35
They had been walking for about five minutes when it occurred to Éponine that this group of strangers from beyond the wall were highly irritating. They were loud, bickered constantly, and were causing Enjolras' jaw to clench repeatedly as they walked along. The young man that was named Arnaud – the oldest of the boys, with the slash across his throat – was particularly annoying, being constantly sarcastic and snarky in response to anything his companions had to say.
"Do you think we would be forgiven for leaving them here?" Éponine muttered to Enjolras out of the corner of her mouth. The blond man glanced over his shoulder at the six people trailing behind them; the youngest girl was currently arguing with the black-haired woman about her lack of footwear, and Éponine wasn't entirely sure how that conversation had come about.
"I can't see Éléonore blaming us in the slightest," Enjolras responded, "Although I suspect Arnaud would have something to say about it."
"I could always drag him back to the river and push him in," Éponine suggested. "Then he'd be truly stuck."
"What are you two whispering about?" the man in question demanded, striding forwards to walk alongside Éponine.
"Oh, nothing, just…Guardian business," Éponine said, lamely.
"It must have been about us because you're lying," Arnaud said. "What were you saying? Is there something wrong?"
"There's nothing wrong," Enjolras said sharply, "And don't be so rude to Éponine."
"Why? What are you going to do about it?" Arnaud challenged. Enjolras raised his eyebrows.
"I will do nothing," he said. "Éponine, on the other hand, will drag you back to the river, push you in, and leave you there, if you continue to be impolite. She may look small and innocent but she's one of the scariest people I've ever met."
Éponine looked up at Enjolras, almost feeling flattered by his opinion of her, even if she wasn't sure where it had come from.
Arnaud floundered for a few moments, unsure of what to say, so she spoke for him. "Enjolras is right," she said. "You'd be back in the river before you even knew what was happening."
Arnaud blustered. "You wouldn't," he said.
"I would," Éponine said. "As I said before, we were talking about Guardian business and it's nothing to do with you, so please, don't start pestering us for answers."
Arnaud slowed down so he was walking with his companions rather than Éponine and Enjolras. There were a few minutes of silence amongst the newcomers in the wake of Éponine's threat, before the youngest girl took offence to a face that Arnaud had pulled and decided to yell at him about it.
Éponine had never been more grateful to arrive at the Guardian's building. Enjolras held the door open for everyone to file in, and Éponine hurried off to find a Guardian. There were none on duty that she recognised or had dealt with before, and she was informed quite quickly that Éléonore wasn't working that evening. The Guardian that decided to take charge was an elderly gentleman with fine white hair wearing a bottle-green coat with brass buttons. He trembled with sheer excitement upon hearing what had happened at the river, explained to him in a hurry by Éponine as they walked back to the lobby.
"That is fascinating, we've not had an arrival like this in years, it's usually people leaving and so many of them too!" he was chattering as they entered the lobby. They found Enjolras sat on one of the benches with his head in his hands, trying his best to ignore a loud row between Arnaud and the elderly lady.
"Sorry, they keep on arguing," Éponine apologised to the gentleman. "We're, uh, not sure why."
"If you just admit what you've done then we won't all have to take responsibility for what you did because I'm not planning on taking responsibility for what you have done," the elderly woman hissed, dark eyes spitting.
"What I did was nothing to do with anything that any of you have done so what does it matter what I did?" Arnaud snapped back.
"Before you ask, I have no idea what he has done or what they have done or what they're talking about," Enjolras called from across the room.
The man's joyful expression had faltered somewhat at the sight of the newcomers, which made Éponine feel quite bad, considering how excited he had been. To be fair, it wasn't just the argument between Arnaud and the elderly woman that was probably the issue; the youngest girl was trying to scale the wall, and the younger boy was trying to do a handstand.
"I'm sorry," Éponine said. Enjolras got to his feet, heaving a sigh and walking around the gaggle of people to stand with Éponine.
"I rather fear I'm going to need more help," the man said. "So they argue like this a lot?"
"They haven't really stopped since they got out of the river," Enjolras said.
The man pursed his lips. "I won't be a moment."
He left them again, walking with the speed of someone who genuinely looked like he was trying to flee. Éponine didn't blame him for that, and hoped he would actually return.
"Do you think it's safe for us to leave now?" Éponine muttered to Enjolras as the shouting escalated in volume as the black-haired woman joined in.
"We should at least wait to make sure that someone comes back," Enjolras said.
"Good point. I probably wouldn't if I was that man," Éponine admitted. "They're rather…"
"Annoying?" Enjolras supplied.
"I was going to say argumentative, but I suppose it basically comes back to the same thing," Éponine shrugged.
A couple of minutes later, the gentleman returned, accompanied by a blonde woman in a blue dress, an elderly woman wearing trousers, and a boy who looked no older than ten. This group of Guardians cut through the argument and ushered the newcomers into another corridor, leaving Éponine and Enjolras alone.
"Can we go now?" Éponine said.
"I think we should," Enjolras agreed.
They turned towards the doors when Inès emerged from one of the other corridors, wrapping a shawl around her shoulders. She paused for the smallest of moments when she saw them. "I thought I heard shouting," she said.
"It wasn't either of us," Éponine assured her. "I – uh – brought a lot of people from the other side of the river."
"How does that even work?" Inès said, frowning. She tied her shawl in a small knot over her chest.
"I have no idea," Éponine admitted. "But I did. They bicker a lot."
Inès rolled her eyes. "Then I am glad it is time for me to go home," she said. "I couldn't be doing with dealing with a large influx of arrivals all at once."
"Would you like us to accompany you home?" Éponine asked as they walked out onto the streets with Inès.
"I'll be fine," Inès said, giving them a small and not entirely sincere smile. "Thank you, though."
She walked off in the opposite direction, head bowed low.
"She was quite pleasant for once," Enjolras remarked.
"Probably because of your wonderful presence," Éponine said.
He snorted. "I highly doubt that."
They ambled along in silence. Éponine realised that they were still dripping water everywhere as they walked, even though the water on her face and hands had mostly dried. Enjolras' leather boots obviously dry but the colour of his shirt and waistcoat visibly was darker from his waist downwards.
"I don't think I'll be going in the river again," she remarked, running a hand through her hair.
"I'm glad to hear it," Enjolras said, shooting her a sideways glance. On closer inspection, the sleeves of his jacket were wet from the elbows downwards, and there were damp stains on the other half of his body from where he had been grabbed by other people.
"We must look a sight," Éponine murmured.
"I mean it," Enjolras said, as if she hadn't spoken. She raised her eyebrows.
"Mean what?" she said.
"I'm glad you don't plan on going in the river again," he said. "It was a foolish thing to do. What if you had been unable to move like the rest of us? You would have been stuck."
"Not forever," Éponine objected. "You would have got me out."
"You shouldn't have gone in," he said, shaking his head.
"I helped people."
"Highly annoying people who largely didn't seem grateful," Enjolras said.
"You just don't like Arnaud," Éponine said. "Which is fair enough, I didn't either."
"I just don't see why you're so keen on putting yourself in these situations," Enjolras shot back. "Just because we cannot be hurt properly doesn't mean we – you – should be completely careless with your well-being."
"In future, I won't try and do something helpful," Éponine said.
"It's not about you being helpful," Enjolras said, exasperated. "I just – it could have gone so wrong."
"But it didn't."
"That's besides the point."
"It's not really," Éponine said.
He narrowed his eyes. "Wait until I tell Combeferre what you did," he murmured. "I'm sure he'll have something to say about it."
"I'm sure he will," Éponine said. "It doesn't mean I'll take what he has to say seriously. I'm not a child, Enjolras."
"I never said that you were," Enjolras sighed. "I just think that you can be reckless sometimes."
They walked the rest of the way to Éponine's flat in silence, each of them mulling over the events that had taken place earlier on as well as the conversation that had come afterwards.