A person's past always comes to light
While Ariadna was chatting happily with Mrs. Edena who was smiling charmingly I got ready to distribute the sweets among the children with the help of Amy and Didi who were looking at me more curious than usual for some reason, even in old Filip he had a curious face when he saw me, the children happily lined up and began to receive the sweets, when we finally finished distributing the sweets, I stayed talking with Filip until Ariadna finished talking with Mrs. Edena, so we said goodbye to everyone and returned to the West quadrant.
Their following us had already become a routine, but even so, Ariadna's good mood was ruined, almost like a bursting bubble, we finally reached the safe house in the West quadrant military district, Liath and Dub waited cautiously inside the house until they made sure that we were the ones who had arrived, so we had a small meeting to define what we would do in the next few days, "well Liath, Dub, after talking to our bosses we will be doing some normal missions for the next few days to keep up appearances", I said starting the meeting.
"I will be doing missions within the city, so I will return here every day", said Ariadna while pointing to herself, "I will go out of the city for a few days so Liath, Dub I would like you to tell me what would be the possible places where survivors of your group would take refuge to try to contact them", I said seriously, they both looked at each other for a few seconds and nodded.
"The last place we visited before coming to town, a network of caves on a rocky hill to the east, It's a few days away from the city", Liath answered, "I know that place! Rookie, there I caught a man who had information about Vinicius", said Ariadna and started looking for something in her magic bag, "yaghib Ariadna, you alone faced the people who occupied that place?", Dub asked incredulously.
"Now that you mention it, that guy had several bandits protecting him", Ariadna said in a boring way without taking her eyes off the mouth of her bag, Liath and Dub were puzzled looking at each other, "you better get used to it, facing 100 people is not a problem for her", I said making a guilty face, then Ariadna finally found what she was looking for, put a map on the table and began to explain how to get to the place, Liath gave me the same whistle that we had used when we got them out of the sewers.
He also explained to me a pattern of sounds that they used as a form of identification, Dub wrote a note in the native language of the cats sith so that there would be no doubts about my intentions, with that we had already made all the preparations for the next day, as it was quite early even Ariadna said she wanted to try to cook something for dinner, Liath rushed to help her, apparently, they had already formed a good bond, possibly Liath saw Ariadne as a kind of older sister.
Meanwhile, in a room located at the back of the house, on a large table, I was checking my equipment in anticipation of tomorrow's departure, according to Dub the place where they had made their base was two days east of Dumai, but Ariadna, who had already gone, told me that she could get there in a day if she walked at the same pace as we went to Aube, I had spread a tablecloth on a long wooden table where I had carefully arranged all my equipment to review and verify everything.
Dub looked very curious at everything he did, "alsyd Lif you have a great variety of weapons of different styles", he said curiously, "if I learned a lot from my father, he also traveled the world for 7 years, hearing their stories is that I also want to live in the same way", answer, Dub kept looking curious at the variety of weapons he had, "oh now I remember!", I said and quickly looked in my bag, so I took out one of Toria's whips and placed it on the table, I could immediately see that Dub made a scared face and touched his chest.
"Don't be afraid, now he can't hurt you" I said to encourage him, "that evil woman was very powerful, how could alsyd Lif fight her", Dub asked raising the tone of his voice, "well let's say I pay a lot of attention to my surroundings, I still managed to hurt my arm once", I said while pointing to a small patch on my leather armor, "alsyd Lif teach me to fight better!", Dub said with great conviction.
"Today is late, but I promise to help you another day", I replied while showing him the raised thumb which caused Dub to put on a look of much expectation, then Liath came to call us for dinner but she was frozen when she saw the whip on the table and slowly entered the room, she slowly approached the whip and with hesitant movements, she finally touched it, "is something wrong Liath?", I asked for, "at first I was so scared to see that you alsyd Lif would face this terrifying thing, but then I was very surprised how I surpassed that woman", he said with a distant look.
"Well, I think we shouldn't keep Ariadna waiting", I said but just then she appeared in front of the door, "Hey, what is wrong with you, I already called you for dinner", she said in an annoyed tone, but she was immediately silent when she saw the whip, "where did they get that from?", he asked darkly, I hesitated for a second to answer, I could see fear in the back of his eyes, "it was from that woman Toria, I took it from her during the fight we had", I answered.
"I see, come eat dinner to cool down", said Ariadna in a totally unemotional tone, and then she left, Liath and Dub looked at each other, then they looked at me, I shook my head and whispered, "better not ask", they both nodded and we all went to the dining room, an uncomfortable atmosphere had settled in it, Ariadna just stared at her plate of food; finish eating quickly, "thanks, it was delicious", I said to try to change the heavy atmosphere, then I got up, "I'm going to get some fresh air", I said and went out to the patio.
I was whistling a song as I walked through the courtyard looking at the stars, then I heard a few light footsteps approaching and looked back, Ariadna was approaching walking with her head bowed, I was about to speak to her when I saw that tears were falling down her cheeks; when I was trying to find words to say suddenly Ariadna leaned over and supported her hands and face on my chest while she sobbed and her shoulders shook, so I hugged her and started stroking her hair like the time I cried in the alley.
I was silent for several minutes while Ariadna continued to sob profusely until she finally calmed down, "do you feel better?", I asked while still holding the hug, "yes, thanks rookie", he said almost imperceptibly, "did that whip bring back bad memories from the past?", I asked, I could feel myself trembling again after hearing my question, "pain and fear, a lot of fear", said Ariadna lightly, "it is not necessary that you force yourself to speak, if you are not ready I will not force you to do it", I said as I continued stroking her hair.
Then Ariadna separated from me while she wiped the tears from her eyes with her fingers, "when I feel ready I promise I'll tell you my story", she said looking at the floor, "of course I am, I will not be the most reliable person but you can always count on me to listen to you", I said happily making a smile, "thanks rookie I really appreciate it", said Ariadna looking into my eyes with determination.
"It's the least I can do", I said and lightly ruffled Ariadna's hair with my hand, "Hey, stop silly", he protested slightly, "come on anyway, you will comb your hair again after you finish your bath", I said with a laugh, while Ariadna made some lovely pouts with her cheeks, "let's go back to the house", I said happily, "yes" Ariadna answered.
Ariadna went to take a bath, while I continue to review and organize my equipment, as well as taking an inventory of what I had and had already used, all under the watchful eye of Dub and Liath, "how can alsyd Lif master so many different weapons?", asked Liath curious, "actually, I'm not exactly mastering them, I'm not very good at fencing, my sword fighting style is just fast lunging", I said while checking my chainmail.
"But when I fight against the men of that woman Toria was never outmatched", Liath said again, "how to explain it, let's say I make up for my lack of technique with speed and aggressiveness", I said while making a thoughtful face, "how is that?", asked Dub, "well my father taught me not to fight defensively, he is the type that prefers to overwhelm his opponent with rapid successive attacks", I replied.
"Are you saying that your technique is basically having no technique?", Dub asked doubtfully, "If you are correct, not having a technique or style does not limit you, on the contrary, it is more difficult for an opponent to read your intentions", I replied.
