoulders to sway in the same fashion that she had each night that she had to earn her keep in Sunshade. "Men said that once they'd seen me on the stage, nothing could ever satisfy them again." She allowed one of her hips to shift forward ever so slightly, and Primrose reminded herself for the thousandth time that this was all for the sake of avenging her father. No humiliation was too large when it came to bringing down justice and vengeance against those who had ruined everything. That was how she was able to get through her next set of words without feeling sick to the taste of sand and blood. "Would you like a little show?" Oren didn't respond for a long moment, and Primrose simple smirked seductively in his direction. "I think you'll find it most... Stimulating."
Primrose offered him a brief twirl and serene smile. She was only met with silence, prompting her to stand there and watch him with all the kindness that she could manage in the heat of the moment. It was only after she had carefully returned to her default posture that Oren spoke, crossing his arms along the way. "You done with your little show?" he asked, voice edging on irritation.
That caught Primrose by surprise, and she stumbled back a step or two. "I... Am. Did you not enjoy it?" she questioned, doing her best to keep her voice under control. It was trying so hard to shake under her shock of Oren not falling for her charms. Those same actions had done so much for her in Sunshade, appealing to the lowest common denominator that men in the town had seemed to possess, but it was doing little to aid her cause here. She truly was far from Sunshade for better or worse.
Oren shrugged. "Seen better, seen worse, I reckon."
Primrose's gaze fell on the snow below. "I see... Then do not allow me to trouble you further..." she murmured, embarrassed at the fact that her attempts had fallen so tragically short. She needed to be able to succeed more than ever given the circumstances, but she hadn't come anywhere close. Perhaps this recent overcast demeanor of hers was impacting more than she was originally willing to admit.
Primrose retreated from Oren a moment later, and Arianna took a step away from the rest of the traveling group as she leaned in to whisper into Primrose's ear. "It was a most beautiful dance, my lady..." she whispered softly but full of heart.
"Thank you, Arianna. But your praise is not the prize I sought..." Primrose offered a glance back in Oren's direction, seeing immediately that the man had not changed his stance in the slightest. He looked just the same as he had previously, not at all bothered by what had happened but not showing any signs of changing his behavior in the face of Primrose's actions either.
Arianna simply shook her head with a sad smile. "I did try to warn you, my lady. The man is no fool."
Primrose nodded as she glanced back to Oren. "Indeed... I must find another way..." she murmured, though truth be told, she didn't even know where to start in terms of finding another method of getting into the brothel's main building. Braving the snow was hardly the best idea given that she didn't know how far away it was, so walking was out of the question. That carriage was the only way for anyone to reach the building that she was seeking, and yet, there was a roadblock approximately the size and shape of Oren to prevent her from reaching her destination.
Primrose ultimately shook her head and began trying to think of a plan as she stepped away from Oren once again, a hand clasped at her chin as she desperately attempted to solve this impossible puzzle. She had only managed to get a few steps into finding a way out of this when she felt the presence of someone beside her. When she turned, she was met with none other than Cyrus.
"You dance beautifully," Cyrus smiled to her gently. There was something so overwhelmingly genuine about him that was almost painful to look at, and Primrose was left to wonder if he understood the nature of her past work. Surely he was aware of it, though Primrose doubted that he had any interest in such desires.
"Thank you," Primrose told him with a small nod, glad to have the compliment but still somewhat bitter over the fact that she hadn't been able to satisfy her target of the night in such a way.
"You were positively inspiring. I wish I could dance like that, but alas..." Cyrus began, his voice trailing off as he looked down at the snow in muted shame.
Primrose simply let out a chuckle. "Two left feet, right?" she questioned. That much had become apparent to Primrose during their previous encounters of combat; Cyrus was hardly the best when it came to evasion, and that was all that Primrose needed to know in order to fill in the gaps for herself.
Cyrus nodded. "I'm afraid so. I dared not to go to the faculty balls for fear that I'd trip over some poor girl and make a fool of us both," he confessed with a light chuckle and a shake of his head. There was something almost sad in his eyes, and Primrose wondered if perhaps he missed Atlasdam. In that respect, they certainly had something in common, missing a town in the Flatlands that they could no longer easily visit. Still, he didn't let that stop him as he continued. "I wonder if lessons would help? Or should I simply accept who I am and stick to my tomes?"
If there was one thing that Primrose was good at, it was not giving up in the face of opposition. It was how she had managed to stay strong in the face of everything that she had been through over the years. She was going to pass on her wisdom one way or another, and so, she offered him a gentle smile. "Well, you're probably a quick learner. And even the clumsiest people can manage the basic steps... The most important thing is to enjoy the dance and let yourself go."
Cyrus simply nodded slowly, trying to understand the words in full despite the gaps in his experiences when compared to the dancer before him. "Right, right. Don't be self-conscious. Of course that makes sense," he said, though he was murmuring more to himself rather than addressing Primrose, though she supposed that this was a habit of his given his past behavior. "It would be rather wonderful to do all those complicated steps and not think about it... As much as I love scholarship, I love dancing too."
Primrose gave him a gentle smile. "Well, if you're that eager, I could give you some pointers," she offered. "After we complete our current mission, that is." She held back a comment about how it would hardly benefit either one of them to be distracted in their upcoming goal by the ideas of performance.
Cyrus' face lit up almost immediately. "You'd do that? Why, I'd be most grateful if you could!"
"Of course," Primrose assured her, and the warm sensation of belonging rose in her chest before she could stop it. In moments like these, she wasn't able to stop herself from thinking that she had made the right choice to stay and spend time with the other travelers. Regardless of what came next, she was sure that the rest of the group around her was something worth protecting, and she already felt as if she would go to the ends of the world for them.
Perhaps she could have felt that way about Yusufa in another life.
Instead, Primrose found herself turning in the direction of Arianna. Olberic was standing beside her, so imposing that he seemed more like a statue than a man for a few brief moments. "Do you know what we should do now?" he questioned carefully.
Arianna nodded, though it was clear that the action was uncertain and lacking in energy. "Rumor has it that Oren owes the tavern keeper a debt. What sort of debt, I couldn't say... But it might be worth looking into," she replied.
"In that case, we have our next destination," Primrose declared, pulling herself away from her conversation with Cyrus to look at the tavern that was resting nearby. Snowflakes fell upon her hair gently, and she released a small sigh before starting to walk in the direction of the building. The other members of her traveling party trailed after her, though Arianna elected to stay behind. Primrose assumed that she was going to ensure that Oren didn't leave before they could accomplish their goal, and she made a mental note to thank Arianna for her help once this had been taken care of.
The inside of the tavern was much the same as it had been before, and Primrose had to admit that the warm interior of the building was both welcoming in its coziness and terrifying in its familiarity. She did her best to shake off memories of sandy dunes as she made her way over to the bar where the tavern keeper was working. He was drying out a glass when he noticed that Primrose was standing in front of him, and he glanced up at her with curiosity manifesting in his gaze slowly but surely.
Primrose offered him a wink that she prayed came off as a better performance than what she had given to Oren just a short while beforehand. "Could I ask you for a favor, my good sir?" she questioned.
The man simply stared at her for a long while, and something in the back of Primrose's mind told her that he had much more in common with Cyrus than any of her previous targets. Damn it. That could be a very good thing or a very bad thing depending on how this next part went. "Do you need something?" he asked, setting down the glass once he was finished wiping it out.
Primrose nodded. "There's a man outside who I believe you need to speak to... I would like you to have a brief conversation with Oren," she explained. The barkeeper continued to stare at her quizzically, so she continued. "I'm in need of his services, you see, and I believe that you're the only one who will be able to help me."
The tavern keeper stared at her for another long moment. "You want me to have a word with Oren?" he questioned. Primrose nodded once again. "Uh, yes, I'll think about it."
He wasn't thinking for all that long though, as a moment later, he came out from behind the bar, putting the glass in its regular position before dropping the towel onto the countertop. He followed Primrose and the rest of the group out of the building, and she smiled to herself. Her plan was certainly going to plan, and she was glad to be given the chance to finally board that damn carriage. Of course, she wasn't out of the woods quite yet since the barkeeper still had to find a way to convince Oren to let her ride on the carriage, but it was a step in the right direction, and she was willing to accept it for the time being.
Out in the snow beyond the tavern's walls, Oren was tending to the horses at the front of the carriage. It wasn't until after he heard footsteps drawing near that he perked up, and his eyes went wide as soon as he noticed who had accompanied Primrose back to the area. "M-Master barkeep..." he murmured. Silently, Primrose thanked Arianna for giving her the lead that she needed to get this issue out of the picture. "Always a pleasure to see my kind benefactor. What brings you here?"
The barkeep didn't say anything as he took a step forward, gesturing to Primrose a moment later. Primrose followed him closer to Oren, offering the man a small smile of her own. The barkeep remained silent, and Primrose realized that he and Oren knew each other well enough for words to be redundant when it came to matters of their communication. Oren's reaction made this all too clear with the way that he stumbled back by a step or two in his moment of shock. "You want me to give the new girl a ride?" Oren questioned, already knowing the answer but inquiring on the matter regardless.
The barkeep simply nodded, and Oren fell silent for a long moment as he looked back to his carriage. There was something in his eyes that told Primrose that perhaps it wasn't going to be as easy as she thought, but when Oren shifted his attention back to the barkeep, all the pieces seemed to come into place in the blink of an eye. Oren, unable to resist the request that had been given to him, let out a small sigh of something that sounded like resignation. "I mean, of course, sir. As you wish. Least I can do to repay your kindness," he said, the words coming out much more genuine than anything else that he had said up to this point. He gestured to the carriage a moment later. "Hop in, woman. We don't have all night."
Primrose offered a glance over her shoulder to Arianna, and she was met with a small yet sad smile and a nod. She shifted her focus next to the other members of the group that she had come to travel with, and once again, that sense of belonging that was both immensely foreign and all too familiar rose in her chest. Primrose nodded to Oren, and the man opened the door to the carriage to offer her the chance to climb inside.
The process of settling into the carriage was all too simple, almost feeling too easy to Primrose given what she was setting out to do. Her throat was dry as she slid into the far end of the carriage's right seat, the rest of the group trailing in after her. H'aanit sat just beside her with Cyrus on her other side and Alfyn closing out the people on their side of the carriage's interior. On the opposite seat, Arianna sat opposite Primrose with Ophilia beside her. After the cleric, the order went from Tressa to Olberic to Therion. It was a tight squeeze even though the carriage was much larger on the inside than its exterior might have led one to believe, but Primrose ultimately found that she didn't mind. The barkeep had given them the chance to sneak in as a group thanks to the debt that Oren owed him, and they had to take advantage of it before the man who operated the carriage changed his mind.
The carriage was filled with something warm, and Primrose assumed that it was a direct consequence of the fact that there were so many people gathered in such a small area. In a way, this carriage was all that she had. Her past had been forcefully ripped away from her when her father was murdered, and she had to make her own place in the world in the aftermath of all that had taken place. In the end, this path led her to Stillsnow alongside a merry group of haphazard travelers trying their best to push through and find their places in the world. Someone from her past had managed to return to her despite the initial barrier in place as well, and Primrose recognized the warm and foreign yet familiar sensation of love fill her chest, and she felt like it had the chance to consume her.
But there was a shadow that not even love would be able to defeat, and that came in the form of her impending mission. She had to carry out this upcoming job. The man of the crow was waiting for her, and she was going to be fighting against him alongside a handful of people who would do anything for her. Primrose had always told herself that she was going to be facing this final battle on her own, and yet, there she was, surrounded by all the people that she could have asked for.
She knew that Yusufa's spirit was watching over her somehow, and the handkerchief hiding in her thick clothing made it clear that she would never be alone again.
"Here we go," Oren declared. And with that, the carriage began to move, off in the direction of the first of the three foul scavengers.
More progress on Primrose's chapter two. Neat.
This chapter had a lot of travel banter as you probably noticed. Alfyn's wound up changing because it didn't fit the idea or themes that should have been established at this point in the slightest. Even if Alfyn is supposedly a somewhat out of touch with the rest of the world country man, this party banter felt strikingly out of character, going against everything that was being built up to thematically and generally being awful. And so, it was changed to be a bit more applicable to the tone that was being built up to as we reached this point.
This chapter generally speaks for itself, all things considered. Things are hopefully going to pick up a bit from here, though I suppose that only time will be able to tell. The only other thing of note that I want to point out is the reference to the fact that love could not deter Primrose from her mission. Is that perhaps a bit of foreshadowing? Maybe. Is it for the thing that you think it's foreshadowing? Probably. I'll let you decide that though.
For the time being, I'm going to sleep. I'm tired, and college exhausting. Next week, we'll pick up with the next part of Primrose's chapter two. Until then, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Feedback is appreciated just like always. Have a nice day, everyone!
-Digital