Renault set down the bucket of snow next to the table. He’d been here damn near a week at this point, and he was feeling a lot better. He was still sore and the wound was tender and he still had stitches, but he could move around much easier. Ada was something else, that was for sure.

She claimed she wasn’t a healer of any sort, that she could just manipulate the flesh. That sounded like healing to him, and the way she’d fixed him up, well that told him all he needed to know. 

The door opened and he glanced up. Mina and Boris walked in the door. She had William’s coat pulled tight over her slim form. 

“You’re looking better,” Mina said, her amber orbs glancing over him quickly. 

Renault nodded, “Aye, you were all fussing over nothing. I was fine to begin with.” 

“Oh, yes. You feel fine for now. The moment begin to do too much your stitches that I so meticulously sewed you up with are going to unravel and slip, and then you’ll be right back where you were a week ago.” Ada came down the stairs. “Ranting about how much you wanted to touch Boris’s tail and that you wanted to kiss myself and Mina.”

“Oi, normal Renault is not responsible or liable for anything that fever Renault said. Forget I said any of that…except for the kissing part.” He winked at both Mina and Ada. 

“Do not touch tail,” Boris glared at him. “Will lose hand.”

Renault rolled his eyes, “I don’t want to touch your tail. It’s probably coarse and dry and not pleasant to touch.”

Boris scowled and his ears flattened against his head, “Tail is not dry or coarse. Is soft. Very soft.”

“Oh, sure, I believe you.” Renault rolled his eyes and sat down at the table. 

Ada had already sat down at the table and she glanced around at everyone. “He’ll be able to leave tomorrow. Just make sure he doesn’t do too much and rip the stitches. I’d prefer to keep him here until it was mostly healed, but I don’t see that happening.” 

“Aye, damn right it’s not happening. Sooner I can leave, the better.” Renault rolled his shoulders. He was going bloody stir crazy. Yeah, sure, he’d been helping with chores, but that wasn’t the same as actually being out there and doing things. He’d never been a fan of staying in one place, he much preferred to travel around. 

“Mina, you had question for Ada.” Boris glanced back at Mina and gave her a soft smile.

Renault frowned and glanced between the two. Had something happened between them while he was here healing? Fucking rude. 

“You have a question for me?” Ada asked.

Mina nodded. “Yeah.” She sat down at the table across from the other woman and stared down at her interlocked fingers. “I’ve been hearing the voice of what I think may be my Spirit.”

“That you think is your Spirit?” Ada arched a brow. “Why are you unsure?” 

“On the way here I heard a second voice. I know it’s a second voice, it sounds different than the other one. It told me not to listen to the first voice, that it wasn’t it.”

“What did the first voice say?” the dark woman leaned forward, tilting her head to the side.

“She keeps saying that she’s in pain and begging me to save her. Told me to turn back and save it this last time.” Mina chewed on her lip. “Can Spirits even feel pain?”

“I’m not sure. I believe they can in a way. They are connected to the soul. If the soul is in pain, I suppose it’s possible that the Spirit would as well.” Ada drummed her fingers on the table. 

“Is it possible for someone to have two Spirits then?” Mina asked.

Renault blinked. Two Spirits? That shouldn’t be possible. He’d never heard of someone having two before. He was pretty sure that that wouldn’t be good for a person.

Ada shook her head, “No. The soul wouldn’t be able to handle that much stress and it would be torn apart. I’ve never even heard of someone having two. One of the two is very likely your Spirit trying to contact you, I haven’t the slightest idea what the second one could be though.” She stroked her chin. “Would you happen to be religious?”

“Not even a little bit,” Mina answered immediately. 

“Alright, not likely to be one of the gods then.” Ada sighed and dropped her hand to the table. “The only advice I can think of is to wait it out and try to figure out what the other voice is. I’m sorry I couldn’t be more help.”

“You did help, though.” Mina nodded. 

Renault stretched his arms above his head and glanced around. He couldn’t hear anything out of the ordinary. The animals and insects weren’t alarmed by anything they deemed dangerous. 

He hadn’t been caught off guard before, but by the gods he wasn’t going to allow himself to get stabbed again. The wench would have to fend for herself. Like hell he was going to jump between her and a fucking demon again.

He glanced at her, she’d discarded the coat she’d gotten from William and stuffed it into her bag. They’d made it out of the snow and it was steadily getting warmer the closer they got to Lynden. They’d be there in the next few days.

The guards had probably forgotten about him by this point, it’d been well over two weeks. There was no way they’d still be searching for him. None at all. 

“How is convincing yourself of that, going?” Kenshin asked. He appeared next to Renault and glanced over at his Host. 

“Hush.” Renault scowled at his Spirit.

“Telling me to hush doesn’t make it less true,” the samurai chided. 

The swordsman rolled his eyes. “Oh, aye. Look, it’ll be fine. They won’t remember me by this point. Guards are like fish, shite memory.”

“If you say so.” Kenshin faded from Renault’s sight.

The next few days passed without incident, except for a small blue bird that was chased into William’s helmet by a large raptor. That had been entertaining. The walls of Lynden loomed before them now. 

He glanced back at Mina who was staring at the stone, her face pale and her jaw clenched. She didn’t like being here. He didn’t blame her. Cities sucked. They smelled, and there were way too many people. The only good thing about them was the money and the women. 

The guards at the gate looked them over and waved them in when they saw William. Well, shite. That was useful. Usually it would take at least ten minutes to get through the guards as they checked all the travel documents. 

Having a Knight apparently bypassed all that. That alone was reason enough to travel with them. He hated going through checkpoints, it was alway such a pain in the ass. 

The city hadn’t changed, though why would it have? It hadn’t been that long since he’d been here last. He pulled his large straw hat further over his face—just in case. People moved out of the way of William and made keeping up with him a breeze. They approached the wall that separated the lower city from the upper city.

The guards there were a bit more scrutinous than the ones at the gate, but they waved them all through. 

There was such a stark difference between the two areas. Renault hadn’t ever actually managed to get into this part of the city. It disgusted him. The people in the lower city lived in filth and fear. There was a palpable tension there. Here? Here it was clean. There was no trash or shit on the ground. The people that walked about did so without any fear of being robbed or mugged. They were relaxed. 

Fucking nobles. 

The few that were out and about at this time gave them disgusted sneers. That was fine. To these fuckers they may be nothing but bugs to them, but it was because of people like him and everyone else that they were able to live such a care-free life. They didn’t go to war, they didn’t worry about where their next meal was going to come from, or if their loved one would be coming home from battle. They. Didn’t. Fucking. Get. It.

If the upper city was like this, what was the palace like? It was probably so clean that you could eat off of the ground. He’d find out soon. They approached the gate to the city.

Mina moved up to William and tugged at the hem of her shirt. “William, should we change before we see the Crown Prince?” she asked.

The large man faltered in his step and glanced down and then shook his head. “No. We’ve put off this meeting far too long as it is. He needs to know as soon as possible. He won’t care what we look like.”

She nodded and fell back slightly as she rubbed at her arms.

She was nervous. The wench was actually nervous. It was actually adorable. She was always trying to show how badass she was. It was nice to see a different side of her, that she actually got nervous herself. 

He wasn’t nervous. Why should he be? The prince was just a man. It wasn’t like he was a god or something. 

Renault fully expected to just walk right on through this gate as well. It came as a shock when they were all stopped by the guards. He guessed even a Knight of Lynden wasn’t allowed to just waltz right in to the palace.

“William, long time.” The guard nodded up at the armoured man. “Who do you have with you?”

“Hello Gerald.” William glanced at the three of them. “These are my companions that I’ve been travelling with. We need to speak with the Prince, it’s of the utmost urgency.” He clasped his hands behind his back.

Gerald frowned and looked them over, his eyes lingering on Renault. “You know the rules. You’re allowed to go in, they can’t. Not without prior approval.” 

“You’re shitting me, right? We have important information, and you’re gonna turn us away?” Mina asked, incredulous. 

“Rules are rules, ma’am,” Gerald responded, staring at her with no emotion on his face. 

“Are fucking ki-” She stopped when William held his hand up. 

“I will go speak with the Prince and see if I can’t get you all an audience with him.”

“Fine by me, I’ll go to the tavern while we wait. I could use a drink,” Renault turned and began to walk away, not waiting to see if anyone followed him.