Paen stared down at the inch of space between him and the young girl sitting side saddle in front of him. A distance the girl was clearly struggling to maintain. Once they were far enough away from the soldiers, Paen chuckled, “you know you can relax.”
Automatically, the girl exhaled and slouched but when the natural curve of her spine gently touched his chest, she leaned forward again.
Paen’s ensuing laughter was cut off by the boy sullenly sitting on the back of Issa’s horse suddenly speaking up, “why’d you help us? Who are you?”
“My name is Paen. And I couldn’t leave a couple of kids in the hands of those power-tripping assholes. And who are you?” From his horse, Paen bowed to the boy. The boy regarded him with a narrow, suspicious eye.
“I’m Racqein, my sister is Marisol.” Racqein answered with gritted teeth.
Paen pressed his lips into a thin smile and raised his eyebrows, “and how did a kid like you get a sword like that?”
Paen could’ve sworn the boy’s eye changed colors for a second as he snapped, “it’s mine.”
Loosely holding the reins still, Paen raised his hands defensively, “don’t worry, I’m not going to take it from you. I just wanna know if helping you and saying the sword is mine is going to bite my ass.”
Racqein’s hunched shoulders relaxed a few centimeters but his scowl didn’t budge, “it won’t... it is as much mine as my skill to wield it is.”
Paen raised an eyebrow and shrugged, “alright, I’ll believe you.” He turned his attention to Marisol again and, nudging her, he asked, “where are you from?”
“Um...” the nervous young girl locked eyes with her older brother before answering, “we’re from Tak.”
Paen whistled, “capitol kids, huh? I don’t know many of our people who can live so far from o’n Mayr Shiina.”
“From what?”
“Huh?” Issa slapped his thigh, startling his horse into shaking her head and whinnying loudly, “did your parents not teach you Kreishan? Did they not sing you songs of Our Lady Mother, the Sea?”
“Oh... Our mother only ever worshipped Cruxion when we were kids cause he saved Racqein’s life.”
“Pah!” Issa spat angrily onto the dirt road, “does your mother not fear the Sky refusing to embrace her because she turned her back on his wife?!”
Racqein glared at the back of Issa’s head, “our mother doesn’t fear anything anymore. She’s dead.”
When Issa could do nothing in response but work his jaw noiselessly, Paen laughed, “have you swallowed your tongue again, Issa?” Issa bowed his head a bit and Paen shook his head, chuckling, before asking Marisol, “I’ve never heard of this Cruxion... what is he a god of?”
“He was a knight so now he is a god of protection and honor... Oh!” Marisol began to root around in her pockets until she found and pulled out a rudimentary carved wooden knight. She twisted around to face Paen and grabbed one of his hands, pressing the wooden knight into his palm, “I carve these as protection talismans... please take one as a thank you.”
Paen smiled warmly at her as he curled his hand around the token, “gladly.”
*
Orfen had passed out under a bench and woken up in a tiny candlelit room that smelled like old paper, herbs, and his own blood. And there were people blocking the door. On instinct he had made himself bigger but it was assuredly a mistake to reveal himself as a were, some people might actually help a defenseless cat.
Orfen had been aiming to transform into a lion but he lacked the energy. So instead he put his hands on the ground, raised his tail, and hissed as loud as he could.
The little girl shook and slowly started to back out of the room into a dark hallway. The older woman didn’t move at all. Instead, she raised her empty hands, palms out, and said, slowly and gently, “you’re very hurt. I can help you.” She took a step forward, then another, giving Orfen just enough space to bolt around her and out the door. He put a hand on the little girls chest, pushing off her and running down the hall, but soon his steps stuttered, his legs gave out, and he fell into unconsciousness once more.
