Jack had been surprised at miss Arkham's request to continue traveling with him. He had been of a mind to refuse her at once. But the words of the mirror had resounded in his head, asking him why he preferred loneliness. The answer had been given for him often enough. In the past week alone they had been attacked thrice, two times by Aku's henchmen and once by some mistaken vagrants. In the cases where he had been attacked by Aku's robots she'd held to the sidelines, which he duly appreciated. Fighting was challenging enough at times and he did not need the added burden of making sure he didn't accidentally slash at her.
In the fight with the vagrants however she had actually taken it on herself to bang their leader on the head with a frying pan. It had taken Jack some gentle persuasion with the blunt end of his sword to save her. Afterward she had looked as if she wanted to apologize profusely for the action.
"Please forgive yourself. I am certain the bandit leader has encountered worse in his life," he consoled her as they sat down for dinner in an inn. The instant glow of red around her ears told him he had been correct in his assumption.
She huddled over her bowl of stew, picking at it with a fork. "I've never hit someone before. I mean… I even think there was blood."
Jack sighed. It was easy to forget sometimes not everybody lived their life as he did. "This is why I asked you to remain in the village, miss Arkham. You are… not a warrior. Even if your fate is to be a shaman, they rarely fought in battle. As now you are a clerk. For your own safety, reconsider your plans."
"No!" she shouted, before quickly glancing around to see if she had disturbed anyone. "I mean… you said it was okay, right? I really want to try coming with you. I'm sure I could learn a lot from it."
Jack feared that the thing she would learn first was how dangerous his life truly was. He took a spoonful of stew, reaching for his mug of tea. To his dismay he found it empty. "Please excuse me, miss Arkham. I shall return shortly." He had found a personal request for hot water was easier than transmitting the request through several waitresses to a confused bartender. As it was it still took him a full three minutes that he indeed wanted plain hot water.
When he returned he was surprised to find miss Arkham had attracted a suitor. Though she lacked no feminine charms, he had expected her to spontaneously self-combust when confronted with anything amorous. It had taken her a full five days to have an average conversation with him, and she still didn't manage it without the occasional stutter.
He sat down in front of them, not intending to interfere with any plans she might make for herself this evening. But when he looked up to send her a smile to signal this, he found big blue eyes looking at him in a plea for help.
"You shimmer like… like the grease on my favorite sausages," the youth told her in ardent passion.
"… I'm trying to eat, you know," she replied meekly, quickly stuffing her mouth with stew to prove her point.
"I can wait. For you I can always wait," he answered her, clearly not taking the hint.
Jack judged from the choking sound she made that miss Arkham hadn't expected that reply. "I expect the weather will clear up soon. That means easy traveling in the morning for us," he remarked casually to the damsel in poorly hidden distress.
Rue latched on to his sentence in gratitude. "Sounds wonderful. I've been really intending to get some more sketching done."
"Hey buddy, I'm talking to the lady here. Just drink your hot water and leave us be."
Rue banged her fist on the table in a show of frustration. "Oh, how dense can one be? Me and sir Jack are traveling together. Why must you be as dense as a… a… wooden spoon? That hurts!"
He sprang to action as soon as he saw the youth lay hands on miss Arkham. His spoon left his hand in a second, slapping the man against the side of his hand. With a yelp the boy let go of her, sucking his injured finger. When he glared at Jack, Jack raised his eyebrows at him. "Miss Arkham has clearly stated she has no interested in a conversation with you. Please leave her to her meal in peace."
The man glared between the two of them, eyebrows narrowed as he sucked on his pained finger. "Sheesh, if you already have a man, tell me from the start. Can't believe I wasted my time like this." With a snarl he pushed back his part of the bench, stomping off towards the bar.
Miss Arkham picked up his spoon and cleaned it with her napkin before handing it back. "Thank you," she mumbled, before resuming her meal.
"Judging from your outburst, I suspect I saved him from a verbal lashing," Jack answered her with a smile. Her mouth formed a surprised 'o' as he continued. "You have a way with words, as long as you don't remember you are conversing with someone."
She bowed her head, dark hair falling past her ears. When she looked back at him it was with a shy smile. Jack realized it was the first time he had seen her smile at him. It suited her. Her voice was soft and matter of factly. "I don't know if I mentioned this before, but I don't really talk a lot to people at my work. Most of the time I just shout at malfunctioning robots. I'm not really used to having someone around that will actually reply."
"Surely your family are among those you can freely converse with," Jack gently pressed her. He was rather curious about those around her.
She fidgeted in her seat, looking down at her hands. The locket around her neck glinted in the sparse tavern light. "My father died a few years ago. My kind is mostly human now, but we still have some traits from before. We can't really handle much in ways of pollution. With the way things are going, my mother doesn't have much longer either. And since Master Aku made all the reproduction laws, not many are allowed children."
She let her spoon fall in the greasy remainders of her stew. "I fear we are a dying breed."
Jack remained silent after those words. This too was an atrocity of Aku. Not in the mindless bloodshed of a needless massacre, but instead the slow, steady murder of an entire people. "What were you before?" He could hardly detect a trace of something non-human in miss Arkham. Perhaps the only thing was the strange lightness of her eyes, and even then the light had to fall just right.
She shrugged, looking up at him. "Who knows… it's said we came from the stars long ago, and lived in harmony with forest dwellers. Something changed and we had to take refuge under Master Aku's reign. Nobody knows what it was, or when it happened. Some of the elders say we have a duty to that old people who mixed their blood with ours."
"Perhaps…" Jack started, before doubting. Would the suggestion he was about to make really be for her benefit? Or was it a selfish part of him that longed for a companion during his travels? Her eyes were questioning. "The water mirror did suggest yours was a different path than the one you have walked until now. What if your destiny lay along the lines of going back to those who once helped your people?"
She stared at him as if he had lost his mind. "That… a destiny? Me? I'm a clerk. My destiny involves my hands covered in ink and memorizing everything I am told."
"Just something to think about," he assured her, finishing the rest of his meal. He didn't mention she at least had the head for being a shaman. They were primarily keepers of myths and legends, offering guidance from lessons learned from history.
Miss Arkham was quiet for the remainder of their dinner, staring at the fire that burned a ways off. As they retreated to their shared room - leaving her to a room alone would have been more gentlemanlike, but might put her at risk - her strange blue eyes looked up at him. As he looked down he noted her eyelashes were long and delicate.
"Thank you for your kind words, sir Jack. You are… different from what I expected."
"Have I offended you, miss Arkham?" he asked, thinking he might have crossed a line.
She shook her head. "No… you've just given me a lot to think about."
|Rue|
Once they'd settled for the night, each in their separate beds, Rue curled up in a ball and threw the covers over her. She needed to think. The past few days had given her a lot to think about. It was, simply put, a battle between right and wrong inside of her now. She could kill the samurai, earning herself and her mother their freedom. A release from the life debt she owed Aku as the first of her people.
The memory of how he helped her during dinner nagged at her conscience. His attempts at cheering her up after the vagrant attack jumped into the fray. Added to that there was the simple courtesy he did her of just listening.
She turned to lie on her back, observing the half-illuminated, cracked ceiling. His light breathing didn't halt, but she was sure that at the slightest move he could slice anyone in half. The samurai. Lethality in an efficient package. Not much talk, but what he said was smart. Polite to a fault, and modest to boot. The kind of guy you allowed to walk you home in a scary neighborhood.
Jack.
He had a name and a face now. He kept her safe because it was the right thing to do. And he was kind. She gripped the locket dangling from her neck, squeezing her eyes shut. Poisoning the samurai had sounded daunting, but do-able on a moral scale. Poisoning Jack on the other hand, that was…
She turned on her side, observing the rise and fall of his chest. If she didn't poison him, what were her options? Continue with him on his quest, until the moment he either failed or went back to his own time? Go back home and spend a few miserable days in fear, waiting for her punishment? Or go on her own quest, as he had suggested? That was perhaps the most miserable idea of all. Her days in the woods so far had shown she wasn't exactly outdoorsy material. And even if she succeeded, being a shaman didn't sound appealing to her.
No… she had to go through with it. Just one little shake over his tea. He'd let her make it once now, when she'd expressed curiosity about the drink. The taste was slightly bitter and the leaves had the annoying habit of sneaking in her mouth. Jack - the samurai, she reminded herself - had gotten a hearty laugh out of that one, when she'd spent a minute trying to spit out the errant leaves.
She wondered how the poison tasted. Would it hurt him terribly? Would he realize what she had done and look at her with reproach and hurt?
She turned in her bed again, the springs creaking underneath her. Jack was breathing silently, only a meter away from her. And in her hand she clasped Aku's poison. What should she do?
When morning came she excused herself, asking leave for a private moment. The samurai didn't press the matter, though Rue noted the wary way he scanned the hallway before letting her leave. The way in which he matter of factly took her safety into account was another mark in his advantage. Another tiny detail that might very well lead to her downfall. If he suspected her, he could not orchestrate it better.
"I need to make a phone call," she said, sliding a coin over the table. The currency had Aku's face stamped on it. Everything on the damned planet had Aku's face stamped on it. The innkeeper took it, biting it gingerly. When the metal held, he grinned at her. The gaps between his teeth were wide, his tongue purple. Then again, she wondered if anyone on this planet was purely human anymore, besides Jack.
"Yer the one that's travelin' with samurai Jack, int'cha?" the innkeeper asked, pocketing the money. When she nodded awkwardly he slid a rusty phone over the counter. "When ye go back up to yer room I'll have yer breakfast ready. With the hot water he fancies."
Rue nodded, not sure what she was supposed to answer in a situation like that. Somehow wishing Aku's blessings on him didn't seem like the best way to go around things. Instead she imitated Jack. "Thank you. That's very kind of you."
"Just my civic duty, missus. Give him my gratitude. And if ye can, keep an eye on him?"
Feeling as if the cat had not only stolen her tongue, but then had chopped it in tiny pieces, marinated and fried it up, Rue managed a nod with a tight little smile. The squat little innkeeper waddled off, mumbling something about hot water. With a sinking feeling she dialed the number she'd memorized. The phone rang. She felt as if every person in the common room was staring at her. That it was only a grand total of three people didn't matter.
"Yeeeeees? I'm busy, what do you want?" Aku snapped at her through the phone. Somewhere in the background a person screamed.
Rue took a deep breath. "Master, it's Rue."
"… who?"
"The one you sent after…" she looked around the common room again, deciding she might want be a bit inconspicuous. "… your long lost friend. The man with the sword."
"Oh yes, yes… the priest girl, weren't you? I thought you were dead by now. Are you calling me with good news?"
She didn't bother to correct him. If he didn't remember her name, her profession would mean even less to her. "No master. I… up until this point I haven't given your gift to him yet." The silence over the phone was deafening. The static only served to emphasize the shallow breaths she took. "I have no excuses to make. During my time here we were attacked several times and went to one temple. He overcame every challenge with ease."
"So there was no point at all where you did anything to help him?" Aku asked her. Did she imagine the slight strain in his voice? Was there any kind of inflection she was missing?
"I…" She thought back over the last two weeks. She did not think Aku meant something like washing up after their dinners, or showing the samurai her sketches to relieve his boredom. She thought back to their run-in with the thugs. Then she'd hit their leader on the head, dazing him for a second while he snuck up on Jack. But that hadn't been saving him. That had simply made his fight easier. And if he died in a fight with someone who didn't answer directly to Aku, that would have just delivered her to a fate worse than death. Aku had made his wishes very clear. "I have done nothing that can be considered a breach of my debt to you."
"Isn't that dandy news. You were chosen because you are weak, but I did expect results sooner. Don't tell me the samurai has charmed his way into your good graces? According to your records, you never were the type to go for the knight on the white horse." Now there was a decided sadistic tone to Aku's voice, grating across her mind.
Her moral compass had completely lost its north. At the moment it felt more like a roulette wheel anyway. She knew Aku was evil, and Jack good. But the blood debt… breaking that would make her evil. Killing Jack did the same thing. "Master, I assure you-"
"That reminds me, your mother misses you. She mentioned she knows her wittle girl won't be a disappointment. Make her proud, don't you?"
Ice seized her heart. "Yes, master. As you command."
The call ended, and Rue stared at herself in the dirty mirror hidden behind liquor bottles on the other side of the counter. The innkeeper chose that moment to come back from the kitchen, handing her a tray laden with two plates with steaming omelets, a can of blue fruit juice, half a fish and a kettle that probably contained the hot water. She dragged her feet up the stairs to their shared room, staring down at the kettle. It was banged up quite badly, probably have been magicked up from the deepest recesses of the kitchen. Jack trusted her now. All she needed to do was just stop and pour in some powdered poison. Easy really.
With a shaky sigh she placed the tray on a wobbly table. She suddenly felt very hot and cold. Icy sweat trickled down her spine as she reached for the locket. Her fingers touched the little clasp that kept the contents inside. It's easy, she reminded herself. With a bit of luck he won't even feel it. Maybe it'll be quick, sudden.
The door to their room opened, making her jump in surprise. When Jack saw her he smiled. "I was getting worried about you, miss Arkham. But I see you brought breakfast. Is it so heavy?"
He assumed she'd put it down because it was heavy. Fumbling for words she nodded. He walked over to her in an easy gait, lifting the tray in one hand. With the other he hovered over her shoulder, not quite touching her but still guiding her. "Allow me to carry it for you. And hot water, how thoughtful."
She mumbled her assent, allowing him to shepherd her to their room. She'd missed another chance. Somehow she felt relieved that she had.
And that is chapter four. Anyway, I would LOVE some more feedback on this, since, y'know, fanfiction writers are dying for more reviews. It's our lifeblood, our joie de vivre. Also I have exams and I need something to make me feel better about myself. But honest, constructive criticism is also good. Hell, that's great! So if you have a bit of spare time, let me know what you think. Also, thanks for the support Oblique, I'm happy to see you're enjoying the story so far.
Right, next update will be on the 17th of September, barring me forgetting or any social obligations.