"He wants to come with us?"
Callum was incredulous.
All of them had returned to the inn at Larwein. The village was now buzzing with confused news about the human-elven couple. Talaar had silently given them their old room back where they now sat on the bed. The keeper had seemed mildly disturbed. They had since eaten lunch and gotten more attention from the doctor who was professionally interested in examining Callum's body which the Prince bore without complaint. His wounded arm now rested in a sling.
"That's what he said."
Rayla moved a strand of her thin hair behind her ear, pensively.
"You can't be thinking of taking him? Not seriously?"
"Why not? He's an experienced soldier and if we're going up against that massive human again we're going to need help."
"He tried to murder me!"
Rayla crossed her arms and smirked. "Oh? I wonder how that feels? Having someone you're close to defend a person who tried to kill you?"
Callum shook his head angrily.
"That's not a fair comparison! You've known this guy for a little less than a day now. How do we know he's not just biding his time until we have Zym back?"
"My gut is tellin' me we can at least trust him not to kill us when we get there. He's been very… clear about his feelin's", she placed her hand on his uninjured shoulder. "I know this is strange but our job just got so much harder and…"
There was a knock at the door.
"Talk more later?", asked Rayla. Callum shrugged.
It was Talaar.
Studying the ground the keeper asked, "I wanted to… apologize. May I come in?"
Rayla stepped aside and he took a seat on the stool. After the door had closed, he looked at both of them and said, "I want to share a secret, if you're alright with that."
Once both Rayla and Callum had nodded their assent, he continued, wringing his hands, "Seeing you two together reminded me of how hard having a relationship was for Selchin and I. Our families were very set on continuing the line and we are both only children since Selchin's sister was killed in the war. Since we've decided not to adopt, they have been vile beyond measure. You are doing something that's so much harder than that and… I feel you deserve my respect and what little support I can give you."
He teared up a little, fanning his face with both hands.
"Oh, please, pull yourself together!", he reprimanded himself, "I'm not sure if I can do anything, but please let me know", turning to Callum specifically he said, "I called your people `Abusers` my entire life without having met a single one of you. From what I can tell, you are not a bad person and I want to ask your forgiveness for my behaviour."
Callum shook his head, smiling, "Talaar, thank you so much. My father used to say that a good person is not flawless but someone who is willing to accept responsibility for and work on their mistakes. That's you. You need to be proud of that."
The heavy set elf nodded, "He sounds pretty wise. You must be glad to have an accepting father."
Callum's smile faded. "He passed, a little less than three months ago."
"Oh. I'm sorry."
The keeper palmed his eyes, then got up.
"Tarla, Entwen, I did not want to interrupt you for long. Please let me or Selchin know if there's anything you need."
"It's actually Rayla. He is Callum", Rayla corrected sheepishly.
The keeper smirked, nodding, "Ah, of course you wouldn't go around giving people your real names. Rayla and Callum."
They thanked him as he left the room.
"So-", Rayla began, but was interrupted. She pet her boyfriend's hair for a while as he buried his face in her chest guard.
"The Lucid officer. I should talk to him", he suggested after some time, "I can't really make a good call on what we should be doing without having done that."
"Oh? Maybe you're not as bad a prince as we all thought? Getting all the facts on the table, look at you!", she razzed.
He turned away from her, smirking but covertly wiping his eyes.
"So you want to talk to him alone?", she asked as he was getting up.
Callum nodded and walked to the door. "I'll be back in a bit."
Helmond was sitting at one of the round tables on the first floor, studying a map with his slinged arm and drinking a bubbling liquid from a stein with his unbandaged arm.
"Do you mind if I interrupt?", Callum asked.
The officer put down the map and gave him a slightly swimming, questioning glance.
"How may I be of service, Prince Callum?"
"You don't have to call me that. Prince, I mean."
"It is not your title?", Helmond furrowed his brows.
"It is, but it's not important here."
"Very well. I assume this is about me asking to join your party?"
"It is. I guess I wanna get an impression of you. You know, one that doesn't involve a knife."
The officer smiled tepidly, taking a drink.
"Amusing. You believe an agent of the Lucid knows how to make any other impression?"
Callum smirked. Was this him being funny?
"Do you have family, Helmond?"
The question struck a nerve. Helmond thought for a moment. Did he, at this point? His work had always come first, even now he could be home, tending to his summand and their children - but here he was, having to weigh sharing secrets with a human who was just a few years younger than his son.
"Callum, I must note how rude it is to ask such questions, especially in public. But to further our working relationship - yes, I do have a family."
"I really appreciate you letting me know. Doesn't that mean you made a loving impression on someone in your life?"
He laughed out loud, snorting and startling the prince.
"My summand Anzha might agree somewhat, however", he snickered, "the proper function of our relationship still required a stabbing motion."
Callum realized then that the man had been drinking since they had come back. That had been the early morning. It was the afternoon now. He observed with amusement that his high-browed way of talking had barely been affected.
"I wanted to talk about your idea, I guess. You coming with us puts me on edge", the prince leaned forward, his elbows meeting the table, "I'm looking for ways to trust you, Legate."
Helmond felt a strange relief. "You are so forward. Consider me impressed. Most of your kin have more secrets than they know what to do with. You shouldn't blindly trust me. Or your love interest. Or really anyone. The closer a person is to you, the more they can hurt you. As for why you should trust me to be helpful on your mission, you know my credentials and you have my word that I will not harm the Sicarius or you", he stared at the contents of his stein for a moment, "I have not had ginger beer for octades. You should try it. It's good."
Callum shook his head, revolted at the idea. "I doubt me getting drunk is going to help us figure this out."
"It might be more amusing, though", the officer slammed the stein to the table, "I want to redeem myself without having to kill you. Why is that so difficult to understand?"
The prince's face lit up. "That actually makes a lot of sense, Helmond."
With that, the boy got up, fetched himself a cup of moonberry juice from Talaar behind the bar and extended it over the table.
The officer's eyes wandered from his stein to the smaller container to Callum's face.
"I prefer this, thank you."
"Oh, elves don't toast?"
"We toast bread. This is not bread."
Callum snorted. "No, it's a human thing where you clink glasses to… I don't know, express your good spirit?"
"Well, then let's `clink glasses`", the soldier intoned.
They did and Callum sat down.
Helmond noticed the Sicarius quietly coming down the steps behind her partner. She approached the bartender who lent her a conspiratorial ear at her request. After settling whatever it was she had asked, she appeared to ask another question. The keeper snickered, nodded and left the room through a door behind the bar, returning with a thin book he passed to her. As she ascended the stairs, she seemed slightly flustered.
"I don't really understand why people would willingly drink a lot of that stuff", Callum nodded at his stein, attempting light conversation.
Helmond shook his head. "It dulls mental anguish, loosens tongues, lightens attitudes. You might understand this better once you have laden your shoulders with more sins or need to approach love interests."
"I don't really think I'll have to `approach love interests` after this is over. Either way, dulling the feelings doesn't really solve the problems. Wouldn't you rather be alert and deal with your issues?"
Helmond shrug-nodded. "You are not wrong - about your second point, that is, but reality often leaves us with fewer options than our ideals demand. Look at me for instance. I was looking forward to retirement. At 126, I am considered mostly useless by my young and middle aged comrades. The only reason I am here now is because the moon queen herself required me", he moved his beer around in its container, caught his young observer's inquisitive look and realization spread across his face, "Ah, you see, it works wonders. In the Bretan tribe we have a saying. `Both swimming and kissing tongues make quick work of secrets`."
"It's not the worst idea to talk to someone else about the things that worry you", the boy offered.
"No, but I have just met you and should really be more guarded", he emptied his drink, set the stein on the table and got up, "Excellency, it was prudent of you to come speak to me. I hope we can find the princeling. To that end, I should really get back to work."
"I'll see you later, Helmond", Callum said.
With that, the Legate picked up the map and his jacket. With slow, but steady steps, he walked out the front door.
Callum himself emptied his cup.
Talaar came over. "Want another?"
"That would be nice. Talaar, what is your impression of Helmond?"
The keeper looked at the ceiling. "My impression? I think he's a good man. He is obviously educated, with that much language in his mouth. The Bretani accent helps, of course. He's never been smug or short with us, leaves his room in pristine order for us to clean and has always given us a fair trade for it."
Callum considered this. Finally, he decided he was going to let Helmond wander with them. The worst that could happen, he figured, was that the officer would end up stuck to a tree again.
He asked for another juice and went back to the room.
He carefully nudged the door open with his foot and stepped inside.
Rayla was laying in bed, reading the book Talaar had given her. When she heard him come in, she slammed the book shut and tucked it under the blankets.
"Good read?", he inquired. She shook her head and mumbled something about poisonous plants.
"I got you some juice", he said distrustfully, passing her the drink, "You're wearing clothes in bed? You soul- and senseless creature."
"Just washed them this mornin', dummy!", she snickered, "Tell me what you thought of Helmond."
"He seems alright? I still don't trust him but I think he's not going to be stabbing me again. It's as you said, he's giving me a good gut feeling", he sat on the bed's edge, placed his drink in his wounded arm's hand and stretched the other to ruffle her hair.
"Hey!", she yelped, swatting at him, "It's fine when I do it to you, your hair doesn't tangle!"
He snickered. "By the way, how come you never remade that braid in your hair? The one you wore when we met?"
"Oh, uh, I only know how to use my blades to keep my hair short. One of the Assassins braided my hair for me - I actually don't know how to do it for myself. I could give you a braid though, if you'd like?", she sighed, "I really miss them."
"Yeah. Sorry I brought it up. Hug?"
She sat up to hug him and the book slid from under the covers and thudded on the ground, startling both of them.
He could not read the runes but Rayla failed to realize this in the moment.
She dove for the book, flushing wildly.