"You don't remember how you ended up in a snowfield?" Erik's disbelief heavily present in his tone, unable to understand her response.

"No." she repeated, her gaze drifting down to her hands in her lap, her eyes flickering back and forth as if searching for a memory that she couldn't find. Taking a deep breath, the cyan-haired thief took a moment to think. He had hoped that she might provide some clue to further their treasure hunt, but with her response, all remaining hope had vanished. With the hunt being officially over, the only thing left to do was to assist her in finding her way home. He moved to stand closer to her bed and regarded her with a concerned expression. "Ok, then where are you from? We'll help ya get back."

Her eyes began their restless movement once more, and he let her take her time in searching through her mind before she seemed to grasp onto something. "I have no home; it was destroyed." her words hung heavily in the air, eliciting a pang of sympathy from Erik. "You got any family?"

The question caught her off guard, her mind seemingly lost in thought. "Family?" she asked out loud before meeting Erik's gaze. "No, I don't think I do." Erik held back a sigh, realizing that she was an orphan, with nowhere or no one to return to. It would certainly make it difficult to bring her home if she didn't have one. "Geez man. Alright, what's the last thing you remember?"

Her eyes began to move again before her hand rose to her head, a flicker of distress crossing her features. "I-I promised" she faltered, her sentence trailing off into uncertainty. Erik decided to press further, "Promised what?"

"I don't remember." was her only reply, leaving Erik frustrated. "Alright, maybe we should just come back to this. Come on, we can get ya food downstairs" He conceded, turning to leave the room. Before he could step away, her voice stopped him. He turned and looked to see her struggling to free herself from the blankets, determination present on her face as she approached him. "Your name is Erik, right? I'm Raeyla. Thank you for saving me."

Though unexpected, her thanks stirred a sense of pride in him, he was happy that she was OK. "Well, I wasn't gonna just leave you out there to die." He stated in a matter-of-fact tone. Raeyla nodded in acknowledgement, prompting Erik to open the door and lead her downstairs to the dining area.

Upon their return, Erik noticed Derk's absence from the table and assumed he was occupied elsewhere. He ordered a bowl of stew for Raeyla and some water for both of them before taking a seat. "Here, I got you this." he offered as he placed the bowl before her. Raeyla accepted it with a nod of gratitude and muttered a small "Thank you."

A small comfortable silence broke out between the two, with Erik looking around the inn while Raeyla quietly ate. After a few moments, however, Raeyla broke the silence. "Erik, can you tell me what happened? When you found me?"

He turned his focus to her and considered her question, it was fair, given her circumstances. "We found you by accident." He began, "I got given this rune and told that it was the key to a treasure. When my partner and I tracked down the location, we found you. You were wrapped up in all of these crazy glowing roots. The rune freed you from the roots, but you weren't breathing, and your body was cold. So we brought you here."

As he finished, Raeyla's expression changed slightly, "So it was by chance," she observed, swiftly looking down to retrieve her bag from her side and placing it on the table to push over toward him. "Here. I don't know if anything here is worth anything, but please, take it as my thanks for saving me."

Though tempted by the spell tome, Erik couldn't bring himself to accept her offer. "It's fine", he reassured her, gesturing for her to keep it. Raeyla looked over at him hesitantly, almost as if she would argue, but ultimately decided to take the bag back. "Right. Well, I don't know how else to thank you then."

"I told you, don't worry about it," Erik reiterated, his tone firm yet gentle. Before she could press any further, their conversation was interrupted by a shout from their right, announcing Derk's return to the table. With his arrival, Erik knew the atmosphere would shift. "She's awake!?"

"Derk, hey" Erik said quickly to prevent alarming the girl and waved his partner to sit down next to him at the table. "Yeah, this is Raeyla." He made a small motion toward her as a way of introduction. "Raeyla, this is my partner in crime, Derk." She smiled and nodded slightly at the newcomer before her. "Nice to meet you. Um, thank you for saving me".

Erik had already noticed that Derk was drunk, the slight wobble in his step as he came over, the red heat creeping up his cheeks. The cyan-haired thief knew how to handle his drunken partner, but he also knew that he could be unpredictable with his words. "Nah, don't worry 'bout it! Glad to see ya awake! How ya get stuck up there anyway?". Erik spent the rest of the exchange struggling to manage his partner's curiosity. In the end, he had upset Raeyla with the numerous questions that she could only answer with 'I don't remember' and she stood to retreat back to the room.

The moment she was out of earshot, Erik turned around to berate his partner, Derk reacted to the sudden action by offering a quick apology. The portly man looked down longingly at his beer before making any further inquiries. "So, do we take her back to Snifelheim?"

Erik shook his head in response. Their plan would no longer suit given the information they now had, "No, no one would know her there. She said her home was destroyed. Snifelheim isn't a great place for Orphans, she'd either freeze to death or get picked up by Vikings."

Derk's frustrated sigh mirrored Erik's own feelings, "Well, we can't just leave her here. Do we take her with us to Heliodor?"

Agreeing with a nod, Erik began to suggest a plan when Derk interrupted with an unexpected proposal that left Erik temporarily stunned. "She can also join our group."

"No, Derk" Erik asserted quickly, his disbelief evident. She was just a girl they found in the snow, with no knowledge of her or her intentions. They were thieves, not babysitters. Though he felt a pang of guilt for his suspicion, Erik had learned that even the most innocent looking people can lie. He wasn't about to let his guard down just because she looked harmless.

"What? We were having trouble planning that heist down in the Manglegrove, right? A third person would be perfect!" Derk reasoned, his optimism frustrating Erik further. "Yeah? You think she's just gonna join a couple of thieves?" Erik retorted, attempting to make Derk see the unrealistic nature of his suggestion.

Shrugging nonchalantly, Derk countered, "She might. She has nowhere else to go; the only people she knows are us."

Unwilling to entertain the idea any longer, Erik rose from his seat, intent on following Raeyla upstairs. "She can meet other people in Heliodor." He stated firmly, his desire to sleep growing by the minute.

Derk's attempt to draw him back into the conversation was met with a dismissive wave from Erik. "With no home, money or memory? She'll end up adventuring or thievin anyway!" Erik continued to make his way up the stairs, his mind set on the rest he needed.

When he arrived in the room, he discovered the girl engrossed in the star-chart he'd seen in her bag before. She looked up to see who had entered and tried to hide her uneasiness. Erik attempted to reassure her, "Sorry about him. He loses his common sense when he's drunk."

"It's alright." she replied softly, her attention drifting back to her book. The young man took the opportunity to try and shift the conversation to something different, "Whatcha lookin at?". She held out the book for him to see, the familiar etching of Yggdrasil looked back at him as she answered his question, "It's a book I found in my bag." She turned the book around so that he could see the writing on the inside of the cover, and found himself looking at more of the drawings that he saw when he first looked at the book. "I think I liked stars."

Her crestfallen expression at her lost passions had left Erik with a newfound sense of empathy. He'd always had a hard time believing people, but in this moment, he knew she was genuine. If only in this situation.

"Must be rough. Not really knowing who you are. But hey, Derk and I were talking, we think you should come to Heliodor with us. It's a big city, someone is bound to know you there." He tried to offer her some measure of hope. He wasn't sure if there would be anyone in Heliodor that knew her, but given that it was one of the main cities in Erdrea, there was no better place to start.

At the mention of a city, he could see a small light appear in her eyes. "I haven't heard of that place, but I hope you're right. Is it really big?" She inquired, looking over at him from his place across the room. Erik took the chance to walk toward his bed and sit down to face her. "It is, one of the biggest in Erdrea. Derk and I currently haunt downtown, so we'll be around to help ya find someone."

"So, are you and Derk adventurers or something?" She questioned once more, letting her curiosity get the better of her. He briefly thought that maybe she was looking for a distraction. He was willing to help her focus on something more positive for the moment. "Sure, we travel and look for treasure and loot."

"Oh, so you're a thief." She deduced easily. While it initially took him by surprise, he couldn't help but laugh at how easily he was found out, "Ya got me, you're smart; I'll remember that. Now, I'm beat, so I'm gonna head to bed, you should too. Once I drag Derk out of bed and get food, we're headed south." He shifted to end the conversation for now, the promise of departure in just a few hours looming on his already tired shoulders. She nodded and moved to settle herself under the covers as he walked to turn out the lights in the room.

As he returned to his bed, he could see that Raeyla was still sitting up, looking out the window at the stars, seemingly trying to find answers in the sky.

He pushed on and sat on his bed once more, removing his shoes before climbing under the covers and laying his head on the soft and welcoming pillow. "Night Raeyla."

"Night Erik" Was all he heard in reply before sleep took over.